 This month's founder spotlight is on Carm Huntress, the Founder & CEO of Credo Health, a FirstMile Fund II portfolio company. Carm is an experienced venture entrepreneur and strategic leader with over 20 years of startup experience. He started his first company at the age of 15 in web hosting and went on to build a number of successful B2B and B2C businesses. In 2013, Carm founded RxREVU (now Arrive Health), where they provided real-time prescription drug pricing to 300k providers across the US and raised over $35m in venture. At Credo, Carm is currently leading the team as they work to radically simplify and update the current medical record process to help organizations succeed at value-based care. Credo’s innovative digital solution offers healthcare providers and payers an alternative to traditional fax-based processes, enabling them to take better overall care of their patients, improve staff productivity, and drive accuracy and compliance. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Landscape architect. My dad was one. But that morphed quickly into being an entrepreneur. I have a ton of entrepreneurs in my family…my uncle and my grandfather. So it’s kind of in my blood. I started my first business when I was a 15 year old in high school. It was 1995, and the web was still a new thing that small businesses were trying to figure out. So, I started a web hosting company. I sold it before college – small exit, but it was all cash, so for college freshman, it was pretty nice! Was starting Credo an "aha moment" or a "gradual realization"? For me, it was an “aha.” I had this first principle thought that at some point “soon” – say in the next five to ten years – that all medical records will go digital. So my next thought was, how are we going to take what was a week or more long process down to a process of just minutes or less? Medical records were something that was branded into my memories in my mid-teens when I lost my mom to cancer in 1996. I watched her go through the very challenging process of meeting with many different doctors in a non-digital world. She actually typed up her health history to make it easier for each new doctor. She would carry it and a picture of my siblings and me around with her from doctor to doctor. Sadly I do not think that side of a patient’s healthcare journey has really changed since then. And it's time it does. We need to outlaw fax machines at doctors’ offices and move everything to digital first, it is 2024 after all. If you could go back in time and tell yourself some advice when you first started Credo, what would it be? I started Credo two years ago… so I’m not sure yet what I want to tell 2022 me. But If I could go back to when I started RXREVU, I would tell myself to focus because where you spend your time is everything. The strategy you pick must be clear. You have to be crystal clear on the facts and beliefs that are driving the strategy and yourself. If they are wrong, that can be a death blow to your company. You will have to rework your company while it's in motion. Founders, at the onset, need to dig into the real reason why they are starting a business. Many tend to use anecdotal evidence for their why, when, in fact, you need data and facts to drive the business why. Aiming at the target accurately comes from real facts and beliefs - the more quantitative, the better - not feelings, or anecdotes. What was the best constructive feedback you have gotten, and how bad did it hurt when you first heard it? One of my mentors once said to me, “Put on your uniform.” What he meant was that you need to let go of your personal ego and all the associated baggage. Don't let it get in the way of running the company. It was really rough. Now I think about whether I am “wearing my uniform” today or am I “wearing my personal baggage.” You have to deeply, deeply care about the people you serve i.e. the people who work for you. You have to show up in your uniform for them – it’s one of the biggest responsibilities of being a founder. Are you willing to go the distance? Are you resilient enough to survive it? You need mental acuity and tools to manage the stress to get through it. Is Colorado a good place to grow a business? Yes. There are three reasons that make Colorado a great place to grow a business. First, the reasonable cost of living here vs the coasts is great. Second, the quality of life here is fantastic – 300 days of sunshine in Denver. That’s a known fact. I can manage my stress better because the surrounding environment is great. And third, access. In terms of getting places both within Colorado and outside, it is incredibly easy. I can do day turns to cities like San Francisco, Nashville, or the East Coast - whether it's meeting investors or customers. Alternatively, many people are coming through Colorado so often that I don’t have to go visit them. Fast-pitch questions:
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