Today’s Entrepreneur is Ariel Katz, co-founder and CEO of H1, a network dedicated to connecting healthcare professionals and companies with the aims of being the “Linkedin for healthcare.”
Founded in 2017, H1 now has over 8 million HCP profiles in 16,000 institutions in 70-plus countries. Its clients, which encompass over 35 pharmaceutical companies, including seven of the top 10, use the platform to do things like find doctors to work on a clinical trial for a given biotech, find hospitals where they can do their clinical and find the thought leading healthcare professional to lead a CME session.
H1 saw its revenue grew 350 percent year-to-year in 2019.
The company, which graduated from Y Combinator, recently raised it first institutional funding round, a $12.9 million Series A led by Menlo Ventures, along with Novartis dRx, Y Combinator, Baron Davis Enterprises, ClearPoint Investment Partners, Jeff Hammerbacher, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Underscore VC.
Companies I’ve founded or co-founded:
Research Connection, H1 Insight
Achievements (products built, personal awards won):
YJP’s 35 Under 35
If you are an entrepreneur, why?
I want to change the world.
My favorite startups:
Uber, Twitter, Stance
Why did you start your current company?
I saw a void in the healthcare ecosystem and wanted to resolve it.
What’s most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?
Part of what an entrepreneur does is solve problems. They make something more efficient, provide a better service or build a new product that helps people in their everyday lives. Whatever it is that entrepreneurs are trying to sell, it’s meant to change and improve lives
What’s the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?
You need to be realistic about your expectations and try to be patient. One of the many reasons that so many businesses fail so early on is because entrepreneurs expect they can open their doors and just like that they will start making money.
What are the top three lessons you’ve learned as an entrepreneur?
- Value your time by putting a price tag on it.
- Believe in yourself, intuition, and vision.
- Empower empire builders.
