Latest / StartUp Health NOW Podcast / KP Yelpaala of InOn Health: Health Equity Isn’t Just the Right Thing to Do, It’s Also Good for Business

Transcript

KP Yelpaala of InOn Health: Health Equity Isn’t Just the Right Thing to Do, It’s Also Good for Business · StartUp Health NOW Podcast

• 0:00
  [on-hold music] What we're running into, and it's just a brutal truth, is that we do not have enough investment going into minoritized, um, founders and women.
• 0:16
  Um, we don't have enough companies that are breaking through from pre-seed, seed, and Series A to really scale solutions for these populations, and that's kind of the heart of the matter.
• 0:26
  There's a lot behind it, but, but that's what we're really looking to get into.
• 0:31
  [on-hold music] Welcome to Startup Health NOW, the podcast where we celebrate the entrepreneurs and innovators reimagining the future of health. I'm your host, Logan Plaster.
• 0:41
  My guest on today's show is KP Yelpaula, the CEO and co-founder of InOn Health. But I wanted to have him on today because of a different project that he's involved in.
• 0:51
  Startup Health is launching a health equity moonshot, and KP Yelpaula is at the center. I wanted to have him explain why this initiative is necessary and what he sees as the next steps. Stick around.
• 1:04
  [on-hold music] KP Yelpaula, CEO and co-founder of InOn Health. Thanks for joining me today. [keyboard clicking] Really good to be with you today, Logan.
• 1:12
  [keyboard clicking] KP, um, it's great to have you for this conversation. You've been a longtime health transformer with Startup Health.
• 1:19
  Um, today, you're the CEO and co-founder of InOn Health, a platform that I understand works to improve patient outcomes for diverse communities through improved communication.
• 1:30
  But we're here to talk about another initiative that's coming down the pike. Um, as some of our listeners know, at Startup Health, we invest in what we call health moonshots.
• 1:39
  These are big, audacious goals that guide us as we push founders to collaborate, uh, and to focus on long-term impact.
• 1:47
  We have health moonshots around ending cancer and improving women's health, around lowering the cost of care. Uh, we just launched a new one around type one diabetes.
• 1:55
  But today, for this conversation, we're announcing our intention to launch a health moonshot dedicated to health equity.
• 2:03
  Um, and you, KP, are the fear-fearless leader who will be joining our impact board and really carrying the torch for this initiative.
• 2:09
  So, uh, while it's very early on and there aren't a lot of logistics ye- uh, logistical details yet, I wanna hear about your vision for this health equity moonshot and why you feel like it's necessary right now.
• 2:21
  So let's just start- [keyboard clicking] -there with that second question. Uh, why now? Um, we've been hearing plenty in the news over the last couple years about corporations and entities
• 2:32
  ostensibly placing a lot of focus on health equity, a lot of words being said. So why is it necessary for a new initiative like this to address, uh, equity in healthcare?
• 2:42
  [keyboard clicking] Thank you so much for that question, Logan, and I'm really pleased to be partnering with Startup Health on support important initiatives.
• 2:50
  So I think just, you know, I'll try to be brief, but when it comes to health equity, um, as we know through the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen the disproportionate burden of, um, both mortality and morbidity in, uh, populations of color, right?
• 3:07
  Um, and other minoritized populations. And I think that was the trigger to bring this back into the mainstream conversation. Um, health disparities, health inequities have existed for decades, so that's not new.
• 3:20
  But the pandemic kind of shined a, a light on it in a way that galvanized people to think, "Well, wow, we really need to do something about this," that, like, something has to change, and if it doesn't change, um, we're not, we're not gonna be in a great position, right?
• 3:37
  So I think the pandemic just put light on what's already been happening. And, um, when we think about h- where do we go from here, um, the innovation ecosystem is a big part of that, right?
• 3:50
  So you have several founders from, um, minoritized backgrounds, people of color, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, women even, right, that are out there doing the work, not only building innovative companies, but also trying to build solutions to solve for the challenges you find that drive health disparities, right?
