Angela Hickman

$40M isn’t just a win for TailorMed—it’s a seismic shift for healthcare’s affordability game. Out of New York City, co-founders Israel (Srulik) Dvorsky (the vision guy) and Adam Siton (the tech genius) are taking a broken system and building something that actually works. Their play? Smashing the financial barriers that leave patients stranded, one automated solution at a time. Here’s the magic: TailorMed’s platform doesn’t just identify funding gaps—it connects the dots. Think 750+ hospitals, 1,300 clinics, and 600 pharmacies using their tech to access 6,000+ financial resources with zero friction. Real-time API connections? Check. Insurance coverage analysis? Check. Automated enrollment that actually works? You get the idea. It’s seamless, it’s scalable, and it’s changing the way healthcare providers and patients approach affordability. This latest round—$27.5M in equity and $12.5M in debt led by Poalim Tech —brings their total funding to $69M, and the backers read like a who’s who of impact-driven investors. Windham Capital Partners is leading the charge, with Samsung Next, BrightEdge - American Cancer Society , Citi (Impact Fund), and a slew of hospital investment arms doubling down. The faith is justified—TailorMed’s already a key player for healthcare giants like Providence Health & Services, UnityPoint Health, and Yale New Haven Health. And let’s not miss the real story: TailorMed’s not just building tools—they’re driving a movement. They’ve been named to the 2024 New York Digital Health Innovation Lab 100, and they’re only heating up. The goal? Scale harder, expand partnerships, and keep sharpening the tech that’s making “unaffordable care” an outdated concept. When Srulik says, “We’re creating a healthcare system where affordability is the standard,” it’s not just words—it’s a battle cry. TailorMed’s smashing walls, rewriting the rules, and proving that the future of healthcare isn’t just hopeful—it’s inevitable. #Startups #HealthCare #HealthTech #Innovation #PatientFinancing #AffordableHealthCare #Technology #NYCTech #NYCTechEcosystem #TechEcosystem #StartupEcosystem #VentureCapital #StartupFunding

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Roon's most recent launch, Roon Fertility, is an exciting one. If you're navigating a fertility journey, or are even fertility curious, I encourage you to check it out! It's a labor of love that brings you trusted responses to any question – all through short-form videos and AI instant answers, powered by fertility experts. From the very basics (Should I freeze my eggs? What factors impact male fertility?) to the most specific (Can I do PGT-M to select embryos without the BRCA mutation?). Personally, it's been a dream to work with my childhood idol (and name twin), Olympian Tara Lipinski, to bring this to life. Check out this People article on why she's passionate about Roon: https://lnkd.in/e3BpxgdY & join Roon for free at roon.com

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I am (I think unusually) largely unworried by naming conventions. I don't particularly mind how you address me as long as it's respectful and I don't need to exert positional status through use of a job title. But how we classify and address people who are different from "the norm"? Yeah, that matters. And it's definitely something I can get hot under the collar about. Which is why I'm sharing this conversation so thoughtfully started and moderated by Oliver McNiven ♾️. I'm including my POV and would like to also hear yours: I would love to move right away from the use of "disorder". My son has AuDHD and had never heard the word disorder (as we NEVER use it) until his teacher carelessly shared diagnostic information with him when he was quite young, without our consent (I could write a whole blog on that alone). Anyway he was devastated to find out it was considered he had a "disorder" for being, well, how he is. I have similar reactions to words such as variability, etc. These kinds of words all articulate how you are less than or different from NT. If only it were universally understood that there is a spectrum of brain types and resulting behaviors, rather than a "right" and a "wrong" way to be and do. Oh, and don't get me started on how the DSM classifies such things, and justifying that as being OK because it's science. Remember the DSM classified homosexuality first as a mental disorder and then as a "sexual orientation disturbance" until as recently as 1980.

