Interview with LearnCdo CEO Jason Merrick

My name is Dustin Betts. I'm the content editor at the Founder Institute, and I'm here this afternoon with Jason Merrick. He's the co-founder and CEO of LearnSeeDo, an FI San Francisco portfolio company whose telecare experts 24/7 help to empower parents and caregivers. Jason Merrick, thanks so much for joining us.

Hey, thank you for having me. I'm excited.

So before we dive into your company LearnSeeDo, tell us first a little bit about yourself or your startup story. What were the experiences of yours, professional or personal, that led you to founding this company focused on delivering professional care services remotely?

I think there was an experience that brought me to learn SeeDo and our focus, and then it kind of grows on my background experience after that. So the experience that really cemented the concept and the passion for me was my daughter. I'm a new parent. And when she was born, she was born with a unique condition called infantile spasms. And it can be very detrimental if you don't treat it and the treatment's severe. So she needed extra care. Not only we were new parents and going through those trials, we were also having her with special needs. So she really needed a whole caregiver network. And a lot of those services just weren't available. There was times when my wife and I would look at each other and say, you know, I wish I could just talk with somebody. I wish there was an expert we could talk to. We'd write to our care provider, and we had a whole team, even with medical insurance, they would get back to us in a day or two or three. And we had so many questions, it took us over 2.5 months to get to physical therapy. And we were literally walking her through YouTube videos, and this was with medical insurance. And there was just no alternative in that interim. Sure, I mean, we could read a little bit online, who knows what rabbit hole you went to, but there was just no one available for us to reach out to right now. And that's really the experience that brought me there. Then I have backgrounds in medical care. I've been in medical care for over 20 years now and a background in startups as well, beginning in '99, 2000 at UC Davis.

Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing that kind of personal story element. That's definitely, you know, really grounded home. So I guess before we kind of, you know, dive in, I'm a little bit familiar with Learn See Do as a founder and situate company, you know, that you're delivering parenting peace of mind through live video with verified care experts. So let's kind of hear it straight from you, the founder. For those who are totally unfamiliar, please give us sort of your short pitch. What is LearnCDO?

Very simple. For MVP, we connect parents and caregivers with childcare experts real-time at the moment of need to provide quality advice at an affordable price. That's it in a nutshell.

Perfect. That's why we like the tight pitches. So that, that's great. And then to kind of frame the whole context, just to put it in perspective, you know, I know prior to COVID, people who were talking about telehealth, they often blamed like a perceived lack of adoption on these really amorphous seeming barriers, institutional and regulatory. But now post-pandemic, as we sort of have been a year into this, it now seems like telehealth solutions are being deployed, at least relatively speaking, a lot quicker. With those barriers knocked down, to whatever extent that is true, what is the current or big industry challenges now in health and professional care services that are delivered remotely as you see it?

