What do successful health founders consistently do differently? Sally Ann Frank, Global Lead for Health and Life Sciences at Microsoft for Startups and the author of The Startup Protocol, has mentored startups for decades and noticed patterns. She has the playbook for the repeatable moves that separate billion-dollar health tech companies from the rest. In this episode, Sally breaks down the patterns behind health founders who win based on her 25 years of experience. 

From AI-powered diagnostic tools to augmented reality neuro rehab, Sally has mentored founders who are solving healthcare's biggest challenges while building enterprise-ready commercially viable businesses that integrate seamlessly into existing healthcare systems.

In this episode, we dive into:

(00:00) The strategist behind Microsoft’s health tech pipeline

(02:50) The mission-driven founder pattern

(05:34) The Startup Protocol 

(06:36) The playbook that 10 unicorn founders used

(07:35) 5+ rules for health startup success

(09:08) Why to get proxy customers ASAP 

(10:54) Explore Microsoft’s health tech accelerator (Microsoft Pegasus Program) 

(13:12) Join the Charm Health Innovation Challenge 

(13:24) How to use Canva & Powerpoint to begin your health startup

(15:47) 4 signs you’re ready to scale your health startup

(17:02) Getting customers before regulatory approvals (+2 success stories) 

(19:21) How Microsoft picks winning health startups 

(22:35) Copy the success habits of healthcare's biggest winners

(25:40) Do clinician-led health startups do well?

(27:44) The Charm Health + Microsoft partnership opportunity

(29:02) Biggest trends in health tech in 2025 

(31:00) 10-for-1 regulation cuts

(32:40) Rapid fire session 

Don't build in isolation. Find 10-15 clinicians who look like your target customer and pitch them your mockup. Use Figma, Canva, or even PowerPoint to create interactive prototypes. If they won't commit to testing it or paying for a pilot, you don't have product-market fit. These proxy customers become your advisors, first users, and often your angel investors.

The moment you make a clinician leave their EHR to use your tool, adoption dies. Plan your EHR integration strategy from day one, not as an afterthought. Your product roadmap, regulatory roadmap, and go-to-market roadmap must be aligned. Clinicians will test your MVP for a few weeks, but long-term success requires seamless integration into existing workflows.

The most successful health tech founders share two traits: they're driven by mission (often personal experience with the problem) and they're coachable. Servant leadership beats impressive tech. Be willing to pivot, hire experts instead of friends, and listen to feedback from people you don't know well. 

Charm Health Innovation Challenge: CharmHealthChallenge.com

More about Microsoft for Startups: startups.microsoft.com

Some startups mentioned in the episode: 

Connect with Sally Ann Frank: LinkedIn | Get The Startup Protocol

Connect with Ranjani (Varadarajan) Rangan: LinkedIn

Every 20 seconds in America, someone develops diabetes. But, what if a subtle wearable device that can read your brain can help? That’s what neurosurgeon and entrepreneur Dr. Casey Halpern is building at SynchNeuro. He discovered that your brain is already tracking your blood sugar 24/7, and he's built a device that decodes these signals.

CGMs are exceptional, but they’re always 15 minutes behind. SynchNeuro monitors your glucose using AI & EEG technology in real time, is non-invasive, and sits hidden behind your ear. 

With 100 million Americans facing prediabetes, could this become the new must-have wearable? 

How does it work? When will it launch? What can it help with? And how did he build this business? 

That’s what host Rangani Rangan and Dr. Halpern discuss in this episode.

In this episode, we dive into:

(00:00) Diabetes every 20 seconds 

(00:47) Who is Dr. Casey Halpern? 

(02:21) Deep brain stimulation (for quality of life improvements)

(04:11) Why our brains make us overeat

(05:58) Prediabetes = brain problem? 

(07:32) Problem with CGMs (Continuous Glucose Monitors) 

(09:21) Brain wearables = CGM alternative?

(12:32) Can brains predict glucose levels? (Stanford study)

(15:14) How the SynchNeuro wearable works

(17:44) 0 grants received  

(18:18) Protecting his IP (dozens of patents) 

(20:09) How to grow your healthtech

(20:37) When will they launch & FDA clearance

(23:19) Reducing bias in their data 

(24:05) Criticism from neuroscientists 

(27:05) Why they're not afraid of competitors

(29:50) Wearable adoption & potential

(32:21) SynchNeuro market penetration strategy 

(33:49) Chronic disease management with wearables

(35:55) Clinicians’ unfair advantage in business 

(37:43) Book recommendations 

Many health founders build with doctors in mind. But doctors are maxed out, and insurance is a slog. Sync Neuro is bypassing all that. They’re seeking FDA-cleared but they’re building to be consumer-loved and designed for consumers. They want their device to be intuitive, cool to wear, and easy to buy without insurance. 

