How MUSC Turns Clinical Problems Into Funded Startups

Most people talk about “fixing healthcare” from the outside. We wanted the view from inside the machine. So we sat down with Todd Headley, CEO of the Zucker Institute for Innovation Commercialization at MUSC, and Bob Crutchwell, Managing Director of the 1824 Fund and the South Carolina Health Innovation Fund, to unpack how healthcare innovation actually gets built, tested, protected, and funded in Charleston.

We walk through MUSC’s commercialization pipeline, from clinicians and researchers spotting real problems to a structured process of assessing market need, product-market fit, and scalability. Todd shares how the Zucker Institute sources a huge volume of new ideas each year, why not every innovation should become a startup, and what it takes to move from an early concept to pilots and clinical trials. Bob explains why MUSC created a venture fund, how non-dilutive funding like SBIR and STTR can push a company farther before raising private capital, and what “escape velocity” looks like when a team is ready to build commercial momentum.

We also get specific about what makes something investable in health tech and life sciences: intellectual property strategy, defensibility, milestones, and the realities of healthcare workflows. Then we zoom out to the future, including value-based care, care at home, rural access, and how AI in healthcare and agentic AI could speed de

South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) is a public, nonprofit organization that fuels South Carolina’s innovation economy by supporting technology-based startups, academic research, and industry partnerships. Through funding, coaching, and its investment arm SC Launch, SCRA helps early-stage companies grow, commercialize ideas, and scale within the state’s key innovation sectors.

King & Columbus is a full-service marketing and advertising agency based in South Carolina that helps brands grow through a mix of creative storytelling and data-driven strategy. They offer everything from branding and content creation to media planning, digital advertising, and PR—focused on delivering measurable results across digital, social, and traditional channels. https://kingandcolumbus.com

Transcript

Welcome And The Healthcare Challenge

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast, brought to you by the Charleston AMA and broadcasting from our friends at Charleston Media Solutions Studios. Thanks to our awesome sponsors at CMS, we get to chat with the cool folks making waves in Charleston. From business and art to hospitality and tech. These movers and shakers choose to call the low country home. They live here, work here, and make a difference here. So what's their story? Let's find out together.

Meet MUSC Innovation Leaders

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Silicon Harbor Hot Take. I am your host, Stanfield Gray. Excited to be here today with a couple of phenomenal guests, movers and shakers that are innovating in the healthcare industry here in Charleston, South Carolina. Now, most people they talk about fixing healthcare. These guys are actually inside the machine, rewiring it while it's running. The old proverbial flying the plane while building it at the same time. So today's episode is going to be a little different because healthcare is one of those systems everybody complains about, but few people actually understand how to change it, how to innovate on it. And that's where these guys come in. So they're from 1824 health ventures built inside MUSC, not just writing checks, but opening the doors to one of the most complex high-stakes environments in the world. If you're a founder, this matters to you. If you're an investor, this matters. And if you've ever sat in a waiting room thinking, man, there's got to be a better way to do this. This definitely matters. So let's get into it. I'll I'll have my guests here introduce themselves, starting with Todd Healy. Todd, tell us who you are, your title, and your role at MUSC.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Yeah, thanks for having us. My name is Todd Headley. I'm the CEO of the Zucker Institute for Innovation Commercialization. So we are the technology commercialization office for MUSC.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

And Bob, tell us about yourself.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Yeah, my name is Bob Crutchwell. I am the managing director of uh the 1824 Fund and the South Carolina Health Innovation Fund. Both uh have been formed by MUSC and work really closely with the the Zucker Institute and Todd, uh particularly with 1824, because the man the thesis for 1824 is that we are investing in technologies and intellectual property that have been developed or advanced at MUSC.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Very good. So let's start on the Zucker Institute side. Maybe explain to us um a little bit about the origin, how the Zucker family came to partner with you and how you guys aim to fulfill that mission.

