Where to Plant Your First Flag: ZIP‑Level Market Entry for Home Care CEOs

This episode gives serious early-stage home care founders a repeatable, data-driven process to pick the right ZIP code or immediate market to launch their licensed non‑medical agency. Drawing on Scott McKenzie’s work across 531+ licensed agency launches, Daniel, Claire, and Sophia walk through the exact five metrics HCAB uses to forecast first‑90‑day revenue: referral density (number of high-yield referral sources per 10,000 seniors), private‑pay median household income thresholds, active competitor headcount, Medicaid waiver penetration, and background check / licensing timeline for your state. Expect specific benchmarks (e.g., target 8–12 referral sources in the first ZIP, $12k+ median household income for premium private‑pay focus, and a 60–120 day staffing plan requiring $18k–$25k payroll bridge). You’ll leave with an executable market checklist, a sample scoring sheet, and a real HCAB case study from Ohio that hit first payroll in 10 weeks.