EO StudioEven U.S. presidents failed to fix this, but he's solving it | MedMe Health, Purya Sarmadi
CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 1:32
Why Purya chose healthcare (and why conviction matters through pivots)
Purya opens by reflecting on multiple pivots at MedMe and how each one increased—not weakened—his conviction in the healthcare market. He frames a key founder lesson: you can be right about the market and still fail temporarily if you start with the wrong product angle.
- •Four pivots strengthened conviction rather than eroding it
- •Healthcare/vertical SaaS can look “unsexy” but still be deeply valuable
- •Personal mission and market conviction can sustain founders through setbacks
- •Core founder advice: don’t give up on the market if conviction is strong
- 1:32 – 3:03
A childhood healthcare crisis becomes a lifelong mission
He recounts his family’s move from Germany to Canada and his mother’s heart valve failure soon after. Watching the fear and uncertainty around surgery shaped his drive to create impact in healthcare at scale.
- •Family immigration and early exposure to the healthcare system
- •Emotional imprint of uncertainty and helplessness as a child
- •A surgeon’s confidence illustrated healthcare’s “ripple effect” on families
- •Mission roots: improving access and outcomes through healthcare
- 3:03 – 4:04
From aspiring surgeon to tech-driven healthcare impact
Purya explains how the desire to be a cardiovascular surgeon evolved into a technology path due to personal fit (steady hands/sleep) and a belief that software can scale impact. This sets up why MedMe is a tech company serving care delivery.
- •Early ambition: cardiovascular surgery inspired by lived experience
- •Shift to technology/data science as a scalable impact lever
- •Combining healthcare passion + tech skill becomes career direction
- •Founding MedMe as the vehicle for scaled healthcare access
- 4:04 – 4:34
“Why couldn’t a pharmacy do this?”: the underused care hub insight
His mother’s need for regular INR monitoring and her trust in pharmacists revealed a system gap: pharmacies had relationships and proximity but lacked the service model/tools. Purya identifies pharmacies as an underutilized access point for clinical care.
- •Mechanical valve patients require frequent INR monitoring
- •Pharmacists often understand patients’ holistic treatment best
- •Key question: diagnostic services should be available at pharmacies
- •95% of North Americans live within five miles of a pharmacy
- 4:34 – 5:34
Pivot #1–#2: early product attempts (OCR automation → hardware adherence)
MedMe’s first iteration aimed to automate prescription data entry via scanning, but the tech wasn’t ready in 2018. A subsequent pivot to a physical adherence product exposed the capital intensity and difficulty of hardware, prompting another change.
- •Initial wedge: scan prescriptions to automate data entry (pre-LLMs)
- •Real business problem, but insufficient technology maturity
- •Hardware adherence pivot revealed high costs and complexity
- •Learning from each attempt informed the next wedge
- 5:34 – 6:35
Finding the right wedge: software that enables consultative pharmacy care
Customer conversations clarified the real bottleneck: pharmacies wanted to deliver more clinical care but lacked time and operational support. MedMe moved toward software that creates capacity—leading to early signals of strong product pull.
- •Pharmacies need tools/time to deliver clinical care to their patient panels
- •Goal: one problem, one solution, one customer (clear ICP)
- •Wedge test: if you disappeared tomorrow, would their life be worse?
- •Early proof: a customer replaced multiple subscriptions with MedMe
- 6:35 – 7:05
Wrong wedge vs. wrong market: how pivots compound learning
Purya crystallizes the difference between picking a bad market and choosing the wrong entry point. Each pivot added to the same underlying dataset about pharmacists/patients, narrowing toward the most important initial wedge.
- •Pivots produced cumulative insight rather than “starting over”
- •Market conviction can remain constant while wedge changes
- •Founder trap: interpreting wedge failure as market failure
- •Narrowing wedge selection through repeated customer learning
- 7:05 – 8:10
COVID as an accelerant: scaling from ~100 to ~1,200 pharmacies fast
The pandemic validated the thesis that pharmacies could deliver frontline clinical services (vaccines, testing). Demand surged and MedMe scaled dramatically in a short period, turning wedge clarity into rapid distribution.
- •COVID forced pharmacies to become clinical service sites
- •Use cases: vaccines and point-of-care testing
- •Explosive growth: ~100 to nearly 1,200 pharmacies in ~2.5 months
- •Right wedge created a path to expand into a larger market over time
- 8:10 – 9:11
The pharmacy industry transformation: disruption, clinical resurgence, and LTV
Purya describes a landscape shaped by online pharmacies, shrinking margins, primary care shortages, and rising chronic illness. He argues that pharmacies investing in clinical services will win through stronger patient relationships and lifetime value.
- •Industry pressure: online pharmacies with better logistics/unit economics
- •Macro tailwinds: primary care shortage + chronic disease growth
- •Winning model: pharmacies as community care hubs (shots, A1C, monitoring)
- •Clinical services deepen trust and enduring patient relationships
- 9:11 – 9:41
Build on what tech can’t replace: the human trust layer in care
He emphasizes that the trusted practitioner-patient relationship is difficult to automate away. MedMe’s vision supports pharmacists’ longitudinal care role rather than replacing it—making pharmacies indispensable in the care ecosystem.
- •Human element of patient care remains durable
- •Trusted practitioners know patient history, preferences, and family context
- •Tech should augment and operationalize care delivery
- •Pharmacies’ indispensability comes from trust + accessibility
- 9:41 – 10:12
Full-circle impact: INR monitoring at pharmacies using MedMe
Purya highlights a concrete outcome: patients on blood thinners can now get INR monitoring at pharmacies in places like Nova Scotia. This reduces reliance on ERs and diagnostic centers, embodying MedMe’s access mission.
- •INR monitoring is available at pharmacies in some jurisdictions
- •MedMe enables these workflows in real practice today
- •Shifts care away from ER/urgent care/diagnostic centers
- •Mission alignment: practical improvements in access and convenience
- 10:12 – 10:43
AI and founders: new capabilities, same customer jobs-to-be-done
He offers a grounded view of AI: it changes what’s feasible to build and may rewrite industry playbooks, but it doesn’t change the customer’s core needs. Founders should use AI to solve a broader class of problems without losing focus on the job.
- •AI expands what solutions are possible and changes playbooks
- •Customer jobs-to-be-done remain largely constant
- •AI as an enabler, not a substitute for real problem selection
- •Stay anchored to user needs rather than hype cycles
- 10:43 – 14:42
Co-founder dynamics: “comfort kills,” critical moments, and the candle principle
Purya explains how co-founder breakups sink startups and shares a personal mistake—demotivating criticism that nearly damaged his partnership. He introduces the “candle principle”: a co-founder’s job is to keep both flames lit through the inevitable highs and lows, illustrated by an intense COVID-era enterprise sprint that cemented trust.
- •Most startups fail due to co-founder breakups; partnership health is existential
- •Early pairing with Nick (Next36) based on complementary skills and shared mission
- •A harsh message (“you’re not capable”) can defeat a co-founder and erode trust
- •“Candle principle”: protect motivation; it’s hard to reignite once out
- •72-hour prototype sprint led to first enterprise customer and credibility flywheel
