A Healthy Idea

Let Us Know What you Thought of the Episode! Amazing | Good | Meh | Bad Today we sit down with Ali Maggioncalda, the CEO and founder of Lovewick. Lovewick is an app centered on creating deeper relationships for couples. Ali started off her exploration of love and relationships at Stanford doing extensive research on the psychology of healthy relationships and how that plays into the health of our daily lives. Throughout her research, she noticed there was a huge difference in finding and retaining satisfied relationships in the digital age. Her works focuses on addressing the many differences in how couples interact and think about love. Lovewick has an average of 4.8 stars on the App Store, over 150+ reviews, and has over 20,000 active users. Truly an episode to listen to if you’re interested in the science of healthy relationships (new love, married, or even with friends or family) and finding deep relationships. Topics we cover: 1) What Ali has learned after interviewing over 200 couples for user research 2) Ali's process on deciding to pursue a start-up idea 3) How to understand if the problem you're solving requires a digital solution 4) Growing your audience by using TikTok 5) The Power of Community as a Founder Want to support the podcast? You can buy us coffee here! Do you listen to our podcast on Apple? Leave us a review, it helps us out a lot! Go here, click "Listen on Apple Podcasts", then go to "Ratings and Reviews," and click "Write a Review" Want to learn even more about digital health? Sign up for our newsletter! You'll get digital health news highlights, exclusive guest Q&As, and digital health job postings in your inbox every two weeks. Check out our LinkedIn page, where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups.

Today's special guest is Victor Echevarria! Victor is a Partner at Jackson Square Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in software businesses. A founder turned investor, his investments include 1upHealth, WELL Health, and Trust & Will.  Prior to joining JSV in 2018, Victor founded Remedy Labs, a healthcare fintech company focused on patient and payer billing accuracy. He was also a very early team member at TaskRabbit, where he ran marketing and business development, conceptualizing and launching the company's B2B offering. Topics we talk about today: 1) How did being an early leader at TaskRabbit change the way you think about operating startups? 2) Victor's insane luck of graduating into two different recessions after finishing undergrad and B-school. 3) Why there's "never a good time" to start a company. 4) What is interoperability and why now might finally be the time to achieve it. 5) Are SPACs worth the hype? 6) How start-up founders can hack hyper-personal growth Want to support the podcast? You can buy us coffee here! Do you listen to our podcast on Apple? Leave us a review, it helps us out a lot! Go here, click "Listen on Apple Podcasts", then go to "Ratings and Reviews," and click "Write a Review" Want to learn even more about digital health? Sign up for our newsletter! You'll get digital health news highlights, exclusive guest Q&As, and digital health job postings in your inbox every two weeks. Check out our LinkedIn page, where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups.

Elsa and Arelys are the co-founders of MindThruBody, an online community focused on empowering Latinx women to pursue physical activity through the power of community and sharing experiences. Topics we talk about today: What made you want to start this organization? Why use Instagram as your main channel for distributing content? What's it like working completely remotely?  What does it mean to build community? What does the final version of Mindthrubody look like in your mind? Want to support the podcast? You can buy us coffee here! What did you think of this episode? Amazing • Good • Meh • Bad Do you listen to our podcast on Apple? Leave us a review, it helps us out a lot! Go here, click "Listen on Apple Podcasts", then go to "Ratings and Reviews," and click "Write a Review" Want to learn even more about digital health? Sign up for our newsletter! You'll get digital health news highlights, exclusive guest Q&As, and digital health job postings in your inbox every two weeks. Check out our LinkedIn page, where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups.

