Sramana Mitra: What has driven the choices of which specialty to go on to next?
Daniel Cane: There are several factors we consider when entering a new specialty. The primary question is: where is there a large, underserved population of dissatisfied physicians?
>>>Sramana Mitra: I purposely actually picked to highlight the positioning points where you can differentiate it versus areas where you cannot really differentiate. The domain of billing is less of a big differentiation in ModMed. The bigger differentiation is in the specialty specific content, specialty specific workflow and specialty specific treatment, right?
>>>Sramana Mitra: Okay. So that’s one positioning differentiation. What about within the private practice market? Why do your customers pick you and what is special about it? What are the needs of a dermatology private practice or an OB-GYN practice or a plastic surgery practice? What’s special about each of these individual types of practices?
>>>I first spoke with Dan a decade back. Here is the story. This conversation offers insights on his scaling strategy with ModMed.
>>>Sramana Mitra: From your personal career journey point of view, I have gone through a similar journey. After I did three startups as Founder CEO, I started consulting because I just wanted to do something else and learn a different skill. I didn’t want to be a CEO, I wanted to learn something else. I then did turnaround consulting, and I learned a ton.
>>>Sramana Mitra: I assume that since it was a services company, you were able to bootstrap it, right?
Lance Newhauser: Yes, it was a service company that we initially bootstrapped. We did bring on one investor who put a few thousand dollars into the company so that we could go get some office space and work in the same area. But this was very much a bootstrapped, service-oriented organization. Over time, we incorporated technology to offer differentiated services and improve operational efficiency, enabling us to stay price-competitive. But we’re very much a bootstrapped service business, no doubt.
Sramana Mitra: Now, how did this company that spent $50 million on a campaign find you?
>>>Lance bootstrapped his first company to an exit. He venture funded his second company and exited after 10 years. He is about to launch his third. Read on, great story.
>>>Services companies are easy to bootstrap, but often, they grow slowly in the beginning. How do you accelerate? This discussion is about the levers of acceleration.
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