Ep. 81: Healthcare Innovation, Data Access & the Blockchain —with Kat Kuzmeskas of SimplyVital
10/11/18 • 28 min
Building a blockchain startup is hard enough. How do you educate the market around the technology itself? How do you communicate the business case for your product? But if you’re really looking for a challenge, build a company with a focus on innovation in the healthcare space—an industry notoriously slow to adopt advanced technology!
Katherine Kuzmeskas is the founder and CEO of SimplyVital Health, a startup building the blockchain infrastructure for healthcare. By way of open source and proprietary software, SimplyVital leverages the blockchain as a tool to increase data access and decrease the cost of healthcare, globally. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Kat cut her teeth in hospital administration, serving as Program Manager and Strategic Planner for the Yale New Haven Health system.
Today, Kat joins us to discuss the challenges of innovating in the healthcare space, describing the market’s slow adoption of advanced technology and the reteaching necessary around the role of the blockchain. She shares her interest in healthcare administration and explains how a year with Teach for America led to her idea for SimplyVital Health. Listen in for Kat’s insight on leading a global company and learn how persistence, organization and the will to win lend to her success as a startup founder.
Topics Covered
The function of SimplyVital
Blockchain infrastructure for healthcare
Proprietary and open-source software
Data access to decrease costs globally
Kat’s insight on leadership
Solo musician/athlete vs. band/team
Compare to CEO of global company
The challenges of innovating in healthcare
Slow to adopt advanced technology
Must understand business perspective
Kat’s advice for startups in the healthcare space
Identify customers, run product by them first
Remember that healthcare is business (ROI)
Kat’s path to founding SimplyVital Health
Clinical rotations in Ecuador
Interest in operations, administration
Teach for America student dashboard
Apply data-driven decision-making to healthcare
Kat’s strengths as a startup founder
Persistence (outwork others)
Extremely organized
Competitive, curious
How Kat educates the healthcare market on blockchain
Recognize long sales cycle
Reteach as necessary
Consulting arm, course on Udemy
How Kat financed SimplyVital
Self-funded first year
Equity round with venture investors
Revenue from purchase of tokens
Kat’s definition of success
Personal fulfillment
Doing good in world
Connect with Kat
SimplyVital Health https://www.simplyvitalhealth.com/
SimplyVital on Twitter https://twitter.com/SimplyVitalHQ
SimplyVital on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SimplyVitalHealth/
SimplyVital on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/simplyvital-health/
Kat on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinekuzmeskas/
Kat on Twitter https://twitter.com/kkuzmesk?lang=en
Resources
Blockchain and Healthcare on Udemy https://www.udemy.com/blockchain-and-healthcare/
Chuck Klosterman X: A Highly Specific, Defiantly Incomplete History of the Early 21st Century by Chuck Klosterman
http://chuckklostermanauthor.com/books/chuck-klosterman-x-tr/chuck-klosterman-x-hc
Connect with Boost VC
Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/
Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/
Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC
Building a blockchain startup is hard enough. How do you educate the market around the technology itself? How do you communicate the business case for your product? But if you’re really looking for a challenge, build a company with a focus on innovation in the healthcare space—an industry notoriously slow to adopt advanced technology!
Katherine Kuzmeskas is the founder and CEO of SimplyVital Health, a startup building the blockchain infrastructure for healthcare. By way of open source and proprietary software, SimplyVital leverages the blockchain as a tool to increase data access and decrease the cost of healthcare, globally. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Kat cut her teeth in hospital administration, serving as Program Manager and Strategic Planner for the Yale New Haven Health system.
Today, Kat joins us to discuss the challenges of innovating in the healthcare space, describing the market’s slow adoption of advanced technology and the reteaching necessary around the role of the blockchain. She shares her interest in healthcare administration and explains how a year with Teach for America led to her idea for SimplyVital Health. Listen in for Kat’s insight on leading a global company and learn how persistence, organization and the will to win lend to her success as a startup founder.
Topics Covered
The function of SimplyVital
Blockchain infrastructure for healthcare
Proprietary and open-source software
Data access to decrease costs globally
Kat’s insight on leadership
Solo musician/athlete vs. band/team
Compare to CEO of global company
The challenges of innovating in healthcare
Slow to adopt advanced technology
Must understand business perspective
Kat’s advice for startups in the healthcare space
Identify customers, run product by them first
Remember that healthcare is business (ROI)
Kat’s path to founding SimplyVital Health
Clinical rotations in Ecuador
Interest in operations, administration
Teach for America student dashboard
Apply data-driven decision-making to healthcare
Kat’s strengths as a startup founder
Persistence (outwork others)
Extremely organized
Competitive, curious
How Kat educates the healthcare market on blockchain
Recognize long sales cycle
Reteach as necessary
Consulting arm, course on Udemy
How Kat financed SimplyVital
Self-funded first year
Equity round with venture investors
Revenue from purchase of tokens
Kat’s definition of success
Personal fulfillment
Doing good in world
Connect with Kat
SimplyVital Health https://www.simplyvitalhealth.com/
SimplyVital on Twitter https://twitter.com/SimplyVitalHQ
SimplyVital on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SimplyVitalHealth/
SimplyVital on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/simplyvital-health/
Kat on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinekuzmeskas/
Kat on Twitter https://twitter.com/kkuzmesk?lang=en
Resources
Blockchain and Healthcare on Udemy https://www.udemy.com/blockchain-and-healthcare/
Chuck Klosterman X: A Highly Specific, Defiantly Incomplete History of the Early 21st Century by Chuck Klosterman
http://chuckklostermanauthor.com/books/chuck-klosterman-x-tr/chuck-klosterman-x-hc
Connect with Boost VC
Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/
Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/
Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC
Previous Episode
Ep. 80: Pen Testing, Persistence & Product/Market Fit—with Jacob Hansen of Cobalt
When you’re building a startup, it is easy to get caught up in creating the product itself and assume that the technology is the most important thing. But Jacob Hansen argues that an early focus on users is necessary in finding product/market fit. And as your company grows, attracting the right talent becomes just as important as the technology itself.