Dr. Wardah Inam is the CEO and co-founder of Overjet. Overjet is a software company that develops a platform designed to reduce costs and improve the quality of dental care. It uses artificial intelligence and analyzes dental data to determine what treatments are necessary for the patient, enabling patients to get improved dental care. She has been ranked among the 32 most influential people in dentistry by Incisal Edge. Prior to founding Overjet, she led product development at a Silicon Valley-based healthcare startup, Q Bio, working on biomedical imaging. Topics we discuss today: Wardah's journey into entrepreneurship How do you go about finding early customers? Overcoming challenges working with dental care data Advice on recruiting high-quality engineering talent How do you manage patients over time? How do you think about how much money you should raise for your company? You can pick up a copy of the book Wardah is currently reading here! Want to support the podcast? You can buy us coffee here! Do you listen to our podcast on Apple? Leave us a review, it helps us out a lot! Go here, click "Listen on Apple Podcasts", then go to "Ratings and Reviews," and click "Write a Review" Want to learn even more about digital health? Sign up for our newsletter! You'll get digital health news highlights, exclusive guest Q&As, and digital health job postings in your inbox every two weeks. Check out our LinkedIn page, where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups.

Wally Health is the one-stop shop for oral care.  Wally is reinventing the end-to-end dental care experience with personalized, accessible, and affordable dental products delivered to your front door. Consider Wally Health the Hims & Hers of dental care. Tyler is a mission-driven entrepreneur who previously co-founded Western Canada's largest private digital OOH media company (exit to Canada's 3rd largest co).  After receiving a dental treatment plan for 8 fillings, when he actually only needed one, he and his co-founders began building a solution to solve the current oral care crisis. Topics we discuss today: Why proper oral care starts at home The Billion Dollar Market for Unnecessary tooth fillings Why is dental health so important? Differences between Canadian and US dental care. What does an “ideal” dental experience look like? What dental products should consumers avoid? As a B2C product, how do you get yourself in front of customers? Shocking Facts about Dental Care: According to the CDC, an estimated 1 in 4 adults aged 20 - 44 have an untreated cavity. (Source) A study in 2011 found that an estimated fifty percent of Americans avoid going to the dentist out of fear or anxiety. (Source) In 2018, 42% of surveyed Americans don't see a dentist as often as they would like (Source) Want to support the podcast? You can buy us coffee here! Do you listen to our podcast on Apple? Leave us a review, it helps us out a lot! Go here, click "Listen on Apple Podcasts", then go to "Ratings and Reviews," and click "Write a Review" Want to learn even more about digital health? Sign up for our newsletter! You'll get digital health news highlights, exclusive guest Q&As, and digital health job postings in your inbox every two weeks. Check out our LinkedIn page, where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups.

Today we sit down with Ryan Hungate, CEO of Simplifeye. Simplifeye is building an all-in-one suite of products to help dental offices manage their patients. Simplifeye provides an out-of-the-box solution that offers Live Chat, Payments, Scheduling, and connected telehealth to customers. Ryan provides some fantastic insights on sales, defining your company's value proposition, and his mindset on how he approaches creating a product that users actually want.  Topics we discuss today:  1.) Ryan’s first attempts at creating a start-up and what he learned.  2.) How to convince your customers that they should use your product.  3.) What does it take to create a strong sales organization?  4.) How you might be talking your way out of a sale rather than talking yourself into one when speaking with customers.  5.) How do payment companies like Affirm work? 6.) How can dental care providers leverage their business model to provide more flexible financing in dental care? Want to support the podcast? You can buy us coffee here! Do you listen to our podcast on Apple? Leave us a review, it helps us out a lot! Go here, click "Listen on Apple Podcasts", then go to "Ratings and Reviews," and click "Write a Review" Want to learn even more about digital health? Sign up for our newsletter! You'll get digital health news highlights, exclusive guest Q&As, and digital health job postings in your inbox every two weeks. Check out our LinkedIn page where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups.

