#14: Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot)

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Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:00:00]: We're the ones that had something to learn. And so, personally, I just feel like we need to do a better job. All parties of having open conversations and knowing that, like, you know, we are not Silicon Valley. We are not New York. Nobody thinks we are, even internally. So all we should be really talking about is how do we get How do we improve? And having that conversation from all parties is the only way we get there.

Jeffrey Stern [00:00:25]: Let's discover the Cleveland entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are telling the stories of its entrepreneurs and those supporting them. Welcome to the Lay of the Land Northeast, We're we're exploring what people are building in Cleveland and coming to you live from Ohio City. I am your host, Jeffrey Stern. And today, The the pleasure of speaking with Matt Shapiro, whose love and enthusiasm for Cleveland and people building things here is infectious in the best possible way. Matt is a cofounder and chief marketing officer of Medpilot, a Cleveland based Stern up which navigates patients through their health care experience. And to date, they have helped over 1,000,000 patients and employ about 45 people here in Cleveland. Matt sits on the advisory board for Blue Star Families, the nation's largest chapter based military organization, And the Catamount Innovation Fund.

Jeffrey Stern [00:01:14]: Prior to Met Pilot, Matt led the New York Media team at Bully Pulpit Interactive, which is a Political strategy firm created by the digital marketers of Barack Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns. He's a political strategist and adviser for doctor Tom Lee, Who's the founder of One Medical, Hippocrates, and Galileo. And more recently, Matt is a technology policy adviser for Justin Bibb, who is running for mayor here in Cleveland. Somehow, amongst the variety of activities Matt is involved with, The found some time to sit down with me today. Matt is a a true champion of Cleveland, and I hope you all enjoy our conversation. Alright. So before we dive in to talk about Medpilot and and all the work that you're doing there. I would love to start with kind of the the boomerang story that that you have, Also hailing from New York City myself, but, you know, splitting your time between the 2 cities and, you know, working up to MedPilot and and kind of the founding story there, You know, just your your kinda background and and what brought you to be interested in entrepreneurship and, you know, how that how that ties into To Cleveland, where you grew up, and going to New York and coming back.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:02:24]: Well, thanks for having me. I think anyone who has ever met me, even in a fleeting moment at a bar, knows that I am a very proud Cleveland boy, specifically Shaker Heights Rep, rep. And I owe everything to Cleveland and Shaker. You know, even when I spent about 10 years fully in New York City, away from Cleveland, I still never stop talking about it, prepping it. And coming back to Cleveland, with Medpod has been One of the most fulfilling, experiences of my life to date. I think, you know, I was one of those people who definitely always wanted to be an entrepreneur, whether it was through the lemonade Land, or selling yearbooks, or study guides, whatever. I love the sales aspect. I love the strategy involved in it, and I love the thrill of it.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:03:14]: It's exciting. It's a roller Stern. There are just as many, if not more, downs as there are ups, So you just have to love the ride of of. And you're going to take a lot of punches, and just enjoy it, and learn from it quickly, and make the most of it. And so I think that was definitely instilled in me very, very young in Cleveland. I learned early on that having a real skill set is needed When you build a company, and whether that's product or sales, strategy, marketing, you know, basic skills are needed to build a company. Everybody kind of wants to do that networking, and talking. And that's my favorite part of it too, but, you gotta bring something to the table.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:03:54]: And so for me, I thought the skill set that I most wanted to learn was marketing and advertising. It was slightly shaped, from my love of Mad Men and Don Draper, and I Thought it was cool and interesting. It fit my skill set, and I liked bourbon. And so post college, I went to New York City and gave Madison Avenue a shot. That experience was extremely formative for me. I definitely had to grow up very quickly Land learn that it is not at all about drinking whiskey and having brainstorm sessions. It's, you know, marketing has turned into a very technical field. It's very data driven.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:04:30]: There's less Land of wishy washy creative stuff Land very more tangible, data driven approaches that are analyzed. And so that experience was not just formative, to me, but also kind of let me hone in a little bit on what I was good at and what I wasn't. From there, I actually, staying in New York, but Land of putting 1 foot in DC, got involved in politics. And politics has always been my biggest passion. That is an area I've stayed involved in throughout MedPilot, and post MedPilot, and future experiences we'll always get more involved in because I think politics, unfortunately, you know, really is integral in a city. And So for me, I took my marketing skills. I brought it to politics. I split my time in D.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:05:14]: C. And New York for a while. I ran the New York Media Team for the largest political marketing firm in the country. And it was there that we, kind of, started MedPilot. Honestly, many pivots later, We definitely, came a long way from our original idea. So I won't bore you with, how did we come up with MedPilot? Because there was a lot of iterations. But really, when we latched on the one that actually started to work, which was a CRM platform, a customer relationship management platform for healthcare providers, we started to take off. And that was when we went from a couple employees to really needing to see if we could scale on this thing.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:05:53]: We had some success. We had a pilot. We had a couple investors that took a shot on us. And it was there that we decided that Afraid we were gonna really grow this company, New York City was not our place to be. We're first time entrepreneurs. My co founders Jacob Myers, Nate Spoden. We have a lot of skill sets, but, you know, people were not throwing cash at us. As a first time entrepreneur, there's very little track record.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:06:16]: And so, We had to be very smart and efficient with the money we had. And we sat down. And when we thought through the different characteristics of the city that we needed, Cleveland checked all of our boxes. It was specifically nice for me and Nate, who are from Cleveland originally. Jake From San Diego is a little bit harder to convince him, but the network that we had had in Cleveland, the cost of living that we had in Cleveland, The health care talent that we have in Cleveland made it a really, really nice decision, and and that boomerang brought us back really nicely. And, you know, we're we're so fortunate for everything Cleveland's given us.