People abandon wearables because they’re annoying, ugly, or unhelpful. SynchNeuro is focused on making it’s wearable desirable and insightful, not just functional. Not just “not ugly.” People should feel cool wearing it. 

It’s not enough to have a great idea when you’re playing in a category that Apple, Dexcom, or Google might sniff around. You need to have exclusive licenses, deep IP protection, and a tight legal framework before you even raise real money.

Dexcom is the gold standard in CGMs. Sync Neuro isn’t trying to out-CGM them—it’s building a whole new surface-level data stream they can’t touch without rewriting their roadmap. That’s the play: don't go head-to-head. Make their whole model look outdated.

More about SynchNeuro

Connect with Dr. Casey Halpern: LinkedIn

Connect with Ranjani (Varadarajan) Rangan: LinkedIn

Book recommendations: Hamilton | Untangled 

Tune in to Digital Health Disruptors: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Podbean 

Test, iterate, and grow your healthtech ideas:  [email protected] 

When no hospital would hire her, Dr. Shyamali Singhal didn’t wait for permission—she built a $240 million oncology center from scratch with just a 6-page business plan and an unstoppable commitment to patient care.

When vascular surgeon Dr. Paula Muto read about a woman who couldn't access an orthopedist for a simple ankle injury, she knew healthcare's complex referral system needed disruption. Her solution? UberDoc - a platform connecting patients directly to board-certified specialists for transparent, flat-rate fees.

ut what started as a direct-to-consumer healthcare marketplace evolved into something unexpected. Facing prohibitive patient acquisition costs, Dr. Muto had to pivot to save her startup. 

This is the UberDoc story.

In this episode, we dive into:

(00:00) US healthcare is plummeting 

(01:05) Who is Dr. Paula Muto? 

(02:29) Why can’t patients and doctors get directly connected?

(03:31) Birth of UberDoc

(03:46) Healthcare = $23K/yr for families 

(04:32) Why are health prices a secret?

(06:26) UberDoc business model OR How UberDoc works 

(07:21) Uber doc vs. direct primary care

(10:09) How they expanded fast 

(11:10) Revenue & CAC

(12:20) Reducing costs 

(13:21) Female founders need a beard?

(14:52) How UberDoc makes money

(16:39) Becoming a govt marketplace and the Real price of $0 CAC 

(19:43) Why it’s free for doctors

(20:41) What does the money come with? OR The ONLY investment you want

(23:47) Quality, access, price OR No reason for bad healthcare? 

(27:22) Squash! 

More about UberDoc

Connect with Dr. Paula Muto: LinkedIn

Connect with Ranjani (Varadarajan) Rangan: LinkedIn

Delirium is a deadly, costly, and underdiagnosed syndrome affecting millions of elderly patients, but Dr. Divya Chander, co-founder of Lucidify, is determined to change that. Delirium affects 70-80% of ICU patients over 65, killing 3x as many and accelerating dementia by up to 20 years. 

With a background as a physician, neuroscientist, and futurist, Dr. Chander is tackling one of the most critical areas in neuroscience—continuous brain monitoring to detect delirium early and prevent the accelerated onset of dementia.

With her team at Lucidify, she’s on a mission to save lives, reduce healthcare costs, and prevent dementia from hitting patients 20 years too soon

In this episode, we dive into:

(00:32) Who is Dr. Divya Chander?

(02:58) What is consciousness in neuroscience ?

(06:06) Can the ICU accelerate dementia?

(10:30) Why early detection changes everything

(13:54) Most precise delirium detection algorithm (clinical trial)

(14:58) Why they’re involving the FDA

(16:09) How they detect delirium 

(19:49) The future of brain longevity tech

(22:12) Lucidify’s competitive edge

(24:11) How a Stanford mentor changed the course of Dr. Chander's life. 

(28:18) Not selling data to big pharma, losing money (previous startup)

(29:42) Why you shouldn’t collect too much data

(31:34) Why being a generalist has made Lucidify what it is. 

(34:22) Connect with Divya Chandar

Divya Chander's Book recommendation: Goddesses in Every Woman by Jean Shinoda Bolen. 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/divyachander

Website: https://www.divyachander.com/

Digital Health Disruptors is back – and with health tech advancing, Season 2 is set to deliver even bigger stories from the healthcare disruptors shaping the future. If you’re new here, catch up on Season 1 where we brought you raw, unfiltered insights from healthcare’s most forward-thinking leaders.

What we discussed 

(00:00) Thank you to our listeners!