Today, we have part two of our interview with Danny Kim, the Head of Corporate Development at WELT! WELT was founded in 2016 as a spin-off of Samsung to explore the intersection of healthcare and technology. WELT creates personalized digital therapeutics that combine sensor and digital biomarker technologies with therapeutic contents for the treatment of diseases with a high unmet medical need. In the past, Danny served as the Director of Business Development at Soundable Health,  VP at Contrary Capital, Corporate Development Analyst with Pear Therapeutics as an operator at PillPack (PillPack's biggest fanboy—Danny's unofficial title at the company); the company was acquired by Amazon for $1B during his stay. What you will learn about today: 1.) What are digital therapeutics? 2.) How do you prove efficacy for a digital therapeutic? 3.) How is data driving the world of healthcare? Who should be in charge of that data? 4.) How will people manage their healthcare data in the future? 5.) What does corporate development look like at a digital therapeutics company? Want to support the podcast? You can buy us coffee here! Do you listen to our podcast on Apple? Leave us a review, it helps us out a lot! Go here, click "Listen on Apple Podcasts", then go to "Ratings and Reviews," and click "Write a Review" Want to learn even more about digital health? Sign up for our newsletter! You'll get digital health news highlights, exclusive guest Q&As, and digital health job postings in your inbox every two weeks.  Check out our LinkedIn page where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups.

Today, we have part one of our interview with Danny Kim, the Head of Corporate Development at WELT. WELT was founded in 2016 as a spin-off of Samsung to explore the intersection of healthcare and technology. WELT creates personalized digital therapeutics that combine sensor and digital biomarker technologies with therapeutic contents for the treatment of diseases with a high unmet medical need. In the past, Danny served as the Director of Business Development at Soundable Health,  VP at Contrary Capital, Corporate Development Analyst with Pear Therapeutics as an operator at PillPack (PillPack's biggest fanboy—Danny's unofficial title at the company); the company was acquired by Amazon for $1B during his stay. This week's episode will be slightly different from our typical interview structure. Next week’s episode will be more traditional, where we deep dive into Danny’s background and his work at WELT. What you will learn about today: 1.) How working directly under TJ Parker (CEO & Co-founder of Pill Pack, acq. By Amazon) fundamentally changed how Danny approaches problems and entrepreneurship. 2.) How do you balance the different needs of the multiple stakeholders (patients, health insurance, provider, pharmaceutical companies) in the therapeutics space? 3.) Why Amazon acquiring Pill Pack makes so much sense If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe for more and leave a rating on whichever platform you listen to your podcasts! Sign up to receive updates on new episodes, exclusive Q&A, and future giveaways. Check out our LinkedIn page where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups.

New podcast format alert!  Iman and I are trying something new this week. In this episode, we will be discussing some of the most recent and interesting news in the digital health space! In today's episode, we talk about: - Prince Harry's new job as an Executive at a Digital Health Company - The $7.1 Billion that digital health companies raised in Q1 2021 - How only 14% of 2019 funding went to companies that were led by women If you liked the format of this episode, send us an email at [email protected] telling us that you liked it! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe for more and leave a rating on whichever platform you listen to your podcasts! Sign up to receive updates on new episodes, exclusive Q&A, and future giveaways. Check out our LinkedIn page where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups. 

David Lucatch is the CEO, President & Chair of the Corporation at Liquid Avatar Technologies. He has spent over 35 years as a serial entrepreneur in the international marketing arena and over 25 years of that developing technologies and taking them to market. Today, David’s focus is set squarely on Liquid Avatar (formerly The KABN Network), as its Chair, and its mission to empower individuals, through Self Sovereign Identity, to manage, control, and profit from the use of their identity and related personal data. Topics We Discuss in Our Interview: Why will identity services be so important during and post-COVID? How are you partnering with companies to create a “digital passport” to track proof of COVID vaccinations and test results? How will you go about creating this “digital passport”? How will people get back to normal in a post-vaccine world? Why continue building in the technology space? What keeps the passion alive? Where do you see health and technology intersecting in the next 5 years? If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe for more and leave a rating on whichever platform you listen to your podcasts! Sign up to receive updates on new episodes, exclusive Q&A, and future giveaways. Check out our LinkedIn page where we share digital health news and new episodes! Connect with Nico via Twitter for Tweets about digital health news and startups.