Jeffrey Stern [00:06:51]: Yeah. Absolutely. That's an exciting story for sure. When you came back to to Cleveland, just like to paint a picture of this, you know, Current state and and state back The. How big is MedPilot? What are where are you guys working? A little bit about the the trajectory from there.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:07:08]: Yeah. We went from 4 or 5 employees in a very small WeWork in SoHo, New York, to in the 1st year of being in Cleveland, we got up to over Plenty of employees. We exchanged offices, I believe, 3 times in 2 years. We started off in more of the Ohio City area, And then we grew in, on South Marginal Road, 5,500. And we actually then took over the 2nd floor, as we continue to grow, and now we're over 40 employees strong. But Cleveland is, like, really, you know, sole reason we were able to do The. Not just because of the cost of living. Unbelievable access to talent.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:07:46]: We are, in my opinion, Land in a lot of people's opinion, one of the best healthcare cities in the country and in the world. And we really benefited from piggybacking off this network and having no shortage of people looking to join our team and help us grow, and and plug the gaps that we needed.

Jeffrey Stern [00:08:03]: Was that one of the deciding factors when you were doing that kind of analysis of different cities, or was that just Kind of a pleasant benefit

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:08:12]: of Huge factor. Yeah. I would say employees, customers, and cost of living. Those are the main ones. There are a couple bonuses. Being able to stretch a dollar is extremely important as an entrepreneur, but that doesn't really matter if you don't have the customers and the employees to grow company. You know? That that's more of a, like, nice to have, but not need to have for us. We needed to be able to have the right people to grow this company, and and Cleveland was the city for us.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:08:39]: For sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:08:40]: So you mentioned The kind of of, you know, CRM for helping navigate patients through their Land of financial experience, Taking kind of a higher level stab at that, can you just speak a bit more to the kind of mission and vision for for Medpilot going forward? Having gone through some iterations in the early days, what is it that you guys are really trying to solve right now?

