Ep. 81: Healthcare Innovation, Data Access & the Blockchain —with Kat Kuzmeskas of SimplyVital

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