What was the process of founding your company? Did you do it alone?

My co-founder Doktor and I started Rad AI 6 ½ years ago, really focused on using AI to streamline radiology workflow – saving radiologists time, reducing radiologist fatigue and burnout, and improving the overall quality of patient care.  Having practiced for 10 years as an overnight ER radiologist, dictating 150 – 200+ reports a night, and after graduate studies in machine learning, I believed that we could use AI to reduce the amount of manual repetitive work that we as radiologists do. Our incredible team launched the very first generative AI product in healthcare in 2019, now in use by nearly half of all US health systems and 9 of the 10 largest US radiology practices.

What were the most difficult aspects of founding a company? Has anything become harder or easier?

As many founders have said, it doesn’t really get harder or easier as your company grows; the challenges are just different at each stage.  I’d suggest that the feeling of existential risk does drop as your company grows, and you’re less likely to experience multiple high highs and low lows all in a single day.  At the same time, the complexities of people management, and the need to build robust structure and process, rise with company growth.

For my co-founder and I personally, the art of co-founder communication was critical to learn for the prior Y Combinator startup we founded together. I must thank Joe Greenstein (co-founder of Flixster and InnerSpace), as his organization ran a wide range of workshops (founder communication, founder conflict resolution, founder meditation) to help co-founders learn to communicate and work well together. Second, the skill of fundraising – some people seem to be born with it, but for the rest of us, it takes lots of repetition, experience, and developing a systematic process.  Third, maintaining a vibrant and inspiring company culture – there are a lot of things, internal and external, small and large, that can rapidly disrupt your team and your people, so you need to manage this carefully, adapting and evolving it as your company grows.

What compelled you to join Pando?

The concept of founder diversification was something founders in our YC batch had discussed at length, and it continued to come up in subsequent years.  However, we had never figured out a way to effectively or pragmatically pool equity.  When Pando reached out, I was intrigued – it seemed to provide an effective means of risk diversification for startup founders, without having to pool equity at all.  Pando also seemed to create a mostly new investment asset class for founders, one that required no upfront capital.  And it fostered the creation of new communities, among startup founders who are often prone to staying heads down and ever focused on work.

What has your experience at Pando been like? How have you built your different groups?

Within Pando, I have had the opportunity to join or start communities based on a wide range of criteria: industry, location, company stage, specific areas of focus.  I quickly joined or started a range of different pools: one focused entirely on technology in healthcare, another with founders based in the Bay Area, a third with all growth-stage companies, and even an index pool. It definitely achieves a degree of risk diversification, but it also builds interesting new communities that share unique perspectives and insights.  As we invite new members to each pool, we build up more meaningful connections with other founders, and can help one another in a variety of ways.  

 Even with our company’s growth and success, I believe in the value and mission of Pando.  It is an effective means of founder risk diversification, through all the crazy ups and downs of startup life, over the course of five, ten or fifteen years.  Most startups do not succeed, and both the diversification and the supportive startup community will prove key to many founders in their startup journeys.

What would you say to someone on the fence about joining a peer group like Pando’s?

If you're unsure, think about the potential for gaining community support and diversifying your founder risk. The startup journey is often isolating, and connecting with peers who understand your struggles and provide advice or help can be invaluable.  I’ve seen the downsides of running a startup on fumes, working repeated blocks of 21 consecutive overnight shifts to help fund our prior company, burning out year after year, with the chance of it all amounting to nothing.

Pando provides a bit of a safety net, allows founders the chance to finally diversify their risk, and helps build these new communities.  You don’t need to join an income pool right away – many founders initially join for the community aspect, then decide whether to join one or more income pools over time.  Regardless of whether you’re more interested in community or risk diversification, Pando provides a unique benefit and compelling value-add to the startup founders it serves.‍