Stories

“The things that I was trying the hardest at failed, and the accidental one worked out.”

At MATTER’s recent Tales from the Trenches, Sterling Lanier, cofounder and CEO of Tonic Health, sat down with Outcome Health CEO Rishi Shah to reflect on his journey through multiple companies that ultimately led him to Tonic Health, the medical data collection company. Tales from the Trenches is produced …

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When a patient suggested he build a software solution, Dr. Jordan Shlain was skeptical.

“Just because I’m a doctor in Silicon Valley doesn’t mean I have to start a software company.”

Fast forward to today, and Jordan is founder of the fast-growing software company HealthLoop. HealthLoop collects individual-level data to enable doctors to make a big difference in the lives of patients. At our …

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Entrepreneurs often follow non-linear career paths. Brad Smith, founder of Nashville-based Aspire Health, has traveled a particularly winding road.

In high school, Brad thought he’d be a trauma surgeon. As an undergraduate at Harvard, his interests evolved to include politics, and in his first job out of college, he worked on the campaign of Tennessee Senator Bob Corker. Brad went on to resear…

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“I remember exactly where I was sitting when I realized we had to shutter the company.”

At age 28, Amanda Lannert was named president of Jellyvision, then an interactive gaming company best known for YOU DON’T KNOW JACK. Six months later, she had to lay off most of the company’s employees – herself included.

“I wrote a severance letter to Amanda, from Amanda,” she said.

At our most recent Ta…

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“I don’t necessarily like winning. But I do hate to lose.”

So said serial entrepreneur and founder of Apervita Paul Magelli at our recent Tales from the Trenches event. For someone who launched his first business selling fireworks at 10 years old, clearing five figures in the process, Magelli is more acquainted with failure than you’d expect. He opened up about these failures – and his success…

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