Latest / The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show / E196: The VC Who Spent 20 Years Grilling CEOs on Wall Street | Bryan Hunt

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E196: The VC Who Spent 20 Years Grilling CEOs on Wall Street | Bryan Hunt · The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show

0:01
[music]
0:11
Hello and welcome back to the Advancing
0:13
Healthcare Innovation Show. I'm your
0:15
host, Michael Stamatinos, and if you're
0:18
new to us, welcome. super excited to
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have you here because we're having some
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just phenomenal conversations with real
0:25
leaders that are changing the trajectory
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of healthcare and we're pretty
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passionate about a few different areas.
0:32
We're passionate about innovation about
0:35
transformation and adoption of that
0:37
innovation and access and investing. And
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me just sort of tell you a little bit
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more about what we're trying to get done
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life. And our aim is highlighting real
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stuff done, making things better, and
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giving them the space to be able to
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share their stories, their little wins,
1:03
their learnings with our community, and
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ultimately with the world. So, if you
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1:22
Pretty excited about today's
1:23
conversation and I'll give you a few
1:25
reasons why. So there are people who
1:27
build companies and then there are
1:29
people who fund companies. And then
1:32
there's a very small group of people who
1:36
spend their entire careers studying why
1:40
companies either succeed or fail.
1:44
Today's guest is one of those people. So
1:47
Brian Hunt is the general partner at
1:49
Relevance Ventures. So before becoming
1:52
an investor, Brian spent more than two
1:55
decades at Wells Fargo Securities as one
1:58
of the Wall Street's leading analysts.
2:01
So think about that for a second. For
2:04
over 20 years, uh his job is to sit
2:06
across from CEOs, founders, and
2:10
leadership teams and basically try to
2:13
answer some really hard questions like,
2:16
"Hey, is this company built to last?
2:18
uh is this leadership team seeing
2:21
something different that that others
2:23
don't? Um is the market ready? And and
2:27
maybe even more importantly
2:29
and and I think this is a is this a
2:31
great story or is this actually a great
2:34
business
2:36
and I think after studying thousands of
2:38
companies from the outside I think Brian
2:40
eventually moved into the other side of
2:43
the table. So today he helps founders
2:47
build and scale companies through
2:49
relevance ventures where they're
2:51
investing in areas like healthcare,
2:53
medical technology, wellness, uh, and
2:56
businesses trying to solve meaningful
2:58
problems. And and to me, Brian brings a
3:01
very relevant perspective that we need
3:03
more of in healthcare because I don't
3:05
think healthcare has a shortage of of
3:07
ideas. If anything, we have a lot of
3:10
incredible scientists. We've got an
3:12
amazing clinicians. We've got really
3:14
awesome founders. I think the harder
3:16
question for me is is how do you take an
3:20
idea and actually turn it into something
3:23
that survives
3:25
uh something that scales and even
3:27
something that ultimately changes
3:29
people's lives. So today we're going to
3:31
talk about um some things that are very
3:34
interesting to me. You know, patterns
3:36
that Brian has seen over decades of
3:40
studying companies in terms of what's
3:42
what sort of separates exceptional
3:44
founders from everyone else. You know,
3:47
where innovation is headed and what it
3:50
takes to build something that lasts. So
3:52
Brian, great to see you. Welcome to the
3:55
show.
3:57
>> Wow, I'm on the uh other side of the
3:59
screen blushing. Thank you so much.
4:01
There's so much we could cover that from
4:04
that just from that introduction. Um,
4:06
you know, I I will tell you, uh, you
4:09
know, just hitting the reset. Yeah. on
4:11
my background. I I will tell you the
4:14
most fascinating conversations I had
4:18
really came from the analysts that were
4:21
representing money managers,
4:23
>> analysts that were uh you know,
4:25
portfolio managers because
4:29
their jobs were on the line. They were
4:31
representing capital. That's what I'm
4:33
doing today. And and I think when you
4:36
know when you're a a young analyst, a
4:40
young portfolio manager representing
4:43
capital and trying to learn from an
4:47
analyst like myself that had been
4:48
through been on Wall Street for 20
4:51
years, you know, though they asked the
4:54
most difficult and innovative and ground
4:58
zero questions.