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Today, I’m incredibly proud to announce a major milestone for PayZen: we’ve just closed a $232 million Series B round in equity and debt, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). This round includes $32 million in equity and a new $200 million credit warehouse from Viola Credit and a syndicate of insurance companies. I’m thrilled to welcome Mohamad Makhzoumi, NEA’s Co-CEO, as a PayZen board member! Partnering with the right investor at each stage of our company’s growth is both an art and a science (with a bit of luck thrown in). We were fortunate to find strong alignment with the NEA team in terms of business philosophy, mission, market, and strategy. With their extensive experience and stellar track record, I look forward to collaborating with the NEA team as we guide PayZen into the future. This funding will enable us to continue leveraging our AI-powered platform to tackle healthcare affordability. Our proprietary AI/ML models and seamless EMR/EHR integration simplify patient payments for health systems while making it easier for millions of patients to access and afford the care they need. We’re committed to driving innovation in the Revenue Cycle Management market and are excited to expand our affordable, customized healthcare payment options to even more Americans. This partnership with NEA brings back memories. Twenty-five years ago, I fondly recall pitching Webex Communications to NEA alongside my then CEO and mentor, Subrah. That investment certainly worked out for everyone! Time seems to fly, but it’s comforting to know that some things remain constant. I want to thank all the investors and individuals that supported us along the way (Viola Ventures, Omry Ben David, SignalFire, Chris Scoggins, 7wireVentures, Lee Shapiro, Alyssa Jaffee, Ido Vigdor). Mostly, I want to thank my team for raising the bar every day, creating magic and making all of this possible. #healthcare, #fintech, #affordability, #RCM,

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We are just under week out from HLTH 2024 in Las Vegas –– and I can't wait to connect with colleagues and discuss: ▶️ The potential CVS breakup (and why health can never quite seem to get it right.) ▶️ What happens to 23 & me...and all that data? ▶️ Futurecasting into the 2030s: Which megatrends leaders should be paying attention to for their 5 and 10-year plans. ▶️ Election, drug prices, and health in America. ▶️ How is the early AI dust settling? What's working, what's not, and where the puck is going. Looking forward to both 🔥 hot takes – and 💡 thoughtful discourse. Drop a like or comment if you will be there! https://lnkd.in/edcq6KMs #HLTHUSA #healthcareinnovation #healthcare #bebold #HLTH2024

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When Laura Tocmacov and I started working on the impactIA Foundation in 2017, I was looking forward to years of playing with cool technology. I certainly wasn't expecting that mental health and diversity would become central topics! But artificial intelligence works like a magnifying glass, amplifying the best and worst of our society. To build a fulfilling future for all, we need to address some big issues in our workplaces now. For many men in the tech world - and I'm one of them - gender diversity is a solved problem. OK, not quite solved, but close enough. It's going in the right direction. Surely it will sort itself out in a few years? And we believe this despite the fact that we see very few female candidates for our open technical positions, and those candidates often lack the years of experience we need. So we don't recruit them. We're under pressure, you understand, so we have to optimise for short-term results. At the end of the day, we like to think that our customers just want their problems solved, they don't care about the gender of the developers. But they should, and so should we. Take a look at yesterday's Guardian article https://lnkd.in/eSqsR6bX « Women's health tech 'less likely' to get funding if woman is on founding team ». It reads like something from a crazy parallel universe with nuggets like « women advocating for women’s rights are seen as being emotional, upset and angry rather than businesspeople maximising profits » « Men [...] get more funding if they use the same words, perhaps because investors see it as self-interested advocacy, and so proof of their economic acuity. » Is this insane society acceptable to us or should we be actively changing it? Before you answer and throw our male privilege out the window, there might actually be an upside for us all. Studies show that diversity improves the performance of our teams https://lnkd.in/eKkvNDNC. How annoying. Maybe it's time to take a long, hard look at the way we build our teams and optimise for a timescale that's further than our noses? And, Swiss tech companies, if you're looking for examples of how to do this, I suggest you look outside our microcosm. Take Cembra, for example, voted "Worst Place to Mansplain 2024" (yes, I have first-hand experience). The AI project teams there are gloriously gender diverse and at the top of the game. So please, let's spare ourselves the embarrassment of being beaten on our home turf by ... banks and start rethinking the way we build our organisations!

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Last year I put together as comprehensive of a list as I could of every single active venture backed startup in Boston over the last 5+ years. Very useful exercise! ...very difficult to maintain. Friends of LinkedIn - do you know of a tool that can automatically & publicly update this table for me weekly to keep the people of Boston informed of their venture backed population? I will highlight the tool on the page to the hundreds (soon thousands) of people that view it every month! Link to the manual version here: https://lnkd.in/ek9wSfUD The AI should also be able to answer this question: Which weighs more? A pound of bricks or a pound of feathers? Happy Friday to you!

