Today our focus is on tech entrepreneurship in medicine. What does it take to bring an idea to execution? How do you find a co-founder who can help you build your vision? What is the start up space like and where can you go for help? And what are the major challenges or setbacks you might face?

To help us answer these questions and unpack the industry, I’ll be talking with the hardworking and extremely humble Dr. Gerald Diaz, a physician and former software engineer. He is the co-founder of GrepMed, a free image based medical reference platform. GrepMed makes it easy for clinicians to find, share, and bookmark management algorithms, checklists, decision aids, diagnostics schemas, POCUS videos, physical exam clips and much more. Dr. Diaz currently works full time as a hospitalist while bootstrapping the development of GrepMed.

I really had a lot of fun discussing the start up world with Dr. Diaz. The best  parts about it was that he was so forthcoming with his successes and failures. He talks about what others might be afraid to mention and it is clear that he truly wants to make a difference in the free online medical education space.

Show Notes
  • (00:02:35): What is your origin story?
  • (00:03:38): You studied computer science at Stanford. Did you always know that you were interested in it?
  • (00:05:05): Did you have any idea you wanted to study medicine in college?
  • (00:06:28): Is Stanford romanticized as a place where entrepreneurs can launch their start ups, or did you gain a lot of insight being there?
  • (00:08:04): Impostor syndrome affects a lot of very smart people. What were your strategies that allowed you to recognize this feeling and overcoming it?
  • (00:10:05): What kind of work did you do as a software engineer?
  • (00:10:36): When did you decide that you were interested in medicine and were going to pursue it?
  • (00:11:45): How do you think the mind of a computer engineer either helps or detracts from the way a physician thinks?
  • (00:14:11): Should physicians know how to understand or even write code?
  • (00:16:25): At what point did you start to think of yourself as an entrepreneur?
  • (00:18:08): Did you ever have any failed projects and what did you learn from it?
  • (00:20:18): How do you evaluate ideas and your abilities to make them happen?
  • (00:24:22): Did you ever get nervous or doubt yourself prior to launching GrepMed?
  • (00:26:21): So how did you come up with GrepMed?
  • (00:28:05): How did you come up with the name GrepMed?
  • (00:28:38): What were the steps you first took once you decided on the idea of GrepMed?
  • (00:31:25): What do you look for in a co-founder?
  • (00:36:04): Did you look into funding for the project or was it bootstrapped from scratch?
  • (00:37:51): How do you balance your work life, your entrepreneurial life, and your home life?
  • (00:38:56): And how do you see GrepMed growing right now? What is the trajectory of it’s growth?
  • (00:40:07): What was your primary way to grow your website, GrepMed?
  • (00:41:37): What is the editing process behind whether or not an image is displayed?
  • (00:43:13): What are some of your favorite features on your site?
  • (00:44:42): Are there any restrictions with using any of the images?
  • (00:46:26): What do you think is the future of GrepMed?
  • (00:47:37): How are you enhancing user participation on GrepMed?
  • (00:49:54): Are you thinking about monetization at all?
  • (00:51:52): What are some lessons you have learned as an entrepreneur while working on GrepMed?
  • (00:52:41): Is there anything you enjoy or dislike about being a founder or entrepreneur?
  • (00:53:49): How did you find your mastermind group?
  • (00:54:25): Are there any books that you found particularly inspiring or helpful for an entrepreneur?
  • (00:56:24): Any other future goals or projects?
  • (00:56:53): Where can people find you?

Selected Links
Books Mentioned
Tech Mentioned
Ideas Mentioned

 

Music

Music by Lee Rosevere – Sad Marimba Planet from freemusicarchive.org

“All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.”

– President Calvin Coolidge