Health Innovators

If you’re an innovator with a startup, you’ve got one goal in mind: Growth. How do you grow and scale your business the right way? It could all be based on the business model you choose or in the way you seek funding - but no matter how you choose to commercialize, growth and scale are a priority. We sat down with Joe Baffone, co-founder and CEO of Annexus Health, a company that’s grown exponentially over the last few years to get his input on what he’s done right - and what he might have done differently. What did we find out? We found out that choosing the right time and the right path has many factors at play. But, once you know what you’re ultimate end goal is, you can find the right path to commercialization and growth. So grab a chair and join us for this week’s deep dive into platforms, commercialization and managing equity appropriately while growing your company! Here are the show highlights: * Alternative payment options (6:37) * How financial toxicity disrupts lives (8:33) * Determining your platform for commercialization (12:05) * Unit economics of business models (16:48) * The challenges of raising capital (19:26) * Managing equity appropriately (21:04) Guest Bio Joe Baffone is Co-Founder and CEO of Annexus Health, the leading healthcare technology company revolutionizing the patient access journey. Joe believes delivering innovative solutions that reduce financial and administrative burdens can and will improve access, speed, and adherence to critical care. With over two decades of experience in life sciences including seven years as a principal at onPoint Oncology, Joe’s passion for empowering others and breaking down barriers to patient care is on full display in the business development, strategy, and culture he’s built at Annexus Health. If you want more information about Annexus Health or Joe’s work, you can reach out to him on LinkedIn at @JoeBaffone [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-baffone/].

Healthcare innovation is on the rise and getting a lot of attention, but is it getting the RIGHT attention? The kind it not only deserves, but needs? Coming up with solutions that fit existing problems and drive adoption has always been a difficult process for innovators, but when we don’t talk to the right people during that process, it gets even harder. Sometimes finding the right people can be tricky, but the real shocker is this: Sometimes they’re already present, right under our noses - we just don’t see their value. Rebecca Love has built her career and reputation around empowering nurses to lend their voices in an attempt to build stronger communities that can transform healthcare. She believes that solving problems and scaling solutions so they work for the greater good is the whole point of healthcare. And we have all the parts needed to accomplish this feat, we just need to put them in the right order. So, join us as Rebecca gets into the details around how she’s pushing to forge a bolder, more innovative path to better healthcare by empowering nurses and giving them a voice (and seat) at the innovation table! Here are the show highlights: * This is how to achieve the best problem-solution fit (9:30) * Solving problems and scaling that solution to work for many (11:12) * Is there a nursing shortage on the horizon? (14:33) * Transforming reimbursement models (22:36) * The fundamental need for healthcare innovation (25:33) * Optimizing healthcare workforces (27:58) Guest Bio Rebecca Love is Chief Clinical Officer at Intelycare, an AI-based healthcare workforce management platform. Her extensive nursing experience earned her the recognition as the first nurse featured on Ted.com, and as one of Modern Healthcare’s most influential people in healthcare in 2022. Rebecca is passionate about empowering nurses and creating communities that can transform healthcare. Rebecca holds a M.S. in Nursing from Northeastern University, B.A. in International Relations/Spanish from Boston University. If you want more information about Intelycare or Rebecca Love’s work, you can reach out to her on LinkedIn at @RebeccaLove [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursing/].

Getting the sale is one thing - getting your innovation adopted into the larger market is another. Innovators are always looking to get their innovations successfully adopted - and there are many things you need to know that can help you reach that goal. Narrowing down where you can get the most bang for your buck is the hard part. Make no mistake, whether it’s building relationships or understanding your market culture - you have some work ahead of you. That’s where Karen Seagraves comes to the rescue. Her exposure to both the clinical and entrepreneurial sides of solution adoption can help make rolling your sleeves up and getting to work on your innovation more strategic. If landing the sale is easy for you, but achieving adoption is elusive, come hear what Karen has to say on this week’s episode! Here are the show highlights: * You’re only as good as your end user’s understanding (6:03) * Feedback is good, but the right feedback is critical (9:18) * The importance of boots on the ground implementation (13:32) * Why you need a fly on the wall (14:39) * Is your solution doing something for the right reasons? (16:30) * How to become more successful with the adoption of my solution? (21:48) Guest Bio Karen Seagraves is the Healthcare Advisor and Consultant at The Firework Factor. Her progressive, 25-year career built on challenging the status quo in healthcare has allowed her to pave the road to innovative idea generation, optimization and problem-solving in the healthcare sector. Karen received her PhD in Nursing and her Master of Science in Nursing from Georgia State University as well as her BA, BSN, MPH in Registered Nursing from Emory University. If you want more information about The Firework Factor or Karen Seagrave’s work, you can reach out to her on LinkedIn at @Karen B Seagraves [https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-b-seagraves/].

