#StartupsEverywhere profile: Lauren Hanson, Founder and CEO, flipMD
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
A Hub for On-Demand Physician Consulting
flipMD is a Philadelphia-based health care startup that lets physicians find consulting opportunities and allows companies to source medical talent for their projects. We recently spoke with the Founder and CEO of flipMD, Lauren Hanson, to learn more about her startup’s work, her experiences as a woman founder, and her thoughts on why it’s important for health care-focused startups to connect with physician consultants.
What in your background led you to launch flipMD?
The birth of flipMD evolved from my lived experience. My husband and Co-Founder, Greg Hanson, is midway through his residency, and we needed some extra income to finance our new home and our daughter’s new school. Residents don’t make very much per hour, and most medical families need to move to large cities to attend teaching hospitals during training. So Greg used his M.D. and Master of Public Health degrees to look for projects he could do from home that allowed him to use both his insight as a physician and medical knowledge to earn a side income.
We soon realized that there was a huge market of companies looking to access physician expertise, along with a large number of physicians who were interested in nonclinical work. So we wanted to connect the dots and help make this process frictionless for everyone involved. Greg’s experience and network, along with my background in technology management, marketing, and entrepreneurship, led to the lightbulb moment to start flipMD.
Can you tell us more about flipMD and how your team is expanding the view of physicians beyond patient care?
We think of flipMD as bringing the gig economy to physicians by connecting them with clients in search of specific medical expertise. Our company helps physicians diversify their work and income across the medical and patient care industries. We’re working to improve physicians’ lifestyles, but we’re also working to democratize the health care industry so physicians can offer input on the types of changes they’d like to see moving forward. As a result of the pandemic, physicians and people around the world are learning that there is more to medicine than just patient care in a clinic. We want to show that physicians are a key voice in the future of medical innovation happening outside of the hospital as well.
Why is it critical for emerging health care-focused startups to obtain medical expertise from physician consultants?
Physicians are key players when it comes to providing input on patient populations that startups want to serve, as well as on decisions regarding the uses of their products. Physicians hold invaluable insights into how a product, drug, app, device, or service will solve a critical problem within the care plan of a patient, or how startups can adopt and operationalize their products within a clinical setting. While this is already happening, it's just happening later and slower than it should—often for a steep price—and potentially not with the right physician. flipMD was built to remove some of these barriers so companies can connect with physicians that are interested in working with them.
What kind of steps do you take to ensure users—both those posting opportunities and those responding to the postings—are using flipMD correctly? How will that change as you scale?
Right now, we know all of the clients on the platform. We help throughout the entire process as well—from job conception to recruiting to awarding and payment of the physician—so there isn’t much foul-play that gets past us. But certainly in the future as we grow, we’ll build tools that can eliminate some of the friction and help to identify and reward users that are using the platform in the way it was designed.
Were there any barriers you had to overcome as a woman entrepreneur? And how do you think policymakers can better support women entrepreneurs?
I’m a stay-at-home-mom-creative that once worked in corporate America in New York City, and I’ve been juggling life at home in a pandemic with a toddler and a husband in medicine. There’s a never-ending list of things to do, and zero opportunity to dedicate all of your time to your business. I’ve gotten lots of questions really highlighting these liabilities, and I’ve (more often than my husband) been asked “Why are you right for the job of CEO?” But I think the perception is beginning to shift to a more equitable understanding that women need to play many roles, and that the balance of those is their superpower.
I think it’s the responsibility of policymakers to help remove the barriers that are traditionally unique to women so that we have a better chance at success. Women are often the primary caretakers of their homes and children, so policy changes to reduce the costs of child care, for example, could do a lot to shift the equation on when women “get” to be entrepreneurs and become successful. Not having to be responsible for child care and my own company, or not having a third of my income go to child care expenses, would open up a number of possibilities for my business. Policymakers also need to increase their support for women (and girls!) so they can gain access to entrepreneurship resources and networks that give them the opportunity to become a woman founder.
How can policymakers better support entrepreneurs in the health and tech space?
The pandemic has shown us what happens when our health and health care systems break down. I believe policymakers will move with some urgency to support anyone in the health and technology spaces, specifically because so many people are now aware of the health care challenges we face and will want to see change. There’s no shortage of brilliant companies and ideas in these spaces, but the companies that are succeeding need to increase their work at a quicker pace to impact patient’s lives. Imagine where we’d be if the founders of some of the vaccine producers, like Moderna, were forced to shut their doors.
What is your goal for flipMD moving forward?
Our goal moving forward is for flipMD to improve physician lifestyles and provide an outlet for meaningful, interesting work that can bring in a new stream of income for physicians and their families. And we also want to create a centralized hub for medical innovation that allows for a variety of kep players from the medical community to participate.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email edward@engine.is.
