Just Go Grind

#198: Andrew Parker, Co-Founder & CEO of Papa, a Platform Pairing Older Adults and Families with Papa Pals for Companionship and Assistance with Everyday Tasks


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Andrew Parker is the Co-Founder & CEO of Papa, a company that's raised $30M+ in venture capital from top investors to build and grow their family-on-demand platform.

Andrew has spent his career focusing on healthcare technology and service. In late 2017, Andrew founded Papa, a company that offers “Family On-Demand!” by connecting older adults and families to college students for companionship, assistance, and transportation. He started the company to support his own grandfather, whom he endearingly addressed as “Papa”.

Andrew has a passion for healthcare, technology, and people. This combination drove him to build Papa, an ongoing endeavor to support older adults and families. Papa has grown to 120 employees and over 5,000 students on the platform in 20 states working with 15+ health plans as a benefit to older adults and families. Prior to Papa, Andrew ran Health System Sales and Strategy for MDLIVE.com, a large telehealth provider. Andrew was one of the first 15 employees of MDLIVE which has grown to over 300 employees and 30M members. In this role, Andrew helped to facilitate multi-year relationships with some of the nation’s largest health systems and employers as well as design virtual care products, which has now become a ubiquitous part of healthcare.

Andrew received his Bachelor’s in Finance from Florida State University and his Certified Employee Benefit Specialist certification from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, Andrew and Papa are alumni of the prestigious incubator Y Combinator. Andrew resides in Miami, FL with his dog Chewie.

About Our Partner, Pivot CMO

This episode is brought to you by Pivot CMO. Whether you’re a startup and you’ve just launched your product or a larger business, accelerate your growth with performance marketing solutions from our partner, Pivot CMO. Pivot specializes in performance marketing solutions that have helped countless companies double or even triple in the first few months of working with them. They’re boutique, extremely data-driven, and launch and iterate quickly. 84% of their clients double their revenue.

Pivot CMO is focused on digital marketing channels like Facebook/Instagram, Google, Pinterest, and TikTok. Their founders are involved with every account so you don’t get a low-level account manager, but instead a highly skilled and experienced, outsourced CMO. 

They’ve helped a number of Y Combinator and venture-backed companies along with fortune 500 companies, so no matter the size or stage of your company, use Pivot to help with all of your marketing and growth needs. 

To book a free consultation visit pivotcmo.com.

Connect with Andrew Parker and Papa

  • Papa
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Some of the Topics Covered by Andrew Parker in this Episode

  • What Papa is and why Andrew decided to start it
  • How Andrew signed up the first few people on Papa and what his pitch was initially
  • How Andrew decided to quit his job
  • How Andrew found his Co-Founder, Alfredo
  • Equity splits
  • Raising an initial $500K then $2.4M led by Initialized Capital and Sound Ventures
  • Not taking a salary for almost two years
  • The differences in raising different rounds of funding
  • How Andrew scaled Papa from the initial few customers
  • Going from one health plan to ten
  • What Andrew is looking for in Pals on the Papa Platform
  • Adding virtual visits to Papa
  • The support Andrew has gotten from his investors
  • Coming from a family of entrepreneurs and the impact that had on Andrew
  • What Andrew's day-to-day looks like today
  • How Andrew thinks about culture for Papa
  • Andrew's book suggestion
  • What Andrew does to recharge

Links from the Episode

  • Garry Tan
  • Initialized Capital
  • Y Combinator
  • Alfredo Vaamonde
  • Sound Ventures
  • Zubin Bhettay
  • Fuzzy Pet Health
  • MDLive
  • Karl Alomar
  • Meditations
  • The Lean Startup
  • 1984
  • Devil in the White City
  • Shoe Dog
  • The Daily Stoic

...more
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Just Go GrindBy Justin Gordon

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