How Ideas Become Market Ready

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Yeah, it's a great question. So sort of this activity has been uh happening at MUSC for many, many years. Um we had two um organizations at one point. One was called the Foundation for Research Development, and then we had the Zucker uh Institute for um uh for neurosciences. And those two uh entities both worked together, um, a little bit different focus. Uh the Zucker Institute at that point was a little bit more focused on neurosciences and and medical device applications, and that was uh generously supported by the Zucker family. And then about three years ago, the two entities came together uh under one roof, uh still called the Zucker Institute. And so think of our job as a little bit, we work, you know, really closely with the innovators on campus, whether those are basic scientists around discovering new therapeutics or vaccines or diagnostics, um, but also working closely with clinicians as well. So think of surgeons and nurses, other folks like that that are trying to solve real problems in the in the healthcare space. And so our job is to really help source those ideas, assess those ideas, and then ultimately uh the idea being that as they mature, that they may have an opportunity to go into a startup company, and that's where we would work closely with Bob uh to assess those opportunities for investment by the funds.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

So when you're in the let's call it the problem identification phase, is that something where uh you know someone has come to you and they say, We need a solution to this? Or is it more where a potential founder or administrator or doctor says, I have a problem and I think I can solve it. Can you help me do that?

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Yeah, it's it it tends to be, it tends to start with somebody really identifying a problem, particularly on the clinical side. They they see something that would really, they believe would really be helpful uh to solve a problem on the clinical side. The basic scientists, they tend to have their discoveries through the research process. So they come up with observations and interesting ideas uh that they believe may have application. And I think this is where sort of the secret sauce is we have a lot of uh identification of potential solutions. But what we need to do ultimately in order to have a business and see investment is to really understand is there a market need and is there a market fit for that particular innovation? Because you can imagine not every innovation necessarily translates into the market because the the need may not be large enough, or there may be other factors at play that may not see those potentially move forward.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Is the idea that each of the projects you decide to take on have to be scalable, or can some just be a local solution that are unique to MUSC?

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Yeah, actually both can be true. So we do see some solutions that can simply be um deployed within MUSC and it may solve a problem really quickly within MUSC, and and those are those are great as well. We tend to focus on the ones that have application outside of MUSC that can really be scaled and have a larger market opportunity outside of MUSC.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

What are you saying one to three examples of of something in the last couple of years that that you were excited about, you guys identified and is now underway either in say a pilot phase or an MVP?

A Real Pilot Baby Strong

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Yeah, I can touch on one or two, and then I think Bob can probably pick up and discuss some of the opportunities that he's looking at right now. Um so for example, we have um a neuromodulation device for uh infants that we're working with, a clinician at MUSC right now, um, where we call it the Baby Strong Project, and that's really focused on helping infants that are having trouble feeding early on for them to be able to feed through through neurostimulation. And it's really a neat technology that we've we've worked on with um with a couple of clinicians at MUSC uh in clinical trials, actually, right now. So that's that's a great example of something that's been you know moving forward and is actually in the clinic at this point.

Why MUSC Created A Venture Fund

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Sab, let's jump over to you for a second with 1824 Health Ventures. So stepping into venture capital, that's not always a casual decision for any organization. Um, what were some you know some things that maybe inspired the hospital system to consider that? Um, you know, what did you bring to the table specifically that's exciting to you and and and what's the shape of that? How does it work?

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Yeah, so I think the the foundational uh focus for MUSC on building these funds was one, they wanted to create an environment of entrepreneurship where they could attract and retain scientists and investigators and physicians who are entrepreneurial and solving those problems that Todd was talking about. I think second, we wanted to have catalytic capital so that you know we don't have enough um capital in our funds to take a company like Lucagene, which was our first investment. It's a Car T therapeutic that's uh targeting AML today. Well, that's gonna take probably 20 or 30 million dollars to get that company to a place where it may have an opportunity for an exit. And so we need to be able to position ourselves by selecting well, using the capital that we can deploy along with pulling other earlier stage capital in the surrounding area uh into the fund to get that first three, four million dollars to get them out of the gate. And then if they make the right commercial progression and scientific milestones progression, we'll probably be able to get more capital. But so uh so that's that's and then the the third thing we're trying to do is stimulate the building of our ecosystem, life sciences ecosystem in the state. And so I've been in venture capital for a long time. I was an operator in healthcare for a longer time before that, always on the build and grow side on the operating side, uh built and sold a couple of businesses uh uh and young when I was earlier in my career. And then um went into venture capital in 2008 and worked in the institution on the institutional side of venture capital, all in healthcare. So so I bring a lot of relationships, a lot of experience, and you know, I've done a lot of deals.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