Yeah, there is, you know, digital remote health with COVID so many things got opened up. You know, I've been part of conversations and webinars that talked about testing and drug delivery and all kinds of different facets of digital health or remote. So I'm gonna speak specifically to the telehealth, telecare aspect, which is a very narrow, not narrow, but one focus of this whole remote healthcare experience or care experience. But first of all, I'll put it on record, we are not going 100% remote. I don't think we're at the days of Star Trek yet, or the Jetsons, but there is the need and necessary connection, human connection with an in-person visit. So I don't believe in 100% remote healthcare to solve all problems. So there is determining that balanced mix of in-person versus remote is kind of where we're at determining the right, you know, that right mix. And it's going to depend on the age, you know, for us, the age of the child, the needs of the child. Then you get into a whole different model when it gets into adults. So first of all, from our perspective, is determining what is that mix between in-person and virtual visits. I'd say, second, we don't want to commoditize healthcare. So it's, you know, and that's building that remote relationship. So I know a lot of, where we will, there will be a kind of a proving point for remote healthcare is with COVID it was largely an extension of your existing relationship with your care providers. What we'll have to look at post-COVID is establishing new virtual relationships. With providers. That is going to be new. Hard to determine with COVID as we move into this new remote care model. I know if you were just to look down to generational breakdown, if you look at baby boomers, they are the most— least likely to want to establish a virtual care relationship, a new virtual care relationship. You get into Gen Z, you get into millennial parents, it's about a 50/50 mix, give or take. It's really feeling out how to establish these virtual care relationships that they're long-lasting and trust is built. And then I said, I think 3 is pediatrics. So where you don't see much kind of evolution quite so far is pediatric remote health or tele-care, tele-health. You see a lot with adults. You see a lot with chronic conditions, but there's not yet the emphasis, and that's where we're focused on, and that's the Learn-See-Do-Care. It requires different caregivers. It's a pediatrician, a pediatric nurse practitioner. You have a pediatric RN. You have pediatric physical therapists. It is a whole subset of experts that focus generally— you want either adult or you're pediatric. So there's that difference. Wearable technology is different than adult wearable technology. Adults, blood pressure is huge. Pediatrics, you can get that idea off skin condition. And cameras are a lot more, you know, cameras are a lot bigger deal with monitoring devices than a wearable device. So the remote technology in pediatrics, overall the remote solution is different as well, and that's where our app kind of gets into it as well. So, you know, those are 3 kind of areas that are unknown, we're working on, and we're dealing with as we go. From a pure industry perspective, if you were to say what, you know, overall what is the industry concerned about, I'd say It's regulations, billing, and access. Those are what you'll hear the buzzwords right now.

Yeah, and I hear what you're saying about keeping the patient centered in the relationship and the challenges and nuances around that, not just for pediatrics, but also for people who it's not as intuitive maybe to connect with a doctor remotely. And I think that laying of hands kind of relationship that you have with your doctor, yeah, totally not going away completely. So yeah, I love that kind of perspective on just Reality check there. You kind of led well into my next question, which is like looking at the solution that you've now developed at LearnCDo. You're actually a HIPAA-compliant telehealth and care provider targeting a range of child care services. Talk to us what it's like for a first-time user, you know, just coming onto the LearnCDo platform for the first time. How does it work?

Yeah, so, you know, I'll take you kind of through that user journey, if you will. So you, you're a parent You've heard about the app either from a friend, word of mouth, or you've learned about it on social media through one of our campaigns. You've downloaded the app. You know, now you have it on your phone. It's in the back of your minds, and you have a young child and they waking up in the middle of the night. It's 2:00 AM. You're stressed. You wake up. They're crying. You go to the child. You know they're upset. You're concerned, but you don't— can't quite put your finger on it. You know, they're— and I've encountered this with my daughter. And you're harried, you're like, ah, gosh, I'm worried, I'm concerned, I'm tired. So then you look, think, learn, see, do, boom, the app pops in your mind. You can jump on our app and within a minute or two you're talking to an expert. You're already feeling that calm. If you think it's general in nature, you really don't have an idea, you could talk to one of our pediatric nurse practitioners. They're all experienced, have at least 3 years of experience in a full-time relevant position to that primary care. And they will guide you down that path to help solve that. And there's different, a lot of different options. If you think it's to do with feeding, they're breastfeeding, they haven't been eating well, you could talk to a lactation consultant. If they're now on solid foods, you could talk to a dietitian, you don't think they've been eating well. If you think it's sleep related, you could talk to a sleep consultant that deals with pediatrics. So, you know, that's what's unique about our platform is we guide you to different experts than just primary care. And that's where our program is robust. If you look what we concentrate on, it's a specialty network. As parents, there's so many different things, people you can talk to that can guide you to the right solution. So we give that variability with our specialists. Then the call itself, you know, we have some unique aspects. An emergency care, you know, an expert can dial 911 or emergency services in the area of the user through our app. They don't have to get off the app. If they're concerned to the point they can alert them immediately, and we built that into our app. If English is not your primary language as that parent or caregiver, you could see what other experts speak your primary language or spoken language. So it's friendly to our non-native English speakers. And then we record all the calls. So as a parent, you don't have to sit there and take notes. You can feel comfortable in the advice that's being given. After the call, for up to a week, you can review the advice that was given to you.