5:00
>> Yeah. and and to tell you
5:03
>> um I I came away smarter every time I
5:07
was on the road. I came away with better
5:09
questions every time I met with this
5:12
group of individuals and I made sure
5:15
being the I I guess you know the the old
5:19
guy on the street when I was when I was
5:22
there and way we said it was like dog
5:23
years one year as a sellside analyst was
5:26
like seven years in any other job. Um,
5:29
but I always made sure when I went on
5:30
the road to visit a company that I
5:34
always took a couple of very smart, very
5:37
young, very, I'm not going to say naive,
5:42
but starting from zero people, starting
5:46
from zero career individuals because
5:49
they always asked the best question. you
5:53
know, when you'd been around, you're
5:54
like, you know, you understand, you
5:56
believe you understand how things work,
5:59
>> but you know, when you ask a question,
6:02
when you're starting from the beginning,
6:06
>> right?
6:07
>> That's when you really learn a lot about
6:10
the structure of the company.
6:11
>> Um, and I'm going to keep going on on
6:15
you know what I think is fascinating is
6:16
that you've you've built a career around
6:20
judgment.
6:21
So understanding people, understanding
6:23
patterns, understanding whether
6:26
something is real,
6:28
where I mean where do you think that
6:30
initially came from? Do you think that's
6:32
something that's just developed over
6:34
time or do you think there was something
6:36
initially in you early on you know
6:38
someone influenced you? I'm I'm just
6:40
fascinated by that. But you know I I was
6:43
I was fascinated by I was fascinated by
6:46
money to begin with and I was fascinated
6:49
by systems
6:52
and now over time you realize you know
6:56
whether it was as a sellside analyst or
6:58
in the position I'm in today is even I
7:01
think it's more important to find the
7:06
missionaries not the mercenaries. So
7:09
originally what do you mean by that?
7:11
Well, I would tell you mercenaries are
7:13
in it for the the money. Missionaries
7:17
are in it for the purpose.
7:20
And when you [clears throat] find a when
7:21
you find a founder
7:23
that is trying to solve a problem that
7:27
is personal to them,
7:29
that's when you find the individual that
7:33
won't give up. That's when you find the
7:36
individuals that's not in it for the
7:38
money. They're in it to solve a problem
7:41
to make whatever and and and it's really
7:45
about all of us, right? At the end of
7:47
the day, it's all about humanity.
7:50
They're trying to find a solution to
7:53
improve humanity. And and I I listen to
7:57
a lot of podcasts and I read a lot, but
7:59
what you find is those missionaries in
8:03
the event of solving the problem end up
8:06
making a lot [clears throat] of money.
8:07
So if you could solve the problem and do
8:10
it passionately and find the you know
8:12
one of the best solutions to whatever
8:15
problem you have or whatever problem
8:18
you've discovered that is personal to
8:20
you whether it happened to somebody in
8:22
your family or whether it happened to
8:24
some one of your friends.
8:27
Those are the those are the people that
8:29
you put money behind because they won't
8:33
quit. they will find the resource to
8:37
help them solve their problem
8:39
>> whether it is whether it's funding or
8:42
whether it's external expertise or
8:45
whether it's through their own learnings
8:48
about how to solve the problem you know
8:51
and and there's plenty examples of that
8:53
you know that I say plenty there's
8:54
several examples of that with that we've
8:56
invested in where yeah we found a
8:59
missionary would put money behind them
9:02
and lo and behold old you know it has
9:05
become one of the
9:08
best companies in the industry sector
9:11
>> let's talk about let's talk about the
9:12
example I mean if there's one that comes
9:14
to mind love for you to share it
9:15
>> there there's yeah there's one that
9:17
comes to mind that that really you know
9:19
fits the whole healthcare mantra um and
9:23
so where we like to invest as an
9:24
organization I'll give you a little bit
9:26
about our organization
9:27
>> and and then you'll see that we're we're
9:31
missionaries not mercenaries
9:33
Um, you know, we we come from Relevance
9:36
Ventures is one of two
9:39
native independently owned venture
9:42
capital firms that's independently owned
9:43
by Native Americans. And so if you look
9:45
at all the problems on Native American
9:47
uh uh lands
9:51
on reservations,
9:55
their health problems, their community
9:58
problems are amplified
10:01
multiple times over relative to the
10:03
general population. So whether it's
10:05
diabetes or mental health or just
10:08
safety, housing, clean water and and so
10:11
we're investing in health care companies
10:14
that are both preventative and curative
10:17
that provide access
10:20
as well. We think that is a major
10:22
problem throughout the throughout the
10:24
country. And and so when you align all
10:28
of these objectives, it's we decided to
10:31
invest in kind of four pillars of
10:33
healthcare
10:34
>> which is community health, digital
10:37
health, individual health, and financial
10:40
health.
