Launch Pad

Karl Ulrich has given a LOT of thought to how to come up with a great company name, but his conversation with Rockets of Awesome founder Rachel Blumenthal has made him revise his naming rules.

Listen to hear why he thinks Rockets of Awesome is such a great name--as well as for some great entrepreneurial insights about how to validate an idea, and for hints on the huge importance of data—as Rachel puts it, “We are actually a tech and data science company, that is masked by a kids' apparel brand.”

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In the words of Sally Poblete, WG'00, Wellthie founder: “Wellthie is a marketplace and sales optimization platform so that small businesses can find the best fit insurance for them across the United States, with the help of a licensed insurance expert.”

Wellthie lays out the full array of insurance options for small business—with under 50 or, in some states, under 100 employees—which account for 95% of businesses in the US, employing about 50-60 million people. Sally knows this industry from the inside—she spent over 20 years in healthcare—and she always knew she wanted to start her own business. A few years ago, she saw that “technology, consumerism, and then regulation were all forming a perfect storm” where she could make an impact. Wellthie was born.

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You need to deck out a new home--you need Snowe. Founder Andres Modak, WG'12, G'12, has sourced luxury essentials and priced them way below fancy department stores.

Here's his elevator pitch: "Snowe is first and foremost, a vertical brand. We're building the home goods destination for the contemporary consumer. What we do is, we simplify shopping for the home by providing, designing, and selling the perfect luxury quality home essentials at attainable prices. So, what does that mean? We're primarily an e-commerce platform, but we are our own brand. We design and develop and sell luxury-quality linens, bed linens, bath linens, glassware, flatware, dinnerware -- all of your basics, all of your foundational goods. And we do that directly to the consumer online. All of these products are designed and developed to be absolutely exceptional, but at very disruptive prices. We're able to achieve that through innovative product design, cutting out middle men and markups, and selling directly to the consumer. "

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Karl Ulrich's Elevator Pitch of the Month for January is The One Health Company, founded by Penn and Wharton alum Benjamin Lewis.

Here’s Ben's elevator pitch: “The One Health Company is changing the way that animal testing is done. We’re totally turning it on its head, from something that hurts animals to something that actually benefits animals. Rather than taking animals in the laboratory that are otherwise healthy, giving them a disease, and then testing on them, what we do is we work with pet parents whose dogs and cats are naturally sick, and we pair them into pharmaceutical trials in an effort to try to make them better. The best part is, we actually pay for everything, and these pets are being seen by the world’s best veterinarians. And it turns out that this data ends up saving pharma a tremendous amount of money on the back end.”

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Here’s founder Ben Lewis' elevator pitch: “The One Health Company is changing the way that animal testing is done. We’re totally turning it on its head, from something that hurts animals to something that actually benefits animals. Rather than taking animals in the laboratory that are otherwise healthy, giving them a disease, and then testing on them, what we do is we work with pet parents whose dogs and cats are naturally sick, and we pair them into pharmaceutical trials in an effort to try to make them better. The best part is, we actually pay for everything, and these pets are being seen by the world’s best veterinarians. And it turns out that this data ends up saving pharma a tremendous amount of money on the back end.”

Not only does The One Health Company offer more ethical animal testing, and give “pet parents” the chance to enroll their sick animals in clinical trials with cutting edge treatments—but the data from these tests is significantly better.

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Possibly the worst part of healthcare is the sheer incomprehensibility of the bill. Is it right? Is it wrong? With all those codes, and back and forth with the insurance company, who can tell?

As it turns out, people mostly just don’t pay healthcare bills. According to Chris Wolfington, founder of FinPay, “in 2016 there were $460 billion, with a b, in out of pocket expenses for consumers. Only 19% paid their bill.” Chris explains why this happens: “People don’t pay things they don’t understand, people don’t pay things that aren’t simple, and people don’t pay things where they don’t have a variety of options on how to pay…. Health care doesn’t do any one of those things.” FinPay does. Imagine sitting down with someone, before you get that knee operation, and understanding what you’re going to pay for it, and figuring out a payment plan. No confusion, no anxiety when an unexpectedly huge bill arrives. That sure sounds a whole lot better than getting an incomprehensible bill in the mail 30 days later.

Better for the patient—and better for the provider, too.

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