#14 - The Highs and Lows of Launching a Telemedicine Startup with Dr. Christopher Carleo

Entrepreneurship is not an easy path to take. It takes you out of your comfort zone. It pushes you to find solutions in situations others might give up. It makes you doubt yourself and your ideas. And it might lead to friends and family questioning your decisions or becoming impatient. Perhaps this is the reason that entrepreneurship is often characterized as a young person’s game… the trope of the college dropout building an empire in his parents garage readily comes to mind.

This is why I am especially excited about today’s episode because I’ll be interviewing one my enterprising attendings. I love that after twenty years of practice, despite having a great job, he still felt like he had something more to contribute to medicine and he was ambitious enough to go after it.

Dr. Christopher Carleo is an emergency medicine physician with over two decades of clinical experience. His clinical exposure allowed him to learn how challenging it is for our patients to receive routine and urgent medical care. So he partnered with some friends and launched MDAnywhere, an asynchronous, telemedicine company serving more than 40 states. It allows patients to reach providers anytime and from anywhere, while receiving high quality service.

I chat with Dr. Carleo about what drove him to start his company, the highs and lows of sustaining his vision, and the many moving parts he had to keep track of in order to make his vision a reality. He shows that no matter how big your dream, it’s never too late to strive for it.

Show Notes

(00:02:42): Tell us about yourself.
(00:03:57): For the anyone who doesn’t understand what telemedicine is, how would you describe it?
(00:07:08): What kind of services does MDAnywhere offer?
(00:12:32): What was happening or is happening in telemedicine at the time that made you feel this is the industry to get into?
(00:16:13): Prior to this did you have any business experience or background?
(00:19:56): Walk us through the initial execution. After assembling the three co-founders, how did you decide what to work on first?
(00:28:29): Were you nervous at any point in going from idea to execution? Even when first meeting with your co-founders, was there any doubt or was this let’s go full steam ahead?
(00:33:59): When it came to starting your business, did you get any negative feedback from friends, colleagues, or family members who asked “What are you doing?” or “Why now?”
(00:36:15): So thus far with MDAnywhere, what is the future now? What are you working on next?
(00:39:25): You soft launched in 2019, when did you officially launch?
(00:40:37): How has the company grown since your launch?
(00:42:50): Do you think the company would have grown regardless, or do you think COVID helped play a role?
(00:46:17): In this entire process, what are a few lessons you’ve learned in launching a start up?
(00:51:36): Where there any books or resources that you found influential or inspiring?
(00:54:27): Where can people find you?