Season 1
Raising $44 million and taking Mednow public - Karim Nassar
Karim is a deep thinker and I have been lucky to have several insightful conversations with him about all things healthcare. I am excited to share some of these with you. He previously was the CEO and co-founder of Mednow, raising $44 million and taking it public at a $150 million market cap. Correction: Karim meant to say Mckesson acquired Rexall and not RemedyRx Mednow: https://mednow.ca/ Karim: https://x.com/KarimsRealm Rishad: / rishadusmani HealthTech Investors: https://www.healthtechinvestors.com/
Sahir Ali is a the founding general partner of Modi Ventures, an early stage venture fund investing in tech-bio startups. He is also an LP in multiple funds including Draper Associates and Khosla Ventures. He is an accomplished entrepreneur and investor. We discuss his path to launching a venture fund, founder selection, decision making and more! Rishad Usmani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishadusmani/ Healthtech Investors: https://www.healthtechinvestors.com/ Sahir Alir: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahirzeeshan-ali/ Modi Ventures: https://www.modivc.com/ 2:10 Why launch a venture fund? 5:40 Hyper vs diligence 7:40 Product vs founder 11:34 Niche down or shotgun approach 14:40 Single gene mutation therapeutics 19:10 LP relationships 24:00 Decision making framework 28:10 Portfolio construction 37:40 What is the ideal emerging manager? 45:30 Process vs outcomes, incentives 49:40 Digital therapeutics 52:52 Momentum investing 57:35 Structure vs intuition 1:01:55 First mover advantage 1:06:40 War time vs peacetime ceo 1:10:10 What's different about healthcare 1:11:30 Can an outsider be successful in healthcare? 1:14:40 What is your contrarian truth? 1:18:40 Is VC a game of picking the best founders or making them? 1:22:40 Intelligence vs consciousness
Key takeaways: Selling a product or interviewing for a job isn’t about you, its about the customer, the user and the company respectively. Identify the world as it is, recognize the incentives and levers in place. After doing this, the path you should follow will be easier to pick. The easiest way to build a product is to build something for your past self. Books mentioned: Good to great by Jim Collins: https://a.co/d/8JGAoUx Naval Ravikants Almanac: https://a.co/d/ijoCcEv Rishad Usmani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishadusmani/ HealthTech Investors: https://www.healthtechinvestors.com/
I am grateful for Akhilesh Pathipati, MD, MBA to share his journey, experience and knowledge! We talk about: 1. His journey in venture capital 2. AI in Healthcare 3. Profitability in Healthcare 4. Health system design 5. Future of medical education 6. His investment criteria 7. And more! Akhilesh Pathipati: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhileshpathipati/ MVM: https://mvm.com/ Rishad Usmani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishadusmani/ HealthTech Investors: https://www.healthtechinvestors.com/
Zain is someone I have known and become friends with over the past year. I am a big fan of his progress so far and can't wait to continue following his journey. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with him about his journey into healthcare startups. We talk about: Humility Healthcare EMR's Clinician Entrepreneurship Clinical Trials in Oncology Will AI replace clinicians? The future of clinical notes
Owen Willis is the Founder and General Partner at Opal Ventures. He was previously the Chief Operating Officer at Osmosis and Program Partner at On Deck. We talk about: Introduction and childhood Gender and Race Teaching as a profession Can humility be taught How to hire and onboard How to build a team and scale a startup Solo vs team work Is early stage investing a game of picking or making winners? How to identify the laggers in your investment portfolio Success, failures and market tailwinds Investing in healthcare startups Profitability in healthcare Future of training in healthcare Introspection, philosophy and reflection Owen Willis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnowenwillis/ Opal Ventures: https://www.opalventures.com/ Rishad Usmani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishadusmani/ HealthTech Investors: https://www.healthtechinvestors.com/
It was amazing to have both Saumitra Thakur and Amit Mehta, MD join me for this webinar. Both have been an inspiration for myself in finding my path. I am incredibly thankful for:Saumitra for sharing his frameworks and schema's on venture capital and life. Amit for sharing his journey, learnings, mistakes and advice for breaking intro venture. We talk about:Different paths to running a venture capital firm How physicians can get involved in venture capital Should physicians pursue and MBA Value of your network and track record Generative AI in healthcare Diagnostic testing in psychiatry
Steve is a physician and founder of SOAP health. Steve Charlap: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-charlap-md-mba-8911906/ SOAP Health: https://soap.health/ Rishad Usmani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishadusmani/ HealthTech Investors: https://www.healthtechinvestors.com/ Timestamps: 00:00 Childhood 03:18 Thoughts on Man’s Search for Meaning 06:15 Structure vs intuition in picking colleagues 13:01 Visionary vs operator, weaknesses vs strengths 17:58 Why do teams fall apart? 20:20 Idea meritocracy vs idea democracy 27:22 Will future doctors be actors? 30:30 Will patients use AI if its better than most doctors? 36:15 Patient responsibility for their health 42:15 EMR design, patient intake 48:30 Why do an MBA? 51:15 Should healthcare be profitable? 53:40 Future of genetic medicine 1:01:18 Proudest achievement and biggest failure 1:07:10 What is the end goal for you?
In this webinar we start with a short presentation about due diligence followed by a fireside chat with two experienced healthcare venture capitalists. Key Takeaways: 1. Have a structured due diligence process. 2. Market risk: timing and a big market opportunity are both important.3. Technology risk: better, faster, cheaper. 4. Team risk: clear founder vision, unique insight, strong leadership and resilient. 5. Execution risk: go to market strategy and business model. 6. Exit risk: what is the potential exit size or channel. 7. You will never get to 100% conviction in early stage investing, you are making decision based on incomplete information. 8. Do both personal founder and customer reference checks 9. An option pool is a must. 10. Interest over background, ability to acquire knowledge is more important than your background. 11. During a pitch introduce yourself, what are you building, what problem are you solving and the market opportunity first.
Leon is an incredibly intelligent and thoughtful human. After completing his PhD in Quantum Physics he went on found Oxitone Medical. He is also a Venture partner at Network VC. We talk about: Intuition vs structure in decision making The quantum world Backwards thinking for startups and in investing How to pick the best colleagues and employees