Category Archives: Innovation

Dr. Toyin Ajayi, Cityblock Health: Building and Scaling a Company With an Impactful Mission

August 2, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsAccess to care, Cityblock, Cityblock Health, Community Health, Dr. Toyin Ajayi, Health Transformer, Health Transformers, Logan Plaster, Moonshots, Toyin Ajayi, UnderservedNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:27 — 63.5MB)

Toyin Ajayi, MD, co-founded Cityblock Health in 2017 with the goal of meeting patients where they are. Cityblock Health, which joined StartUp Health in 2019, provides patients with 24/7 support and care that is affordable and fits complex needs. Their mission is not just to improve quality of care, but to improve the health of whole communities.

In this conversation, Dr. Ajayi, who stepped into the role of CEO this year, shares how their high-touch care concept adapted to COVID. She also explains how their unique model has specialists collaborating on patient care plans and gives some hard-earned leadership advice to founders.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content.
Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.

Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot.

Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary of Wise Therapeutics Shares How to Use Your Anxiety to Thrive

July 26, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Startupsanxiety, Dr Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, Health Moonshots, Health Transformer, Logan Plaster, mental health, Moonshots, Personal Zen, Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, Wise Therapeutics, Wise TxNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:55 — 16.8MB)

Our guest this week, Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, PhD, doesn’t pull any punches. She’s the co-founder of Wise Therapeutics, which joined StartUp Health last year, and author of the new book Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even Though it Feels Bad).

As you’ll hear in the interview, Dr. Dennis-Tiwary is on a bold mission to change how society thinks about anxiety, so that millions of people can thrive in the face of adversity rather than settling for being comfortably numb. She’ll also explain how her work in digital therapeutics uses simple mobile games to help people rewire their brains. Wise Therapeutics’ research-backed app – called Personal Zen – trains users to make more positive subconscious choices, one swipe at a time.

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Learn more and connect with the team at Wise Therapeutics.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot.

Storytelling: A Key Driver of Value Creation, with Jared Bloom of 4th and King

July 19, 2022Business, Health, Innovation4th and King, Jared Bloom, Logan Plaster, WisdomNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:16 — 45.1MB)

Health Transformers – what we call the entrepreneurs that we invest in and work with every day at StartUp Health – didn’t get into this business to create pitch decks. They didn’t start their companies in order to have investor meetings. They wanted to solve big problems in health. They wanted to heal people and help them live longer. However, the reality is that to achieve your health moonshot will generally require you to attract the necessary capital and talent – and that, in turn, hinges on your ability to tell your story. Whether it’s through your verbal delivery or your presentation deck, it’s essential that founders are able to frame the challenge effectively, inspire confidence in their team, and drive action.

This is precisely where our guest this week, Jared Bloom, has focused his talents. He’s the co-founder of 4th and King, an agency dedicated solely to helping companies craft, design, and deliver fundraising presentations. They’ve worked with more than 200 companies now, helping them to raise a cumulative $7B in capital.

The conversation you’ll hear is excerpted from a Fireside Chat that was held in front of a live audience of founders from the StartUp Health portfolio. In addition to Bloom’s wisdom on telling your story and nailing your next business presentation, you’ll hear his answers to a range of tactical questions from the Health Transformers in the audience.

Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot.
Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content.
Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.

David Weingard Breaks Down the Mission and Vision of StartUp Health’s New T1D Moonshot

July 12, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsCecelia Health, David Weingard, diabetes, Diabetes Moonshot, Health Moonshot, StartUp Health, T1D, T1D Moonshot, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes Moonshot, Type I DiabetesNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:51 — 18.2MB)

This week’s episode is a conversation with a very special guest, David Weingard. For years StartUp Health backed his work as a founder as he built up a startup called Cecelia Health that provides a combination of high-tech and high-touch care for people with diabetes. Now David is leading a new initiative here at StartUp Health, the Type 1 Diabetes Moonshot. As the Chief Impact Officer, David has brought together an all-star team of T1D advocates to further this moonshot by onboarding investors, entrepreneurs, and researchers who are building the future of health. Hear how the Type 1 Diabetes Moonshot Impact Board is breaking down silos and speeding up innovation — and how you can join the effort.

