Care Shift

vik.bilakanti
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Daily

Care Shift, hosted by Sathvik Bilakanti, takes you inside the real world of healthtech innovation, venture capital, and company-building. Each episode features unfiltered conversations with the founders and investors shaping the future of care—breaking down how they raised capital, found product-market fit, navigated failure, and built companies that endure. Listeners learn exactly what top VCs are looking for in healthtech startups, along with tactical, step-by-step insight that early builders can immediately apply. The Care Shift also opens the doors to the venture ecosystem itself, with lea

  1. 3d ago

    Honor CEO Seth Sternberg on Buying Home Instead and Building the Biggest Home Care Network

    Seth Sternberg co-founded Meebo (acquired by Google), then started Honor to change how society cares for older adults. Today Honor owns Home Instead and runs the largest home care network in the Western Hemisphere. In this episode of Care Shift, Seth explains why he launched a home care agency before building any technology, what the Home Instead acquisition taught him about "M&A AI," and why most AI tools being sold to home care agencies are built in a vacuum. We also get into the caregiver shortage, his case for a time-limited caregiving visa, why he has zero desire to take Honor public, and his warning to founders: use AI to move faster, but never outsource your judgment. Timestamps 00:00 Intro00:53 Welcome Seth Sternberg00:59 From IBM and Meebo to home care02:56 Why pick a hard market the second time around04:43 Treating care pros as customers06:03 Why Honor started as an agency, not a tech layer09:30 Buying Home Instead and the M&A AI trend11:00 Stories vs. data after an acquisition13:21 What the Honor Care Network taught them14:39 Winning over franchisees: the 10/80/10 rule16:48 State-by-state regulation18:33 From vendor to franchisor21:46 What AI startups in home care get wrong27:36 Advice for a 23-year-old founder in care29:06 The case for a caregiving visa34:14 Raising caregiver pay through stability35:33 What a caregiving visa should look like38:11 Robotics, devices, and human care42:04 Why Honor isn't going public44:03 Home care in 204045:56 Would he start in home care today?47:12 Where AI helps founders and where it hurts49:25 Rapid fire52:19 Outro More about Seth & Honor Seth Sternberg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethjs/X: https://x.com/sethjsHonor Website: https://www.honorcare.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinhonor More about Vik & Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/?isSelfProfile=true X: https://x.com/vikbilakanti1

    Honor CEO Seth Sternberg on Buying Home Instead and Building the Biggest Home Care Network

  2. Sep 30

    Adam Besvinick of Looking Glass Capital: Why Raising Too Much, Too Early Is a Mistake

    Adam Besvinick, founder and managing partner of Looking Glass Capital, joins Care Shift to talk about being the first yes at pre-seed, and why raising too much, too early is a mistake. Looking Glass is a solo GP pre-seed fund investing across health, climate, and economic drivers. Before starting the firm in 2019, Adam invested from pre-seed through Series C at Deep Fork Capital and Anchorage Capital Group, backing companies like Transfix, BigID, One Concern, and Carrot. In this episode, we cover the moats that still matter in the AI era, the risks of selling healthcare data to frontier labs, whether Epic is really a threat to healthcare startups, how Adam built a solo GP fund starting right before COVID, and why capital constraints often produce better companies. 00:00 Intro 02:25 Building conviction when others pass 07:01 The moats that still matter in 2026 09:59 Selling healthcare data to AI labs 13:48 Can Epic replicate your startup? 17:37 Starting Looking Glass Capital 24:08 Earning LP trust as a solo GP 30:12 Why health, climate, and economic drivers 41:01 Oversized rounds and bloated financial models 46:22 The biggest fundraising mistake founders make 49:07 Rapid fire Looking Glass Capital: https://lookingglass.vc Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/besvinick Care Shift newsletter: https://careshift.substack.com/ Vik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/

    Adam Besvinick of Looking Glass Capital: Why Raising Too Much, Too Early Is a Mistake