• 4:12
  So that we have a disproportionate burden of, of disease, you know, and mortality in those pockets, and we're not there yet. So, so just let me just give you a couple stats.
• 4:22
  [keyboard clicking] If you take Black, Latinx, Indigenous, people of color, and woman collectively, that represents seventy percent of the US population.
• 4:31
  However, founders from those backgrounds receive less than ten percent of new venture funding. And let's go to the other side, on the funding side. If we look at the funds that are doing this investment,
• 4:45
  the same pockets of people that I talked about manage around one point three percent of those dollars that are being invested.
• 4:53
  So what we're running into, and it's just a brutal truth, is that we do not have enough investment going into minoritized, um, founders and women.
• 5:04
  Um, we don't have enough companies that are breaking through from pre-seed, seed, and Series A to really scale solutions for these populations, and that's kind of the heart of the matter.
• 5:14
  There's a lot behind it, but, but that's what we're really looking to get into. Nice.
• 5:19
  You know, what, what I hear you saying is just this very strong and necessary contrast between, uh, word and deed, really getting into the reality of health equity, moving beyond policies, and getting into the kinds of investment that's gonna move the needle for, for communities that have been historically marginalized.
• 5:40
  And as I was thinking about our conversation, like, a few big sort of dichotomies stood out to me, and I'm just...
• 5:46
  I just wanna pitch them to you like a softball and see what you think, um, and, and, and get your thoughts on them. And, and the first one is that one. The first one is words versus action.
• 5:56
  You and I have talked before about the power of words and how important it is, you know, how we talk about communities and about equity, uh, and yet there comes a time when, when words, uh, definitely are not enough.
• 6:08
  So where do you see the contrast between words and action in today's conversationRight.
• 6:15
  So I think, um, I'll at least-- I'll share my view, and I think others may share this sentiment, but, you know, coming through the pandemic and also looking at the Black Lives Matter movement and other movements of, around social change, racism, um, in terms of systemic racism and its impact in our society, for example, lots of organizations and companies made lots of commitments, right?
• 6:39
  Um, and I think for many of us, we were watching to see, well, were these commitments just words, or was more going to happen?
• 6:48
  And, and unfortunately, if you look at where we are today, those commitments that people made, um, and institutions specifically, several institutions haven't really moved forward and made any substantive moves beyond the words.
• 7:02
  This is the truth. So there's three layers that I'd like to frame. There's actually words, intention, and action, right?
• 7:10
  Um, and I think, you know, when I approached StartUp Health, um, I had a very open conversation with the leadership at StartUp Health saying that, "Look, not just me as a founder of color, but other founders of color and women have been having challenges raising rounds, pre-seed, seed, um, and having challenges that we think are related to our backgrounds," right?
• 7:31
  Every entrepreneur has challenges. Starting a company is hard. No one's saying that's not the case.
• 7:37
  But there are layers upon layers of other issues that minoritized or historically marginalized populations face, and I think that, you know, what we're really looking for is who's actually gonna step up and lead, right, and, and, and, and have the right intention.
• 7:51
  Yeah.
• 7:51
  So we're not saying that everything is perfect today, but if we can partner with groups in the right way and set the right intentions and make them public so that we're accountable, and then, and then also show how we're moving towards those actions, that's also how we build trust, 'cause I think ultimately, Logan, we've got a breach of trust for a lot of people that don't really think that there's an intention- Mm.
• 8:15
  -to support, um, historically minoritized, marginalized founders. That's interesting. It'll be interesting to see how that, that type of intentionality is woven into this initiative.
• 8:27
  Uh, another contrast, dichotomy that comes to mind for me is micro versus macro.
• 8:32
  The, the role of the individual and, in our case, uh, entrepreneurs, small businesses, versus large corporates, uh, as we seek to address this.
