The Twenty Minute VC

Mario Schlosser: "How to Deal with a 94% Decline in Market Cap" | E1136

Mario Schlosser is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Oscar Health. The public company that went public with a market cap of $7.1BN. Following a tumultuous time in the markets, their stock price dropped 94%. Today, the company has rebounded and has a market cap of $3.2BN with an astonishing $5.8BN of revenues. Before co-founding Oscar, Mario also co-founded the largest social gaming company in Latin America. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (00:57) Background (02:15) Early Signs of Exceptionalism (07:11) Understanding Stock Market Dynamics (11:59) Reflections on Going Public (28:57) Balancing Personal Life & CEO Responsibilities (33:31) What CEO-ship is About? (44:55) Building Organizations Based on Personal Preferences (47:14) Having Hard Conversations (48:40) Dealing with Bad News (53:08) Pitfalls of Professionalizing Management (54:43) Importance of Expectations & Behaviors (01:01:23) Relationship with Money (01:08:15) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Mario Schlosser We Discuss: 1. From German Middle-Class to Public Company Founder: How did Mario make his way into the world of tech and come to co-found Oscar with Josh Kushner? Does Mario agree with Jensen Huang that “we should all have lower expectations”? What does Mario know now that he wishes he had known when he started Oscar? 2. Why Did Oscar Tank 94% in the Public Markets: What was the core reason why Oscar tanked 94% in the markets? What would Mario have done differently knowing all he knows now about public markets? Does Mario regret going public? What are the biggest pros and cons? 3. The Mental Challenge of a 94% Market Cap Decline: How did Mario mentally deal with the company being down 94%? What does he say to himself in the truly hard times? How did Mario use his co-founder, a coach and his family, to get through the really bad times? What are Mario’s experiences like with anti-depressants? What worked? What did not? 4. Firing Yourself as CEO: Why did Mario decide to step aside as CEO? What was the decision-making process? On reflection, does Mario think he was a good CEO? Where was he good? Where was he bad? What are the biggest management pieces of advice that Mario thinks are BS? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Mario Schlosser on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariots Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #marioschlosser #oscarhealth #oscar #ceo #founder #venturecapital #businesstips #investing #businessstrategy #publicmarket #joshkushner #elonmusk #jensenhuang

Mario SchlosserguestHarry Stebbingshost

Apr 4, 20241h 16mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Founder Survives 94% Stock Crash, Redefines Leadership, Money, Resilience

Mario Schlosser, co‑founder of health insurer Oscar, recounts taking the company public, enduring a 94% stock price collapse, and navigating the psychological and operational fallout. He explains why healthcare is so hard to disrupt, how markets mispriced Oscar, and what he learned about communicating with Wall Street. Schlosser also reflects on stepping down as CEO, his evolving relationship with money and status, and the emotional toll of leading through crisis, including depression and medication. Throughout, he challenges common Silicon Valley myths about hero founders, visions, and success, emphasizing humility, low expectations, and designing companies around one’s own operating style.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Design your company around how you actually work, not generic ‘best practices’.

Schlosser argues that founders often over‑adopt professional managers’ playbooks; instead, they should build meeting rhythms, decision processes, and org structures that fit their own cognitive strengths and preferred ways of thinking.

In healthcare and other regulated markets, great tech is useless without deep domain understanding.

Most healthtech startups either have good technology or understand healthcare’s incentives and workflows—but rarely both; success requires explicitly adding domain expertise rather than relying solely on outsider creativity.

Communicating with public markets requires brutal simplicity, not detailed nuance.

Oscar tried to explain its economics via complex operational detail, but investors with limited attention mainly saw massive losses; Schlosser learned that public markets respond to clear, high‑level narratives and visible profitability paths.

Founders must proactively manage their mental health during extreme volatility.

After the IPO disappointment and prolonged decline, Schlosser experienced serious depression, sought professional help, took antidepressants, and tracked his mood—framing chemistry and therapy as essential tools, not weaknesses.

Stepping aside as CEO can be an act of protection for the company, not failure.

Fearing he’d exhausted his “bag of tricks” for future crises, Schlosser deliberately recruited an experienced operator as CEO and fully ceded authority, emphasizing that partial handovers and shadow leadership are what truly damage startups.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

The world doesn’t end that often.

— Mario Schlosser

Public markets don’t care about your red button versus blue button when you’re losing $400 million a year.

— Mario Schlosser

If you step down as CEO, you have to do it wholeheartedly. You can’t still be the shadow decision‑maker.

— Mario Schlosser

You might as well build organizations the way you like it, not the way that a book or advisor tells you.

— Mario Schlosser

There’s always a room you’re not in. Even for Zuckerberg, there’s a room he doesn’t get invited to.

— Mario Schlosser

Early life motivations, intrinsic drive, and exposure to computingLow expectations, resilience, and exposure to high‑expectation environmentsWhy US healthcare is structurally difficult to disruptOscar’s IPO, stock collapse, and public market dynamicsFounder mental health, depression, and use of antidepressantsStepping down as CEO and redefining founder leadershipRelationship to money, status, influence, and long‑term ambition

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