Awesome. Well, I really love— I didn't know that about the, you know, reviewing the call. That does seem like, you know, people who don't come from a medical background, there's big words being used, you know, they could easily be confused by kind of medical jargon. I know I've experienced things like that in speaking with doctors in the past. And yeah, so awesome. I want to ask you, I guess, next about social impact. So at Founder Institute, we have a For Progress Planner that provides a framework for even non-ESG, non-impact-focused startups to choose an impact key performance indicator. How are you thinking about, as a founder, you know, measuring social impact or otherwise kind of capturing any of that non-monetary value that you're creating in the space?

Yeah, and that's something we care about deeply. All of our founders, you know, everybody with us has a connection to child and caregiving. You know, our Chief Marketing Officer and CEO, or, you know, Head of Marketing, Chief Operations Officer, he's kind of our go-to guy. Sam, he has a graduate degree in education from, from Europe. He really loves education and children. It was in primary education. Mustafa, our CTO, his daughter has unique needs, so he connected with his daughter. You know, our quality control, Sarah, she's a pediatric nurse practitioner. So all of us, and you heard my story, so all of us are connected to children and caregiving. So we all care deeply about not only, of course, you know, the startup side of things and that we grow and you know, as a business, but also the impact we have. So that's, that's bred into our, my team, um, and myself. The two that stood out to me, you know, I looked at these when I went through Founders Institute in November, uh, and we did our, uh, an assignment on this, uh, and it was good to, you know, with this interview coming up, I relooked at them. Uh, there's two that stood out to me. Uh, one is 3.1 and the other is 3.2. So 3.1 is basically the decrease of maternal mortality. Um, And the second is decrease in preventable deaths, neonatal, young children deaths, and that's 3.2. You know, and I look at it differently, the two. I have to be realistic where we're at. You know, we're launching in the US. I know where we're going to launch, how we're going to, you know, there are plans to reach out globally, our model. And we've had some early talks, but every continent, every country is different. I think this is where 3.1 is where we can also have the most impact in the US where we're launching initially, which unreasonably, unforgivably, maternal deaths are high in the US, especially with our disadvantaged populations. And I think this is where our model can really get into, right now the House, the US Congress, the House of Representatives have passed a new slate of bills to deal with maternal mortality and should be going to the Senate soon. And I know with our new administration, they're focused on healthcare as well and access. And so, you know, just to quote one line of it where we can actually have direct impact, and that is improving access to midwives and doulas and improving data collection. So, right, part of our initial 8 categories of experts we're launching with, and we had decided this well, you know, before the pandemic even, was doulas and midwives. Those are on our platform. We'll have roughly 600 experts in the US and Illinois— I'm sorry, California and Illinois when we launch. Those are the two cohorts that will greatly improve maternal health and mortality. And they can download the app. Everybody has a smartphone app, you know, to some degree. Now, depending on the plan they're on, we know there's limited minutes. That's why we're baked down to 5 minutes. We want to get your answer as quickly as possible, and you only get to pay for the information you receive. So calls shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes. Someone can be done in 5 minutes with the advice. So, you know, we're getting the education, the advice quickly to these parents and that access. Now, you get into preventable deaths of newborns and children under the age of 5. I think that largely gets into a global perspective, and really that you get those numbers down with the Back to Sleep program, teaching about education, children sleeping environment. It's more of an environmental and education on that aspect, and I think that's We definitely will contribute to that education, but it's also getting out that Back to Sleep program globally.