  3. Sep 23

    From Burger King to MDLIVE: The Playbook for Scaling Healthcare

    Mahmud Samad has spent 20 years scaling companies across Johnson & Johnson, Burger King through its Bain Capital and TPG years, Wellpath, and MDLIVE. Today he is Founder and Principal of Interconnext Consulting, working with founders, boards, and private equity teams as a strategic CFO and operator. We cover why healthcare startups stall after their first three pilots, what a repeatable process actually means, and why he calls domain expertise the most overrated thing in business. Mahmud also explains the difference between growth and scale, what he looks at first on a P&L, who to hire before your Series A, when a company should not raise VC money, and what franchising can teach healthcare about removing friction for patients. A conversation for early-stage founders, operators, and anyone trying to build something that holds up past the first few customers. Connect with Mahmud & Learn More About Interconnext ConsultingLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahmudsamad/Interconnext Consulting: https://interconnextconsulting.comInterconnext on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/interconnext-consulting/ More on Vik & Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/ Care Shift on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/?viewAsMember=true Care Shift Website: https://careshift.vc/

    From Burger King to MDLIVE: The Playbook for Scaling Healthcare

  4. Sep 16

    GLP-1s Broke Employer Budgets. Here's What Comes Next With Ed Liebowitz of Personify Health

    If you wait for the claim, you've already lost. Ed Liebowitz, President and General Manager of Well-being at Personify Health, breaks down pre-encounter engagement, what CFOs want from wellness vendors, the Virgin Pulse and HealthComp merger, GLP-1 strategy for employers, and where AI is actually moving the needle in employer health. 00:00 Intro 01:30 Why Ed left finance for digital health 03:05 Lessons from Everyday Health, HealthReveal, and BD 05:06 Is corporate wellness just a perk? 06:51 The ROI metrics CFOs care about now 08:29 How engagement starts: HRAs and predictive risk 09:38 Employers vs. health plans: different paths to ROI 10:49 The white space for founders in employer health 12:27 Why waiting for claims data means you've already lost 14:33 Reaching beyond healthy members: the MSK pilot 17:42 How to avoid bias in personalization 19:40 Earning trust with member health data 20:55 Personal wellness plans 23:52 The Virgin Pulse and HealthComp merger 25:16 How owning the TPA changes wellbeing 26:37 Lessons from post-merger integration 28:32 What evidence closes the deal with CFOs 30:12 Network contracting and Surest 31:49 How benefits consultants evaluate vendors 33:08 GLP-1s and employer budgets 36:27 Building product as a patient 38:15 What's changing in longitudinal care 39:20 The conditions driving employer spend 40:49 Where AI is moving KPIs today 42:18 AI governance and member trust 43:21 Why Personify vs. ChatGPT and Anthropic 45:25 AI agents and benefits navigation 46:13 Who wins employer health consolidation 47:39 The North Star metric for the category 48:07 Rapid fire More about Ed Liebowitz & Personify Health Ed Liebowitz's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edliebowitz/ Personify Health LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/personify-health/ Personify Health Website: https://personifyhealth.com/ More about Vik & Care Shift Vik's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169 Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/110446420/admin/dashboard/ Care Shift Website: https://careshift.vc/

    GLP-1s Broke Employer Budgets. Here's What Comes Next With Ed Liebowitz of Personify Health

  5. Sep 9

    Inside Morgan Health with Dan Mendelson: Double Bottom Line Investing at JPMorgan

    JPMorgan Chase reviews about 400 healthcare companies a year and invests in three. Dan Mendelson, CEO of Morgan Health, explains what gets a company into that group. We cover the $330M deployed off JPMorgan's balance sheet, why a company that only cuts cost gets a pass, and the misconception Dan corrects with nearly every founder: Morgan Health's check does not come with a contract from JPMorgan's benefits team. Dan also gets into $27,000 family premiums, small employers dropping coverage, ICHRA, the coding practices driving six figure claims, and where AI is genuinely working. Dan founded and sold Avalere Health and ran health policy at OMB under the Clinton administration. (00:24) The mission and the $330M mandate (01:48) Why founders pick Morgan Health (03:35) The myth: funding is not a JPMorgan contract (05:29) 400 companies, 3 investments, what earns a yes (06:40) Savings only count if quality goes up (08:19) $27K premiums and why the market hasn't broken (09:36) Employers dropping coverage, ICHRA, narrow networks (12:17) Affordability, access, and social determinants (13:50) Why Medicare Advantage is ahead of commercial (15:39) The fee for service trap (17:23) The Lantern thesis and surgical spend (18:16) Cancer as a top cost driver (19:39) Six figure claims and coding (22:35) Where AI is actually working (25:44) What ICHRA needs to go mainstream (27:16) Lessons from OMB, CHIP, and Avalere (28:40) Rapid fire More about Morgan Health & Dan MendelsonMorgan Health Website: https://www.morganhealth.com/ About Dan Mendelson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Mendelson Dan Mendelson's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dnmendelson/ Morgan Health LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jpmorganchase/home/ About Vik & Care Shift Vik's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169 Care Shift Website:https://careshift.vc/ Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/posts/?viewAsMember=true

