Built lean, launched fast

We Stood Up a Clinic for a Fraction of the Cost

No fit-out. No reception. No server room. Golden Ratio runs on a single Master PC acting as the brain, Zedmed's cloud for practice management, and a stack of software we already own and operate. Here's every dollar it took to get live, what's paid, and what's left.

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How It Connects

One PC as the Brain, the Cloud for the Rest

A traditional clinic needs an on-premise server, an IT contractor and a comms rack. We replaced all of it with one Master PC acting as a mini-server and orchestrator, Zedmed's Australian cloud for practice management, and a thin, secure API bridge between the two. Every box below is a real, costed part of the live system.

$35.4k
All-In to Launch
~3%
Of a Traditional Clinic's First Year
~$2.5k
Left to Pay
$240
Monthly Software & Services
Patient-facing
🧑‍🤝‍🧑
Patients
Find the clinic online, anywhere in Australia
📅
HealthEngine
Australia's largest patient booking & acquisition marketplace. Switched on once we're live
$2,000/mo · future
🌐
Websites & Sister Clinics
Hosted on Vercel. Build across clinic + backend
$80/mo
The brain & engine room
🤖
Claude
AI automation & build assistant
$80/mo
🖥️
Master PC, the Brain
Mini-server & orchestrator (Windows). Replaces an on-prem server rack. Runs Microsoft Office
🗄️
Supabase
Backend database, scales as we scale
$60/mo
Staff access
💻
Nurse Workstation
Budget Chromebook. Zedmed Cloud & our apps run in-browser, so it's all the nurse needs
Security, on every endpoint
🛡️
Teramind
Activity monitoring, data-loss prevention, compliance audit trail
🐞
Malwarebytes
Enterprise endpoint protection (annual)
Secure bridge
🔗
Halo Connect: API Bridge
Healthcare-grade, security-hardened API facilitation: FHIR / SQL, AU-hosted, ISO 27001, linking our apps to Zedmed
$2,200/yr inc GST · paid ✓
Practice-management core
🏥
Zedmed Cloud
Australia's leading PMS (est. 1979). Bookings, clinical notes, billing, eRx. AU-hosted on AWS, no server to maintain
$4,000 · paid ✓
Health network & comms
✉️
HealthLink
Secure clinical messaging & e-referrals
$599/yr
🩺
My Health Record
National patient record integration
$399/yr
📧
Outlook / Microsoft 365
Email across 3 accounts
$480/yr
☎️
Calilo
Phone, video consults & patient SMS in one · 08-800-42-420
$20/mo · active ✓
Contingency: the unknown unknowns
There's always a hidden cost waiting to jump out. So we've set aside a buffer, and everything above proves how far a dollar already stretches here.
$5,000 buffer · unspent
Where the buffer points next

Most Likely Next Purchases

What a compliant medicinal-cannabis telehealth clinic should invest in as it grows: protecting patients, hardening compliance, and scaling without strain. Roughly in priority order, and mostly modest.

#InvestmentWhat it ensuresEst. (AUD)When
1Indemnity upgrade + cyber insuranceBasic indemnity is already in place (the clinic's, plus the practitioner's own). Telly gives us short-term protection; this is the upgrade to stronger medico-legal cover and a funded data-breach response as better options open up at scale~$5,000-10,000/yrAs we scale
2TGA advertising-compliance reviewMarketing stays inside the rules: advertising cannabis to the public is prohibited and fined~$1,500-3,000Before paid marketing
3Backup, UPS & failover for the Master PCThe brain isn't a single point of failure: offsite encrypted backup + power protection~$800-2,000Soon
4MFA, password manager & cyber trainingThe credential layer guarding health data is hardened (Essential Eight)~$6/user/moSoon
5Practice accreditation (RACGP Standards)A recognised quality and clinical-governance benchmark, audit-ready (AGPAL/QPA)~$3,000-6,000 / 3 yrsAs the book matures
6Patient outcomes / PROMs trackingDocumented clinical outcomes: defensible prescribing and proof the model works~$50-200/moAs scale grows
7Second clinician / admin hireResponse times and patient experience hold as the book outgrows one prescriberSalary (Stage 2)At capacity

Most are modest monthly tools or one-offs, funded from operating profit as the need arrives, not bought all at once. The contingency buffer covers whichever lands first. Already in place, so deliberately off this list: Calilo (telephony, video consults and patient SMS in one), Xero for the books, and basic clinic + practitioner indemnity.

