CEO Pajama Time

Sari Kaganoff
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CEO Pajama Time takes you inside the after-hour decisions and toughest strategic choices made by founders as they scale. Hosted by Sari Kaganoff, CEO and Founder of Aytza, these conversations are grounded in real-world experience, navigating the key inflection points every CEO faces.

Episodes

  1. Jen Goldsack’s Journey from Olympian to CEO, Declining a 20x Offer to Stay True to the Mission, and Leading Through Cancer

    19 MAR

    Jen Goldsack’s Journey from Olympian to CEO, Declining a 20x Offer to Stay True to the Mission, and Leading Through Cancer

    Jen Goldsack has spent six and a half years building the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) into a trusted voice for healthcare's digital transformation. In this conversation, she shares the inflection points that shaped the organization. And the real story behind them. Like the time a family office offered $4 million if DiMe would pivot to focus only on cancer. She said no. Then sat on the floor crying with her dog, knowing she'd just made everything harder. Or the org structure she championed for two years that wasn't working. And the courage it took to acknowledge it and rebuild. This year, she's been navigating all of it while fighting late-stage colon cancer. She talks about the brutal self-talk that preceded her diagnosis, what being a patient has taught her about the system she's trying to fix, and why the work feels more urgent than ever. In this episode: Turning down $4M to protect DiMe's positioning as "expert generalists"The org structure shortcomings she wishes she'd caught soonerWhat it's like to navigate the healthcare system as a patient after 20 years working in itHot take: Why longevity tech investment is "incredibly gratuitous"The signal she's watching: direct-to-patient pharma pathwaysAbout Jen: Jen Goldsack founded and leads DiMe, a nonprofit working to ensure digital technologies actually improve health, healthcare, and research. Her path to healthcare leadership started unexpectedly. She landed in the field during the 2008 financial crisis after competing in the Beijing Olympics as an elite athlete. Before DiMe, she built experience across two digital health startups (one successful exit), led digital initiatives at a Duke-FDA partnership, and conducted research at Penn. Today she sits on the boards of the Coalition for Health AI and Sage Bionetworks, and contributes to the National Academies' Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health. She holds three graduate degrees: chemistry from Oxford, history and sociology of medicine from Penn, and an MBA from George Washington. Beyond her professional credentials, Jen is a Pan American Games champion, former world record holder, and World Championship silver medalist. Resources & Links: Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) - https://dimesociety.org/ Follow Jen Goldstack - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgoldsack Presented by Aytza https://www.aytza.com/

    55 min
  2. The Decisions Behind Huma: The Platform Approach to Healthcare Innovation with Dan Vahdat

    5 MAR

    The Decisions Behind Huma: The Platform Approach to Healthcare Innovation with Dan Vahdat

    How Dan Vahdat Built Huma: The Platform Approach to Healthcare Innovation Enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at how bold vision, stubborn persistence, and platform thinking are revolutionizing healthcare, one disease, one regulation, one market at a time. Dan Vahdat, CEO of Huma, shares the story behind creating a platform that scales across diseases, regulations, and markets without losing sight of the big vision. In this episode: The origin story: From Johns Hopkins lab nerd to healthcare disruptorWhy building a platform beats focusing on single-use casesThe regulatory secret sauce: Configurable software as a medical deviceCommon pitfalls: Do's and don’ts of vision, team-building, and acquisitionsThe future of healthcare workforce with AI: Reinvented doctors and vibing cliniciansPractical advice for founders: Gut feeling, stubbornness, and when to listenWhy AI hype is just noise, even at the biggest tech firmsTimestamps: 00:00: Welcome and introducing Dan Vahdat03:30: From disease-specific apps to a scalable platform06:51: Why Dan was driven to start a company10:34: How Dan convinced investors15:28: The risk of chasing one disease versus the platform play20:06: Biggest mistake: Building in uncharted healthcare waters36:49: Hot take: Healthcare workforce will be transformed by AIResources & Links: HumaDan Vahdat Connect with Dan Vahdat: LinkedInTwitter Presented by Aytza.

    45 min
  3. The Decisions That Built Maven with Kate Ryder

    5 MAR

    The Decisions That Built Maven with Kate Ryder

    Most healthcare startups fail because founders chase every opportunity without knowing what to say no to. Kate Ryder built Maven into the first women's and family health unicorn by doing the opposite. In this conversation, Kate walks through the inflection points that shaped Maven: strong early signals, the decision to wind down Maven Campus when demand did not translate into a sustainable business model, a strategic shift to B2B, and the path to building a virtual care platform that now covers over 28 million lives. She talks about what was actually going through her head when she made those calls, and what she wishes she'd known earlier. We get into how customer signals shaped Maven's direction, the tension between product-market fit and strategic pivots, and why agility matters more than funding in healthcare. Kate also shares the mental model she used to keep investors confident during the moments when scaling felt impossible, and why she focuses on ROI per customer over headcount metrics. This is a conversation about the decisions founders make when no one's watching. If you're navigating a pivot or trying to figure out what to protect and what to let go, Kate's perspective will stay with you. In this episode you will learn about: 00:00- Kate Ryder and Maven's mission02:07 - The evolution of Maven's business model04:35 - Challenges and decisions in the early stages06:10 - The strategic pivot to enterprise clients12:01 - Building trust and resilience in healthcare innovation17:23 - Lessons learned from shutting down the campus health product20:21 - The future of virtual healthcare and Maven's roleResources & Links: Maven Clinic Follow Kate Ryder: Twitter Presented by Aytza.

    43 min

  4. SEASON 1 TRAILER

    Introduction to CEO Pajama Time with Sari Kaganoff

    Welcome to CEO Pajama Time, the podcast that offers a candid look at the behind the scenes decisions and strategic turning points every founder faces. Host Sari Kaganoff, CEO and Founder of Aytza, sits down with healthtech leaders to explore the most difficult choices they made while scaling and the key inflection points that defined their journey.

    1 min

Trailer

About

CEO Pajama Time takes you inside the after-hour decisions and toughest strategic choices made by founders as they scale. Hosted by Sari Kaganoff, CEO and Founder of Aytza, these conversations are grounded in real-world experience, navigating the key inflection points every CEO faces.

Information

  • Creator
    Sari Kaganoff
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Sari Kaganoff
  • Show Website
    CEO Pajama Time

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