Ade Adesanya, is the Co-founder & President of Moving Analytics Inc, a telehealth company that is increasing access to cardiac rehab and helping patients recover faster at home through an innovative app-based virtual cardiac rehab program, Movn. Moving Analytics’ programs are developed in partnership with Stanford University, and are based on more than 30 years of published research.  Ade is also a lecturer of entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California. Prior to launching Moving Analytics, Ade helped researchers at the University of Southern California to commercialize their research into startup ventures.  Ade grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to the US to study electrical engineering at the University of Houston, he later got a master’s in engineering management from the University of Southern California and a certificate in Finance from UCLA.  He was recently recognized as a top 30 under 30 in healthcare by Forbes magazine.

Ade joins me today to discuss the impact of his company and the growth with the increase of Telehealth in this post COVID environment. I ask him why it takes a life changing event like cardiac arrest for some people to change their health habits. Ade shares his founder’s story with us and the growth of the company over the past few years bringing him to 2000 patients. He discusses how Stanford university’s technology transfer office was pivotal in his company’s success. 

Today on Startups for Good we cover:

• Finding the why when founding a company
• Knowing when to bring on extra staffing
• Is Vertical integration a pattern to be repeated in other areas
• Common barriers in Telehealth
• Fundraising challenges for minority entrepreneurs

Connect with Ade through LinkedIn 

Ade’s non-profit MAIN (Multicultural Angel Investor Network) can be found on LinkedIn

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Miles

Welcome to Startups For Good Ade, It is so great to have you on.

Ade

You too Miles.

Miles

Thank you. Thank you. You know, where I'd love to start is, what is your view on why it takes a catastrophic cardiac event for some people to make the lifestyle changes that they need?

Ade

That is a great question. And it's a question I've been thinking about a lot lately. And I think it just boils down to motivation, right. So when you think about the risk factors for heart disease, things like hypertension, or cholesterol, oftentimes, they're symptoms that we can't appreciate, you know, you have to go do a lab test or put on a blood pressure cuff and you get a number, but you're not feeling like, Oh, my blood pressure is high, or my cholesterol is high, versus like, if you had a headache, right, or migraine, where you're like, Hey, you know, I need to get rid of this pain, and I'm gonna do something about it. And so you have a situation where it kind of creeps up on you, and by the time you God forbid, have a heart attack, then, you know, it's, it's now like, very real. And what we what we find from a lot of our patients are that this is the first time they kind of confronted them what mortality and morbidity, you know, and now they're very motivated to want to change because they've had this at this event happen. And so I think it's just like, motivation, right? There's no, you know, there's this quote that I read a long time ago, and I didn't know who said it was like, people don't change to the pain of staying the same is, you know, greater than the pain of change. And to, it's just that, you know, I think it's more behavioral science than anything.

Miles

Yeah, I think that's fascinating, because you're basically in the change business. You know, I've heard the change formula described as the the pain of the status quo, and also the vision times times the vision of the new thing, plus any first or next steps. So like, first steps are just a little addition. But the multiplier is your vision, how wonderful it could be, but that pain seems to be a big motivator, in most cases.

Ade

Yeah. It is, is unfortunate, but it definitely is. But I agree, I agree with you that the vision is also important. I think that that's something that, you know, in my experience, and in my work, one of the things that are coaches do with the patient's really is to ask them kind of like, what's the new why, you know, so you've had this cardiac event, you know, you're at home one day watching TV, you get a heart attack, you rush to the hospital, we get a surgery, you made it through that surgery, and what's your why now? And in a lot of cases, you know, people want to live enough to live long enough to see the kids graduate, or, you know, walk their grandkids down the aisle, or, you know, make it to some milestone, you know, in their journey. And we find that, that vision, like you mentioned, we then use that to kind of put the rest of their care in context. You know, sir, you know, we know, after heart attack on things you should be doing, like improving nutrition, your sleep, exercising, taking your medicines, and this is all fine and good, but when you put it in context of, you know, hey, you need to do this, because, you know, if you do, you will be able to, you know, see your grandkids or do whatever you want to do, I think then, you know, people are more willing to be adherent to those behaviors. And, you know, one of the things we're finding in our program is, is actually never had to incentivize a patient to do our whole program in terms of like, giving them cash and money or prizes. You know, we, a lot of our patients are so intrinsically motivated, because of, you know, they've had that near death experience, they don't have it again. And like you said, there's division for now. You know, I want to I have purpose in my life and in my health, you know, to achieve whatever those those goals are So, very interesting formula. I had to take that on board that and share that with my team.

Miles

Yeah, I think you also help with the first steps part of it. When someone knows they need to make a change, part of your program, as I understand it, is to lay out and make very concrete and accessible those first steps they should be making.