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:09:02]: Yeah. The good thing is The High level admission actually is the only thing that hasn't changed. How we attacked it, definitely did. But our goal was that Patients have an unbelievably difficult time getting through the financial experience of healthcare. Whether they're even able to receive statements, because, you know, information's always wrong Land data's always wrong, to the fact that Nobody, including my father, who's a doctor, can understand what a statement says, to The, you know, the cost side. I mean, there's just So many issues with that. Land, you know, we really are a big change of being able to solve that issue that is plaguing, unfortunately, tens of millions of patients with not being able to afford medical bills or understand them. We learned that there's actually another side of the coin Land that's the healthcare provider that's really, really losing in this equation as well.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:09:56]: If you don't understand your bill or you can't afford your bill and you're not paying it, that's not particularly helping The healthcare provider either. And so, really, our CRM platform is designed to find that middle ground between the 2 parties and find a way. And if it's you don't understand your bill, you know, that's why we built an engine that's designed to more personalize the communication Land content. Land of how I can speak English well. In a way that people are able to grasp these complicated situations. And from an affordability standpoint, If you can't afford to pay a $50,000 bill, you're probably not alone. Is there a payment plan or a discount that they're willing to offer? Absolutely. Because, You know, nobody wins if you go bankrupt.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:10:37]: And so finding those middle grounds is key for us. We've expanded because we know it's not just medical bills that are an issue. We've brought in our communication to clinical and to administrative stuff like appointment reminders, really all with that core goal of more efficiently and effectively communicating with patients.

Jeffrey Stern [00:10:56]: Got it. And not to Bring up the purple elephant in the room, but, you know, COVID has obviously had a a big impact over the last year, specifically in the health care space. How have you seen the impact of of COVID over the last year? And from a, you know, prioritization from a hospital standpoint, is this something that's still on their radar, What are the kind of tailwinds or headwinds that you're experiencing as a consequence of it?

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:11:24]: You know, there have definitely been a lot of that, both positive and negative. Think the most obvious negative ones I'll start with are more from a startup, you know, founder's perspective, very difficult investment climate. And so, you know, the Grow at All Costs mantra definitely changes in this environment when you know it's not just you that's hurting. You know, your investors might be taking a hit as well. And so, you know, our approach to everything really had to tighten up, knowing The, you know, this could last 3, 6, 9 months, and probably longer. And so I think those were the biggest negatives for us. I think, also, you know, the sales cycle got a little bit longer in an already very long, space because people are hesitant to make changes.

Jeffrey Stern [00:12:07]: Land, you

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:12:07]: know, that includes vendors and partners The they're really just trying to keep The roof above their head and Keep, you know, seeing patients as much as they can. So those are the major negatives. I think the positive is, you know, our space of communication became front and center. And this is why we really push forward, not just with financial engagement, but, you know, broader engagement with patients to ensure that people are connected and that healthcare is not, you know, suddenly in a back seat just because you're afraid to go in to see your doctor. You know, we really actually got a lot of really nice tailwind of being able to expand and accelerate with our current customers way quicker than we ever would have imagined. So definitely Lay lot of positives and negatives. But I think for us, really, the negatives fell more on the of the business side, less of the mission Land how we were approaching our market side.

Jeffrey Stern [00:12:57]: And to your point, just, you know, let the the highs get too high and the lows too low.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:13:01]: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. Land we're we're all struggling with it. I think that was helpful. Everyone, you know, this is this is a tough time for them. And so We're in this together. It's gonna take all of us working together, and that includes investors, entrepreneurs, clients, and just general people involved.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:13:18]: You know, we all need to work together, and know that we're all hurting. And if we can help as much as you can, try to help, you know, help people around you.

Jeffrey Stern [00:13:26]: Yeah. So you guys are about you you said 40 employees right now based mostly in Cleveland?