    Inside Morgan Health with Dan Mendelson: Double Bottom Line Investing at JPMorgan

  6. Sep 2

    Jimini Health CEO on Selling AI to Health Systems, Medicaid, and the Clinician Trust Problem

    Luis Voloch, CEO of Jimini Health and co-founder of Immune.ai, joins Care Shift to talk about why he traded oncology AI for behavioral health, and why he believes clinicians, not chatbots, are the key to doing AI in mental health right. We cover the ChatGPT suicidal ideation numbers that shaped Jimini's thesis, why Sage was built as an extension of the clinician rather than a replacement, and how that choice became the company's biggest moat. Luis also breaks down selling AI into large health systems, pricing a product with no existing benchmarks, and how Medicaid and underserved populations fit into Jimini's long-term roadmap. We also get into the radiology analogy for why AI might make clinicians more in-demand rather than less, what happened to the wave of mental health chatbots that disappeared over the last two years, and where Luis sees behavioral health heading over the next 6 to 12 months. Timestamps:0:00 Intro0:15 Why Luis pivoted from oncology AI to behavioral health1:16 Why language is both the therapy and the diagnosis in mental health2:19 Responding to the "it's all vibes" critique3:28 What happens to patients between therapy sessions4:26 How clinicians and patients are responding to Sage5:30 Differentiating from Spring Health, Headspace, and other players7:14 The ChatGPT suicidal ideation numbers8:51 What Sage is and how Jimini sells it9:30 The administrative burden problem10:19 Why clinicians are the moat, not the cost center11:11 What happens when AI in behavioral health goes wrong12:04 Where FDA regulation stands13:23 Going from CTO at Immune.ai to CEO at Jimini14:28 Teaching at Stanford and common AI health founder mistakes16:02 Technologist vs. clinician as founder17:41 Moving upmarket to large behavioral health organizations18:46 Pricing AI with no existing benchmarks20:34 The FDA's Tempo and ACCESS programs22:26 Where AI has (and hasn't) moved the needle23:23 How Jiminy uses AI internally to build faster25:02 Retention and outcomes data26:35 Building a team from Immune.ai, Cedar, and Palantir28:46 Where behavioral health is headed in 6-12 months30:45 Does AI take clinicians' jobs? The radiology analogy32:15 Common misconceptions about behavioral health33:14 The two-tiered access problem in behavioral health34:09 Consolidation risk and Jimini's defensibility35:35 Medicaid, underserved patients, and reimbursement37:13 What happened to the wave of mental health chatbots38:28 Will one company dominate behavioral health AI? More on Jimini Health & Luis Voloch Luis's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisvoloch/ Jimini Health Website: https://jiminihealth.com/ Jimini Health LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jiminihealth/ More about Vik & Care Shift Vik's LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/ Vik on X: https://x.com/vikbilakanti1 Care Shift LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/110446420/admin/dashboard/ Care Shift Website: https://careshift.vc/

    Jimini Health CEO on Selling AI to Health Systems, Medicaid, and the Clinician Trust Problem

  7. Aug 26

    Why 60% of People With a Mental Health Diagnosis Never Get Treated: NeuroFlow's CEO Explains

    Chris Molaro left the Army after leading a platoon in combat to build NeuroFlow, a behavioral health infrastructure company now working with the VA, national health plans, and health systems across the country. We talk about the 60% of people with a mental health diagnosis who never get treated, how AI helps flag suicide risk before it's too late, and the eighteen months NeuroFlow spent stuck behind a legal barrier before finding a way through. Chris also shares the story of a father NeuroFlow's system helped get into an appointment within 24 hours after he'd been told he'd have to wait over a month. Chapters:00:00 Intro00:30 Lessons from West Point and leading soldiers in combat03:21 Why NeuroFlow built infrastructure instead of another therapy app05:52 Finding the patients who fall through the gaps07:58 Winning trust with the first provider groups11:45 How NeuroFlow flags suicide risk with AI and LLMs17:50 The 18-month legal barrier, and how response services solved it20:10 Selling into the VA, national payers, and health systems22:58 What a Blue Cross study revealed about cost and outcomes30:25 Build versus buy: the VA, Quartet, and Owl Health acquisitions40:48 The morning NeuroFlow's algorithm helped save a father's life43:03 The next five to ten years for NeuroFlow47:24 Rapid fire About 8 to 9% of NeuroFlow's team are military veterans, and several of the company's investors are too. More about NeuroFlow & Chris Molaro NeuroFlow Website: https://www.neuroflow.com/ NeuroFlow's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismolaro/ Chris Molaro's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chrismolaro/ More about Vik & Care Shift Vik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/ Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/?viewAsMember=trueCare Shift Website: https://careshift.vc/ Care Shift on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6JghxsuNbQ7hWIHuLjaoJz?si=9b761459412846ddCare Shift on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/care-shift/id1858302821