Perfect. Yeah, you actually reminded me of something I wanted to tease out just because I'd read it on your website, and it really speaks to this kind of accessibility, not just to see a specialist, because I think a lot of times it can be challenging to see a specialist, whereas through telehealth and with Learn C2, you can connect with somebody right away who is that specialist that you want to speak to. But just what you said on the website where I was reading about how quickly getting a second opinion People always talk about wanting a second opinion, and this is a really accessible way to do it. But yeah, thanks for speaking to the really specific IKPI with maternal mortality that is inexcusable for our country. And hopefully, we'll be making progress in a lot of ways on that. I want to ask you next to make a prediction. This is always the dicey part, go out on a limb. But we talked a little bit about earlier telehealth, and it's one of these areas that's been substantially disrupted by COVID-19. Thinking farther into the future yet, what are your predictions for big changes that are coming for the future of telehealth and care services in the next 5 to 10 years?

I think we're going to be one of the champions of the first prediction I'm going to make, and that gets into the two biggest areas with the pandemic. And I would say that these are two areas that I think we're already transitioning that saw it greatly accelerate, and that is remote work and remote— and telehealth, remote care. So I think those two are going to grow together where, as people become more mobile as a population, where remote work is more possible, you know, if you're working remote, you know, my wife and myself, what's to prevent us from moving to Arizona or Pennsylvania? Or as the workforce becomes more mobile, I think the care providers have to become more mobile. And that gets into not just billing, not just HIPAA, which is on a federal level, and really those are easier to change, but it's the state-to-state laws. And that gets into the regulatory compliance of actual specialists, which we're dealing with. So doctors are easier. I think doctors now, post-pandemic, can provide advice from California into New Jersey, let's say. But you get into nurse practitioners, you get into RNs, you get into diet— you know, dietitians I think can be national. That's a complicated one. But every— they're all complicated nuance. Having a similar standard, and it's hard to get state to state to agree to it, but a standard where, you know, I'm comfortable with my physical therapist in California. I've moved to Arizona, I want to transfer that relationship to Arizona. Well, right now I can't. Physical therapists in California can only provide advice to California, just to use one example. But because having that more ubiquitous ability to match the population, the population need on that regulatory side, I think is coming in the next 5 to 10 years. It started with PAC states, with nurse practitioners, but it hasn't gotten into the other specialties. And really, you know, we're treating the whole child. It takes a whole solution, and having those transferable regulations tied to each license or certificate is important. I think that's one area. I think you're going to see It's a hard question. And I've kind of gone back and forth on how much monitoring are we going to do of ourselves and our health? As a diabetic, that's an easy one. There's been a lot of advances as a care provider I've seen with diabetes, but it gets into just preventable medicine. Yeah, I'm healthy right now, but I wanna monitor my health and my, and parents as well. Parents is the conduit to children. You know, personally, you're the conduit to yourself, but what degree are wearable technologies or, you know, in the case of pediatrics, monitoring devices going to play in the larger picture? Are they going to play on the fringes or are they going to become a critical piece of health and wellness? I really don't have quite an answer yet. It's going to be to be determined. There's a potential for that to be the case. And then I think those are two big areas right now for us. Yeah, I hope that answers your question.

Yeah, yeah, it does. I really like the, especially the first prediction, I mean, because it just makes a lot of sense as you explain that, you know, with this remote kind of work culture that you're going to want to be able to take that with you. And I know there's other barriers in other industries as well with certain like professional certifications and being able to transfer them. So certainly it seems like within, you know, the health industry, so for everybody's, you know, well-being, that, uh, that that would be something that would change in the future. So I hope that your prediction is on the money there because, um, it makes a lot of makes sense from like a need perspective. So awesome. You've obviously done a huge amount to build LearnCedu to where it is today. What are some of the big challenges that you feel you've overcome as a founder in terms of building this company? And I guess sort of what other advice would you maybe offer as well to early stage or aspiring entrepreneurs who are maybe just getting started in the health and technology space?