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:13:32]: Almost exclusively in Cleveland. Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:13:34]: And From the the funding standpoint, you know, you mentioned one of, again, the the main reasons or the primary factors in in considering a move back to Cleveland was Your your 1st go as a founder and, you know, trying to build and and attract the the capital that you needed to to get this off the ground. Could you speak a little bit more to the process of of fundraising and kinda your experience in the past with it, but also As you guys look look towards the future, you know, how how you're thinking about that strategy.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:14:06]: Fundraising is is not the most fun part pereneur, but it is what keeps you going. And when you're a first time entrepreneur, you have got to make sure there is no stone left unturned. So, you know, when we were getting this off the ground, really leaned heavily on close friends and family, just to get enough traction The we could convince people that didn't know who we were The we had something there. Because we are very, very far past the old days when maybe a cool PowerPoint slide or deck, could raise you a Series A. So, you know, for us, we caught our biggest break when I was actually at a bar mitzvah. I met a gentleman, who conveniently overheard my dad and I talking about startups Land caught me, on the side of the bar mitzvah and of to chat with me. And it turned out he was a former venture capitalist and hedge fund executive. And He wrote our 1st, you know, huge check and is still actually our biggest investor.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:15:01]: And, you know, that was really fortunate. I mean, I was lucky. I think My advice to founders is you have to put yourself in those positions to get lucky. And anyone that knows me knows I never shut up about Medpilot. So the odds of someone overhearing me talk about it and The potentially interested in investing are are, you know, better than if I if I were quiet about it. So I think that, you know, the spray and Lay is necessary. You take money from whoever you Land, at whatever terms you can when you're first starting. It's not fun Land it's not the most, effective strategy.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:15:35]: But you have to do what you have to do to survive at the beginning. I think as your company grows, You get abilities that hopefully be a little bit more selective. Land, you know, for us, when we were in New York City, it was very spray and pray. But when we came to actually Lay for a Techstars program, we were there for 3 months as part of the senior Sinai Techstars Accelerator. That was the 1st time we really had an experience where we met a bunch of VCs and investors. And it was a little bit more formal The, hopefully, meeting someone on a dance floor with a bar mitzvah. So that was our 1st real experience. And then coming to Cleveland, it was a very different chapter.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:16:13]: You know, I think it's interesting for us because we now have kind of 3 different phases of investors, New York City, West Coast, and Cleveland. You know, we've noticed there's very big differences between all those different types of investors. Land, at this point, we've been pleasantly surprised by how much investment, appetite Cleveland has. We surely, as you can tell from when you asked me why we came to Cleveland, investment money was not on our list of reasons. But we ended up picking up, you know, about 10 to 20% of capital our capital raise from Cleveland. It was not easy capital raise. And, you know, I definitely think we benefited from the fact that we had investment from, you know, more established outside of Cleveland investors The helped give us a little bit of credibility Land set our valuation a little bit higher than some people in Cleveland get, unfortunately. So I think, all of that definitely helped in our approach.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:17:05]: But I think for us, again, we're still first time entrepreneurs and we're still, you know, very fortunate and and happy to take a conversation with whoever wants to talk to us.

Jeffrey Stern [00:17:15]: Yeah. The serendipitous overhearing, it's tough to come by on Zoom calls these days.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:17:21]: Yes. Not not not as fun. That's for sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:17:25]: Yeah. I I'd actually love if you could expand upon kind of the differences in in approach or strategy that that you've taken from, you know, with the West Coast, stereotypically, VC people, the New York VC people, and and the people here here in Cleveland.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:17:40]: Yeah. I I think there are a lot of commonalities on the coasts. I think the difference is, you know, they're both I got for the commonalities, They're very big thinkers. They wanna take big swings. And they are not as afraid to get earned. They understand what they're doing. You know, there are a lot more angel investors that are trying to not just make a lot of money, but really change the game and build relationships with entrepreneurs. And That's the most important attribute as an angel investor is betting on an entrepreneur is the only way to be successful because The odds that their company is going to succeed are always low.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:18:22]: But if you really think you've found someone special, it might not be this company, but it's gonna be the next one. Or it's gonna be the next one. So that's an approach that you see very predominantly across the coasts with people that are, you know, also have access to more capital, but are more of a mindset. The only real differences I notice are we talk to a lot more or many more private equity hedge fund type people in New York than, you know, at the Lay. But, you know, there's there's that really was more of a due diligence thing. We we had to really tighten up our pro formas for the for the finance pros versus The venture capitalists that cared a little bit more about long term strategy. When we got to Cleveland, it was, very different. You know, we didn't really know where to go.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:19:04]: So, You know, we really just kinda Googled, and the normal suspects kinda popped up. And we asked around. And I think the hard part is, in Cleveland, The angel community is very difficult. It's very, very small. And in terms of actual, more traditional funds, there aren't as many. And, you know, I think our conversations were very difficult. Mostly because the people we were talking to, They just didn't seem as well versed in our space, in our area. And so, I think that was a little bit of a trouble.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:19:38]: But it's also, I think It's different. You know, when I, for instance, walked into a venture meeting in LA, you meet with maybe the general partner and an analyst. When I walked into a VC meeting in Cleveland, our 1st VC meeting, I'll never forget, was The local shop. Literally, I think there were 15 or 20 people in the room. And I just remember being like, The are no startups, like, in The city. Like, what's going on? Like, it was, like, literally felt like the whole entire fund was in the room. I just thought we were doing, like, a little, touch base. Land, you know, it was weird.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:20:11]: It was definitely interesting. And I think that, it's just a very different mentality. We thought through the due diligence process. And, you know, it's unfortunate. I think a lot of the things people hear about the Cleveland Investment Community are extremely true. I think the difference is that people don't talk about enough, but I was really pleasantly surprised, are there are people trying to do big things. Land even if they don't come from the normal shops you hear about, they're out there. And so, personally, I want to call out an individual that's been instrumental to our company: John Penney.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:20:46]: Like, there's people like John Penney. There's people like Chantal Moody. There's people out there that genuinely wanna help companies, And they actually fit the coast, kind of, mentality of angel Stern. Building relationships with entrepreneurs, knowing they're taking a risk, and doing everything in the world they can to help you learn and grow and connect you to people. And so, I feel like there's a lot of bashing of Cleveland investment funds. There's mixed feelings for everybody, but it's not all bad. And I think we have to make sure we still focus on the positives out there. And that's the people that are really doing great things.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:21:21]: And knowing that, you know, there's a lot of employees at Venture Funds, but they bounce around to different places. So just labeling different Lay, good or bad, doesn't really make sense because those people might not even be there in a couple years that you didn't had a bad coffee with. So I think it's all about the people. And I think that's, you know, gonna be the differences if Cleveland ever gets to that East Coast or West Coast mentality, is gonna be if we can really invest in building this community.

