There is something about working at a high-growth digital health company that inspires operators to found their own thing – even if it wasn’t the original plan.

This is Part 1 of a series on the “Paypal mafias” of digital health.
As former operators ourselves, we at Vive Collective are big believers in companies founded by digital health operators who helped build and steer a hyper-growth rocketship. These gladiators persevered through the healthcare trough of disillusionment, and can put together a team that has already built together in this tough industry. This series will celebrate and spread the hard-won expertise of these leaders.

Vive Collective, a new investment platform to build, fund and scale the next generation digital health and healthtech companies, recently convened a diverse group of industry leaders, operators, experts, and innovators for its second annual Vive Collective Summit in Austin.

Over the years I have sat down with executives from various pharmaceutical companies to discuss a range of innovation ideas. One of the consistent frustrations and biggest opportunities I hear of are the inefficiencies that providers, patients and pharma companies experience in trying to get patients on the right medications. Patients sometimes wait up to nine months...

Seven years ago, I was honored to join the board of The Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. I had a front row seat to the incredible impact of pediatric hospitals, but I also noticed opportunities to improve patient outcomes. For example, despite the amazing care that health...