“You quit your job in July and have customers? That was fast!”
It sure didn’t feel like it.
Welcome to my Public Journal. Here, I share the journey of building a company, my thoughts on life, and the random things I find useful.
Why are you getting this? Because at some point, our paths crossed. This is my way of staying in touch.
Flowline Health.
This journal’s ‘Flowline’ section is less about company progress, and more about my journey. Company updates will resume next issue.
***The spoiler alert is now over***
We just landed our third pilot (let’s go), which gives me the inkling that we’re actually onto something.
This inkling is reinforced in instances where my girlfriend drags me out of my cave to a party or to socialize with friends. When I’m out, I hear things along the lines of:
“You already have customers? That was fast! Good for you.”
But those comments don’t acknowledge the months leading up to me quitting my job. For what seemed like forever, Andrew and I were going into the Healthcare Policy wilderness just to come up with horrible product ideas (one of which was cold-calling homeless people with AI. I wish I was joking).
It goes to show that when we reconnect with old friends to see they’ve lost weight, turned around their career, or are visibly more grounded, it’s easy to think that process was instantaneous.
But what we don’t see? It’s the uncertainty and doubt that comes with that journey before they start winning their first fights.
It reminds me of being 17, wandering around the gym in a 2XL t-shirt (pick up a dumbbell a few times, fail maxing out on bench. “This is what working out is, right?”).
Back then, a healthy body seemed so far away.
In retrospect, it wasn’t. Maybe 6 months. It only felt like forever because I didn’t know when being fat would end.
Story of the week.
“You’re covered! If you ever need to go to the hospital, just tell them that you’re insured by Medi-Cal.”
I couldn’t believe what I was reading from this chatbot.
For the last two months, I had been moving through the world assuming that I was completely untethered from health insurance (a bit ironic, given my company).
While I generally knew there could be a gap in my insurance coverage after I left my cushy Google job, what I didn’t realize was the underlying stress of knowing I was one accident away from being in crippling medical debt.
But by some grace of Gavin Newsom, I now find myself covered by California’s Medicaid, aka Medi-Cal.
Instantly, that slow current of stress evaporated. I was covered! None of these emergencies would tip me into destruction.
This small experience gave me empathy for the stress that everyday Americans have to face on a daily basis.
Good Content.
Check out what I’ve been feeding my brain.
Thought bugs.
“Everything you want is on the other side of cringe.”
I was raised with the subtext that proclaiming your dreams to the world was lame. But the more I chase my dreams, the more I realize that the voices that call you cringe shout from a place of insecurity. If I can’t follow my dreams, why should you be able to follow yours?
Like, no one said you couldn’t bro. Only you.
Memes are BACK let’s gooooooooo. Been having a lot of very similar thoughts over the past few months, funny unexpectedly reading them here haha. Keep up the good work boss man