Jeffrey Stern [00:21:44]: Yeah. I think that that makes a lot of sense. Do you feel that there is a pressure Sure. In the way that we've seen for companies like CoverMyMeds or Scout RFP, companies that have been that have, you know, a strong presence and and foundation in Cleveland but are ultimately pulled away, largely due for, you know, funding and investing reasons. I guess, how how are you thinking about that and and and trying to navigate that Going forward.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:22:08]: Yeah. I mean, I think at the end of the day, as a founder of a company, I'm gonna do whatever I need to do for my company. I love Cleveland. I will always love Cleveland. My family is from Cleveland. I will always have roots in Cleveland. But that does not mean that I will be in Cleveland just because I love Cleveland. You know? And so I think that at the end of the day, like, Cleveland needs to know and remember that All entrepreneurs have, really, a duty to their company Stern, not their city.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:22:40]: And so, you know, they should not take people for granted. And I think, you know, one of the stories that was the most painful for me to see, because he's always been a role model to me, because he's a couple years above me from Shaker, is Brian Verdon. Brian started a company in Cleveland, had a lot of difficulty with some of the usual suspects in Cleveland, and ultimately left in a pretty public fashion. You know, similar to Ed, you know, starting Klee, you know. He was Pretty vocal about some of the things that he thought was missing in Cleveland Land could be improved. And, you know, he got a lot of of. Personally, you know, as an entrepreneur, like, I just There aren't a lot of people I want to talk badly about. Because we all make mistakes.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:23:21]: We're all going to fail at times. And I think the only thing that's bad is if we don't have conversations. Land, like, open conversations. And this whole, like, Land of talking about people's backs and murmuring, I don't think it's helpful. I think we have to have a conversation with everyone. And when Brian Verne, for instance, leaves Cleveland, he writes an op ed, Pretty much says, My line's open. I want to talk. I want to help Cleveland.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:23:43]: And kind of gets talked badly by a lot of people. It doesn't take too much Googling to figure out he's since then raised, like, tens of 1,000,000 of dollars. He's super, super successful in the Lay. And personally, as a younger entrepreneur, like, I I really wish we had him back. And I wish people had listened to what he was saying because it's very clear that he knew what he was talking about. And, You know, we're the ones suffering, not him. You know? Like, we're the ones that had something to learn. And so, personally, I just feel like we need to do a better job, All parties of having open conversations.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:24:17]: And knowing that, like, you know, we are not Silicon Valley. We are not New York. Nobody thinks we are, even internally. So all we should be really talking about is how do we get The? How do we improve? And having that conversation from all parties is the only way we get there.

