Where AI Actually Works in Healthcare | Billy Deitch, Oak HC/FT

Billy Deitch has a rule for founders: sizzle over steak. Too much sizzle turns him off. He wants to see the steak first.Billy Deitch is a partner at Oak HC/FT, one of the most respected healthcare-focused growth equity and venture firms in the country. Before joining Oak to open its West Coast office, Billy started his career in investment banking at UBS and then sharpened his skills at Francisco Partners and TPG Growth. In this episode of Carried Interest, Sam Andersen sits down with Billy to talk about what it actually means to be a "counselor" investor rather than a dealmaker.Inside this conversation:— Billy traces his path from a history major at Yale to investment banking at UBS to growth investing at TPG and Francisco Partners and explains why he jumped at the chance to open Oak's West Coast office and focus entirely on healthcare.— He breaks down how growing up around a family of lawyers and marrying into a family of psychologists shaped his approach to being a board member, and where he draws the line between empathy and metrics-driven investing.— Billy digs into what's actually changing in healthcare because of AI, from administrative automation to AI-assisted care delivery, and where the technology should and shouldn't touch the doctor-patient relationship.— He tells the story behind Oak's investment in Candid, tracing it back to relationships the firm built over two decades in revenue cycle management, including co-founder Annie Lamont's early bet on athenahealth.— Finally, Billy closes with what winning actually looks like for him personally, and why he thinks luck plays a bigger role in investing success than most investors will admit.If you work in private equity—or want to—this one's worth your time.Carried Interest is a podcast by Affinity.🔗 Affinity: https://buff.ly/11jDF7y🔗 Oak HC/FT: https://www.oakhcft.com/🔗 Connect with Sam Andersen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samander/🔗 Connect with Billy Deitch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billy-deitch/Follow Affinity YouTube: @affinity_presentsYouTube (product): @affinity_coInstagram: @affinity.hqLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-affinity/ (00:00) - Cold open: sizzle vs. steak (00:39) - Meet Billy Deitch, partner at Oak HC/FT (01:21) - From history major to investment banking to growth equity (03:29) - Choosing venture over buyout at Francisco Partners (05:09) - What a Yale history degree teaches about pattern recognition (06:04) - A family of lawyers and psychologists, and investing as counseling (08:20) - Balancing empathy with metrics-driven investing (09:41) - Learning to read people, not just data (11:48) - Why healthcare, and the book that hooked him on it (13:53) - Oak's range from incubation to buyout, and why series A and B is the sweet spot (15:57) - Where AI is actually changing healthcare (18:29) - Administrative AI versus AI-enabled care delivery (20:18) - What makes a good board member (21:46) - The Candid deal: Nick, Doug, and Oak's roots in revenue cycle management (24:07) - How AI is reshaping careers in investing (27:37) - Building conviction: truth seekers over sizzle (29:55) - What winning means to Billy, personally (32:12) - Patience in long-horizon venture and healthcare investing (34:11) - Career advice: pair your strengths with new skills (36:14) - Family, fulfillment, and Billy's real portfolio (37:01) - Luck, humility, and staying even-keeled