So if a company comes to you and you guys are incubating it and you have some funding and they uh they achieve are about to achieve escape velocity, let's say, or hit a growth stage, is that where an LP would come in or or follow on venture capital and that's the same thing?

SPEAKER_03 10:02

Yeah, so so I I think the scenario the example you just you know sort of um uh used is we would inside of MUSC, we have access to non-dilutive grant funding. And so we want to see the companies develop as far as they can using non-dilutive grant funding, like SBIR, SDTR, which are national uh uh uh grants, and and they can be fairly large. So a company can get a pretty long way without spinning out technically and without taking on any private capital or return on investment capital. But the escape velocity that we're looking for is when they're ready to form that commercial team. We believe that there is a viable commercial opportunity with the products or services that have been developed. We like the team that's formed around this, then we want to put capital to work and help them grow.

Where Healthcare Innovation Is Headed

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Well, healthcare in general is a big woolly beast. You know, I mean, there's so many ways to tackle it and approach it, whether you're you're thinking about you know diagnostics or hardware or you know, whatever that might look like, software. So, in your opinion, you know, just kind of 10,000-foot view, what what's working inside healthcare in terms of innovating and and where are the gaps? You know, where where are some things that you know perhaps the two of you guys would like to step in more if you have people bring you ideas to the table? And um, you know, what does that look like? You know, in other words, it's where are the opportunities for health care at large?

How Founders Plug Into MUSC

SPEAKER_03 12:25

Yeah, so I think obviously we're we're seeing many new opportunities in sailor therapeutics and you know, um therapies that are gonna advance the treatment of what used to be, you know, a death sentence when you were diagnosed with cancer to where it's today more chronic. So that's that's a that's that's a jump of light years from where we were just six, seven, eight years ago. So we see lots of opportunity there. We also see a lot of opportunity on the tech side because the home today is not truly an integrated point of care. So when even though we have point solutions and other technologies that you can deploy in the home for patients who have a chronic condition or multi-chronic conditions, so that they can be better managed in the home, not coming into the hospital or the emergency room where nobody really wants to go anyway. Um so we think there's a big opportunity for solutions that are going to allow us to not only tether to patients, but actually be able to receive behavioral data on the way patients are behaving with regard to you know um compliance with uh and adherence of their meds, right? Uh things like if you have congestive heart failure, you need to take your weight, you know, every other day. And so those types of behaviors that help inform uh that a potentially, you know, um uh negative situation may be occurring in a patient. If we have the opportunity to intervene with that patient at home, then you save an awful lot of money for the system and healthcare in general, but you you create great value and great outcomes for the patient.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Okay, so some of that could be working on habit formation, just the way people kind of react and monitor themselves. Well, let's bring it speaking of back home, let's bring it back home. Um, you know, a lot of people say we partner with health systems, but you guys are the health system. So how would would a startup actually plug into MUSC, Zucker Institute, and approach the venture arm and like step one, what happens? Somebody's got an idea and they walk in the door.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Yeah, so as Bob mentioned, the the 1824 fund is is dedicated specifically uh for uh MUSC technologies. So as I talked a little bit about before, is that you know, that's really the work that the Zucker Institute does. We're really out there, you know, talking with innovators. They may some may be coming to us, but we're also proactively out, sort of meeting with teams and meeting with departments and clinicians and researchers to let them know who we are and what we're doing. So we're sourcing, you know, somewhere between 100 and 150 new ideas every year. Um and as Bob said, what we're really trying to do is sort of continually select those toward the types of uh opportunities that might eventually become an investable company. Not everyone is necessarily interested in creating a company. And if that's the case, we certainly can work with them to do that. So it's not required that they uh need to be the CEO and actually run the company. We are able to um, as Bob said, I think one of the important things around the ecosystem is being able to attract the kind of talent like entrepreneurs and those sort of things, to be able to work with those founders and to work with us to move those opportunities forward. So we're we very, very closely are watching the technologies and we're working really closely with Bob so that he can begin to track those opportunities that someone has said, I think I might be interested in a startup, or we just may identify them collectively as we think this could be an opportunity for a startup and an investable technology. So that's sort of so we work really closely together and sort of assessing those, working on the portfolio, understanding the technical progress, understanding the interests of the founders and all those sort of things.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