Ade

Yeah, I think that's a big part of this, you know, change and philosophy is that a lot of times people just feel overwhelmed with the amount of information that they need to comprehend to then figure out how to change. So I think it's like, so I have a Peloton, right? And one of the things that I really enjoy about the Peloton with the bike experience, but also just using the app and doing the you know, the classes is that it takes away that cognitive process of like, thinking about what you need to do, you know, so before, as you think about, like, how many reps do I need to do, how many sets and all that kind of stuff, right? And that in itself, like, I feel like reduces your willpower, you know, eventually to go do the exercise you need to do in that particular case, until we're finding that, you know, typically after a patient has discharge, they go see the cardiologist and the cardiologist like, hey, great, you made it, well, we're going to need you to do XYZ things, I need you to take the six medicines every day, I need you to exercise, change your diet, sleep better, like, and it can become very, very warm for the patient. And to one of the things that we've found, that patients have given us feedback on is that they really value with that they have this coach, you know, who is an experienced clinician, so they typically had nurses or exercise physiologist that have cardiac rehab background. And the patient says this coach as this like authority, but also as a guide, and a friend and a mentor, that's going to help them through this process. And they knew that that person is going to break down, you know, all the things they need to do into like, just simple daily goals. So they don't have to kind of overthink, you know, like, their recovery. They know that, you know, I have, you know, faith as my coach and faith is going to really kind of walk me through this process. And so people are just more able to be adherent, you know, when they have that kind of have the sense of you know, they have a coach, and I think that was a very powerful tool in just change.

Miles

Yeah, having a coach having accountability, that makes a lot of sense. When did you decide that you were going to hire clinical staff?

Ade

Miles

Yeah, that's fascinating. I wonder if there's any lessons there for other founders who are thinking about healthcare? Do you think that vertical integration is a pattern that should be repeated in other areas?

Ade

Miles

What else did you learn? And through talking with him? I mean, I think so what is okay, we said, I said, it's not a starting point, the same time we'll take on, you know, this type of model, they only think about, like a little regulatory thing, interact compliant and like, how you make sure that you're, you're just playing by the rules. So that's something that's important as well. And then, you know, we talk a lot about just scale. I think they had a point where they've, they've obviously the half a million patient, Mark, you know, so, you know, I think it's interesting, you know, when we talk about vertical like the vertical approach in healthcare, because in that model your service provider, right, fundamentally going to the health plan or customer and saying, Hey, I'm going to manage the entire delivery of this service for you, right, I think we're different is that you're now dealing with technology and to your technology enabled provider of care in that way, while you still are a service company. And so, you know, we've kind of struggled with, okay, on our business model, we are a provider. But do we really want to be in the business of like hiring like a ton of cardiologists, and nurses and like all the students on how does that scale over time. And so we're also experimenting with different models of like, that kid, every piece where in some cases, like we're partnering with established organizations, for example, we signed a partnership with the Mayo Clinic, where the Mayo Clinic is actually powering our program to the cardiologist and the nurses and the anesthesiologist in some of our counterpart by the Mayo Clinic, in some of our counties, they're part by our own, you know, people that have hired and trained in ourselves. And so we're kind of watching the dynamics of this two models to see kind of scale long term, you know, which one works, right? Because I mean, if the layer partnership works, then that would be an interesting business model, right? To kind of, on the front end of the house contract, as a provider on the back end have like another provider that has like a lot of experience being a provider, we're on that ship. And so those are different things that we get to talk about. with him. I kind of like bugs and get his thoughts on, and it always makes it very fun and thought provoking conversation.

Yeah, great to have that kind of mentor.

Ade

Yep.

Miles

You both, I think are in this space of telehealth, digital health. And the world has really embraced that over the last year. I'm curious what that change has been like for you.

Ade

Miles

Now, the market is finally catching up to your pioneer. I'm curious for you to share with us that founding story. How did it come together?

Ade

Miles

Wow. So you licensed technology from two universities? Is that what I'm understanding?

Ade

No.

Miles

So not from USC, just from Stanford. Any any advice? Given your background, working with a technology transfer office? And doing this license with Stanford

Ade

I think that different offices have different attitudes?

Miles

How do you say more about that? Yeah, say more about that.