• 8:41
  And this is particularly pertinent to our Moonshot initiative, which is going to obviously seek to bring together, uh, these different communities around the same table. Right.
• 8:52
  So I think, um, when you look at corporations, venture, and all of that, I think there's, there's, there's part of this that gets missed, is sometimes we say, well, there needs to be more funding for,
• 9:04
  um, founders of color, people of color, indigenous populations, others. And the issue is, if you go upstream, who are the LPs that are funding the funds? Right? You need diversity throughout the chain.
• 9:18
  In other words, um, the LPs that are, that are investing in these funds need to come from more diverse backgrounds.
• 9:26
  That will have an impact on the theory of change and thesis of those investment funds and how they analyze companies.
• 9:32
  Then, when you look at how those funds are deployed, we have to understand that there needs to be a certain amount of intentionality around how we support and engage, um, uh, underrepresented founders, right? Yeah.
• 9:44
  And so I think, you know, those two things sometimes are not talked about, that upstream. Yeah. Right? And then the downstream is there's no shortage of these founders. They're there, right?
• 9:53
  So I think, you know-- But I think founders of, of color, um, are becoming more savvy to really sizing up
• 10:02
  whether some of these investment funds they believe are really there to back them and, and be empathetic and work with them through the unique challenges that they're going to face- Hmm. -to build their businesses.
• 10:13
  Right? So I think those are all s- kind of different layers of the onion that- Yeah. -we hope this initiative unpacks. Yeah.
• 10:19
  What I hear you s- describing is more of a holistic, three hundred and sixty degree sort of support for a founder versus, uh, sort of a, a single initiative or two initiatives that we hope kind of wrap around an individual but really come up short.
• 10:36
  Exactly.
• 10:37
  There needs to be a three sixty degree approach, and I think when I, when I approached StartUp Health to have this open and honest conversation about my own struggles and what I was hearing from my colleagues, what I did appreciate is that I felt heard.
• 10:49
  So, you know, they listened. I felt like they, they weren't not believing what I was saying. They were like, "Yes, we're actually hearing this from other founders."
• 10:56
  And when you look at StartUp Health's model, on the one hand, we're talking about funding. There needs to be more funding, but not just that. Someone needs to lead, right?
• 11:06
  A lot of what these founders face is they can't find a lead investor. Hmm. They have plenty of investors that say they follow.
• 11:12
  That is a challenge for entrepreneurs generally, but that is more of a challenge for founders of color and women. Yeah. Right?
• 11:19
  And the data will come out on this, but if you go and run the numbers, you'll find that founders of color relative to other founders have a harder time finding a lead. So we need venture to step up and lead early.
• 11:31
  That's gonna create the successes that will get companies to Series A and B, right? And StartUp Health, I think, is in a position with intentionality to implement dollars that way. We need community.
• 11:41
  How do we use our festivals to create a space on an ongoing basis, not on a one-off, for founders to share their stories, to share their successes, to connect, right?
• 11:52
  Um, and then the issues, how do we, like, track this over time and create accountability, right?
• 11:57
  I think StartUp Health as a leader, um, setting an intention and saying, "Look, we know that we wanna move to a better place."
• 12:04
  We have, you know, thirty percent of StartUp Health founders, um, are women or people of color, right? That's, that's pretty strong, right?
• 12:12
  But we also know that that has to cascade through the board, through the LPs, through all these other elements of the model, and even in our circles.
• 12:20
  When we think about our, our, our, our circles that we bring together of u- of entrepreneurs, how do we create spacesFor diverse founders to also be able to connect with each other and have a support system.
• 12:33
  So it is truly a 360, uh, degree approach that we're considering.
• 12:38
  It re- really makes me think about the conversations we've had around social determinants of health and how, uh, you can't just hand somebody a, a pill, uh, if they're having trouble, um, uh, they don't have a car, they don't have a, a way of, um, getting an education.
• 12:54
  There's all these things that contribute to, to health that have nothing to do with the, uh, the, the treatment and therapy that you think is the cure, this wraparound- Mm-hmm... approach to health.