So if I'm a founder, then it's kind of a menu of options and the way I could approach it.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

So it's it's really so inside MUSC, it's a workflow, right? So venture capitalists typically do five things they um find deals, value deals, structure deals, manage deals, and hopefully exit deals, right? And so we are looking for deals inside of MUSC through the Zucker Institute and Todd's group. And so we have a list of every intellectual property that has been disclosed through the Zucker. And then we have ranked those opportunities based on the amount of grant funding that they've received, the current commercial progression, where they are in their scientific progression, quality of the man of the team that's that's there today, willingness to bring outside commercial leadership in when it's time to spin out. And is there a market opportunity, market being in this case, other venture capitalists who will deploy capital to help the company achieve the milestones that they need to achieve in order to get to that place where they have created value?

SPEAKER_01 17:28

How essential is IP to that process? Uh is it something that that you're fine with developing internally? Do you almost expect you need to see something that could be trademarked, copyrighted, licensed?

SPEAKER_03 17:41

Intellectual property is a critical de-risking component on the kind of deals we're talking about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

And it and it could vary. It could vary from more typically patents when we're talking about therapeutics and those sort of things, but very much as we talk about some of these other technologies, could be, you know, trademark, copyright, know-how, software, all of those things constitute intellectual property. And as Bob said, you know, they need to have some advantage, whether it's either inside knowledge or actually protectable patents or some combination thereabout is good.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Is there a story you can think of where a company came in, uh ran a pilot, and then you know, through the collaboration with you, it completely changed their trajectory, you know, or or it yielded like some very unique insights that became something else?

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, I mean, I would say that, and Bob can probably give some examples. You know, again, it's it's been, you know, the fund is new for us, so we're just beginning this process. But as he has discussions with a lot of folks, is they do typically come in with sort of one direction or one vision of how the technology is going to be potentially commercialized or what that market might be and how they might be focused. Um, and you know, a lot of the the value that Bob is bringing is just sort of understanding is that actually currently a need in the market, or could we pivot to a different potential, you know, application of that technology that may add more value? And certainly you're doing that internally. You spent a lot of your career doing that as well, but that is not an uncommon thing, right? Is the technology is pretty interesting, but they may not be quite on point in terms of a commercial application.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

Yeah, yeah. I think I think you're gonna see a lot of things that have clever solutions that are interesting, but they're not scalable, not at the national level. So another example is uh we've been working on a spin-out of um a home infusion company out of MUSC where uh one of the pharmacists over time had observed the workflows of of how home infusion works and identified this goes back to that intellectual property that's not necessarily a patent, but a know-how or a workflow, and created really elegant workflows that allow for the delivery of home infusion to occur in a you know a much easier, more seamless way. So that's a perfect example, right? I mean, he didn't invent a bunch of technology, he did invent, you know, sort of an interface that allows for data to be uh translated back and forth uh between a hospital system and the providers in a much more um predictable and repeatable way. But at the end of the day, he just saw a better way to do something that already is being done across the country. And so that we love those kinds of innovations.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Yeah. We we and we see that too with um, you know, uh other others that we see for um on the therapeutic side, you know, sometimes they their technology would have the ability to tackle different markets, right? And so there's a lot of discussion about sort of which market would be the best and the best one and the first one to tackle, you know, it's showing some proof of principle around that. Do you then pivot into what one of the other indications? But that's not uncommon, particularly in that case, to have a a pretty robust discussion about which indication will you start with.

