Public Journals Pt. 2

Thanks for being here!

Welcome to my public journal, where I share my journey of building and general thoughts/ideas I find useful.

Why you’re getting this: In some way, shape, or form our paths have crossed. I write this to keep in touch.

If you find it useful, or at all interesting, feel free to forward and leave a reply. This newsletter only grows with your support :)

Flowline Health

I’ve come to realize companies like Flowline (which sell to large healthcare systems) follow this trajectory:

Right now we’re on step 3: Getting a pilot.

We need to prove that our concept works, even if we charge zero to a fraction of the cost at first. This gives us grounds to go out afterwards and say “Look at this case study! Hospitals are saving time, money, and lives by calling their patients with AI. AND YOU CAN TOO!”

This however, is proving to be no small task. To get a demo with no track record requires building trust, selling the idea, and gaining buy in from stakeholders we don’t even know yet. Not to mention navigating the bureaucratic maze of large organizations.

But luckily, coming from the Mag7: navigating egos, and boosting internal metrics is no foreign concept to this guy!

Note: we’ve got some promising opportunities in the pipeline. It’s too early to share any publicly, but we’re excited :)

Story of the week

I went back to Google to return the last relics of my employment, and to drop something off to my favorite employee: the lady who works the coffee stand.

Her name’s Coty, and while I barely even know her, for the last 2 years she’s greeted me in the morning with a “Hi Gabe! How are you today?” For some reason, out of all the people in the building, I felt most compelled to leave her goodbye note.

When I started writing it I understood why. It read something like this:

When I moved to The Bay, I didn’t know it yet, but I was lonely. Hearing you say my name each morning meant so much more than you know.

When I handed her the note, I sprinted away. I couldn’t handle the vulnerability of seeing her read it (so instead I’m posting it on the internet!).

But the lesson rang in my head the rest of the day. To truly see someone else, even just saying their name, is of no cost to us. But who knows what it means to them.

Kindness is asymmetric.

Thought Bugs

This one comes from my (totally amazing) cofounder Andrew.

It was in regards to bringing on a partner to help us get intros for a pilot. But it prompted me to think of my actions as below:

You should do something if:

Cost (of time, money, etc.) < (potential value) x (probability of success)

Most of us know how valuable something is, and some of us are good at inferring cost. But the probability of success? That’s a dark art only good instincts and experience can bring you.