What does the “G2” term mean?
Neither “alphaANALYST” nor “G2” were not randomly selected; both terms have significance on a number of levels.
- G2 is a military term that literally means “higher military intelligence” on the “company” level. In military speak, a company is a group of between 85 – 225 men, but we’re using it as a double entendre (military company vs. a business company). G2 is often linked to “spy” intelligence that is not commonly known and not readily available by intuitive reasoning. In our case, “spy” is analogous with “analyst” while “intelligence” means “knowledge of one’s business strategy”. i.e., Analysts typically have insight on certain matters that is unique and was gathered from a number of sources. So “G2” is the PERFECT name for our company especially when you consider the “alphaANALYST” definition (our consulting division). Hint: Companies in the military are often named after greek letters — alpha, beta, etc. So there is another link between G2 and “alphaANALYST” (i.e., “Alpha Company”). In short, G2 is a term with many meanings that all relate to mHealth strategy analysis.
- G2 also has another military definition as it denotes the Deputy Chief of Staff for “Intelligence and Security Command” (INSCOM), a division of U.S. Army intelligence. We are likening the terms “Deputy Chief of Staff” and “alphaANALYST”.
- G2 is a common techie term that means “Second Generation” and typically refers to a second version of a product or software. The significance here is that alphaANALYST was the original company name, and now we are using G2 as both the parent organization and the marketing arm.
- G2 also is the name of an Android OS-based phone. The significance is that mHealth often utilizes smartphones (such as the Android G2) to connect patients and doctors.
- G2 is also a statistical term used in Epidemiological research, and is often an alternative test to the Chi-Squared statistical calculation. As Joseph studied Epidemiology at Yale, G2 has yet another meaning.
- G2 is a phase of the cell reproduction cycle. The implication is that G2 (the company) has “reproduced” itself (as it is the evolution of alphaANALYST, the original organization) and the second version of this website.
What does the “alphaANALYST” term mean?
In order to understand the term alphaANALYST, you must first understand the definition of G2 (see above). Once you understand G2 essentially means “intelligence” – we can define the “alpha” in alphaANALYST. “Alpha” is a term used in mathematics, physics, language, religion, finance, biology and astronomy. We carefully selected the “alphaANALYST” name due to the influence of the following.
- Alpha is a term used in physics. Specifically, it represents the numeric value of 1/137 which is the combination of three constants – the charge of an electron, Planck’s constant and the speed of light in an empty space (without which, the universe would not exist). In physics, alpha is considered a “fine structure constant” that means it is a “dimensionless” quantity. We are comparing “dimensionless” to the quality of our consulting work that we feel is “immeasurable”.
- Alpha also means the “brightest star” in a constellation.
- Alpha is the dominant member of an animal community. In this case, we’re implying G2 is the “alpha” in the “analyst” “community”.
- Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. Hence, “alphaANALYST” is the #1 mHealth analyst firm.
- Alpha is both a symbol and term used in the bible where god is described as the alpha and the omega. The symbolism here is that G2 is the “first” mHealth strategy consulting firm in the U.S. — and we feel the “best” (i.e., “last” (omega) one you will need).
- Alpha is also a mathematical and financial term that symbolizes the return on investment (ROI) of a security. Alpha is derived from “a” in the formula Ri = a + bRm, that measures the return on a security (Ri) for a given return on the market (Rm) where b is beta. The link to G2 is that we provide a strong ROI on your investment in our services.
What’s with the two logos?
Why do you require visitors to register on the G2 website?
We require registration for a few reasons:
- To limit spam. Our old website had 22,000 bot generated registrations even though we had great security features. We don’t want to have to deal with manually deleting thousands of fake user profiles, as it’s a colossal waste of our time.
- To limit unauthorized access. There’s really no reason why a 13 year old kid in China needs to be on this website. G2 is not into bragging about our number of web-hits. Instead, we’d rather have a less “popular” website, with fewer – but higher quality visitors.
- To limit unnecessary comments. We will probably eventually bolt on an mHealth blog to our website. When we do, we’re not interested in policing “false-positive” comments from folks that aren’t techies or versed in mHealth.
- To spare our clients. This site was designed for members and clients. It’s just that simple. If you aren’t one or the other, then the odds are great you are just “trolling” and probably aren’t going to contribute to our experience.
What are the goals of G2?
We’ve many goals. Some of our most significant include the following.
- To expand our business model which was primarily based on ad hoc consulting projects, to a full service consulting firm with executive staffing and annual subscription services.
- To provide a unique set of services that leverage a strong / diverse skill set.
- To become the world’s premier mHealth strategy consultancy.
Who are your competitors?
- We do not have any. And when we say “any”, we mean none!
- G2 is a sole proprietorship that is small and nimble. We are not a competitive threat to any major firm. The reason for this is we need the major consulting firms (for sub-contracting relationships) and we are too small to compete on any large scale.
- Most would consider the following firms as competitors, but we don’t. We consider them allies!
- Gartner, IDC, Bain, BCG, Monitor, Booz Allen, AT Kearney, McKinsey, Deloitte.