Jeffrey Stern [00:24:33]: Yeah. To kinda run with that line of thinking. And it maybe it ties back into, you know, your interest Land endeavors with with politics, Kinda talking more about the systemic problems and, you know, things that we can do here in Cleveland to to Land of foster that those lines of communication. But I guess from the political side and, you know, we don't have to get into politics politics. But, like, what what what are you doing these days on on that front?

Speaker C [00:25:01]: I've stayed super involved in politics just due to it being a huge passion of mine. On a national level, I have been very involved with Trying to help, elect, president elect Joe Biden. And, you know, I I held fundraisers, and I I got really involved in the grassroots side. It was extremely exciting to see that come to fruition. I I did it under the guise of working as a political strategist and advisor To doctor Tom Lee, who, has been a huge role model and idol of mine in the healthcare community. Tom has founded Massive companies like Epocrates and Wad Medical. And getting to work with them on the politics side has been really, really incredible experience for me. Locally, I've done 2 things.

Speaker C [00:25:48]: I am a co chair of the public policy, committee for OhioX, Which is Ohio's Tech and Innovation Partnership. Really, really excited. This group just started last year and already has Dozens of massive and small startups involved in it. And really, their goal is just to create a better partnership between, the state of Ohio Land, The, you know, startup community. My other role locally, is working with Justin Bibb, who is running, for mayor in Cleveland. And Stern embodies all The qualities you really want in leadership. He's extremely hardworking. He's got big ideas.

Speaker C [00:26:26]: But Most importantly, he he doesn't wanna do it alone. Land he's bringing in a lot of incredible people into the tent. And, I'm excited to be serving as a Tech policy adviser for Justin and, you know, government for, better or worse is is always gonna be an essential and Big role, in our business community. And so, I'm very, very excited to see people like Justin and Ohio, starting up with new fresh faces, trying to make a difference for all the right reasons.

Jeffrey Stern [00:26:54]: You you mentioned that in your Land, the, you know, government is, for better or worse, an essential part of the Success of any given city. And I'm curious from your perspective as an entrepreneur and really, you know, trying to take big swings, and and change the game. But where is the right place for of, and where is the right place for entrepreneurship in terms of, like, catalyst for for change? Yeah.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:27:18]: You know, it's it's a funny question because, you know, we're not we're not supposed to talk about politics, but I've already said that I I I fundraise for Joe Biden, so most people can assume where I fall. I am democratic for the most part across a number of issues, both, economically Lay well as socially. So I I have a background in thinking government is extremely helpful in a lot of areas. One area that I could not think The government should stay farther away from personally, is in startup investing. I think that that makes no sense. I don't know any really good examples of that working. And, you know, I've never seen or heard anyone from Silicon Valley say, like, Thank you. You know, I'm so glad that Sequoia is backed by, you know, Our government are like, it just there are no famous venture funds that are government backed.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:28:08]: And I just don't think that that makes any sense. So I think that where government needs to play a major role is really investing in our communities. Like, we need to be investing in education. We need people to have a better understanding of STEM Land the courses that allow you to start a company Land be successful in a company. That's absolutely imperative. And that that investing from a government is something that, As a private individual, I can't be very helpful. You're pretty much otherwise banking on, you know, some multibillionaire just to feel really good about Cleveland and wanna dump money into, like, stuff like education, which is not the most cost effective. So that's where government needs to be investing in our communities.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:28:51]: In terms of investing in companies, it needs to be individuals who actually have an ability to be risk takers Land understand that failure is okay. And, you know, I understand why it doesn't work, with the government. But, you know, we've tried it. I don't know a lot of people who, aren't on payroll that think it's working. And that's coming from someone that came to this city very outside, talked to a lot of people, both inside and outside the tent. And that seems like a pretty general consensus from a lot of people. So personally, I'm hoping that, as a community, We can really just expand and reform just by changing a little bit of how we, approach this process and start focusing on what actually does work with governments and

Jeffrey Stern [00:29:35]: a little

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:29:35]: bit less on what hasn't worked for us in the past. Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:29:37]: I think that makes a lot of sense. When you think about the future of MedPilot, What in your mind is kind of the best case scenario?