• 13:04
  And I wonder when you think about the wraparound approach to, um, supporting entrepreneurs, uh, from, um, traditionally marginalized backgrounds, uh, uh, what other ways can we support beyond funding at all?
• 13:20
  You know, what are some of the maybe creative ways that we can be offering holistic support? Right. So I think that, um, one thing is we need to share the information.
• 13:32
  Like, the information about these challenges needs to be out there and more public, right? So there are a number of industry reports that are coming out and showing that these things are the case, right?
• 13:42
  So how do we build more awareness that this is actually true? Because the fact of the matter is not everyone believes this is true. Mm. Some people may say, "Look, it's just hard for entrepreneurs," right?
• 13:51
  That's just life. Like, every entrepreneur is struggling. Yeah. Right? And so industry needs to accept that for minoritized, uh, founders and women, it is harder, period. Right? So that's...
• 14:01
  And we need more evidence on that. I think issue two is, um, like if we can lead early, right?
• 14:09
  And if we could really like not only lead early, but understand that those unique challenges translate into different things, right?
• 14:17
  Um, women and minoritized founders might need more runway to get to that next round because they're facing different challenges, right? Yeah. Every entrepreneur is struggling for runway. Diverse founders struggle more.
• 14:29
  Yeah. Period. Right?
• 14:30
  So, like, when we start to intentionally accept that, then we build a model that is wrapped around those unique challenges, and that is also going to, um, enable these entrepreneurs to be more likely to succeed and get to that series A, series B, and then we're gonna be able to point to those case studies and examples, right?
• 14:49
  But then also there's community. Like, you know, StartUp Health is very much about health transformers doing this for a lifetime. Yeah.
• 14:57
  The unique stresses of being an entrepreneur who's a woman or minoritized add dimensions and layers to that.
• 15:04
  And so when we think about community and we think about circles that StartUp Health organizes for entrepreneur peer-to-peer networks and groups, I think there's a model that can be built that's intentional around that, right?
• 15:17
  So you've got the support systems around the entrepreneurs, we've got building the stories of these entrepreneurs and the unique challenges they face, and then funding them early and leading, right?
• 15:27
  To give them a chance to actually get through those early hurdles and move to their series A, B, and C. Yeah. Two themes that I'm hearing coming out here are, uh, clarity and empathy.
• 15:39
  So clarity, r- really being able to, to walk through, "Hey, here was my experience, uh, f- for you as a, as a Black man in America. Here's what I came up against. Here were the challenges that I faced."
• 15:52
  And then having groups that, that can really enter into that with empathy and say, "You know what?
• 15:58
  I may not have experienced that myself, um, but I, I hear you and I am right there with you," and using that as a foundation to start, like you said, creating the intentionality for, okay, what do we do next together?
• 16:12
  Mm-hmm. That's, that's 100%, uh, right in my view, Logan. Empathy is, is a clear part of this. 'Cause a- I'll say it again, entrepreneurship is hard for every entrepreneur. It is, right?
• 16:24
  There was a study that came out from Rock Health, and it said that, this was in 2020, less than 30% of Black digital health founders were venture backed compared to 50% of Asian and white founders. Mm.
• 16:37
  It's just, it's just the truth. Yeah. Right? So what we're not trying to do is minimize the challenges that entrepreneurs face in the market.
• 16:44
  What we're trying to say is there are a, a unique set of challenges that this type of entrepreneur faces that have to be addressed so that, so that this, like, country, this innovation ecosystem can benefit from the brilliance of these people.
• 16:58
  Yeah. Right? Because those innovations are what are gonna help unlock some of these really intractable challenges out there, right? Yeah. That, that these health transformers are working on.
• 17:07
  So, so I think you're right about empathy is we see that entrepreneurship's hard for everybody. All we're saying is there's unique challenges in these spaces- Yeah... that need to get addressed. Yeah.
