Today's entrepreneur: Mike McSherry

Find a core team, stick with them, succeed with them

Today's entrepreneur is Mike McSherry, CEO and Founder of Xealth, a platform for digital health that enables health systems to easily organize, integrate, deploy and activate digital health tools for measurable clinical and financial results.

Through the secure Xealth platform, clinicians can find and order the right digital health tools and programs for patients direct from the EHR workflow, send these digital health orders to the patient’s smartphone or desktop, and then monitor patient engagement and analyze the effects of more engaged patients. Xealth spun out of Providence St. Joseph Health (PSJH) in 2017, and investors include McKesson Ventures, Novartis, Philips, and ResMed as well as Providence Ventures, UPMC and the Froedtert and Medical College of Wisconsin Health Network.

The company recently raised a $14 million Series A round of funding.

Prior to Xealth, McSherry was CEO of Swype, an innovative touchscreen keyboard which made communication easier, faster and more inclusive. Swype was installed on over one billion smartphones and tablets and sold to Nuance. At Nuance, McSherry led the team that managed Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and other early mobile voice recognition platforms using the company’s Dragon technology.

McSherry brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, co-founding several other consumer electronics businesses including Boost Mobile, which is now Sprint’s pre-paid service. Drawing from his background in consumer engagement with electronic devices, McSherry has made it his mission to connect the things that matter.

I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:

Xealth, Swype, Boost Mobile, Xealth, Swype, Boost Mobile, Amp'd Mobile, Zivo Internet Services

Companies I work or worked for:

Microsoft, Nuance, Providence Health & Services

Achievements (products built, personal awards won):

-EY Entrepreneur of Year Finalist 
-Geekwire Best Consumer Product of Year (Swype) 
-Swype Top Grossing App in App Store

If you are an entrepreneur, why?

Frustrated with Status Quo. Re-invent!

My favorite startups:

Slack, Airbnb, Hiya, Glowforge, Porch,

Why did you start your current company?

I successfully co-founded several companies in Mobile. I wanted to try and do something more meaningful, with a larger purpose. Healthcare was interesting for those reasons. The CEO of Providence Health (3rd biggest hospital in country) convinced my team and I that incubating an idea within Providence would be a great launching pad for ideation and commercialization.

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

The successes and failures are more pronounced in startups. As CEO, you wear the ultimate responsibility of success and the ensuing challenges of inventing an idea, product, company, business model, etc.

I thrive on working with the same team for 20+ years in creating several globally successful businesses (Boost, Swype, Xealth). The trust, camraderie and shared commitment to a goal is my greatest reward.

My greatest frustration is the market's tolerance for change and acceptance of new technology/business models. Institutional bureaucracy on the purchasing side and the required 'selling' to convince the establishment should be unecessary. A good product 'sells itself'!

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?

There's no single mistake. Over/undercapitalization. Poor hires/poor culture. Too early, too late. Wrong idea. Not executable. Competitive dynamics. Incremental vs exponential improvement.

Team is everything. Hire well...

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

1. I don't have all the answers. A strong network helps at key decision junctions (co-founders, advisors, industry experts). You still have to make a decision. In-decision is a decision...though overutilized it breeds discontent and lack of conviction.

2. Have fun. Startups are and can be stressful. Xealth is my 6th startup I've co-founded. I'm less stressed at key times with greater reliance and trust on all the preparation steps we've made to this point. I possess a greater optimism that the chips will fall my way and let's have more fun with the team in the process. Don't let your startup consume too much of your life, family, friendships. You'll move to another idea, company, startup....not so your family.

3. Find a core team, stick with them, succeed with them. Co-founder trust, respect and loyalty have been my winning recipe!