Yeah, you know, I'll just talk about some unique and then I can actually talk about some more general hurdles. So, some unique hurdles was we're a two-sided marketplace, so it's never an easy solution with a two-sided marketplace needing to have two different areas to make one solution. And so the first questions we were receiving was what about the supply side? You know, we are different. We bring experts on as contractors. And it was why, you know, we were getting is why is, why would a nurse practitioner, why would anybody want to come on when they, if they have a full-time job? And so really when, you know, we had that first hurdle to overcome and when we did it, you know, we tweaked a little bit, pivoted a couple of times on how we were kind of promoting ourselves to the experts, to the supply side. And once we tweaked it just right, we had a flood of applications. We had over 16,000, I think over 17,000 now. On our platform fall of last year until today. So it was a matter of, you know, I felt, and you know, I'm that population. This is definitely something I would get on and provide advice. And now it was finding that, being able to build that metric to show that scale that people are interested. So that was kind of a unique challenge with us. Then the demand side is similar. And that's where we're focused with our go-to-market strategy on that proof. You know, malpractice insurance is another. I think we've been a happenstance of the pandemic. There's such a call now for virtual malpractice insurance that it's much easier than it would have been before pandemic. That's a big one unique to us. There's always the funding side of things. How we maintain funded, and I think it's getting creative with funding. When somebody says bootstrap, It means dollars and it also means creativity. Doing something with less and finding, make that stretching that dollar as well. And for me, that meant priority. What is a priority? What is it nice to have as far as what you're spending money on? Really setting those priorities. You know, leveraging debt to some degree. Having a good leveraging, what is that your, you know, is that your you know, I guess, is at your disposal. So, if you have a great credit history, smartly leveraging that debt, if you have a lot of great friends and people who are leveraging those relationships, it's leveraging whatever resource you have to get access to capital intelligently. And there's many different ways to look at that. So, that was part of our bootstrapping solution. Yeah, those are some unique aspects. Some advice I would have, and, you know, I've I wouldn't say I'm, you know, an expert, but from my experience in startups, the greatest effect you can have is building your team. The great, you know, if you have the right team, you can pivot, you can change, you can get to where you're going. But, and I think I looked at a Forbes article once that said the greatest, of the different aspects that affect a startup, The one that you have the greatest choice in is your team. And that's where I built Learn to See Do from. And I, you know, if we're a proving point to this stage, that's Learn to See Do. And that's probably the advice I have to, you know, really, you know, build that team, an enjoyable team, but with those abilities that is needed for your startup.

Yeah, I love that advice because as you said, it's one of the things that the founder can control that has a huge impact. So really, I think it is very applicable for almost any founder. Perfect. Final question I have for you here is just, you know, in conclusion, you know, where is Learn2Do headed next? You mentioned, you know, with the two-sided marketplace, you're now like looking more towards the consumer side, I guess, of that marketplace. Any news or updates to share with the FI community or any asks for the audience who might be watching?

Yeah, so where we're going next, beginning to middle of May, we launch Our technology is largely to the point. We've gone through beta. I think we've been accepted on Android. We're finishing on iOS, not only accepted for beta, but for full launch, finishing with iOS. That's HIPAA compliance, pen testing, all the above with the technology. We're very excited to get that solution out there. I think that the biggest delay is media. When I mentioned regulations, California is the toughest. And being able to have doctors work on our platform is requiring some special regulatory compliance on our end. That's the lander launch a little bit. What we are launching beginning to middle of May, very excited about that. And I say that's where we're going next immediately. And we're launching in California and Illinois. And our ask would be twofold. If you know investors, we're early-stage fundraising. Feel free to reach out to me. Let me know if you know of any interested early investors. Then of course, as we launch, word of mouth. Talk to your friends, your parents, caregivers, you know, people with young children, with children. Say, hey, I know this great solution, they're launching soon, take a look. And I'd say those are the two things.

Awesome. A lot of my coworkers at Founder Institute have young children living in California, so they would be potentially a good match. But when that comes early May, and that date, you know, is ready for us to promote it, definitely do reach out because we do want to share that with the whole FI network and make sure people know. This has been really interesting for me, you know, learning a bit about telehealth and care services. How the sectors are changing, you know, through the pandemic. And I know we're all at Foundry Institute really looking forward to keeping up with Learn to Do and where you're headed next. So Jason Merritt, thank you so much again for joining us.

Thank you, Dustin.