10:41
>> And you know, I'm not going to this
10:42
isn't a commercial for relevance
10:43
venture, but those are the four pillars.
10:46
And and so
10:47
>> we use those filters to find this
10:50
company called Tuliatry. Tuliatry
10:54
has more W2 psychiatrists on staff than
10:58
any company in the United States and
11:01
potentially in the world. Um,
11:04
when we invested in them, the story was
11:08
of the founder had a mental health
11:12
challenge. He tried to use his wonderful
11:16
healthc care insurance program to get
11:19
access to a provider in New York City.
11:22
Lo and behold, half the industry's cash
11:24
pay. There's a waiting list three months
11:28
long. So half the industry cash pay
11:30
industry, you know, there's other
11:31
waiting list three months long. And I'm
11:33
having a mental crisis. How do I solve
11:37
my problem,
11:38
>> right?
11:38
>> And so he ended up solving his problem,
11:41
but in the process, this person was an
11:43
analyst. He was he came from my world
11:46
of, you know, high yield and and
11:50
leverage loans. And so being a great
11:52
analyst, he's like, "There's a problem
11:54
here. This is personal to me. I'm a
11:57
missionary. I'm going to fix it." So we
12:00
invested in when they had six
12:03
psychiatrists. Now they have 800. And
12:06
this is in five years. The the company
12:11
has done uh a study of 1,800
12:16
outcomes in depression and anxiety. and
12:20
their outcomes with those patients is
12:24
almost three standard deviations better
12:25
than the industry. Why? Well, Robert the
12:29
founder and and I'm not I'm not giving
12:31
you any information that you can't find
12:33
on your own.
12:34
>> His story is on their website,
12:36
>> but Robert the founder realized that
12:38
there was two problems. Not only is
12:40
access a problem,
12:41
>> but also psychiatrists are leaving the
12:43
industry at a 1% clip annually. So
12:45
there's psychiatrists leaving the
12:47
industry takes takes eight years to grow
12:50
one. How do we fix this access problem
12:53
>> is one access is money,
12:56
>> right?
12:56
>> But excess is also technology.
13:01
So they're telescsychiatry. Half the
13:04
counties of the United States don't have
13:05
a psychiatrist. Threearters of them
13:07
don't have a child psychiatrist. And
13:09
there's only a couple thousand geriatric
13:11
psychiatrists in the country. So how do
13:14
we solve the access problem? Tell tell a
13:17
psychiatry tella health
13:21
>> but what's even more important is
13:23
they're starting to employ technology
13:27
on the back end to help on two two
13:31
issues. One, if a psychiatrist isn't
13:34
happy, burnout was a major problem in
13:36
the industry. Yeah. Yeah.
13:37
>> So, Robert analyzed all the problems
13:38
that that psychiatrists were having and
13:42
how to prevent burnout.
13:44
He's addressed those. So, I've improved
13:47
the retention of my psychiatrist.
13:49
>> I've improved access. But now, how do we
13:52
really magnify the whole flywheel?
13:55
>> It's through AI and other technologies
13:59
that improve efficiency,
14:00
>> right? So, if I can give my psychiatrist
14:03
the opportunity to have AI help them,
14:07
and I don't know if they're doing this,
14:09
but I assume they are, but help h have
14:12
AI help them process all their notes.
14:16
>> Yeah.
14:18
>> Interesting.
14:18
>> File all my claims. So, now I can pick
14:21
up a couple of appointments, one
14:24
appointment every day, maybe five to six
14:25
appointments through the week. So when
14:28
you expand capacity because we're takes
14:31
takes eight years to make a new
14:32
psychiatrist but if I can take my
14:33
current psychiatrist and expand their
14:35
capacity through through technology
14:38
then all of a sudden I've created a a a
14:43
flywheel and a new structure for
14:47
practicing in the industry which one
14:50
satisfies the consumer satisfies the
14:53
psychiatrist
14:54
>> and ultimately
14:57
>> satisfies ies the need to expand
15:00
capacity in this industry that's got a
15:03
massive massive shortfall. So those are
15:07
those
15:09
excited about
15:10
>> that's so interesting. You talk about
15:12
the
15:13
>> mercenary versus the missionary.