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Stop obsessing over launch tiers and focus on launch cadence. I've interviewed a lot of product marketers lately, many of them great. But my eyes always glaze over when I ask about their approach to product launches and they whip out a spreadsheet or walk me through their "framework" for prioritizing launches based on a tiered approach. This isn't necessarily wrong, it's just not going to differentiate you from other PMM candidates. And it's not going to help you wield influence and drive impact within your company if you do get the job. One of the most impactful things you CAN do is put a stake in the ground around launch cadence. At LivePerson, for example, we've committed to doing two major product launches per year, one in the Spring and one in the Fall. We call our launch events Spark – and they're as much about sparking action internally as they are about bringing our new products and capabilities to market. A semi-annual launch cadence acts as a forcing function and rallying point for the entire organization. It drives urgency and accountability around everything from product development and adoption to sales enablement and operations to customer marketing and success. The Spark model also encourages a strategic storytelling approach to GTM. Instead of launching capabilities as one-offs (informed by product availability and those silly "tiers"), a predictable launch cadence allows us to think thematically and focus on outcomes rather than inputs, solutions rather than specs. Our Fall launch, for instance, will hone in on the Assist phase of our Conversational Flywheel which is all about the agent experience and how brands can spark a better CX by empowering their people with AI and other agent-centric technology. We'll be launching some transformative new products and some smaller stuff that will make agents happier and more efficient but that might have gotten lost in a tier-based launch framework. More on that soon. For now, it's time to keep that rhythm going 🥁 #productmarketing #gotomarket

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If you are serious about spurring innovation in the US here are 2 suggestions I rarely see part of the conversation: 1. Fix the healthcare system so talented, motivated people aren't reliant on corporations for healthcare. That way they can build a businesses without having to worry about their kid getting sick and going into generational debt. 2. Address the issue of small businesses not being able to afford (or just choosing not to use) U.S.-based technical talent.

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Humans in #AI: Meet Bostonian Matt Whitehead Artificial intelligence (AI) moves quickly but never as quickly as the entrepreneur. Founders need a good team - its rule # 1 - and part of that team are a high class of professionals we don’t talk about enough: lawyers. Like accountants, they are worth their weight in AI gold. Legal experts in AI play a crucial role in navigating the complex legal, technical, ethical, and societal issues that come up when makers make fast. We all see AI technologies becoming more integrated across industries and companies of all sizes. It’s the legal experts who are essential in ensuring how a Founder interprets and applies existing laws to new AI applications and guides how to create AI companies. They represent a founder’s intellectual property rights. They review the policies that ensure data privacy. They are a company’s advocates for fairness and help balance interests across the players in the game. Matt Whitehead is a Boston-based lawyer, partner, and legal expert at Feinberg Hanson LLP. I’ve worked directly with Matt. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve paused and thought “man, I’m glad he’s on my team.” Matt exists at the crucial intersection of law and emerging technologies like AI. His expertise across time in helping AI Founders ensure business transactions are appropriate at any stage is particularly valuable. As AI continues to start reshaping every thing we do in the world of work and the world of life, true, capable, and hard working professionals like Matt are absolutely vital for ensuring that AI technologies are built into responsible AI businesses that protect everyone: customers, shareholders, investors, vendors, and even founders. I enjoy working with Matt and his team because they are highly intelligent about the unique challenges posed by AI when starting and when finishing companies. His expertise encompasses mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, and startup ventures. He’s got skills here in Boston that make him a significant team asset in the evolving field of AI. Matt’s a key player behind the curtain in guiding AI’s integration into Bostonian society - balancing innovation with legality and accountability in a way even Henry James would be proud. Beyond Matt’s professional accomplishments, he is actively involved in community and professional organizations, such as serving on the board of The Majestic Theatre and mentoring at MassChallenge. Matt is indeed a Human in AI in Boston.