Jacob is the co-founder and CEO of Cobalt, a security platform that is reinventing the pen test for web applications, mobile apps and APIs. An advocate of crowdsourcing and cybersecurity, Jacob has been featured in Forbes and The Verge, and he has delivered keynotes at OWASP AppSec USA and O’Reilly Security NYC, among other international conferences. Prior to his work with Cobalt, Jacob served as a consultant with Accenture, delivering Enterprise IT Solutions for Fortune 100 clients.
Today, Jacob joins us to discuss the need for cybersecurity and explain the concept of pen testing. He speaks to the growth of Cobalt, describing the company’s milestones, the scaling of its values, and his evolving role as CEO. Listen in for Jacob’s insight around product/market fit, the importance of attracting talent, and why persistence is key in building a company!
Topics Covered
The need for online security
Bad actors try to get something of value
Access to bank account, cryptocurrency
Damage reputation or influence election
The definition of pen testing
‘Good hackers’ test security of apps
Blend art and science to find issues
How Jacob got interested in security
Background in finance and business
Lost Bitcoin in hack of large exchange
Learned key management
How to scale values as your startup grows
Live values every day
Transparency, openness and hard work
How Jacob and his co-founders got to the US
Start company in Buenos Aires
Accepted to Boost VC Tribe 3
The advantages of being in Silicon Valley
Makes fundraising easier
Learn to build, scale faster
The big milestones for Cobalt they scale up
Move to Silicon Valley
$1M raise in angel round
Finding product/market fit
Hit $1M in revenue
Learn to manage team of 50
Jacob’s insight on product/market fit
Mistake to build product first
Focus on sales early on
The top themes in the security space
Developers/engineers responsible for fixing issues
Collaboration between developers and engineers
Jacob’s assumptions on how to start a company
Thought all about technology
Realizes importance of sales, hiring
Jacob’s role as a ‘decentralist’
Central institution storing data bound to go wrong
Cobalt empowers talent to work directly with clients
How to evaluate security testing talent
Rating system
Find exploits and explain potential damage
Jacob’s advice around fundraising
Celebrate the NO
Persistence is key
How Jacob grows with his shifting role at Cobalt
Read several books on each new function
Listen to podcasts and reach out on LinkedIn
Jacob’s definition of success
Respected by friends, peers
Accomplish something of value
Next Episode
Ep. 82: The New Frontier of Marketing in the Crypto Space—with Jordan Spence of MyCrypto
While the rules of traditional marketing are clearly defined, marketing in the cryptocurrency space is a whole new ballgame. How do you approach promotion in a decentralized market? What are the best strategies for driving traffic to your site and building a strong community around your brand?
Jordan Spence is the CMO of MyCrypto, an open-source, client-side tool for interacting with the blockchain. The Ethereum interface provides a suite of tools the community can use to generate a wallet on the Ethereum blockchain, access the addresses they currently own, and even swap tokens. In his role as CMO, Jordan is responsible for bringing users to the site and elevating the MyCrypto brand identity. Prior to his work in the blockchain space, Jordan served as Marketing Coordinator for AZUBU and Marketing Manager for Legendary Entertainment.
Today, Jordan joins us to discuss how marketing for cryptocurrency and the blockchain differs from marketing in a traditional setting. He shares his experience with the rebrand as MyEtherWallet became MyCrypto, describing the challenges as well as the benefits of the shift. Listen in for Jordan’s insight on working in a distributed team and learn how he is selling trust and transparency in his role at MyCrypto.
Topics Covered
Jordan’s definition of marketing
Bring users to site
Elevate brand
The most effective marketing tactics
Communicating, being honest
Build strong community
The fundamentals of MyCrypto
Ethereum interface
Suite of tools
MyCrypto’s end users
Daily users of cryptocurrency
Breaking into new user space
Jordan’s experience with the rebrand
From established brand to zero
Opportunity to make sure ready
Jordan’s biggest surprises
Importance of security in space
People losing money
The benefits of doing a rebrand
Think hard about who want to be
Start off on right foot
Jordan’s approach to marketing
Run-and-gun + thought-out tactics
Track success on social (responses)
Jordan’s insight on marketing for crypto
No defined tactics
Sell trust through transparency
The blockchain vs. traditional marketing
Can’t treat users like numbers
Share plans with customers
Jordan’s take on distributed teams
New challenge every day
Online tools (e.g.: Slack)
What Jordan is excited about
Low prices change community
‘Back to what matters’
Jordan’s definition of success
Always growing AND failing
Connect with Jordan
MyCrypto https://mycrypto.com/account
MyCrypto on Twitter https://twitter.com/mycrypto?lang=en
MyCrypto on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mycryptoHQ/
MyCrypto on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/mycrypto/
MyCrypto on Medium https://medium.com/@mycrypto
MyCrypto on GitHub https://github.com/MyCryptoHQ
MyCrypto on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/mycrypto/
Jordan on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanspence/
Jordan on Twitter https://twitter.com/spencecoin?lang=en
Resources
Coinbase https://www.coinbase.com/
Slack https://www.udemy.com/blockchain-and-healthcare/
Confluence https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence
Google Hangouts https://hangouts.google.com/
Connect with Boost VC
Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/
Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/
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