Today's entrepreneur: Cary Breese

Team is everything, rely most heavily on those you have worked with previously and trust and respect

Today's entrepreneur is Cary Breese, CEO and co-founder of NowRx, a tech-enabled pharmacy providing same-day and same-hour delivery of prescription medications.

The company, which has raised $30 million, is designed around the notion of eliminating walk-in, brick and mortar pharmacies, replacing them with a logistics-driven pharmacy distribution model. NoxRx delivers all prescription medications same-day, often within two or three hours; it also has a one-hour delivery window for urgent medications. 

Breese was formerly CEO of database software startup GenieDB, and COO of a technology incubator focused on developing innovative technologies in Healthcare. He was CEO and founder of a bootstrapped financial services startup that was acquired for 18x cash-on-cash. He also led $100M product line as EVP, CIGNA.

He has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University and credentialed Actuary (ACAS).

I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:

NowRx, Inc., Trafalgar Insurance

Companies I work or worked for:

Lockheed Martin, NowRx, GenieDB, CIGNA

Company exits (of companies you founded):

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I want to change the world.

My favorite startups:

Amazon, AirBnB, DoorDash, Google, Apple

Why did you start your company or why do you want to innovate inside your company?

I saw a situation that was so obviously being done the wrong way, and had been done wrong for decades, that when I was struck by the idea for doing it the correct way I just couldn't get it out of my mind and had to fix it.

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Challenging the status quo. It can be very tough sledding sometimes, but all the more rewarding when it works the way you had envisioned.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Thinking that once they come up with an idea the rest is easy or downhill. The harsh reality is that ideas are dime a dozen - it is the execution day-in and day-out that wins in business, and this is even more true in entrepreneurship. Always be validating!

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. Team is everything - rely most heavily on those you have worked with previously and trust and respect.
2. Raising money is only easy for the very rare few. Count on a serious slog and plan to do more with less starting day one.
3. Don't pay too much attention to competitors, critics, investors, etc. Trust your gut, re-validate when you it makes sense, but ultimately if you had the idea in the first place you probably are right in the end and they are wrong - find a way.