Many of us have ideas that could make a great business. Most of the ideas, however, never see the light of day. It can feel like a big leap from physician to entrepreneur. So how do you do it? We speak with Dr. Jason Hine, the founder of SimKit, and see how he went from community emergency medicine doctor to successful business owner. 

In this episode, we cover how Jason started his business, accounting for the knowledge gap between clinician and entrepreneur, setting boundaries, why saying hell yes has a critical proviso, the inevitable oscillation between passion and money, and a marketing exercise that’s critical to walk through before you even consider jumping in on a new product or business.

💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡

Guest Bio: Jason Hine, MD, is an emergency physician in southern Maine, where he is the Director of Education for his community hospital. He is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and completed his residency at Temple University Hospital, where he served as chief resident. His interests include procedural skillset decay and the role of academics in improving the recruitment, retention, and satisfaction of community physicians. He is the founder of SimKit, a medical education company focusing on delivering convenient and effective hands on procedural skills practice.

We Discuss:

• Sharks and boulders
• Build a business plan early
• Effective resources and dead-end rabbit holes
• The first thing to consider before starting a business: the pain point and value proposition
• Getting out of the Lone Wolf mindset and forming an advisory committee
• What challenge surprised Jason as he got the business rolling
• How do you pay your advisory committee before your business makes money?
• What it means money-wise to give someone equity in your company
• Negotiating equity stake and why contracts are by nature adversarial
• The tipping point from dreamer to doer
• A self-reflective prompt that puts endeavors in proper perspective
• It might be a hell yes for you but a no for your family
• Protecting immutable boulders
• Logistics of setting and keeping boundaries
• Nothing super cool happened because someone just wanted to make a bunch of money
• Finding your ideal customer before the product even exists
• A marketing exercise to do when a product is still an idea

Mentioned in this episode:

Awake + Aware Bend May 5-7, 2025 | Our in person live event

Ready to reset, recharge, and level up?

Awake + Aware Bend 2025

Awake + Aware Bend May 5-7, 2025 | Our in person live event

Ready to reset, recharge, and level up?

Awake + Aware Bend 2025

Never Lame. Never Spammy. Always Fresh.

If you’d like a few minutes of career-elevating curated kickassery delivered to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

Sign up for our Newsletter