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:29:47]: Best case for us, you know, twofold. I think, Personally speaking, MedPilot was not just my, like, get rich plan. I am a first time entrepreneur that really, really will always be building companies Land wanna learn all facets of how to build a successful company. And so, for me personally, I knew the areas I would be strong in. I come from marketing. I come from PR. I wasn't concerned with being able to get us in the news. But the areas that I really didn't know enough about and I wanted to learn more about is how to really build a company and a culture and a community, Because that's really why I like building companies.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:30:26]: Having employees that are actually able to make a difference in their communities and hopefully make tons of money by working at Medpilot Land make tons of difference. That's what, actually, I care about. And before starting a company, I I didn't really know what that meant. Land you can Google like, Oh, HR policy is to build a good culture. But, you know, you don't really learn these things till you do it. And so those are my more Personal goals from a company standpoint. You know, our goal is to transform the nature of how patients and doctors communicate. It is unbelievably outdated and behind every other industry.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:31:02]: And so, personally, if we can just push The industry a little bit further into the direction of The 21st century, I will be very, very, very happy. Land, From a financial standpoint, I obviously hope my investors and my shareholders and everyone benefits. But I think everyone at Medpile is really driven by the fact that know, this is a space that needs our help on both the patient and the healthcare provider side. And I'm hoping we can make a little bit of a difference.

Jeffrey Stern [00:31:30]: Yeah. I hope you guys can too. If I've learned anything from working in in the health care industry the last year Land and change, it's There's a lot of room for improvement.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:31:41]: Why do you why do you think, you know, you're in The space as well? What do you think are the major reasons for why we're so far behind, I guess?

Jeffrey Stern [00:31:48]: I think I see actually a lot of parallels to the work I was doing prior in government where you have just of the The ways that things have been done, and that's kind of the justification for the way things will continue to be done. And so From my perspective, what we're working on at actual with credentialing, you know, it's a it's a process, a part of the the way that These health systems work that hasn't really been touched in 70 years. And so when you have, I think, processes that haven't been touched in decades, You just build up the potential energy for for of. And it just requires people to kinda poke at it and and see, like, Where is where is The opportunity to actually kinda make things a little bit better and have a justification for doing things that isn't this is just the way we've always done it? Land I think the larger the the organizations, the the more you might see of the that kind of justification.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:32:45]: Very, very well said.

Jeffrey Stern [00:32:46]: I have, fortunately, had a lot

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:32:48]: of time to

Jeffrey Stern [00:32:48]: think about why why the health care industry and the government is a little is a little slow. But that seems to be the intersection here. I think there there is a lot of room for improvement, and it's it's very exciting to hear both on on the The front and and the political front, the the work that you're doing.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:33:05]: Thank you. And I think at the end of the day, the people that get involved in healthcare like yourself, you have to really enjoy the difficult nature of it. I remember from my 1st gig in advertising, I was very unhappy when I got placed in the healthcare department of Madison Avenue of the fun, sexy fashion or, bigger, you know, American Express accounts. And my boss told me, like, anyone can do that. If you Land figure out how to do health there. You can do anything. It's way more interesting. And I'll be honest.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:33:37]: I didn't really believe him at the time. And I'm like, wow. That's that's a good market right there. You really spun that one. But I do feel that way. It's exciting. It's fun. And you're making a difference.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:33:46]: And there are days when I am jealous of my fellow entrepreneurs who have slightly sexier, companies and and, markets that they're in. But, you know, we're making a difference. Land And we see that every day. Like, my proudest statistic at MedPilot is 97% patient satisfaction score with The over a 1000000 patients we've worked with. And knowing, you know, the bar is really low, that The the current market has set for us. But, if we can increase it a little bit, it makes it worth it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:34:15]: Absolutely. No. That's that's amazing. So we've definitely covered a lot of ground here. I feel like I could ask you a lot more questions about Cleveland Land and your of. But in the interest of time, unless you really just wanna unsolicited divulge Lay other opinions here.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:34:31]: By the way my home address. You know? But,

