StartUp Health NOW Podcast

American Heart Association Ventures managing partner Lisa Suennen sits down with StartUp Health for a candid conversation spanning her early days scaling a health services company from $5 million to $800 million in revenue, through her current thesis across AHA's four funds. She talks about fundraising realities, where non-traditional funders are stepping in, and the one thing she says matters more than your deck.

This edit features 20 minutes from the full hour-long conversation with Lisa. StartUp Health members were in the room for a live Q&A – become a member for access to sessions like this one in real time and connect with the funders and ecosystem leaders: http://startuphealth.com

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In this episode, Logan Plaster talks with Drew Schiller, Chief Development Officer at ChartSpan and Co-founder of Validic, about what it takes to get a digital health company across the finish line. Schiller recounts the deals that fell apart, including one derailed by COVID while under letter of intent, and the ChartSpan acquisition that nearly died before closing in 2026. He explains why a sale process rests on storytelling, financial diligence, and operational diligence. He also shares how expense discipline and audited financials change the conversation with buyers, and why AI makes the question "what business are we in?" more important than ever.

This episode is an excerpt from a live StartUp Health Fireside Chat. The complete session, including live audience Q&A, is available only to StartUp Health members.

👉 Become a member to join Fireside Chats as they happen, meet the investors and leaders shaping health innovation, and start building your own relationships: startuphealth.com

Gregory Moore, MD, PhD, Senior Adviser to Gates Ventures on the Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative (AD Data Initiative), joins Logan Plaster for an update on the Alzheimer's and Brain Health Moonshot ahead of the Alzheimer's Insight Summit 4 coming up in November.

Dr. Moore explains why the AD Data Initiative is "infrastructure that makes AI discovery possible." He describes how the free AD Workbench gives researchers in 129 countries same-day access to 380+ datasets, AI tools, and computing power. He also shares why he believes the science has never been more compelling. He walks through the Alzheimer’s Insights AI Prize, which drew 180 applications and awarded two $1M first prizes. And he previews the Alzheimer's Insight Summit 4 at CTAD in Boston on November 16, co-hosted by AD Data Initiative, StartUp Health, CTRL at USC Schaeffer Center, and ADDF DxA, where special announcements are planned.

Links:

Guest bio: 

Gregory Moore, MD, PhD, is Senior Adviser to Gates Ventures on the Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative and Professor of Radiology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry at Penn State University. A seasoned executive and board veteran with more than three decades in healthcare and technology, he is a board-certified physician in diagnostic radiology, neuroradiology, and clinical informatics, with cross-disciplinary expertise in engineering and neuroscience. Before joining Gates Ventures, he led health and life sciences and AI work at Microsoft and held a senior role at Google.

UnaliWear founder Jean Anne Booth talks with Logan Plaster about building the Kanega Watch, a wearable medical alert designed around a simple but overlooked truth: a device only protects you if you're willing to wear it. Jean Anne walks through her mother’s response to wearing a “garage door opener around her neck,” the patented battery system that enables full-time wear, the technical challenge of detecting falls on the wrist, and what it took to become a repeat Wirecutter pick in a direct-to-consumer market built on trust.

🌐 Learn more: https://www.startuphealth.com/unaliwear

✅ Join Jean Anne in the community: https://www.startuphealth.com

In this Fireside Chat, Venrock partner Bob Kocher sits down with StartUp Health co-founder Unity Stoakes to unpack why AI will drive more healthcare activity rather than lower prices, where he sees real opportunity for founders (from geriatric behavioral health to medication titration), and what actually makes an AI-native healthcare company defensible versus disposable. Bob also shares the one question he asks every founder in the first ten minutes of a pitch, and why "effect size" matters more to him than any competitive moat. Venrock has backed StartUp Health community members Devoted Health and Virta Health since their earliest days, both companies Bob holds up as examples of the effect size and durable distribution he looks for in a founder. 

This excerpt covers the conversation with Unity. StartUp Health members have access to the full audience Q&A and had the chance to ask Bob their own questions live. Join the community for a seat at the next one.

🚀 startuphealth.com

After 11 years building Journey and recently named to TIME's World's Top HealthTech Companies 2026 list, founder Stephen Sokoler joins Logan Plaster to unpack why the employee mental health category is shifting from reactive to proactive. They cover the real business case behind the shift, how Journey localizes care across dozens of countries, founder burnout, and what's next with Journey Signal. 

Interested in learning more, sharing your own founder story, or connecting with builders across the Mental Health Moonshot? 👉 startuphealth.com

In this Health Moonshot Update, long-time community member Brant Herman, CEO & Founder of MouthWatch and Dentistry.One, joins StartUp Health's Logan Plaster to talk about building a virtual-first teledentistry network that meets patients at the moments they're already engaging with the healthcare system. They cover the shift from cosmetic to preventive framing in oral health, how care coordination is closing the referral gap for rural and Medicaid populations, and what's next for Dentistry.One as it expands into AI-powered screening and retail partnerships.

Health Transformers like Brant Herman are building the future of health. Join us to connect and collaborate with founders advancing the Oral Health Moonshot.

🌐 Learn more: https://www.startuphealth.com/mouthwatch

✅ Join StartUp Health to tell your story: https://www.startuphealth.com

Cristian Pascual, CEO & Co-founder of Mediktor, talks with StartUp Health’s Logan Plaster about the evolution of AI-powered triage, why healthcare delivery demands professional-grade tools rather than general-purpose AI, and what it's taking to close Mediktor's first government-wide agreement.

In this episode, Pascual breaks down:
🩺 How Mediktor has used AI since day one, long before the LLM boom
🤖 The tradeoffs of adding a conversational LLM layer to a clinically validated system
🏛️ Why governments have become Mediktor's biggest opportunity for scale
📊 What it really takes to build trust with enterprise and government buyers
⚡ How Mediktor uses Claude internally to speed up client offerings and ROI prep

A StartUp Health community member since 2016, Pascual offers a grounded look at what it means to build durable trust in health AI, one clinical validation, reference client, and in-person relationship at a time.

🌐 Learn more: https://www.startuphealth.com/mediktor

✅ Join StartUp Health to tell your story: https://www.startuphealth.com

What does it take to build a health AI company that actually gets funded right now? Greg Yap, Partner at Menlo Ventures, sits down with StartUp Health co-founder Unity Stoakes to unpack how a 50-year-old venture firm is investing across the health AI landscape, why product is no longer the moat it once was, and how founders should approach fundraising as expectations shift. Yap draws on decades as an operator, having led diagnostics work at Roche/Ventana and built businesses at Affymetrix, PyrAmes, and BlueLight Therapeutics, to explain what he's really evaluating in a founding team. 

This preview covers the top of the conversation; StartUp Health community members get the full session, including live Q&A.

What if the richest data about your health wasn't on your wrist, but in your breath? Sathya Elumalai, CEO & Co-founder of Aidar Health, joins Logan Plaster for a Health Moonshot Update on MouthLab – a handheld device that reads roughly 10 vital signs from a single breath and turns them into a predictive health index.

Sathya explains why he built past the wearable model, how Aidar Health is helping skilled nursing facilities catch chronic kidney disease and COPD earlier, and what CMS's new outcomes-based ACCESS program means for the company's path to billing Medicare directly. He also opens up about the family experience with kidney disease that shaped why he's building this in the first place.

A StartUp Health community member since 2016, Sathya is open to collaborating with others in the ecosystem. Join StartUp Health to connect with him and share your own story.