(01:10) CharmHealth's Fourth Innovation Challenge 

(01:38) Gain exposure to 50,000+ clinicians 

(02:06) Season 1 recap 

(02:21) Getting a license to leave residency behind - Dr. Kyra Bobinet (CEO of FreshTri)

(03:48) Find a $20B market - Professor Shahram Yousefi (CEO of Mesh.ai) 

(05:09) Find a frustration - Dr. Joshua Tamayo Sarver (VP at Vituity and Inflect Health)

(05:56) Know the fund -  Neil Littman (CEO of BioVerge)

(06:51) Keep decision loops short - Alex Lebrun (CEO of Nabla)

(07:47) Season 2 sneak peek

(07:51) Longevity technologies - Dr. Divya Chander (CEO of Lucidify) 

(08:51) Treating obesity ethically - Dr. Paula Muto (CEO of UBERDOC)

Links

If you’re a health tech startup, reach out to [email protected] to explore opportunities with CharmHealth.

Missed our first season? Check out previous episodes on all major podcast platforms and YouTube.

🔔 Subscribe 🔔 to our channel for more videos on a wide range of issues facing healthproviders – from day to day medicalpractice management to improving patientcare and health outcomes through innovative solutions and tools.

💽 CharmHealth Innovation Challenge is a recurring competition and a platform for innovators, entrepreneurs and philanthropists in the digital health space to present their ideas, research and innovative health solutions.https://charmhealthchallenge.com/ 

Doctors are drowning in paperwork, spending half their time on low-value tasks instead of patient care. NABLA's AI co-pilot aims to change that, freeing physicians to focus on what matters most. 

In this episode, we dive into:

• How NABLA went from idea to 46 employees in just three years

We'll explore key questions like:

• Can an outsider really solve healthcare's biggest challenges?

(00:00) The focus dilemma

(00:32) Meet Alexander Lebrun (CEO of NABLA)

(02:54) Did he fall in love with a chatbot?

(04:10) Solving doctors’ nightmares  

(07:04) Big mistake? 

(11:12) Starting from the tech (big mistake) 

(14:26) Don’t be Sun Microsystems.

(18:14) The 2 minute test (bottom-up approach)  

(22:01) The golden question that he asks (weekly)

(24:00) Medical transcribers

(25:42) No 2 doctors do this the same 

(28:13) Private data sets 

(29:32) How AI works (and what’s wrong with it) 

(34:27) Should we trust AI in healthcare?

(35:01) Racing to stay relevant

(38:34) Don’t judge AI

• Start with distribution idea, then find problem & tech. That's the ultimate way to build.

While conventional wisdom often suggests starting with a problem, Alex argues that distribution should be the starting point. This approach ensures that you're not just creating a solution, but that you have a clear path to get it to your customers. 

• Ask weekly: Are we doing things we shouldn't? Entropy problem = loss of focus.

It's easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of opportunities and lose sight of your core mission. Alex's weekly self-check is a powerful tool for maintaining focus and avoiding the "entropy problem" that plagues many growing companies. By regularly questioning their activities and ruthlessly cutting unnecessary projects, NABLA stays agile and focused on what truly matters. 

Sometimes, the key to success is not what you do, but what you choose not to do.

• When no one trusts you, get your hands dirty. 

When Alex started, he didn’t know anything about healthcare and had no connections in the healthcare space. When he approached doctors, they didn’t trust him. So, he had to do something extraordinary: NABLA didn't just build tech ; they ran their own clinic to understand healthcare from the inside out. It was expensive. It was risky. It wasn’t the easiest way. But, at the end of the day, it paid off big time. They just secured a $24M series B round. 

Try Nabla

Connect with Alex LeBrun: LinkedIn

Connect with Ranjani (Varadarajan) Rangan: LinkedIn

Innovating in digital health? Here's an opportunity:

Charm Health is organizing an innovation challenge from August 23-25 in Washington DC. The event provides a platform to present your ideas and network with healthcare providers and companies.

For more information or to participate, CharmHealth Challenge.

Location: Grand Hyatt, Washington DC

Entries close: August 1st

If you're an investor looking to make a significant impact while generating returns, biotech venture capital offers a unique opportunity. By investing in healthcare innovations, you contribute to groundbreaking advancements in medicine and address universal health challenges that affect us all. In this episode with Neil Littman, CEO of Bioverge, we explore the world of biotech venture capital, highlighting how impact investing in healthcare generates returns and drives transformative innovations. Join us and uncover the strategies, opportunities, and unique perspectives that make biotech investing a compelling and rewarding venture for you.

1. The world of finance and social impact                   

• [02:45] What is Neil's unique perspective on impact investing and investing for returns?

1. Health Tech Investor returns timeline

• [09:59] What strategies does Bioverge use to grow its LP base and secure high-quality deals?