    Why 60% of People With a Mental Health Diagnosis Never Get Treated: NeuroFlow's CEO Explains

  8. Aug 19

    Lantern Lost Half Its Clients. John Zutter Turned It Into a 12M-Member Company

    John Zutter took over as CEO of Lantern in December 2016 — right after the company lost 50% of its clients in six months. Today, Lantern is one of the largest specialty care platforms in the country, serving 12 million people across 500+ facilities, with a surgical complication rate under 1% (vs. a national average of 8-15%). In this episode, we go deep on how Lantern rebuilt trust with employers, why the "fly patients to a name-brand hospital" model failed, the five-part heuristic Lantern uses to decide which conditions to tackle next, why they chose to open-source their savings methodology, and where AI actually moves the needle in specialty care versus where it doesn't. John spent his early career in investment banking and growth equity before joining Lantern in 2016 with no healthcare background — and turned around a business now backed by a $30M round led by Morgan Health (JPMorgan Chase) and Echo Health Ventures. In this episode: Why Lantern lost half its clients before John took over — and what was actually brokenThe "Centers of Excellence" model that looked good on paper but failed in practiceHow Lantern scaled a two-sided provider network market by marketThe real reason their complication rate is under 1%How Lantern decides which new categories to enter (surgery → cancer → infusions)Why they open-sourced their savings and bundling methodology — and why competitors haven't followedWhat CEOs, CFOs, and benefits leaders each actually want from a healthcare vendorWhere AI will — and won't — change specialty careHis non-consensus take on GLP-1sTimestamps:00:00 – Intro01:11 – Coming into healthcare with no healthcare background03:59 – Taking over Lantern after losing half its clients05:58 – Why the "Centers of Excellence" model failed08:06 – Scaling a two-sided provider network12:11 – Advice for early-stage founders on network-based models14:54 – How Lantern gets complication rates under 1%17:07 – Addressing the "cherry-picking healthy patients" critique20:12 – Why cancer, surgery, and infusions eat 50%+ of health spend23:12 – Expanding from surgery into cancer care26:22 – Partnerships vs. building in-house (Access Hope, Hinge Health)28:20 – Expanding into infusion therapy30:18 – When platform consolidation helps buyers — and when it doesn't35:25 – Why Lantern open-sourced its savings methodology39:45 – Where AI fits into the next 5 years of specialty care44:55 – Shifting from procedural to therapeutic care (GLP-1s, cell/gene therapy)46:38 – Working with health plans vs. employers directly49:12 – A non-consensus bet on GLP-1s50:09 – Rapid fire More about John Zutter & Lantern John's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-zutter-687000a/ Lantern's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lantern-specialty-care/ Lantern's Website: https://lanterncare.com/ More about Vik & Care Shift Vik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathvik-bilakanti-8b5344169/ Care Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-shift/?viewAsMember=true Care Shift Website: https://careshift.vc/

    Lantern Lost Half Its Clients. John Zutter Turned It Into a 12M-Member Company
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5
out of 5
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About

Care Shift, hosted by Sathvik Bilakanti, takes you inside the real world of healthtech innovation, venture capital, and company-building. Each episode features unfiltered conversations with the founders and investors shaping the future of care—breaking down how they raised capital, found product-market fit, navigated failure, and built companies that endure. Listeners learn exactly what top VCs are looking for in healthtech startups, along with tactical, step-by-step insight that early builders can immediately apply. The Care Shift also opens the doors to the venture ecosystem itself, with lea

Information

  • Creator
    vik.bilakanti
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    39
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © vik.bilakanti
  • Show Website
    Care Shift

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