Growing The South Carolina Ecosystem

SPEAKER_03 21:06

Yeah, but there so there's another company we're looking at that it came out of MUSC. I discovered it. I I sit on the board of SC Launch, which is part of SCRA. This is another kind of cool example of the ecosystem. This company came, presented their technology, which is a really simple but elegant device that um what suction uh tubes and suction uh systems clog a lot during surgery. And so it's a real pain to declog them, you know, but it but it's common, right? And so they created a solution that's just instantaneous. You can clear the suction like really fast. Nurses love it, everybody loves it. And so I saw that company at um through SC Launch and the SCRA where we deployed capital into that company. I didn't even know it had come out of MUSC. And so when we're going through the intellectual property and the disclosures, we discovered there are several companies that have spun out of MUSC that are having some commercial success. So this is a company we're looking hard at right now, and we're in deep due diligence, and hopefully we'll find a way to get some capital in there.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Well, let's talk about the greater ecosystem. I love that. So Charleston's a very dynamic, you know, city, it's growing quickly, as is as are many counties in the state, you know, Spartanburg, Greenville, and Columbia. Um, you know, what role should Charleston and Greater South Carolina kind of play in the future of healthcare innovation? What are some of those tentacles that go out to the SCRA and SC Launch and perhaps other systems you might collaborate with?

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Yeah, we we definitely know that that's growing significantly. I think if you know, if you would talk with uh James Chapel at SC Bio, for example, you know, he would tell you that, you know, South Carolina is is one of the fastest growing, if not the fastest growing states for life sciences uh in the Southeast and even in the country. Um and Charleston uh is absolutely in the middle of that as well in terms of growth in life science, growth in patents, growth in uh company formation and that sort of thing. So yeah, we we definitely feel it. And we know that MUSC is is certainly here, a big piece of that, but it takes it does take an ecosystem for everything to work, as we talked about, you know, other companies. That are in the space that we could potentially partner with, that the institution could partner with, you know, work with them to potentially commercialize some of the ideas that we have. You know, an existing company may want to pick up some of these opportunities. We may not even need to start a company, right? But that could still provide an opportunity to get out. I think one of the other things we've spent a lot of time thinking about is really the ecosystem for the entrepreneurs that are really needed to pick these things up. And I think that's something that I've noticed that's really significant in the Charleston area is there are a lot of folks with great experience, whether it's in venture capital, whether it's you know operators that have been with other companies, whether it's entrepreneurs that have just landed in the Charleston area over the years. And we we've begun to tap into them actually fairly considerably to use as you know advisors, mentors, protect uh potentially uh interim CEO candidates, you know, you name it. So that that's an example of you know how we're trying to, I think, tap into a really growing and dynamic ecosystem here.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Yeah, I I wish we had Jesse Goodwin here because she has been a leader in developing this innovation strategy for uh not just MUSC, but really the low country in general. And the thing that the low country has, Charleston in particular, is we have this magnificent resource in MUSC that is training every single year, you know, hundreds of scientists, physicians, you know, leaders. And you know, most people want to stay here. And so uh innovation is not just a noun, right? It's really the verb of creating value. And so I think the things that we're doing at MUSC with the innovation corridor that we're working on, with focus on neuromodulation and in the in the neurospace, focusing on cellular therapeutics, um several other things that we want to build density of capability, not just around the research, but around the development of products that can be spot out. If we do that well over the next five to ten years, we will pull capital in, companies in, and so the ecosystem will grow rapidly. And I think it takes us, SCRA and SC Bio, I think the things you're seeing happen in the region through BMOC and their activities. I mean, they're they're an economic development engine and power, powerful player just alone, but the things that they're doing through the catalyst fund and some of those things, they're really becoming an added catalytic partner in this uh growth of the ecosystem.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

So zooming out, let's say five to ten years from now, what does success look like for 1824?