15:15
>> Yeah. Mercenary versus a missionary. So
15:17
>> but when they but when you meet when you
15:19
meet an exceptional CEO
15:23
>> um was it was and he sounds exceptional.
15:25
Was it obvious immediately
15:28
or did it look like strange at first and
15:30
took time?
15:30
>> I l So this is where I had an advantage.
15:34
I luckily had known Robert for over a
15:35
decade
15:37
>> and he was so going back to taking the
15:41
smart person on the road.
15:44
>> Yeah.
15:44
>> Going to meet with some of the smartest
15:46
and most difficult
15:48
clients in my business. Robert was
15:52
always at the top of my list. So I knew
15:55
he was hyper intelligent. I knew he had
15:59
a work ethic unlike you know 90% of the
16:03
people I interacted with.
16:05
>> Yeah.
16:05
>> So I when he when he immediately took up
16:07
the reigns at Tiatry and started the
16:10
company and I had started down the path
16:12
of investing.
16:14
>> I called him up and I said what are you
16:16
doing?
16:17
>> He's like he's like well I I left and I
16:20
started this business. I said, "Well,
16:22
let me know if you need capital to to
16:25
back you um because I've been investing
16:28
privately on my, you know, in private
16:30
companies on my own and I'm about to
16:32
join a venture capital firm." And and he
16:36
checked, you know, needless to say, when
16:37
I brought my partners in, he checked all
16:39
the boxes.
16:40
>> Yeah. and and you know again well
16:43
educated, extremely well spoken, raised
16:46
capital before uh with within his within
16:50
his um money management business that he
16:53
was at previously. But um you know he
16:56
had he had partnered with a psychiatrist
17:00
uh who was extremely intelligent and had
17:03
multiple different licenses well
17:05
regarded in her field and she understood
17:08
the practice side of it and it's very
17:10
important when you find a missionary
17:14
that is trying to solve a problem. This
17:16
is one more factor we look for is I
17:19
usually like to have two founders.
17:22
[clears throat]
17:23
I like to find the missionary and I like
17:25
to find the person that's got that has
17:27
the experience within the industry
17:30
whatever it is whether it's yeah medical
17:32
devices
17:34
>> or or or SAS or AI but having a very
17:40
import very very important co-founder
17:44
um
17:45
or are or very adept and intelligent
17:49
co-founder is is extremely important
17:52
Because usually the missionary this is
17:54
their first goaround.
17:56
>> When you when you when you when you have
17:59
a co-founder that has industry
18:01
experience and has been through, as I
18:04
like to affectionately call it, the the
18:06
you know the the sausage grinder before,
18:09
right? They they will they will allow
18:11
you to avoid a lot of pitfalls. And and
18:13
I'll tell you this as well, one of the
18:16
things that we like to do um in our
18:19
organization and and I'm going to steal
18:21
from um and I've stolen this actually
18:24
from from um another founder is
18:30
when you look at a company that is only
18:33
a handful of individuals, say 10 people,
18:36
[clears throat]
18:36
>> your hires are so important because you
18:39
think about it. I worked at I worked in
18:41
an organization that I was working at
18:43
the peak of my career with uh 365,000 of
18:47
my closest friends.
18:49
So a new hire really wasn't going to
18:51
impact the organization,
18:53
>> right?
18:53
>> But when you have 10 people and you hire
18:55
one more, you know, that person accounts
18:59
for rounding roughly 10% of the
19:01
organization.
19:03
>> Yeah. So running the new hires in a
19:06
startup through the the finest filter
19:09
you can find is hyper important for us
19:12
and we try to you know provide that same
19:16
level of
19:18
importance to the founders that are
19:20
building organizations. It's like you
19:23
know people is your b they're your
19:26
business at the end of the day. Your
19:27
hires are your business. You need to
19:29
[clears throat] make sure whoever you
19:31
hire is an A player.
19:33
>> You can't afford at this stage in your
19:37
business to hire a B or a C player. So
19:39
anyway,
19:40
>> you you know what I always found
19:42
fascinating about venture is um you know
19:45
founders, they typically they they come
19:46
into their room, they they've got a
19:48
sound vision, ton of conviction
19:51
um and they believe they're right. H how
19:54
do you
19:56
separate like a visionary from someone
20:00
who's simply wrong and just has a lot of
20:03
confidence? Like are there subtle
20:05
signals or red flags?