• 17:17
  A- a- another contrast that kind of stuck out to me was short term versus long term.
• 17:21
  There are certain issues around health equity that we can, um, uh, we can discuss and we can be intentional about, and we can let evolve over time and strategize, and there are some things where we can say, "You know what?
• 17:36
  We've had enough. Uh, this needs to change, uh, today." Right. Right. I mean, look, like, health equity is an aspiration. I mean, is... It's about everybody being able to achieve their fullest health potential, right?
• 17:52
  That it's about everybody. And that is a long-term bet. Like, there's... We work in healthcare, I know everything is long, [laughs] right? Yeah. So, so anyone in healthcare knows that. Yeah.
• 18:02
  But I think we're talking about the tactics, like you're saying, Logan, the short-term tactics, and really we're talking about intentionality.
• 18:09
  And part of this is also the work that we do inside our organizations, like the fact that StartUp Health is willing to partner with me and others to really start to do the work, right?
• 18:20
  'Cause we gotta do that internal work- Yeah... as an organization, and that translates into how we work with entrepreneurs.
• 18:26
  So, you know, I think those are some of the short-term tactics and intentionality that move us towards-That longer term aspiration of health equity. Yeah.
• 18:36
  Well, it's, it's very exciting to know that you're coming on to the impact board here at StartUp Health, and this is, even though it's in the early innings, exciting to hear the vision for this health equity, uh, moonshot.
• 18:47
  Tell me about, I understand that you are working, you are collaborating with, I'm not sure how, how to phrase it, but with the Clinton Global Initiative, um, and have a, an application with them.
• 18:59
  I know it's meeting, uh, this fall. Um, what does that work look like with CGI? Right.
• 19:05
  So Clinton Global Initiative is restarting after several years, and their goal is to really partner with the public and private sector around commitments to action that can be transformative in terms of social and economic welfare.
• 19:20
  So one of their tracks is around health equity in the US, understanding the tremendous challenges we have.
• 19:26
  And so we will be participating in StartUp Health and being public about, um, some elements of how, you know, I will be working with StartUp Health and, and others, uh, to really fulfill, um, not just the health equity moonshot, but really looking at how health equity infuses all the moonshots, like everything that the transformers are doing, and how we think about that in the US first, but then eventually how do we think about that globally as well- Mm...
• 19:52
  knowing that StartUp Health is global. So we're very excited to be participating in Clinton Global Initiative. More to come on that, but, you know, our real intention here is to make the first volley to say, "We're here.
• 20:03
  We're acknowledging that this needs to happen. We're being intentional about it, and we're going to be public and accountable-" Yeah... "to change."
• 20:11
  And I think all those things send the right signals to the market to build trust and to show them that we're really gonna do something.
• 20:18
  You mentioned something that I think is so key to this, which is that this is not a separate moonshot initiative.
• 20:24
  This is a framework that is woven throughout every initiative, uh, that StartUp Health does and is gonna have to create... We're gonna have to build it in different ways, I think.
• 20:33
  The w- what I hear you saying, it's gonna have to be a language and a, a, a system by which, and a filter by which we- Mm-hmm...
• 20:43
  uh, think about the entrepreneurs that we back, the systems that we create, the language that we use, everything. Exactly.
• 20:49
  And our governance, our impact board, ensuring that we get rep- appropriate representation there, and like all layers, right? Mm-hmm.
• 20:56
  Um, ensuring that we infuse this throughout the system intentionally and that we have a plan going forward. So I'm, I'm very, very pleased. Um, and, you know, it's, this is what it takes.
• 21:09
  You know, the fact that I went to StartUp Health leadership and now this conversation, and they're willing to take action and collaborate is, is what it takes. And it's real work. It's not...
• 21:18
  There's no silver bullet, but- Yeah. Yeah... you know, we're on our way. This is the first step, and, uh, I'm, I'm very pleased. Uh, the, the final dichotomy I wanna leave you with is, um, frustration versus celebration.