SPEAKER_03 26:11

Yeah, so I think success for 1824 will be on our third fund. Uh we will have had, you know, hopefully. What's the size of the fund? The current size of the fund is 20 million. Okay. And um, and you know, I don't want to say it's our starter fund, but it's it's really like the pilot fund to prove that there's enough innovation coming out of MUSC that it can sustain, you know, um the the um investment of capital to the extent that we can put$20 million to work every couple of years or three years, right? And so I think that, you know, I'd like to think that by in five or six years we're at least on our second fund, slightly larger than what we're doing today. I think I'd like to see us expand the thesis a little bit from not just being what's inside of MUSC, although that will always be our primary, you know, focus, but having the ability to invest in novel innovations outside of MUSC as well, and uh create value not just from return on invested capital, but on building high growth companies in our region that are serving patients all over the world. And that gets pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

How about for the Zucker Institute? What does success look like in 10 years?

AI And The Next Care Model

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Yeah, I you know, I I think Bob, you know, uh touched on it really well. I think our success is is the the the fund's success and vice versa. Because I think just you know, building that reputation of having companies grow here, having companies exit, uh really getting us more and more on the map is going to continue to draw in more resources and more capital and more uh, you know, cap venture capital and and other resources to really drive us. So I see the same thing. I think we're really on a positive trajectory right now. And, you know, growing companies here, uh, the economic development component, as you can imagine, is a is a big piece for MUSC. MUSC wants to be uh in the middle of driving the life science industry and the community, and this is a really key component to that.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

So zooming in for a moment on specific tools people are using, what is the impact of artificial intelligence on you know some of the work that that uh the founders are bringing to you? Is it expediting the process? Is it creating confusion around it? What what does it look like?

SPEAKER_03 28:32

Yeah, all of that. Agreed. Yeah, so I think you know AI is definitely going to create better efficiencies in the way that our workflows are done in healthcare, right? Healthcare is workflow delivered. And so you can't disrupt the workflows because they're necessary. But can you make them more efficient? Can you make the transfer of data easier? Can you make the aggregation of data easier? Can you make the analysis of a decision or a choice easier? Can you evaluate a molecule and the potential commercial uses of that molecule without doing 1,500 scientific tests through AI? The answer is yes. It's gonna speed up the pace of innovation rapidly. I mean, it it's phenomenal. And for the value-based care component that we're talking about earlier, making the home, you know, an integrated point of care, AI is gonna be a critical component of that. So I'm we're very excited about AI and the uh prospects of the impact it has in uh healthcare.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Are you exploring agentic AI as well?

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Are people I I I think that's where the market is, right? So agentic AI is where like now that's sort of the lowest common denominator today. And so it's just gonna continue to advance. I've looked at deals where um you're you're actually seeing AI staffing companies develop where they can put a LPN, a licensed LPN, from an AI development uh into a you know a telehealth workflow. I mean, so and that's just we're just on the early phases of that, but it'll be interesting to see how far that progresses. So I think agentic AI is today like lowest common denominator. I mean, I use it every single day.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Exactly. Are there um you know how would I put this? So are there things that people expect about the hospital system, the way they they think it's always going to continue, where you think what you can see down the road in their crystal ball is gonna be radically different? You know, is it and and the way and convincing people to take that fork in the road and go in that direction? And is there some is there an example of that?

Rapid Fire Trends And Founder Discipline

SPEAKER_03 30:49

So the healthcare system is not going to be able to withstand the rapid rate of the elderly population coming in with multiple chronic conditions. I mean, it it's just it can't do it. And so there has to be a better way to extend the point of care so that care is delivered to the patient in a more efficient and timely manner, but that the care that is delivered, there's documentation that the uptake has occurred, there's documentation of metabolic and clinical data that can be derived so that you begin to get more patient data that can be populated into the EMR so that interventions in a timely way can be made for a patient before they even think about coming into the hospital. So I I think that's where I see the market growing as it probably is faster than anywhere else, is in this development of value-based care, care in the home, even hospitalization in the home. I think some of that's already happening, but AI is gonna power that too.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

Yeah, and to pick that up, I think uh for the state of South Carolina and a lot of states, I think it's gonna have a really significant impact in the rural areas. You know, you mentioned the home. And so I think these tools are really gonna be able to help a lot of people uh receive care and for hospitals to deliver care uh in areas that are you know right outside some of the biggest population centers.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

So we'll do a quick rapid fire segment here. Then what's an underrated trend in in healthcare?