20:08
Well, we we run um we've got a team um
20:13
of three general partners, uh an
20:15
analyst, and we run every company
20:20
through a a filter and a series of
20:24
hurdles
20:25
um to make sure that the company meets
20:28
our guidelines for investment. Um
20:31
usually when we have a visionary come
20:33
into the room and you know they may have
20:39
a brilliant idea for a new product but
20:42
it won't get traction or it won't hit
20:45
and and and I I'll tell you Michael we
20:48
see a deal every day.
20:50
>> It's it's absolutely incredible. So
20:52
there's four of us right and and and
20:55
we've got support staff but between the
20:57
four of us you know we get a deal every
20:59
day. So, you know, roughly 220 work days
21:03
a year. Think about it that way.
21:06
>> So, we we see 880 deals between us.
21:10
>> The number you know and we only invest
21:12
in four to five companies a year. So, to
21:15
answer your question, yeah, it's very
21:17
it's very quick and and usually if we're
21:20
meeting them face to face,
21:22
>> they've they've passed through one of
21:24
our filters
21:26
>> and they've got some traction. So, we
21:28
look to invest in companies that are
21:30
doing about a million dollars at least
21:32
in revenues. So, they've they've
21:35
>> they've overcome
21:37
a lot of hurdles to get to us,
21:40
>> to get to get through our filters. And
21:43
so, if we're dealing with just a
21:44
visionary that's a seed investment
21:47
that's not generating any revenues, it
21:49
needs to be something very very special
21:51
for us to take a look at it.
21:53
>> Right. Now, oftentimes we will we will
21:55
meet with these visionaries pre-revenue
21:58
just to get to know them because we
22:00
think
22:00
>> they may have stumbled on something
22:02
interesting and we want to build a
22:05
relationship.
22:07
>> Um and and I I will tell you, you know,
22:09
you talked fondly about what I do and
22:12
what our organization does. One of the
22:15
things that we've been recognized for
22:17
is, you know, uh several years in a row
22:20
by Inc. being a founder friendly
22:22
organization. So you know even though
22:25
there might be faults in a business plan
22:27
even though and it and the company's got
22:30
initial traction
22:33
when we invest money we don't invest
22:35
money and walk away.
22:37
>> We think that between myself and our
22:41
other team members and and this goes
22:43
back to some of the comments you made
22:45
preliminarily.
22:47
We bring
22:50
knowledge to the table. oftentimes these
22:52
founders don't have, you know, spending
22:54
spending 20 plus years on Wall Street
22:56
and and understanding the best practices
23:00
uh of of companies, seeing them make
23:02
their mistakes and helping take those
23:06
multi-billion dollar companies sometimes
23:08
their learnings and helping it help
23:11
helping apply it to a new founder is is
23:15
is revolutionary in some instances. And
23:18
I and I will tell you I'm gonna I'm
23:20
gonna mention another like founder that
23:22
was a missionary.
23:23
>> Yeah. Yeah. Let's hear it.
23:26
>> Hamdi
23:28
from from uh Chobani.
23:32
We helped I I I worked and covered his
23:35
his credit. If there's ever a founder
23:38
that I've ever met that was passionate
23:40
about his product, passionate about,
23:44
you know, transforming the lives of his
23:46
employees and the [clears throat] health
23:49
of of the consumers who consume his
23:53
products. It's Hamdi,
23:56
that guy. And again, that's somebody who
23:59
took his product door to door and to
24:00
door in New York City and sold it. He
24:03
took a old food plant that was owned by
24:06
by Craft and turned it into a
24:09
multi-billion dollar food company
24:13
and he was the driving force behind it.
24:16
>> And I I wouldn't pronounce Hundy's last
24:17
name, but I would butcher it. [laughter]
24:20
>> What about um on the flip side of that?
24:22
Like what investments mistakes
24:25
kind of taught you the most? Like and
24:26
kind of looking back, like what did you
24:28
miss? Sounds like you got a pretty sound
24:30
process, but you don't get to a sound
24:32
process just day one. What were some of
24:34
the kind of never never left here? when
24:36
you when you look at early stage uh
24:39
venture capital um you know and I'm
24:43
going to be off by several percentage
24:44
points but you know about half of them
24:45
fail
24:47
>> and and and so when you look at
24:51
those that have failed
24:55
um you know a
24:58
one that comes to mind that just hasn't
24:59
hasn't failed but it didn't play out the
25:01
way I I anticipated
25:03
>> and it was be it it was because you had
25:06
a passion founder
25:08
um in his number two ended up being a
25:12
mercenary.
