Photon Health

While I was away, the impressive & insane folks at Photon Health announced a fundraise, unveiling the amazing thing they've built in prescription management-- a better experience for both the provider AND the patient, imagine that. Proud to be an early investor and big time supporter in Otto Sipe, Michael Rado, & team. 🎉

Think prescription drug prices are the same from one pharmacy to the next... in the same city? I assumed so, but I was dead wrong. I figured this out when I went to fill a prescription for an expensive topical cream, it was $120 in one pharmacy and $70 in different one across town. Now, imagine if it wasn't a skin cream but a treatment for a life saving drug or something more acute? This can be the difference between being able to afford a drug and not. A couple of years ago, my friend Joel Wish introduced me to Otto Sipe who had been thinking about this problem for a while and set out to shake things up in the prescription drug space. He launched Photon Health to simplify the entire prescription process by offering a digital platform where patients can manage their prescriptions, compare drug prices, and select the best pharmacies for them. This enhances transparency AND introduces competitive pressure to lower drug prices - addressing a $700 billion market in the U.S. alone. Thrilled to see Otto Sipe, Michael Rado and the entire Photon Health team continue to build such a mission driven company with a fresh $9M to transform the #prescription experience 🙌🏽 #healthcare #prescriptions #pharmacies #nyctech #everywherevc

Over the last two+ years, Photon Health has managed to become the second-largest prescription network in the United States, a feat that no one has been able to achieve in the last two+ decades. We did it by having a bold vision and unwavering desire to affect change, by listening to customers and consumers about what their problems were, and by empowering the team at Photon Health to build products that actually solve problems. There is a dearth of great products in healthcare—we're setting a new standard—technology first, experience is critical, design matters, outcomes are greater than outputs. I'm proud that we've been able to achieve what we have without sacrificing our values. We're bringing consumer-grade experiences to broader healthcare—this is the new standard, and it's overdue. We've also ushered in a new era at Photon, maturing into a first-class organization to set ourselves up for growth—we've brought on Diya Shah as Chief of Staff, Sophie Maarleveld to lead operations, Jomi Cubol to lead design, Scott Bowerman as our first sales hire. I'm humbled to work with these ambitious, critical, and curious folks, and the whole team of product-minded engineers and scrappy operations folks that keep us moving—we're out here proving that playing long-term games with long-term people results in a fundamental change in a broken system. Big ups to my cofounders Otto Sipe and Sam Kotlove, and shout out to our lead investors Nicholas Chirls at Notation Capital and Parth Desai at Flare Capital Partners. Wouldn't be possible without these folks. Hit me up if you're looking for a role—we've got plenty. 🍄

I've always been someone who seeks meaning and connection in my work. That was what led me to Photon Health earlier this year - the opportunity to work hard on a problem that almost everyone in America has encountered, and to do it with people I respect, admire, learn from, and laugh with. The simplicity of Photon's vision (leveraging consumer demand to lower the cost of prescription medication) belies the complexity of the task ahead of this team and the focus and drive we'll need to achieve our goals. But if any team can do it, it's this one. Today we're announcing our latest round of funding and I'm honored and proud to be part of this phase of our growth. If you want to learn more, read Otto Sipe's latest blog post or Fortune's recent article about what we're up to (linked in comments.) P.S. we're hiring across Product, Engineering, and Sales 🍄

I started my role as Chief of Staff at Photon Health last October. My daughter was just shy of a year old and I remember the hesitation I felt to join yet another early stage company at a time when I thought I’d be slowing down on the career front for a little to focus on family. Mom guilt at its finest. When I joined the team, I remember how difficult it was to learn the business, spend enough time with our founders, and get to know every member on our team all while keeping up with my daughter’s doctor appointments, sick days, and trying new foods with her at home. Since then, I’ve learned it’s really hard to do it all, it probably won’t get a ton easier, but if you’re going to do it all, make it worth it. The move to Photon Health has been a career dream for me to say the least. This job has been incredibly rewarding, not only because of the work we’re doing but because of the people I’ve been able to surround myself with. What we’re building is truly inspiring, and the fact that I get to spend my weekdays around some of the smartest people I know is pretty amazing. I’ve also been fortunate to be a part of a team that just gets it when it comes to family being a priority and knows how to have a ton of fun. Today, we’re proud to announce that we’ve closed a $9M round co-led by Notation Capital and Flare Capital Partners. I am pumped for what’s to come! Check out our blog post or our feature in Fortune to learn more about what we’re building! Both are linked in the comments. If you’re interested in joining the team, we’d love to hear from you! We're hiring across engineering, sales, product, marketing, and operations! 🚀

I believe what we're doing at Photon Health is inevitable. Consumers deserve a modern prescription experience where they can shop between pharmacies. We've also just raised $9M to scale this vision. Every day, we help thousands of people navigate an industry that has been designed to limit our agency. We've all felt this in line at the pharmacy or after an unexpected medical bill. We're harnessing consumer demand for transparency and choice to change this. In the process, we're helping prescribers care for their patients too. I spoke with Jason Del Rey at Fortune this week about what we're up to Photon. We've been pretty quiet over the past few years, but it feels great to start to tell our story! Read his post, linked in the comments.

🙌 We're proud sponsors at this year's Hint Summit! Join us and other DPC enthusiasts at Hint Summit in Denver, CO Sept. 27-28. Visit summit.hint.com to register. #hintsummit24 Hint Health 💫

A year ago, we took the Photon Health team sailing around the NY Harbor. Since then, we've doubled the team size and 10x'd our monthly prescription volume! ⛵️ This year, we chartered the whole damn 105' sailboat and brought all of our favorite customers, partners, and investors! We've got some big announcements coming soon, but I can tell you this whole team deserved a celebration! ☠️ Next year, we'll probably need a bigger boat, cause we're hiring across engineering, sales, product, marketing, and operations! Jump aboard. 🚀

We’re on a boat! 🛥️ Thanks to Otto Sipe & Photon Health for enabling these 🗽🌇sights 🌞 Elianna Goldstein Cavan Klinsky Troy Bannister Benjamin Lee Karen Jiang

🚀 Last week, our team had an incredible onsite experience filled with so many memorable moments. From cheering at the Subway Series ⚾️ to a family style team dinner 🍽️, and the grand finale – sailing the Hudson River with our customers, investors, and friends 🌅. We're feeling energized and ready to tackle what's next! 💪 #PhotonHealth #healthtech #onsite #nyc