I think that as you scale a company – Health IQ is now approaching 900 people – there’s a lot of not-so-fun stuff related to compliance, rules, and regulations that you have to follow and do well but, they’re aspects of running a company that certainly take up time without necessarily feeling like the reason you started the company in the first place.
As far as exciting moments, the day we launched our first product was really exciting. The day we sold our first policy was really exciting. The day we got to our first million dollars in sales was really exciting. All these firsts – the first time we opened our second office in San Diego. The first time we were a company that was in more than one location; when we opened a third and a fourth but that first office In Mountain View was really special. Our first company holiday party where I got to meet everybody and their spouses. I think some of the special firsts are times that you always remember.
What Was The Fundraising Process Like For You? Tell Us About Your Investors And How You Use The Funds You’ve Raised.
Because I was a serial entrepreneur, the fundraising process was different. I had already sold a company and so it wasn’t that hard to get funding. I was able to go to those who made money before to invest again so it was a different process than my first time when I raised money for my very first company where it was much more difficult. The second time and the third time, it got progressively easier and easier.
We used the money to build the product, write the software, launch new insurance products, build out the really big data that we needed to be able to price health conscious people. Then we also invested in both marketing and sales, because you need people to sell the product.
We brought in a very great group of Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Folks like Andreesen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures, Foundation Capital and Ribbit Capital, and even added some folks that came with an insurance background like Acquiline Capital based in New York. The investors have not only provided us with capital, but really a lot of company building experience and company building resources that have helped us over the years.
How Has Growth Been Over The Last Year? Anything Exciting Launching Soon?
The company has grown dramatically over the last year from 200 to 900 people and, in turn, we have people in 39 states across the country. This has enabled us to go fully remote and take care of our employees.
In addition, we’ve gone from one product – life insurance to three products: life insurance, auto insurance and health insurance.
How Has COVID-19 Impacted Your Business And Operation? Have There Been Any Significant Changes Over The Last Few Months As Things Have Gotten Better Overall?
Two big changes with COVID. One, it really accelerated the business. We were 200 employees at the beginning of COVID and we’re around 900 employees today.
COVID helped everybody to realize that having the right insurance – health insurance and life insurance – is really important. It took a little extra push from the pandemic, I think, to remind everybody, and our sales have shown that response.
The second part was that I shifted our whole company to remote, and then hired 700 people so, in a way, we are now not only a remote company, we’re remote first. Those 700 people we hired are in 39 states and couldn’t bring everyone back into the offices if we wanted to. We would have to open probably 60-plus offices just to get an office within 30 miles of each person. It’s worked well. Our employees are happier because they can work out in the mornings or they can work out at the end of the day because they’re not driving in traffic. It’s not only something that’s made the business better, it’s something that’s made the life of our employees less stressful by not having to commute. So, we’ve decided to stay remote first.
Tell Us About Your Typical Workday Schedule. What Are Your Morning And Evening Routines?
I am a creature of habit. I’m a big believer that one of the keys to being healthy is to sleep enough. There’s so much machismo around “oh, I got 3 hours of sleep, I must be a better entrepreneur than the one who got 5 hours sleep.” That’s just absolutely not true.