- Though G2 clearly cannot compete with the big boys, we can compete with on a personal level with any consultant from the above firms. No problem, bring ’em on. We have the experience and the pedigree to compete on a one-on-one level with any mHealth or Health I.T. analyst/consultant.
How does G2 compare to the big analyst think tanks (like Gartner)?
- The quick answer is — we don’t!
- We are smaller and more nimble.
- Our subscription service does not include reports.
- We don’t typically conduct market research surveys.
- We are a hybrid between an analyst and a consultant. In the big firms, often the analysts do not like to conduct consulting services. They do, but it impedes their research and they don’t get paid additionally for it. So consulting is often considered an annoyance to market research analysts.
- The above examples imply the big analyst firms have more of an academic/think tank like level of experience, while at G2 we still get our hands dirty in the trenches.
- These analysts typically have 50 or more active clients. At G2, we typically work on ONE project for ONE client – at a time.
- G2 greatly admires the big I.T. analyst firms, but feels our business model is vastly superior. In fact, G2 was formed with all of the big analyst firm flaws in mind. Why? To avoid falling into the same traps.
How many subscription level clients does G2 hope to secure?
- G2 is not about volume. To us, more (clients) is not necessarily better.
- Because the yearly retainers vary in the number of bundled hours included in each of the five levels, it’s hard to say how many clients we’d like to secure, because it’s a function of the combination of levels they choose.
- To put it another way, there are 2080 work hours in the year and we offer five levels of subscription that range from 40 hours (Alpha-1) to 250 hours (Alpha-5). If you do the math, this means on the low end, G2 can manage 8 (eight) alpha-5 clients or 40 (forty) Alpha-1 clients. The answer to your question lay somewhere betwixt.
- If we had our druthers, we’d like to retain a few Alpha-5 and several other Alpha 1 – 4 clients.
- We do not want to be 100% booked. This is why Joseph left corporate America. We’re happy being 80% booked.
Is G2 focused on domestic projects/clients or international?
- Both.
- We’re equally as comfortable working on mHealth projects in developing nations as we are on domestic projects.
- If given a choice, a 50/50 split would be nice.
What type of organizations do you see as clients?
- Medical device manufacturers.
- Pharmaceutical firms.
- H.I.T vendors.
- Consulting firms.
- Industry analyst market research firms.
- Health I.T. membership organizations with mHealth divisions (think, HIMSS).
- Phone and tablet OEMs.
- Telecommunication carriers/providers.
- mHealth app developers.
- mHealth app brokers/providers.
- mHealth start-ups.
- Venture Capital firms.
- And the list goes on and on…you get the point.
What is the legal business structure of G2?
- G2 is the parent organization to alphaANALYST consulting which does the actual work.
- alphaANALYST is a sole proprietorship under the name of Joseph Villarosa.
- We understand there is some confusion between G2 and alphaANALYST. Because of this reason, we may eventually co-brand our services as “G2|alphaANALYST”, but we’ll deal with all of that later…
- G2 operates under the alphaANALYST EIN or Joseph’s social security number.
- Specifically, G2 may be retained under “Joseph Villarosa” or “alphaANALYST”.
How would you define G2? What is it?
On one level, G2 is very easy to define; on another level, well…it gets complicated as we do so many things.
- G2 is a think tank.
- G2 is a management consulting firm.
- G2 is an analyst advisory firm.
- G2 is a strategy consulting firm.
- G2 is focused in the mHealth market.
- G2 is focused in the Health I.T. market.
- G2 is a boutique consulting firm.
What is G2 – not?
- G2 is not a market research firm.
- G2 is not a non-profit — we are very much into capitalism!
- G2 is not your typically “big” consulting firm.
- G2 is not an LLC.
- G2 is not a partnership.
- G2 is not public.
- G2 is not an S Corp.
Is G2 supply or demand side-centric?
- Both.
- Though we are primarily focused on the providers (supply side) of mHealth and Health I.T. products and services.
- We’d be happy to be retained by a large ICO, but we see ourselves working more with I.T. vendors and consultants.
Why are many of the publications older?
- In the past, Joseph was happy getting his name in lights by being published and providing press quotes.
- After zillions of each, he shifted his focus away from publicly published material and instead focused on private label (sponsored) research, reports and business plans.
- Hence, the shift away from market research to strategy consulting resulted in less national publications.
- This does not mean Joseph didn’t continue to publish his work – he did. But rather than finding it on Google, it is now on board tables of fortune 100 organizations.
I see a very impressive client list, are these clients all current G2 members?
- Some are, most aren’t.
- Since G2 has switched from a focus on “one-off” consulting projects and is now (also) interested in securing clients under a yearly subscription, we are starting with a clean slate!
- That’s why on top of our already low prices, we’re offering other incentives (like the G2 mHealth Challenge) and discounts for mHealth organizations to become annual retainer clients.
- Any takers?
Are you hiring?
- Not today.
- Not tomorrow.
- We have no desire to grow more than a one man show.
- If you want a big firm, feel free to hire one, but before you do, remember the many advantages of hiring a sole proprietor.
- Enough said.