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What's not being good at interviewing costing you? "I just cannot seem to interview well. I have lost out on roles to people who used to report to me." I was speaking to my client—let's call him Steve. He was a smart, accomplished product leader who had led successful launches of products you have probably heard of. He launched multiple hit products, drove millions in revenue, and all that jazz. But Steven had a problem—a big one. Despite being a total PM rockstar, he still interviewed like he had seven years ago. When he was interviewed, the impression he left was "Great product manager, not leadership material yet." Ever felt like you're the most accomplished person in the room, but when it comes to interviews, you can't seem to convey that? That was Steve. Do you know who didn't choke on interviews? The PM's Steve personally trained and mentored. That's right - Steve's own pupils interviewed well rose above their sensei by having better storytelling and positioning, and the executive presence and confidence that got them further in an interview. His pupils had risen to levels above him. Can you imagine how emasculating and demoralizing that must have felt? To have your star pupils, whom you groomed from scratch, outshine and outearn you just because they could describe their achievements better? Steve had already missed out on many years of success, new roles, and millions of dollars because he was worse at interviewing. He felt the sting of watching others, who he knew he was more qualified than, climb the ranks and achieve the success he deserved. This wasn't just a financial loss but a blow to his self-esteem. He wanted his kids to look up to him and be proud of his accomplishments. Enough was enough. He decided he couldn't afford to lose out anymore. He came to us as Intentional Product Manager, determined to turn things around. We worked with him to refine his narrative, boost his interview skills, and truly represent the outstanding professional he is. It took work, but he got there. The result? He's achieved a prime role at a company you would have heard of and now makes over a million dollars annually. Not only did he secure the financial success he always deserved, but he also earned the respect and admiration of his peers and, most importantly, his family. But as importantly, he carries his skills and executive presence every day. --- P.S., If this resonates with you, and you: - Are a product manager - You love to take action - You are committed to career growth But if you need help in landing that ideal next role. DM me "dream role" and I will send you details. We only work with selected folks and have started to limit how many people we accept every month.

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Hey everybody, I just wanted to check in to let you know that now is not the time to check out for the summer. I'm starting a new YouTube series on Impact Sprints. Impact Sprints are relatively simple AI Automations that full-time and fractional executives can use to make an immediate impact. It's hard to plan for the future when you don't know what's currently available. Impact Sprints represent just a starting point that you can use to get your feet wet. As with any new process or procedure there's always room for optimizations. Be sure to let me know what you think when the first episode arrives later this week. #ai #aicontent #aiautomation #youtube #impactsprints

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As an early-stage Chief of Staff, I often talk to folks who are looking for CoS roles. I get asked a lot of similar questions and want to share my answers for anyone who's pursuing this path: 1️⃣ What does a CoS actually do? CoS's are all different. At a company as young as Aomni, Chief of Staff is a "white space" generalist role, meaning I take on any business priorities that our founder/future execs don't own themselves. Today that means Ops, Sales (in partnership w CEO), Marketing, Customer Support and certain Product tasks. 2️⃣ How can I find CoS opportunities at startups? I don't think it's a good use of time to apply cold. This is because CoS hiring at startups is highly trust-based and the market is crazy rn. Unless you have a sterling resume, you're going to lose out to competitors in the CEO's network already. Instead, leverage your network to develop relationships. Look for opportunities to start on a freelance basis where you can build trust before the job is even posted. Consider different roles at the right company where you can evolve into a CoS over time. 3️⃣ How can I stand out to hiring managers? Same thing as #2 -- it's all about relationships. Demonstrate that you can perform well in the role and add value as a trusted partner to the CEO/exec team, whatever that takes. 4️⃣ What's the hardest part of the CoS role? The biggest thing is stress. You don't have the same level of responsibility as the CEO, of course, but the pressure they experience reaches you via osmosis. I'm always trying to improve how I manage stress. 5️⃣ Do I need to have consulting or banking experience, or an MBA? Absolutely not. My somewhat irrational and biased opinion is that these experiences are actually anti-signals about one's fit for the job at a startup (probably not the same at a big company). Many people with these backgrounds are uncomfortable without structure, inflexible and unwilling to do grunt work. Effective CoS's at startups are highly curious learners, resourceful operators and great first-principles thinkers. As long as you can demonstrate these traits you're golden. --- I also want to shout out some communities that anyone in this space should have on their radar: Ask a Chief of Staff, Chief of Staff Network and Generalist World are 3 of my faves. Always happy to answer questions and support new and aspiring CoS's in any way I can!

