You need a doctor and you need a doctor who takes your insurance. Instead of having to fumble through antiquated lists complied by your provider, ZocDoc seeks to expedite the process of locating care by displaying physicians in your area who are available for immediate and long-term appointments.
Doctors pay a fee to join ZocDoc, which has secured $95 million in funding, spread to more than a dozen United States cities and has hired 200+ employees since 2007.
In part II of Cyrus Massoumi’s Founder Stories interview with Chris Dixon, Massoumi tells Dixon why he thinks ZocDoc found a following and offers advice to other entrepreneurs.
Massoumi attributes ZocDoc’s success to hitting the nexus of easing friction for both patients and doctors. Patients save time booking appointments and doctors easily fill vacancies, including vacancies in the “hidden supply of health care” formed from last minute cancellations.
He calls it a “win-win” situation.
While ZocDoc found a recipe for success, getting there wasn’t easy. Massoumi tells Dixon his team caught a lucky break in 2008 when it won $100,000 for “the top small business in America” and continues, ”had we not won that money we didn’t have enough money to actually expand to our next market.” He believes the expansion silenced doubters who didn’t think ZocDoc could flourish outside of New York City.
As the interview winds down, Massoumi offers of several pieces of advice. In particular he recommends entrepreneurs to pay attention to “one of the old adages of fundraising [which] is never raise money when you need it.” Having previously worked at a company that ran of money, he speaks from first hand experience.
Massoumi shares plenty more insights in this interview, including why he thinks the financial downturn helped ZocDoc. Be sure to view the entire video to see why.
Past episodes of Founder Stories featuring Mayor Bloomberg, Charity: Water’s Scott Harrison, TripAdvisor’s Stephen Kaufer and leaders of many other startups are here.
Cyrus Massoumi is the CEO & Co-Founder of ZocDoc. Before starting ZocDoc, Cyrus worked at McKinsey & Company where he focused on healthcare and technology. Prior to that he founded a software company called OneSizeTooSmall and worked at Trilogy Software. Cyrus holds an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School, where he was the recipient of the Heffernan Award for Outstanding Service, and a BS with honors from Wharton.
Chris Dixon currently works as the CEO and Co-founder of Hunch. He is also a contributing writer for TechCrunch. He previously was the CEO and Co-founder of SiteAdvisor, which was acquired by McAfee. Chris is a personal investor in early-stage technology companies, including Skype, TrialPay, DocVerse, Invite Media, Gerson Lehrman Group, ScanScout, OMGPOP, BillShrink, Oddcast, Panjiva, Knewton, and a handful of other startups that are still in stealth mode. In addition to his personal investments, Chris is also a...
ZocDoc is the most convenient, free way to find a doctor and book an appointment instantly online. ZocDoc’s mission is to improve access to healthcare. The service currently offers patients the ability to book appointments with doctors and medical specialists in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. With the service, patients avoid the hassle of waiting on hold, searching for a good doctor...
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