| In San Francisco a few weeks ago, I caught up with Nworah Ayogu, partner at Thrive Capital. Thrive had recently announced that it raised a $10 billion+ fund. |
| Ayogu, who joined Thrive in 2024 after four years at Amazon Pharmacy and was part of the early Cityblock team, told me that at no other point in his career has there been as much excitement and talent around trying to change the healthcare industry. |
| “The problems haven’t gotten smaller, but the tools have gotten bigger,” he told me. |
| He said tech talent that previously took jobs in other areas of the economy, like fintech or consumer services, is now choosing to go into healthcare. Combined with the talent already in healthcare, that could lead to fresh attempts to fix some of the industry’s biggest technology problems. |
| In particular, there’s evidence that consumers are interested in using new AI tools to figure out their own healthcare problems. Ayogu cited the frequency at which people are turning to OpenAI’s ChatGPT to ask health questions. (Thrive is an investor in OpenAI.) |
| “The tools have gotten bigger, and people are like, ‘Wow, I used to have to chop this really big tree, and I was afraid of it, but now I have a giant ax. I'm willing to go swinging,’” Ayogu said. |
| It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that healthcare leaders are taking AI seriously as it puts pressure on the industry. It’s the first time I’ve heard of technology really starting to factor into the strategies of organizations like health systems. |
| I have a feeling we could see the early effects of that newly added tech talent start to materialize soon. |
| - Lydia |