Every Dollar

What We've Spent, and What's Left

The complete accounting. Every setup line item is paid bar two not-yet-engaged pieces: the lawyer (structure review) and Google Cloud for login management. People, future tools and a contingency buffer are listed separately so the launch cost stays honest.

Setup & infrastructure (one-time)

ItemWhat it doesCost (AUD)Status
Original website buildClinic + backend, across the family of sites$8,000✓ Paid
Master PCThe brain / mini-server$4,500✓ Paid
TeramindSecurity & monitoring ($1,500 + $488)$1,988✓ Paid
MalwarebytesEnterprise endpoint protection (annual)$1,500✓ Paid
HealthLinkSecure clinical messaging (annual)$599✓ Paid
Outlook / Microsoft 365Email, 3 accounts (annual)$480✓ Paid
SeekJob advertising (one-time)$450✓ Paid
My Health RecordNational record integration (annual)$399✓ Paid
Endpoint & network securityAdvanced EDR, NDR & code-hardening / patch management across the estate$2,161✓ Paid
Business insuranceIndemnity & policy premiums (annual)$3,533✓ Paid
Halo pluginsExtra service-management modules on top of Halo Connect$1,200✓ Paid
Dev toolingn8n, Sentry, Hookdeck & Make (automation platform)$1,100✓ Paid
ZedmedCloud practice management$4,000✓ Paid
Halo ConnectHealthcare-grade, security-hardened API facilitation (annual, inc. GST)$2,200✓ Paid
Microsoft OfficeHome & Business 2024, Windows workstation$439✓ Paid
Nurse workstationBudget Chromebook (browser-based)$399✓ Paid
LawyerBusiness setup & structure review before go-live (not yet approached)~$2,500○ Yet to pay
Google CloudPatient & staff login / identity management (not yet set up)usage-based (small)○ Yet to pay

Ongoing software & services (monthly)

ItemWhat it doesCost (AUD)Status
ClaudeAI automation & build assistant$80 / mo✓ Active
VercelWebsite hosting & deployment$80 / mo✓ Active
SupabaseBackend database (scales with us)$60 / mo✓ Active
CaliloPhone, video consults & patient SMS · number 08-800-42-420 ($9.95 one-time)$20 / mo✓ Active
Monthly total~$240 / mo

People (ongoing)

RoleArrangementCost (AUD)Status
Prescribing DoctorSessional, $150 + GST/hr plus a share of consults once the hour covers the base · ~12.5 hrs/week≈ $2,920 / wk (inc. GST)Engaging
Registered NurseFull-time employee$75,000 / yrHiring
Operating PartnerRuns the practice, IT & marketing; base from day one, sliding scale tied to profit$4,000 + GST / mo (min)From day 1

Future & potential (not committed)

ItemWhat it doesCost (AUD)Status
HealthEnginePatient booking & acquisition marketplace, once we're up and running (no annual discount)$2,000 / mo○ Future
PrescriptMedical recruiter, only if we need one$16,000○ Not engaged
Contingency bufferSet aside for the unknown unknowns$5,000○ Unspent
Security probe (Fiverr)Independent ethical-hacker probe of the website: surfaces risks only, no fixes~$800○ Optional

Optional safeguard: because we don't take payments on the site, this is less about financial fraud and more about keeping patient information, and our patients, safe. For roughly $800 a freelance security tester probes the website and reports back any risks for us to address. Probing only, no fixes included.

$35.4k
All-in to launch (setup & infrastructure)
$32.9k
Paid to date ✓
~$2.5k
Yet to pay (lawyer + Google Cloud)
~$240/mo
Ongoing software & services

That's the committed spend. Including the $5,000 contingency held for the unknowns, the worst-case all-in is ~$40.4k.

The Payback

It Pays for Itself in a Matter of Weeks

Consult fees are held near cost, so effectively every dollar of margin comes from the scripts our doctor writes when it's clinically appropriate. At a steady 12.5 hours a week, here's how fast the whole build earns its money back.

Start Week 1 Week 2 Recouped ~3 weeks
69
Consults a week (12.5 hrs × 5.5 per hour)
~$13,750 / wk
Gross script margin to the business: 69 scripts at ~$200 each (average script value $345)
~3 weeks
To fully recoup the $35.4k build
Even on cautious assumptions, the build pays for itself almost immediately. That headline is the gross script margin to the business. After the doctor, the nurse, software and the operating partner's base salary (about $5.4k a week), there's still around $8,300 a week left, recouping the full build in about four weeks. And even if only half of those consults result in a script, the gross margin alone still clears the build inside about five weeks.