1. Transparency and fund performance in the VC World

• [13:41] What is Bioverge's approach to enhancing transparency within its portfolio companies?

1. Collaboration between Bioverge and CharmHealth 

• [27:54] What is the goal of the Digital Health Transmission Fund model and collaboration?  

RELEVANT LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:

• Learn more about Bioverge

If you haven't tuned into part 1 yet, you're missing out on a treasure trove of insights that could redefine your approach to biotech investing.

Neil Littman is the CEO of Bioverge and one of the driving forces behind its mission to democratize healthcare venture capital, making it more accessible, transparent, and affordable to a wider audience. His journey began with a personal quest to diversify his investment portfolio beyond the public markets, leading to the founding of Bioverge. However, the seeds of his passion for healthcare innovation were planted years earlier when he witnessed the groundbreaking cure of a young girl named Evie from a previously incurable genetic disease. Prior to Bioverge, Neil played pivotal roles at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), managing multimillion-dollar funds and spearheading investments in revolutionary clinical trials spanning cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and rare genetic disorders. 

1. Neil's formative years and how they served as a blueprint for his career path

• [2:41] What did the young Neil Littman's ambitions look like?

• [3:30] What was Neil’s pivotal moment that changed his career trajectory to biotech?  

    2. What it is like to work for a philanthropy organization in Biotech  

• [6:52] How did Neil come across CIRM and secure impressive business development opportunities 

1. How to overcome the entrepreneurial startup hinges

• [11:17] What was Neil's biggest challenge in the early stages of building Bioverge? How did Neil overcome them?

1. What holds promise in Biotech investments for 2024

• [14:11] What does Neil perceive as the game changer in seed investing? What investors cannot afford to overlook?

1. What Lessons can be drawn from startup setbacks and success

• [25:53] What are Neil’s biggest lessons on transparency and communication from a failed start-up?

• Learn more about Bioverge

Stay tuned for part 2 and get more insights into the promising trends shaping the biotech industry and the opportunities it presents for the industry and entrepreneurs alike.

We delve into the dynamic world of Dr. Kyra Bobinet, an international expert in healthcare innovation and best-selling author of "Well Designed Life." The episode takes a deep dive into Dr. Bobinet's AI digital health app, Fresh Tri, reshaping the behavior change landscape.

Join us as we explore cutting-edge neuroscience insights, spotlighting the Habenula's role in behavior control and its impact on health tech. Dr. Bobinet's unconventional startup journey with Walmart offers a fresh perspective for entrepreneurs, steering away from traditional venture capital models.

Unravel the roots of her success, deeply tied to her Ojibwe, Lakota, and Czech heritage. Discover the transformative power of personal experiences and compassion in fueling entrepreneurial drive. 

Engage in a candid conversation about resilience, determination, and the exciting release of her upcoming book, "Unstoppable Brain." 

Key Takeaways:

[00:52] Introducing today’s guest and topic.

[03:03] The crucial role of the Habenula & How Fresh Tri prevents failure.

[05:57] How Fresh Tri helps people overcome obesity and weight loss struggles.

[10:38] Dr. Bobinet’s experience overcoming fast food addiction, binging, and failure.

[12:50] How childhood trauma impacts social identity, health outcomes, & resilience.

[16:57] How Dr. Bobinet’s childhood trauma shaped her mission and vision.

[18:08] The moment that sparked her to transition from medical school to public health entrepreneurship.

[22:07] Dr. Bobinet’s startup journey with Walmart & How this collaboration enhances her app’s visibility/credibility.

[25:32] The Iterative Mindset Method: Fresh Tri’s strategies for behavior change.

[28:21] GLP-1 drugs for weight loss: Dr. Bobinet’s candid thoughts on Ozempic.

[29:46] What Dr. Bobinet looks for in prospective collaborations + Advice for digital health innovators.

[32:05] Top tips for designing apps for better health, life, and mindset.

[33:24] About Dr. Bobinet’s books + How to connect with her.

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Resources Mentioned:

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📣 Attention clinician entrepreneurs and technologists! Are you ready to revolutionize healthcare at the point of care? Discover the CharmHealth platform, a perfect ecosystem where technologists and clinician entrepreneurs connect, ideate, and thrive.

Our CharmHealth Innovation Challenge is a recurring competition and a platform for innovators, entrepreneurs and philanthropists in the digital health space to present their ideas, research and innovative health solutions.

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ABOUT CHARMHEALTH

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🔸 To that effect, CharmHealth’s pricing is simple, unique and helps practices budget and manage the cost of software acquisition.

🔸 Charm's award-winning API platform integrates with a range of third party healthcare solutions, offering additional functionality to our users.

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