Jeffrey Stern [00:34:35]: But the way we typically wrap these up is with, an exploration of, what your Land of favorite Hidden gem about Cleveland is not necessarily your favorite thing, but something that other people may not know about.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:34:48]: You know, I think when you talk to people, You're gonna get the people, as probably number one reason, why they love Cleveland. And I agree. Not a hidden gem. I think Anyone who's Stern a lot of time in New York City or other Lay, realize that, as much as we of Lay moan Land various things, not just our startup community, but also our sports teams. There's a very endearing, nature to Cleveland people, but Ohio in general, and in the Midwest. And so, that will always be my favorite thing. But that is far from a hidden gem. Land as well as our sports teams, which are finally shining a little bit of light.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:35:26]: For us, no offense to you, coming from New York. I think in general, I am absolutely just blown away by Our food scene. And I think that I came from New York, and I was, like, fash myself a foodie. I thought I knew where all the best places were. Mostly because I have a really, really nice big sister who lived in New York and took me everywhere Land even made me a spreadsheet with my, go to favorite spots Land and progressive data ideas and everything. But when I came to Cleveland, I was just absolutely blown away. There are so many cool Restauranteurs that have 1 or 2 shops. Land The are massive groups.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:36:04]: I love the ones that are. I'm Personally, really biased towards the Zac Berle restaurant crew, because I'm best buddies with Julian Berle. And I love the big and the small. But, I think it's of of endearing how many one off small businesses we have in Cleveland of people that are bringing their different nationalities and ethnicities through food. Land, you know, there's Ethiopian. There is so much good Asian. Land I think that, it gets some press. It doesn't get enough.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:36:33]: I have to call that Korea House because that's my favorite. But, you know, I think The, it's really, really endearing. And I think it says a lot about, not just why our food's good, but also what what makes our our Stern so incredible. It's just we're very inclusive. It's also really tasty when you get to experience it through

Jeffrey Stern [00:36:51]: Yeah. All second kind from New York. The the diversity and depth of of the food here in Cleveland Fantastic. Now that I'm very hungry, if if people have anything that they would want to follow-up with you about, What is the best way for them to do so?

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:37:11]: So, you know, my favorite part about being an entrepreneur is meeting people and networking. And I believe in a spray and pray approach because I've met Not just lead investors and business partners, but also really good friends, through the community. So I definitely want to emphasize, please, please, please reach out. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or someone who just wants to chat and commiserate about, what it's like to ride The crazy roller coaster. You know, my email is mattmedpilot.com. My LinkedIn is my very long last name, Matt, Peter Shapiro. Definitely reach out. I would love to talk.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:37:51]: Now, I think the biggest way that we will change this city is through building a more cohesive network. And that's gonna be done by all of us working together. Big and small, you know, big companies, small companies, investors, politicians, everyone need to actually cohesively work together. If we don't, we're all going to be fighting in our rival ways Land we're not going anywhere. So we're too small of a city Land we have too few resources not to really pitch in. So please reach out. Don't be shy. It doesn't need to be positive.

Matt Buder Shapiro (MedPilot (Acquired by Vytalize Health) [00:38:22]: You could also have hated something I said, and I'd love to talk about it. So, You know, Jeffrey, thank you so much. I think, you know, podcasts like yours are so important as well. Just, you know, we we need to expand on, Cleveland more from a media perspective too, and get our voices out The. And that'll ultimately help, attract the talent we need, the companies we need, and and hopefully, you know, know, all ships will rise.

Jeffrey Stern [00:38:46]: That's all for this week. Thanks for listening. We'd love to hear your thoughts on today's show, so shoot us an email of at upside dot f m, or find us on Twitter at podLayoftheland or at Sternjefe, j e f e. We'll be back here next week at the same time to map more of the land. If you or someone you know would make a good guess for our show, please email us or find us on Twitter and let us And if you love our show, please leave a review on iTunes. That goes a long way in helping us spread the word and continue to help bring high quality guests to the show