SPEAKER_03 32:27

The value of a PCP, primary care professional physician.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Yeah. What's an overrated trend?

SPEAKER_02 32:36

So uh I I'm deferring to the investor here.

SPEAKER_03 32:41

So so I I think maybe an overrated trend is um you know some of the things that have kind of gotten a little older and still like you know, revenue cycle management, you know, that's I haven't seen many significant improvements in RCM, although AI may may put some value there. Um I think you know there's there's still you know lots of blocking and tackling in in healthcare that are very valuable. Uh I think for at one point we were sort of over over uh investing in things like you know um deals where you could manage the patients in a population way without a lot of data and just kind of corral them and herd them on a you know sort of high-level aggregation, I think that's that's overrated today.

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Yeah, and I would say uh we chuckled about it before, but but AI to some degree, um, you know, overrated in that simply saying AI is somehow affiliated with it is is definitely an oversell. But I think then the undersell is when you know when it is deployed properly and really utilized. I think uh it it it's hard to imagine, but I think it will probably we probably still underrate it right now as to what it will be able to do.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

What does a great founder do in the first 30 days after they receive funding, in your opinion?

SPEAKER_03 34:07

Yeah, so I so so first of all, I think a great founder knows exactly what they're gonna do in the first 30 days before they receive funding. And so they have a detailed plan for the use of proceeds. They've informed their investors of that plan, they've gotten proper feedback. Um I think a founder needs to have a a board that you know can provide the governance and oversight for that founder to make sure that he or she is staying on target and not, you know, sometimes you get um off target by going down side roads and those kind of things because most entrepreneurs are creative. Um and so I think that those are the things that I would say. It's just that pure discipline of you know, knowing what you having your plan, planning your work, and then working your plan, right? And doing it in a way that you're prepared before you, you know, the shoot re the shoot ready aim approach is really bad.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Yeah, and I and I I think it's fair to say that you know our funds, you know, are are hands-on and and like Bob said, you know, they know what's gonna happen in the first 30 days. Ideally, we've got a mapped out what's gonna happen over the next, you know, 12 to 24 months. Um, and so, you know, getting them ready to get on that path, making sure that they have the tools that are there. And then being in just, you know, the advantage we have is is being right here is that Bob can stay in constant communication with them, right, to make sure they're on track. Because I I suspect as an investor, the biggest concern is sort of losing track a little bit of the investment or the founders, and I wonder what they're up to. And that just won't be the case here.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Well, I want to thank Todd Headley from the Zucker Institute for being with us here today, and Bob Crutchfield from 1824 Ventures, Health Venture, and 1824 Health Ventures. They will both be at Dig South Tech Summit June 11th and 12th. And what's the best way for people to get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_02 36:07

Uh well, we're not hard to find. Uh we're we're uh we're on websites, we're on LinkedIn, um, and uh, you know, anybody that that wants to chat about you know what we're up to and uh kind of understand, as Bob said, on the on the uh on the fun side what the thesis is, or people that may be interested in in engaging in the process, you know, happy to talk to folks. And like you said, we'll both be at the summit as well.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

So yeah, I think LinkedIn is probably the easiest, easiest, cleanest way because you it's everybody knows how to use that today and don't have to remember a bunch of email.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Fantastic. Well, you have been listening to Silicon Harbor Hot Take with Stanfield Gray. We are proudly a segment of the Charleston Marketing Association podcast, and this has been a fascinating conversation on healthcare innovation in our hometown of Charleston, South Carolina.