Personalized healthcare is all the rage. But make no mistake - it’s not not always personalized, especially when it comes to technology. Technology in healthcare is a game-changer, but personalizing technology can be tricky - especially since most of healthcare is geared toward an “average” patient and then adjusted on an as needed basis. These types of models make true personalization and health equity harder to reach - but not impossible. In this week’s panel, I invited Danika Kelly of My Normative, Dr. Katherine Saunders of Intellihealth, and Swathi Arulguppe from BetterMeal.AI to talk about their experiences with underserved populations, the lack of health equity, and the creative paths they’ve forged to better leverage personalized care. The future of healthcare may depend on personalization so, if you’re a startup entrepreneur, a corporate innovator, or simply someone trying to decide if your idea is a keeper, come have a listen to this week’s episode! Here are the show highlights: * Health Equity as a focus (10:12) * Identifying gaps in personalized care (10:50) * There’s no one size fits all approach to health (14:09) * Using technology to scale in a hard to scale business model (16:06) * Solving problems customers want to exchange money for (20:39) * Overcoming obstacles to health equity (25:55) Guest BiosDanika Kelly is CEO and co-founder of My Normative, a female-focused health platform driving innovation in the health sciences through clinically validated data collection, data management, and analytical processes. If you’d like to get in touch with Danika after the show or learn more about My Normative you can go to their website MyNormative.ca [https://mynormative.ca/] , or reach out to her on linked in at @Danika Kelly [https://www.linkedin.com/in/danika-kelly-wellness/]. Dr. Katherine Saunders is the co-founder of Intellihealth, an organization that is fighting the global obesity epidemic one patient – and one personalized treatment plan – at a time If you’d like to get in touch with Dr. Saunders after the show, or learn more about Intellihealth, you can go to their website at Intellihealth.co [https://www.intellihealth.co/], or reach out to her on LinkedIn at @Katherine Saunders [https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-saunders-md-711a8122/]. Swathi Arulguppe is the founder and CEO of BetterMeal.AI, a data company utilizing technology to provide nutritional treatments for chronic food related health issues and working to identify the hidden biomarkers that can impact health. If you’d like to get in touch with Swathi after the show, or learn more about BetterMeal.AI, you can go to their website at BetterMeal.AI [https://www.bettermeal.ai/], or reach out to her on LinkedIn at @Swathi A [https://www.linkedin.com/in/swathian/].

You may think that how someone lands an airplane has nothing in common with successful commercialization, but you’d be wrong. Just like successfully landing a plane requires the alignment of many factors, everything in your messaging has to be in proper alignment to! Whether you’re targeting the early market or the mainstream market, your message alignment will be key to your commercialization success. Warren Schirtzinger knows all about ‘landing’ a successful commercialization, and he’s got a few insights and strategies on messaging that can help innovators when they go to market. So, if you’re wondering if your approach should be revolutionary or incremental, if your message resonates with the right market, or you’re just ‘plane’ curious to learn what landing a plan and commercialization has to offer, you’re going to want to tune into this week’s episode! If you like this episode, check out Warren’s first interview here [https://youtu.be/kU_24751U_k] and be sure to look into these additional resources from Warren: * Market Relations Guide: A Framework for Ensuring Long-Term Market Leadership [https://www.legacy-dna.com/hubfs/High%20Tech%20Strategies%20-%20Warren%20Schirtzinger/Market%20Relations%20Guide%20--Initial%20Rough%20Draft.pdf] * Innovation-Adoption Experience, Expertise, and Word-of-Mouth Optimization [https://www.legacy-dna.com/hubfs/High%20Tech%20Strategies%20-%20Warren%20Schirtzinger/Interview%20with%20Warren%20Schirtzinger.pdf] Here are the show highlights: * The similarities between aviation and commercialization (2:55) * Alignment and the need for reinvention (9:52) * Merging your feedback with the right audience (19:29) * Sometimes you need to buck the trend (22:45) * Revolutionary vs. Incremental innovations (25:06) * How the right alignment helps deliver value (35:03) Guest Bio Warren Schirtzinger likes to refer to himself as the “luckiest business person alive” - and he very well may be! Currently the Managing Partner at High Tech Strategies, he has also built a long and successful career as a strategic advisor, VP of Sales and Marketing. Warren has also made significant contributions to emerging high-tech companies: Apple, Adobe, Harman International, Intermec, and many others. Warren has also built a successful customer alignment process and experience that helps entrepreneurs, CEOs and product leaders align their business activities with people who are motivated to buy. If you’d like to learn more about Warren and his system, or reach out to him, visit hightechstrategies.com [http://hightechstrategies.com/] or find him on LinkedIn at @Warren Schirtzinger [https://www.linkedin.com/in/warrenschirtzinger/].