What you’ll get out of this episode

Carrie talks to Sal DeTrane, managing director of Empactful Capital, a venture capital firm focused on early and growth stage healthcare opportunities. This engaging conversation covers: 

• How Empactful Capital’s investing model is different and why Sal believes it’s the best way to invest
• Why they selected value-based care and behavioral health as two specific areas of focus 
• What they look for in companies pitching to them
• What Sal sees in pitches that he wishes founders wouldn’t do
• Sal’s predictions for the types of companies that will do the best in the health tech space over the next five years. 

About Sal DeTrane, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Empactful Capital

Sal has a passion for working with entrepreneurs that stems from starting multiple ventures and gaining over 12 years of direct P&L and operational experience at MedeAnalytics—the nation’s largest privately held healthcare analytics business. As its #2 executive, Sal played a keystone role in driving Mede’s revenue growth in both the hospital and payer markets. This market/product strategy led to Mede’s growth from $3 million to over $120 million in revenues. Thoma Bravo acquired Mede as it prepared for its IPO in 2015. 

Sal founded Nucleus Partners (a venture capital firm) in 2001 and led its investments in Mede prior to joining the company. Prior to Nucleus, Sal co-managed nearly $50 million of committed capital at The Angels’ Forum after successfully building a technology investment banking practice in Silicon Valley. 

Bolstered by a history of developing and managing relationships across the healthcare ecosystem, Sla sits on the boards of several early/growth stage healthcare IT companies. An unapologetically proud Temple Owl, Sal serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Fox School of Business and holds the honor of having spoken to his experiences and his views of entrepreneurship at the Fox School of Business. His hobbies include winemaking. 

About Empactful Capital

Empactful Capital is a special opportunity venture capital firm focused on early and growth stage healthcare opportunities. Formed in 2016 by veteran healthcare operators and investors to take advantage of the massive change in healthcare, Empactful raises and deploys targeted funds where we can quickly bring operating and relationship leverage to massively scale companies. Empactful employs a pre-investment working engagement model with prospective companies to identify areas of strength and development and ensure alignment. 

Read More

• Connect with Sal on LinkedIn 
• Learn more about Empactful Capital
• Be sure to check out our previous chat about the explosive growth of the behavioral health market
• If you want to get your business ready for the investor scrutiny of fundraising, be sure to check out our Pre-Raise Prep package for digital health startups

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