25:13
>> Again, lesson learned there.
25:16
>> Um and unfortunately the mercenary
25:19
um destroyed some relationships that the
25:22
founder had created.
25:24
>> So
25:26
um yeah, lesson lesson learned
25:29
in in that particular in instance.
25:33
um product market fit is is is usually
25:37
there for us. Um
25:40
>> but yeah, I I will tell you things that
25:43
we've learned. Um and it's it's more
25:47
about the people than anything. So I'm
25:51
I'm going to I'm going to switch gears
25:53
real quick and and say, you know, we've
25:55
chosen our field. We we've chosen our
25:58
battle. Our battle is preventative and
26:01
curative medicine,
26:02
>> right? and and and longevity. So that's
26:05
the wave we're riding. We've we've
26:06
defined ourselves. So how do we find the
26:10
best products and best people to bring
26:14
those products and services to market?
26:17
And
26:19
I would tell you it is misreading and
26:22
you you you mentioned that earlier
26:24
reading people every now and
26:27
[clears throat] then someone's going to
26:28
slide through your filter. they're going
26:30
to put on they're gonna they're they're
26:32
going to put on a mask
26:34
>> and and make it through your process.
26:37
>> And um you know since then we started
26:39
doing back background checks on on
26:41
individuals. So lesson learned but
26:44
that's that's how we've applied.
26:46
>> Yeah. If you're going to be deploying
26:47
that much capital into someone it makes
26:49
total sense to do a background check.
26:52
>> Yes. And and so we don't do it on every
26:54
employee but you know the founders.
26:56
>> Of course. Of course. and and the
26:58
founders and and the and the key and the
27:00
key lieutenants
27:02
that that is a discipline that we now uh
27:05
bring to the table and and
27:08
you know it is um I I will tell you we
27:12
haven't found anything um
27:16
extraordinary anything that would cause
27:18
us to turn away in all the background
27:20
checks we've done. Um but that's that's
27:22
the lesson we've learned from having one
27:24
bad experience.
27:27
Yeah. Get burned once, never twice. You
27:29
know,
27:30
>> never twice.
27:33
>> You know, one of the things that I've
27:35
kind of just been noticing also is it's
27:38
um
27:42
sometimes it's easier said than done
27:45
when you you talk about being very
27:48
disciplined and putting people through
27:50
filters. like it's it's okay to say that
27:53
you made you know you missed something
27:55
and even when you have all those
27:56
processes in place are there are there
28:00
ones where maybe
28:02
you passed on them but then you kind of
28:05
look back and you're like yeah that was
28:06
kind of surprising
28:08
I think I think investments have misses
28:11
like any misses that had some huge
28:13
upside that you guys didn't end up going
28:15
into that are worth noting Okay,
28:21
>> we um I I will tell you um that I'm not
28:27
going to say it was a huge upside, but
28:28
it was a miss recently on another
28:32
behavioral health company. um that
28:37
the founder had a similar experience to
28:40
Robert
28:41
>> and and she
28:44
uh built an edtech business
28:49
and um and and also came through
28:53
we had this we have this business uh
28:55
that we invested in called passport and
28:58
this was pre this was when we were
29:00
relevance capital not relevance fissures
29:02
>> hugely [snorts] successful ful hugely
29:04
successful
29:06
payments and compliance business. One in
29:09
three cars in the United States goes
29:11
through their system every day.
29:13
>> Really?
29:13
>> Um yes, they they just they just
29:16
partnered with uh you know the the city
29:20
of Arlington and Virginia. They they've
29:22
partnered with um Chicago was their very
29:25
first big contract. You know, it's
29:27
whitelabeled but hugely successful.
29:30
What's amazing about when you look at
29:32
Passport Parking in the background of
29:34
Passport is that it was so wellrun by
29:39
three founders
29:41
>> that they created
29:44
a startup machine in the city of
29:47
Charlotte where where Passport was
29:49
founded. There's over 15 companies that
29:52
have spawned out of other employees that
29:55
had worked at Passport.
29:57
>> Wow. and and this one individual she
30:01
came from passport.
30:03
So one had a great background and
30:06
grounding on a startup. Two, she was
30:10
building a business in behavioral health
30:14
that was founded on an experience.