Ade

Yeah, so So I think, you know, different different universities have different philosophies, I think what was pretty fascinating about Stanford, is that they just had this attitude of like, we want to get this out of the door, like as soon as possible. So they were more interested in kind of getting the IP into the real world. And so they want to go, we did that, during my funny half was pretty quick, like, I was pretty surprised as to like how fast we were able to do that deal. And, you know, we told them, initially, they had proposed a certain set of terms to us, we told him that, you know, that was very favorable to the business model. And so we went from like paying them, like, per person license to like a flat license. And then we also, they said, Hey, we'll also invest in movie analytics to to keep our equity. So we give them some equity, we pay them an annual license. But they said, you know, whenever you want to raise any kind of future funding rounds, we're in for 10% of that round, so that we can keep our pro rata. And so that was like, wow, okay, so you're not just going to also license the product, you're also going to be an investor, and to Stanford was very, very forward thinking, you know, and very pro commercialization. Now, I'm sure that I love the Trojan family, but I feel like the USC dress office was not as attractive in that way. I think they thought of licensing IP as almost like a business venture. And so they were trying to get more of more immediate return for it. So they wanted to participate and be much more money upfront to license the technology. And also, the terms of law says it'd be more onerous under startups. And to, you know, we tried for like a couple of years to license the IP. And, you know, at the same time, the business model kept pivoting to the point where we actually didn't need it anymore until we just never did that to because we didn't need that IP. By time, we had figured out what we wanted to do with the business.

Miles

Fascinating. I would assume that Stanford is a more successful tech transfer office in terms of dollars generated back for university, just an assumption and talk about it. That's Yeah, and and I wonder if there's any lessons there and that different attitudes that you encounter? That's fascinating.

Ade

Yeah. It's just more thinking like, you know, they're thinking more like investors and it's just like, hey, let's get it out. And Let's make it easy for the startup answer. I think that attitudes help them a lot. Now, obviously, Stanford's in a place where they're pre endowed, and they don't need to make a lot of revenue, in the short term from those intellectual properties, they have too many. You know, Google has a lot of like, you know, unicorns that come out of there. Sure. You know, I feel like that perspective also based on on some of that factor, too, but anyways,

Miles

Right, they have the capital to be able to think longer term.

Ade

Yep.

Miles

I'd be curious to know more about the numbers today for moving analytics, number of patients money raised anything else you can share?

Ade

Miles

Well, congratulations,

Ade

Thank you, to help further our work. So to date, we've raised a total of nine and a half million dollars, until there's some of the metrics, but I think we're pretty excited now just for just the growth, I think with with some of the customers we have, I mean, just the amount of volume we could do with each of them is pretty pretty. I mean, one of them has like 10,000 eligible cardiac rehab patients every year. Another one has, like 100,000. And so I think it's, it's now kind of, for us use capital to start to put in the infrastructure to help us be able to scale, you know, and to be able to really capture you know, the value of the true value of our our customer contract, I think the contract we have right now watch the kind of considered pilot where the customers are the kind of saying, hey, let's start off with a disqualifies a patient, right, so that we can cash out, this goes, what we want to be in a place, you know, in the next quarter to where we can say, Hey, bring, bring your patient. So I said, you know, let's truly penetrate your population. And so, so yeah, so that's, that's kind of where we are.

Miles

So you're raising money in the midst of tripling your patient numbers and, and set up to scale even more, but you still find time to pay it forward. And to help other people. You started, for example, this nonprofit Main, I'd love to hear more about.

Ade

Yeah, so Main, Main is an interesting one, where means the multicultural and all the rest of that work. And that that's a nonprofit, I started and though he came out of being a black founder, you know, and, obviously, I've been fortunate to raise venture capital, and to be able to grow a company successfully, so far. And I get, every week, there's three to five other black farmers that reach out to me and be like, Hey, you know, really inspired by your work. I have this idea, and I want to refresh your capital, and I don't know how to go about doing it. And a lot of times you I think when when a culture right now, where to push up is, is pretty sexy, and almost everybody knows about entrepreneurship, you know, like shark tank has done a good job of like democratizing the idea of like venture capital and how those things work. So a lot of people are thinking about like, candy, I want to get XML, you know, investors for adventure, regardless of the stage. And so, in talking to many founders, I think one of the things I realized is that, you know, one day needed to get, you know, a different family and the angel round, you know, before you get to venture capital, because she obviously had to show traction with get VC eventually. And when you think about how a lot of early stage angel investing works, it's really kind of you invest in people, you know, right, like, if I'm an angel investor writing 10, to 50k, checks, you know, I'm gonna invest in people that are in my network, in my community, people that are building, you know, solutions to problems that I can empathize with. And when I thought about that, you know, for a lot of black founders, that a lot of not a lot of people in their communities who are writing, you know, Angel checks right now, they're thought of athletes have many great and they have a lot of professionals and executives of color. But, you know, up until very recently, the idea of angel investing hasn't been something that's been very popular in our community. And so the whole vision for Main is that, you know, is really to create a culture of angel investing amongst, you know, executives or color or professionals of color