Assumes 12.5 hours a week at 5.5 consults an hour (our realistic average once a full history, satisfactory answers and proper notes are accounted for), each resulting in a script (average value $345, about $200 margin to the clinic). Revenue here is script margin only. Consult fees ($49 initial, $29 re-script, waived for jahman.clinic referrals) are deliberately excluded, so the figure is conservative. The headline figure is gross of ongoing staff and software costs unless stated otherwise.

The Headline

Next to a Real Clinic's First Year, We Barely Register

An average bricks-and-mortar clinic spends around $225k just on fit-out and lease to open the doors, then carries $700,000 to $900,000 a year in salaries for two full-time doctors and two full-time nurses, on top of all the same software and compliance costs we pay. We stood the whole thing up for $35.4k.

Golden Ratio Clinic everything it took to launch
~$35.4k
Traditional clinic year one: fit-out + lease + 2 doctors + 2 nurses + the same software
$0.95M - $1.15M
$0$250k$500k$750k$1M+
About 3% of a traditional clinic's first year, and we recoup it in ~3 weeks.
What it cost us to launch
$35.4k
Live and fully compliant, recouped in ~3 weeks. Our own staffing stays lean too: one sessional doctor and one nurse, not four salaried clinicians.
vs
A traditional clinic, year one
$0.95-1.15M
$225k fit-out + lease, $700-900k in salaries for 2 doctors and 2 nurses, plus the same software and compliance stack we run.
A traditional clinic sinks the better part of a million dollars into its first year before it ever turns a profit. We're live for $35.4k, the build pays for itself in about three weeks of script margin, and our staffing scales with real patient work instead of a fixed payroll committed on day one. Lower cost, lower risk, faster to profit, same compliance, same clinical standard.
Our Own Pay

Lean Staffing, and Pay That Scales With Profit

Our ongoing staffing is lean by design: one sessional doctor and one full-time nurse, not four salaried clinicians. The team behind the clinic starts on modest, normal figures. The operating partner draws a small base salary from day one to run the show; the directors take nothing until there's profit to share. From there, everyone's upside grows with net profit.

How monthly net profit is shared
Director · 42.5%
Director · 42.5%
Operating · 15%
Shares are of net profit, after every cost has been covered. The two directors take 42.5% each (85% between them), purely as profit, no wage. The operating partner takes 15% on top of a base management salary, the only salary the business pays outside the clinical team (the nurses and doctors).
🛠️

The Operating Partner

Runs the practice, manages the IT and feeds the marketing for a base of $4,000 + GST a month minimum, on a quickly sliding scale that rises with profitability, plus 15% of monthly net profit as the third partner.

📈

The Two Directors

Take 42.5% of net profit each, a share whose dollar value grows steadily as the business grows. Paid out of net profit and tied entirely to performance, never a fixed salary committed up front.

Nobody draws a big salary up front. A traditional practice locks in $700,000 to $900,000 of fixed wages on day one; ours is one small base salary, and everything else rises only with profit. So the build recouping itself in about 3 weeks isn't hiding a payroll, it's sitting on top of a deliberately lean, performance-tied cost base.
Where it gets exciting: take-home at each milestone

As monthly net profit climbs with the book, the operating partner's salary steps up $1,000 at each early milestone, then $2,000 a milestone once profit passes $300k, and every partner's profit share grows alongside it. All figures are per month, and they only get bigger from here.

Monthly net profit Operating salary + 15% share Operating partner total Each director (42.5%)
$15,000$4,000$2,250$6,250$6,375
$40,000$5,000$6,000$11,000$17,000
$80,000$6,000$12,000$18,000$34,000
$150,000$7,000$22,500$29,500$63,750
$300,000$9,000$45,000$54,000$127,500
$600,000$11,000$90,000$101,000$255,000
$1,000,000$13,000$150,000$163,000$425,000

Net profit is the gross script margin after every running cost. The salary is paid as a cost before profit; the percentage shares are of what's left, so two directors at 42.5% each plus the operating partner at 15% account for all of it. Salary shown ex-GST; milestones are illustrative of the clinic growing from launch toward steady state.