30:27
He also was a missionary trying to solve
30:31
a problem. And we looked at the
30:33
business. We all liked it.
30:36
Unfortunately, some of the times when
30:38
you miss, it's because it's because you
30:41
don't have capital at your disposal.
30:43
>> Yeah.
30:44
>> And this was one of those instances
30:46
where we all liked it and um you know,
30:49
she has since had um multiple inquiries
30:53
about buying her company. She's grown it
30:57
rapidly. Um and it solves a massive
31:01
problem in behavioral health uh on on
31:05
university campuses
31:07
and and uh you know she's attracting
31:10
buyers because of it.
31:13
So you know that's the most recent
31:15
that's the most recent one
31:17
>> I would tell you also um again relevance
31:21
capital one of the things we've learned
31:24
is is exit. how how and when to exit
31:28
um you know when capital is flowing like
31:30
it is today when you have uh the IPO
31:35
market wide open
31:37
>> a company like SpaceX
31:40
um or anthropic or open AI and so many
31:43
other support companies for um the uh
31:49
data center business that have come
31:51
public in the last you know six months.
31:55
it is, you know, one
31:59
that's a that's a signal that there's
32:01
lots of buyers in the marketplace
32:03
>> and if we have something that we've
32:05
owned for five or six years and is
32:07
performing, we ought to be encouraging
32:08
management teams to exit.
32:10
>> But we've we've had we've had instances
32:13
where businesses decelerate, their
32:15
growth decelerate, and it's beginning to
32:18
decelerate quickly. And those are the
32:21
points where as a venture capital
32:23
investor, right, you need to move on and
32:27
hand off your business to a a strategic
32:30
or private equity.
32:32
>> So, you know, I I would tell you there's
32:34
so many lessons learned
32:36
that, you know, we don't have time for
32:38
them.
32:39
>> I say we probably have to do another
32:40
episode on that one.
32:41
>> Yeah, do another episode. But you know
32:43
when you when you look at the the cap
32:45
the the capital flows in in the in the
32:47
business you know there was a point in
32:50
time um just after COVID
32:54
um where there was no capital flowing
32:57
into venture capital. It was extremely
33:00
difficult for
33:03
startups to raise capital
33:06
and if anything and and valuations came
33:10
down precipitously. If anything, that
33:13
was the perfect time to have liquidity
33:16
as a venture capital investors because,
33:19
you know, the the leverage moved into
33:22
the buyer's hands
33:23
>> versus into the sellers's hands
33:26
>> and gave us an opportunity to structure
33:28
deals that were favorable to our LPs,
33:33
>> not only from a structure perspective,
33:35
but from a valuation perspective. So,
33:39
>> you know, the capital flows part of this
33:41
industry is is is an amazing story in
33:43
and of itself.
33:45
>> Yeah, we're gonna have to put a um a pin
33:48
in in talking about the exit because I
33:50
feel like that's probably an episode in
33:51
of itself. Um before I forget, where can
33:55
people go to kind of follow your work,
33:57
follow the work of the firm? Just kind
33:58
of give a shout out for that and then
34:00
we'll kind of take it home.
34:03
>> Yeah, absolutely. Um if if you want to
34:05
follow uh you know me, I am on LinkedIn.
34:09
Um and I publish articles, you know,
34:12
every month or so. Um it's Brian Bry Yan
34:16
dot or Brian Hunt, CFA. Um and you'll
34:22
see a guy that looks like this in the
34:24
picture and link.
34:24
>> Yeah, we'll make sure we put the link in
34:26
the description.
34:27
>> Yeah. And and when you and when you go
34:29
to uh find us on on the web, you can go
34:33
to our uh website. It's relevance
34:36
ventures.com
34:38
or you can find us on LinkedIn as well.
34:40
Um
34:42
but you know, if anybody has any
34:45
questions or wishes to reach out to me
34:47
and contact me, please do. Uh I love
34:49
this industry. I love what we're doing
34:51
and I, you know, I love helping found
34:53
founders live out their dreams and solve
34:56
real solutions
34:58
for uh humanity. And I I'll tell you and
35:00
and I'm I'm going to hit a I'm going to
35:02
hit a bullet point here real quick
35:04
that's important to me.