Entrepreneurs, are you working on a T1D solution? We want to hear from you.
Investors, want to back an impact-driven fund laser focused on T1D? Contact us.

Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content.
Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.

From the Archives: Practical Tips and Wisdom From the Gates Foundation

July 5, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Startups, UncategorizedAnnie Ye, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates Foundation, Health Tech, Innovation, Logan Plaster, Partnerships, StartUp Health, startupsNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:02 — 64.6MB)

One year ago, we chatted with Annie Ye, the Program Manager of Digital Health Innovation at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation during a StartUp Health Fireside Chat in front of an audience of Health Transformers from the StartUp Health portfolio. Ye has experience in technology and analytics strategy and joined the Foundation at the outset of the pandemic to refine and connect a number of technological initiatives and strategy teams. In this episode Ye discusses foundation priorities and best practices for startups seeking to partner on health projects.

Passionate about Type 1 diabetes? If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, contact us to learn how you can join our T1D Moonshot.
Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com
Investors: How to invest in StartUp Health Moonshots healthmoonshots.com
Want more content like this? You can subscribe to the podcast as well as other health innovation updates at startuphealth.com/content.
Sign up for StartUp Health Insider™ to get funding insights, news, and special updates delivered to your inbox.

BUA FIT Hits One Million Engagements in Support of Outdoor Fitness

June 28, 2022Business, Fitness, Health, Innovation, StartupsBUA FIT, Dave Stapleton, David Stapleton, Fitness, Health Transformer, Health Transformers, Logan Plaster, Moonshots, Nutrition and Fitness, StartUp HealthNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:48 — 29.5MB)

One in four adults is physically inactive according to a global health study published in the Lancet a few years ago. That’s an enormous number. It doesn’t take much research or imagination to figure out that this leads directly to poorer health outcomes – and just a lower quality of life in general. Our bodies need to move for our physical and mental wellbeing.

Dave Stapleton, our guest today, is working to solve this problem. Dave played semi-pro rugby in Ireland and then moved to London to work in finance. Because of his years on the field, he prefers outdoor fitness classes. He was taking part in these various bootcamps and high intensity training sessions around London when he realized two things.

The first was that outdoor training was more accessible to the people who needed it most. People who feared the judgment or complexity of a gym seemed to see outdoor classes as an entry point to fitness. The second was that the outdoor fitness market was incredibly fractured and disorganized.

So Dave did what great entrepreneurs do. He dove deep into market research, found like-minded collaborators, and began to build. The platform he created, BUA FIT, just celebrated facilitating its one millionth engagement, so we wanted to get Dave on the phone from London and hear more about how their journey has played out since StartUp Health invested in the company last year.

Learn more and connect with the team at BUA FIT.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Lactation Lab Gets FDA Breakthrough Device Designation to Help Babies Get the Nutrition They Need

June 21, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsChildrens Health, Health Transformer, Health Transformers, Lactation Lab, Logan Plaster, Moonshots, Stephanie Canale, womens healthNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:34 — 31.6MB)

Our guest this week is Stephanie Canale, MD, the CEO & Founder of Lactation Lab, which StartUp Health backed in 2019.

As a family doctor and as a mother, Dr. Canale saw firsthand the challenges faced by new moms when it comes to feeding their babies. What she saw again and again was that mothers simply didn’t have information about their own breastmilk. Was it low in certain nutrients? Would the child benefit from a supplement? Why, she wondered, was there so much guesswork about something so essential to infant thriving? So, she came up with a testing kit that analyzes breast milk to show exactly what nutrition their infant is getting, allowing mothers to replenish anything that is deficient.

We dialed up Dr. Canale this week for two reasons. One was to get her take on the current infant formula shortage, since she works so closely with new parents. But also, in exciting news, Lactation Lab has just received FDA Breakthrough designation for a device they’ve built that’s being used in hospitals to make sure that the most at-risk babies get the nutrients they need to grow and thrive. Dr. Canale explains all about it in our interview and how this FDA Breakthrough Device designation has changed her company’s trajectory in interesting ways.