• 21:31
  In m- in many situations like this, there's so much that has, uh, that has happened that we can celebrate, and yet there's so far we have to go.
• 21:38
  And we've talked a bit about kind of the challenges, the frustrations, and yet you alluded a minute ago to something really beautiful, which is there is just untapped potential within this underfunded group of, uh, founders, uh, that are, is waiting to be unleashed on the world's greatest health challenges, and I wonder if you could just speak to that briefly.
• 21:59
  Yeah. I mean, I, I, I think that, um... Yeah, there's a lot of frustration, indeed. Indeed. But, you know, action is, is important, right? Accountability is important.
• 22:13
  Sharing these stories and having the empathetic and open communication is important, right?
• 22:18
  So I think, I think the fact that we're having this conversation and that StartUp Health is willing to make this move intentionally is part of what, you know, we need to see more of, and I think that's a great thing, right?
• 22:30
  Um, I think that the frustration is that still these founders are running into barriers left, right, and center, and, and we're not fulfilling our fullest potential in terms of an innovation ecosystem. Yeah.
• 22:41
  But I think that frustration, you know, it's, uh, you know, I'd like to say that it's, it's, this is, this is long-term work, so. Yeah. You know, we're, we're not here saying this is like there's any silver bullet thing.
• 22:52
  We're saying that, you know, this is the long-term work that builds on the successes of entrepreneurs that are getting it done, builds on the successes of the new funds that are coming out there with this intentionality, though we need more.
• 23:05
  Yeah. So we're gonna build on all that. Um, but the frustration is still real because ultimately, health equity and these inequities are about people's lives, right?
• 23:12
  So for those of us that are diverse founders, minoritized women, like, you know, we know people who have died because of these things, right? Yeah. This... We go through our own things because of this, so this is...
• 23:22
  it's, it's personal, right? Yeah. And so, so that frustration is deeply personal because it's, it impacts our lives also as founders. Yeah. Right?
• 23:30
  And so I think that, you know, um, that frustration turns into collective action and, you know, we're looking for all the different right platforms to really drive the intentional systemic change. Yeah.
• 23:41
  Yeah, and if we're able to tap into that, uh, as I was saying before, we unleash talent that has been, um- Exactly... that has been missed and- And unseen. Completely unseen... un- unseen and, and- Un- uninvested in.
• 23:54
  Everything. Yeah. And that's, and that talent is, is beautiful, and that talent is exactly what we need. So, uh, at the end of this conversation is a wealth of experience and talent, um, which- Mm-hmm.
• 24:06
  And an example that others can look at. Yeah. So the idea is that this isn't, you know, StartUp Health should be part of an ecosystem of actors that are doing this across the country, and we need leadership, right? Yeah.
• 24:18
  So- And globally... the question is who's gonna lead, and I'm happy StartUp Health is willing to, to get in the game.
• 24:23
  Well, KP, uh, like I said, I know this is early in the conversation, but y- you used the word intentionality, and that's what I hear in this conversation, the intention to move forward in this way in really meaningful conversations.
• 24:36
  Um, and so I'm excited about what's next, and I'm excited you're on the impact board, and, um, we'll be interested to hear what comes out of the global, uh, Clinton Global Initiative and then how this progresses forward in the, in the rest of the year.
• 24:51
  Very good. Well, thank you so much, Logan. All right, KP. Take care. Take care. Bye. [outro music] Thanks for listening to StartUp Health NOW.
• 25:00
  StartUp Health invest in health transformers around the world who are dedicated to achieving audacious health moonshots.
• 25:07
  If you wanna learn how you can join this community of entrepreneurs, or if you wanna connect with one of our 400 companies, go to startuphealth.com.
• 25:15
  If you'd like to learn how you can invest in our Health Moonshot Impact Fund, go to healthmoonshots.com. Thanks for listening to StartUp Health NOW. We'll be back again with another episode next week. [outro music]