Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Dougherty.
Nick, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I believe strongly that we have infinite problems worth solving and that I should spend my life trying to chip away them. Currently, I am focused on healthcare. My first professional foray into health began with my senior design project at Boston University’s College of Engineering where I worked to help non-verbal patients regain their ability to communicate with their families, friends, and clinicians. We worked on the project over nights and weekends in 2012. In 2013 my co-founders and I left our engineering day jobs to form VerbalCare once we gained acceptance to MassChallenge Boston. The program helped us land our first customers, get our first investors, and secure much needed mentors and advisors. MSD acquired VerbalCare in 2015 where I stayed on as the General Manager to launch the product in a new market.
Despite all that MassChallenge did for VerbalCare, the healthcare ecosystem was still fundamentally flawed in so many ways (risk-averse culture, misaligned payments and incentives, antiquated technology, etc.). I attended the launch of the Massachusetts Digital Health Initiative in 2016 and was thrilled to see the Commonwealth, City of Boston, and the private sector commit to addressing these architectural challenges. I was even more excited to see that MassChallenge would be at the heart of the innovation activities of the initiative. I was still at VerbalCare when I tried to help MassChallenge find a director to run the initiative. I never thought that director would be me.
My current role is the job of a lifetime. I don’t run a startup accelerator. PULSE@MassChallenge is accelerating the digital health ecosystem.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
By definition, innovation is the process of creating something new. If you’re truly innovating, you are the world’s expert in your field because no one else is taking your unique approach (at least not yet). Being an entrepreneur is immensely challenging, especially for first time founders. Ultimately, every decision you make could mean months of failure or spectacular success. At VerbalCare we were sued by a co-founder, almost ran out of money more times than I’d care to admit, misfiled our taxes, and broke from our mission post-acquisition when our parent company decided to turn off the part of our product that helped non-verbal patients communicate. Healthcare is particularly challenging. When sales cycles can be 12-24 months and with only 12-18 months of runway, the challenge compounds. VerbalCare had many smooth journeys along this road thanks to a fantastic community of supporters however. I’m glad I have an opportunity to serve entrepreneurs in much of the same way my mentors served me not too long ago.
PULSE@MassChallenge surprises me daily with what we can accomplish when the process of implementing health innovation is more collaborative. It’s deeply rewarding to smooth out the rough paths between startups and the people they aim to serve. It’s not always achievable, but I’m frankly shocked by the density of successful outcomes we have already achieved: over 180 partnerships generated pre-program (over three partnerships per startup), 50%+ increases in revenue and funding during the 5-month program, and millions of patient lives impacted.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Fundamentally, MassChallenge believes that we can solve the world’s massive challenges when we help entrepreneurs win. For startups of PULSE@MassChallenge that means solving issues like the opioid epidemic, chronic disease, mental health, and administrative burden with the assistance and use of technology. Our core hypothesis is that the ideal accelerator for later stage digital health startups provides access to customers and partners versus access to investors and funding. We believe this approach focuses our cohorts on achieving product validation and commercial traction. Our program uniquely matches patient advocacy organizations, healthcare providers, health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, governments and more with startups to work on demonstration projects that address healthcare’s massive challenges. With close to 40 partners including AARP, Boston Children’s Hospital, the City of Boston, Humana, Philips, and Vertex we aim to have a representative pool of local, national, and international partners.
Given the structure and rigor we put into our program from vetting partners, collecting challenges, sourcing and vetting startups, matching startups with partners, to project managing their demonstration projects, we are uniquely positioned to develop best practices and interventions that enhance the industry’s ability to implement health innovation. The accelerator is a means to accelerating and informing an industry on how to deploy digital health innovations. We want to be the factory that produces the successful use-cases that improve our industry and the way we deliver care through technology.
What were you like growing up?
Collaboration is the engine that drives me. I loved being on a team and helping that team win.
Today that manifests in a belief that we cannot have enough good people working to solve the world’s massive challenges. The only competition I believe is us versus the problem. Together we can overcome anything.
I also loved making businesses. I was the stereotypical entrepreneur: lemonade stands with my brothers, burgers sold next to my high school’s football games, etc. My first successful endeavor was in first grade when I sold folded pieces of paper to my classmates for lunch money. I also had some failures like when I tried to launch a ghost-busting service as a six or seven year old. I probably should have left that to Bill Murray.
Contact Info:
- Address: 21 Drydock Avenue
- Website: http://masschallenge.org
- Email: contact@masschallenge.org
- Instagram: masschallenge
- Facebook: facebook.com/masschallenge
- Twitter: masschallenge
Image Credit:
MassChallenge
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