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Excited to announce I’ve joined efforts with two former colleagues, Joey Campbell and Anna Roth, as a Co-Founder of Tetra Content. Over the past year, I've partnered with them on most consulting opportunities — from how to create games from local RSS-fed content around college football, to finding new distribution for sites impacted by the latest Google changes, to acquiring and migrating 10-year-old+ digital/print libraries. And together, we’ve brought in expertise in Machine Learning/AI (John Deiner) and Gaming (Jai Smith) — and plan to add more in the coming weeks. The opportunity became clear: Let us cultivate, adapt, and regenerate your legacy library.  Brands (Savage Ventures/Vice, SPIN, Outside) are being revived daily and others are left to wither with only glimpses of what could have been via The Wayback Machine https://web.archive.org/. In coming weeks, I'll share more on the clients we've been working with as well as our Buy/Sell marketplace for legacy libraries — everything from Instagram handles and Facebook groups to WordPress VIP sites. It feels right at the exact right time. At Citysearch, we were early adopters of directed user-generated reviews to complement editorial content across 144 local markets. At Demand, we evaluated, bought, and migrated more than 40 niche vertical sites in the first two years. And at BestReviews, we took 300,000+ original product review images from hard drives and put them on the site - creating sustained, incremental traffic from Pinterest and Google Image Search. Plus proved that Demand Media’s Content Channels revenue share model is still healthy via BestReviews/Tribune Co. Interested in any way? Shoot me a direct message and/or send one to [email protected]. https://lnkd.in/gnsqPV9A

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The smartest companies are slimming workforces while outcompeting those fatter than a Thanksgiving turkey (RIP). How? By integrating AI across the business. In my world, a couple of years ago it was challenging to convince stakeholders content design and content strategy needed expert resources. Now it's impossible. Or should be. Because whether or not we recognise it, computers primed with data can do a consistently better job. Our role as product people has evolved from creating assets to stewardship. Researchers are more important than ever - because AI still (for now) needs humans to test its outputs with other humans. But the more we move into an agentic world, the more important AI becomes in bringing customers and companies closer together. Which means instead of moaning and creating opaque arguments about our worth, we need to be reskilling to embrace the inevitable future.

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✍🏼 Codify your process for nurturing referrals It is a tough climate for agencies across the board right now, but among those that continue to win against the hardest headwinds are those that have a well-oiled referral system. For most agencies this is a critical lead source, yet many have no formalised system. This should include defined and relevant incentives, how to create triggers for referrals, how to nurture referee relationships and how to measure impact. This system should sit at the heart of your growth strategy. #agency #newbusiness #businessdevelopment #growth #NBfirestarters

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The situation surrounding the NYT Tech Guild strike highlights the complex interplay between labor rights and technological advancements. Aravind Srinivas's offer to support the NYT during this critical time raises ethical questions about solidarity in labor movements. While he claims not to replace workers, the perception of undermining collective bargaining is damaging. This incident underscores the need for clearer boundaries between tech innovation and respect for labor rights. As AI continues to evolve, the discourse around its integration into traditional sectors must prioritize ethical considerations and worker empowerment. #ai #techethics #laborrights #unionsolidarity #journalismintegrity

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Thank you to Healthline Media for covering the Kinsome story today, and particularly the health impact we're striving for: https://lnkd.in/eD6z5a4r In our experience, despite the Surgeon General's best efforts, the idea that social connection is a major health driver hasn't sunken in for most people. The disconnection that the pandemic highlighted has been chalked up as a temporary aberration, not something worth dissecting now that everything is back to "normal." But especially as people age into their 70s and beyond, social connection can fade quickly. Younger family members have formed the foundation of elder socialization since the dawn of human existence, but in a world where families are more physically spread out than ever before, we haven't figured out how to keep that foundation strong across the miles. Similarly, young kids need positive attention and unconditional love from adults, but at a time when the Surgeon General is also calling parental stress levels a public health concern, many aren't getting enough from their parents alone. Again, over the course of human history, grandparents have been a big part of the solution on this front, but we're not effectively facilitating that connection for remote grandparents ye You don't have to squint too hard to see the opportunity here. While studies have shown that the remote work flexibility the pandemic ushered in has led to a trend of people moving back closer to home and extended families, that's not a realistic, or even desirable, solution for many. With the right technological approach, we should be able to digitally bridge the gaps between these generations who desperately need more connection. While video call tools are examples of technology that can help, most "social" tech platforms have only driven the wedge between generations in further. We think we've found an approach that keeps real, human connection as the focus, but leverages cutting edge technology to facilitate its flourishing. Please help us spread the word, and if you've got young kids (6-11), we'd love for you to give it a try and share your feedback.

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So cool to hear this story on NPR this morning. Our partner, Prism Labs, Inc., provides developers with the tools to integrate precise body scanning capabilities into their apps. Their technology goes beyond traditional BMI measurements, offering a more comprehensive view of health by analyzing muscle and fat composition. If you are a developer and are considering adding body scanning to your fitness app, please don't hesitate to reach out, and I can connect you! #HealthTech #Innovation #BodyScanning #PrismLabs #Wellness #HealthInsights

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