Learn more and connect with the team at Lactation Lab.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

Living the Moonshot Mindset, with Lee Shapiro of 7wireVentures

June 14, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups2022 StartUp Health Festival, 7Wire Ventures, 7wireVentures, Health Moonshots, Lee Shapiro, mindset, Moonshot Mindset, StartUp Health, StartUp Health @ ViVE, StartUp Health Festival, Unity Stoakes, ViVE, ViVE 2022, ViVE MiamiNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:54 — 23.9MB)

This week we bring you a conversation between Unity Stoakes, President & Co-founder of StartUp Health, and a very special guest, long-time StartUp Health investor, collaborator, and friend Lee Shapiro. Lee is the Managing Partner at 7wireVentures, a leading health tech investment firm, but that’s just one of the many hats he’s worn in recent years.

The “beachside chat,” which was held live at the 2022 StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE in Miami Beach, covers a range of topics, from what 7wireVentures looks for in a startup to how healthcare can learn from adjacent industries, like gaming and banking.

Lee Shapiro is one of those rare voices in the industry that combines hard-earned operational experience with the health moonshot wisdom of a philosopher. He embodies the characteristics of tenacity and humility that he looks for in a startup founder, and he’s always a pleasure to talk to. Enjoy the conversation.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

How Health Innovation Startups Can Partner with Anthem

June 7, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, StartupsAnthem, Digital Health, Entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Health, Innovation, Logan Plaster, Mindsets, Moonshot Mindset, Omid Toloui, StartUp Health, startups, WisdomNicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:01 — 26.3MB)

In health innovation, you can have the most amazing idea and a rock-solid business plan, but in order to scale, you might still need to find the right enterprise partner. Topping this list for many entrepreneurs is Anthem, which serves 40 million people and is ranked #57 on the Fortune 500 list. It’s safe to say that if your startup can get distribution through this network, it’s going to put you on a whole new trajectory.

In order to find out how Anthem works with startups, we invited Omid Toloui, Anthem’s Vice President of Innovation, to join us for a chat. Anthem has had a range of programs in recent years aimed at collaborating with nimble, forward-thinking startups, like their Innovation Studio in Atlanta and their Digital Incubator Program. But we wanted Omid to pull back the curtain on exactly how Anthem thinks about innovation, and how startups can partner with them.

This StartUp Health NOW episode was excerpted from a Fireside Chat held in front of a live audience of Health Transformers from the StartUp Health portfolio. Enjoy.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com

With Particle Health’s API, Troy Bannister Is Making Health Data Interoperability a Reality

May 31, 2022Business, Health, Innovation, Insights, Startups2022 StartUp Health Festival, Cost to Zero, Health Moonshot, Health Moonshots, Health Transformer, Health Transformers, Katya Hancock, particle health, StartUp Health @ ViVE, StartUp Health Festival, troy bannister, ViVE 2022Nicole Kinsey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:01 — 26.1MB)

A 2021 report in Bloomberg Law stated that though “Health IT pros and federal regulators dream of a healthcare system in which the flow of information happens seamlessly through a simple mouse-click, at least 70% of healthcare providers still exchange medical information by fax.”

In the world of health innovation, we know what can be unlocked when patient data can move safely and quickly from point A to point B. We know it because we saw it in the world of personal finance. Interoperable financial data empowered normal people to take charge of their finances, sending and receiving money, investing with a click of a button. It also empowered a new generation of apps like Venmo and Robin Hood.

This week we bring you a conversation with Troy Bannister, CEO and Co-founder of Particle Health, a StartUp Health portfolio company that is working to bring to healthcare the same level of data interoperability that we’ve experienced in personal finance. Their API framework is a foundation for healthcare innovators to build upon, so really we’re just at the very beginning of seeing what’s possible.

Troy explains what they’ve built, and what’s coming next in health data interoperability in this conversation with Katya Hancock, partner at StartUp Health. The chat was held in front of a live audience at the StartUp Health Festival @ ViVE in Miami Beach in March.

Learn more and connect with the team at Particle Health.

Entrepreneurs: How to get investment from StartUp Health startuphealth.com