35:06
So when you think about what we're doing
35:08
at relevance and what others are doing
35:10
in in the same sandbox
35:14
>> on preventative medicine,
35:17
an overwhelming majority of the dollars
35:20
spent in our health care system are
35:23
spent on
35:26
two chronic diseases
35:28
and really treating and and really
35:31
treating the symptoms associated with
35:34
the chronic disease.
35:35
So think about that.
35:36
>> Yeah.
35:37
>> We're not curing the chronic disease.
35:39
We're not preventing the chronic
35:41
disease,
35:41
>> right?
35:42
>> We're throwing money at
35:45
the symptomatic side of it.
35:48
>> Yeah.
35:48
>> There's a gigantic pendulum swing taking
35:50
place and and we're investing behind it.
35:53
why that's so important. Think think
35:55
about this um listeners which is which
35:58
is if we can prevent heart disease
36:04
if we can prevent diabetes
36:07
that's roughly 80% of the chronic
36:09
disease spending in this country.
36:12
>> Yeah.
36:12
>> And you can prevent those with lifestyle
36:14
changes. You can do it with drugs and
36:16
you can do it with devices as well.
36:18
>> Right.
36:19
>> Curative. But if we could prevent those,
36:21
think about the cascading effect that
36:23
has on on humanity. One, people can get
36:26
back to work.
36:28
>> Two, they get off of Medicare and
36:30
Medicaid.
36:31
>> And three, it improves the health of our
36:34
country
36:36
from a financial standpoint.
36:38
>> You can afford to, you can pay taxes,
36:41
you can go to your job. We enhance the
36:43
productivity of the country and we
36:45
reduce the burden
36:47
on our government in terms of the
36:50
Medicare and Medicaid dollars they have
36:51
to spend.
36:52
>> It's just this tidal wave of efficiency
36:56
that comes from
36:58
spending on preventative medicine.
37:03
you're starting to see more of that
37:05
wave, that shift of people that are
37:07
being more in proactive care, seeing it,
37:10
you know, companies like Function Health
37:12
and the likes. You just you're seeing
37:14
more of it. And is it going to be more
37:16
widespread?
37:18
>> It's proven out. If you look at studies,
37:20
every dollar spent on preventative care
37:22
leads to about $5.6 in savings later in
37:26
life.
37:28
An overwhelming majority of the dollars
37:29
spent on health care actually happen in
37:32
the last decade of someone's life. So if
37:35
we can improve if we can improve your
37:37
your quality of life in those later
37:39
years and ex and extend your well-being
37:42
through preventative care measures and
37:45
it's never too late. You can start
37:48
dieting. You can start exercising. I say
37:50
dieting, eating well and exercising and
37:53
committing to good habits that extend
37:56
the quality of your life.
37:59
[clears throat]
38:01
>> Yeah,
38:05
>> that's a great place to add a uh an
38:07
ellipsus for us to have conversation.
38:10
We're going to need to have more
38:11
[laughter] more of that. I think we're
38:14
Thank you for today. Uh just even
38:16
thinking about the the missionary versus
38:19
the mercenary that really resonates with
38:21
me and I think that's going to change my
38:24
perception of you know which which
38:27
bucket do they fall into you know when
38:29
you start to measure people and you're
38:31
having conversations. So I think that's
38:32
interesting and just the work that
38:34
you're doing and the clarity and the
38:35
conviction around
38:36
>> longevity and consumerism and just being
38:39
and well-being and how that aligns with
38:42
with the firm.
38:43
>> So for those
38:45
that mercenary versus that mercenary
38:47
versus mercenary. You know, I don't want
38:50
an I don't want a founder to talk about
38:52
exit. Let me talk about exit.
38:54
>> If you're thinking about exit, you're
38:56
not thinking about the mission.
39:02
>> Yeah, that is deep.
39:04
For those that have tuned in, if you
39:06
found this conversation to be helpful
39:09
or if you want us to explore another
39:10
topic or leader that you want to hear
39:12
from, uh, drop us a note, leave a
39:14
comment, and if you wouldn't mind, you
39:17
found it helpful, reshare this, let us
39:19
know what you thought was, uh,
39:21
compelling about it for from for from
39:23
your standpoint. Again, this is this
39:24
isn't just a platform that's about
39:26
content. It's it's about community. It's
39:27
an interactive thing. So, thank you for
39:30
listening. Keep building with purpose
39:32
and we will see you next time on the
39:35
Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show.
39:38
>> Thank you, Michael. You bet.