Niko Skievaski. He’s the co-founder of Redox, a modern API for healthcare. He also used to do some work at Epic.
Famous Five:
Favorite Book? – Moments of Magic What CEO do you follow? – Judith Faulkner Favorite online tool? — Calendly How many hours of sleep do you get?— 6 If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Niko would have asked himself to start something rather than working in a big bank
Time Stamped Show Notes:
00:40 – Nathan introduces Niko to the show 00:59 – Redox connects applications to software developers 01:04 – Redox’s business model is licensing connections to various healthcare systems 01:25 – Niko deals with healthcare because he believes it is important 01:33 – Niko has also talked to developers that made an impact on patients’ lives 01:46 – “From our perspective, we really see a technology innovation healthcare something that is absolutely needed” 02:20 – Redox charges software developers and software developers charge the healthcare system 02:38 – Redox initially becomes a sub-contractor of software vendors 03:21 – Redox charges per the number of connections a developer has in the healthcare system which is a monthly model 03:48 – Depending on the interface, the charge changes a bit 03:52 – It is a SaaS model 04:08 – Most developers connect to 1-3 healthcare systems 04:15 – Each connection system is around a thousand dollars 04:25 – Redox was founded in 2014 04:34 – Niko was in the corporate world and was working at Wells Fargo 04:46 – Niko went to Epic to get his hands on data because he studied Economics and wanted to understand what he could do to improve the healthcare data 05:07 – When Niko got to Epic, they didn’t actually have the data 05:17 – Niko learned a lot from Epic about the provider workflow 05:29 – Since healthcare is digitized, the challenge is how to get the data out of the cloud to software developers 05:43 – Niko’s CTO and co-founder, James, was helping startups hook up with various healthcare systems 05:59 – The idea of Redox is to make an engine that can scale across multiple health systems 06:16 – Redox was bootstrapped and has raised capital 06:30 – Niko and his co-founder have started different companies until they decided to do Redox 06:50 – They brought in another co-founder to round up Redox 07:00 – Niko and his co-founders worked in a co-working space and saved some money from their consulting gigs 07:21 – Redox raised a small seed round of $350K in 2014, then they hired some developers 07:40 – The co-founders were only getting $35K each when they were starting 08:05 – They made sacrifices in order to start Redox 08:51 – They have to convince themselves that if things don’t work, they just have to get a job 09:11 – Entrepreneurs can easily get a job 09:30 – Redox has raised a couple of rounds 09:40 – The first application they had can determine the amount of blood loss by taking a picture 10:06 – It took Redox 10 months to get live with their first customer 10:17 – Redox raised their round A early 10:29 – The developer community was really excited and was supportive of Redox 10:52 – Redox was getting 1K MRR from their first customer 11:00 – The first round was a priced round 11:11 – You can raise based on your traction or based on potential 11:28 – Redox was based on potential 11:38 – Redox’s pitch to their investors 11:40 – Digital health is one of the fastest growing spaces for venture capital 11:44 – There are too many companies trying to start something innovative in the healthcare space 11:47 – The common problem that they have is sharing data with the legacy system 12:10 – Redox really has a great team 12:30 – It’s not about the MRR, it’s about the potential of working with the army of software developers who are innovating in this space 12:53 – Redox’s marketing strategy is getting the developers first, then the developers will drag Redox to the healthcare system 13:10 – Valuation 13:24 – Redox has closed another $9M with their series B round in January 13:40 – Total amount raised is $14M 13:48 – The new additional investor is Intermountain Healthcare System 14:20 – Redox currently has 100 healthcare systems across USA 15:13 – Redox has around $400K MRR 15:45 – Customer churn 16:13 – CAC 16:44 – Team size is 35 who are mostly developers 16:59 – Redox is a developer platform 17:06 – Most are based in Wisconsin and some are based around USA 17:46 – Niko won’t sell Redox even if they already had an acquisition offer before 18:08 – Niko didn’t think that the company acquiring Redox would be able to solve the problem as fast as Niko and the team 18:32 – Niko will accept an acquisition offer only if the company will be able to do it faster than Niko and the team 19:50 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
The continuous innovation in the healthcare space needs a data source that is stable. Stick with your principles and be focused on where you want the company to go. Raising capital can be based on your traction or the potential of your business.
Resources Mentioned:
The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences Hotjar – Gives Nathan a recording of what is happening on a website or where are people clicking and scrolling on the website Organifi – The juice was Nathan’s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books Freshbooks – Nathan doesn’t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOWShow Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
