Incredible Health

Nurse Life RN: 1.2M nurses, equity in Bala Shoes

Shaan profiles Nurse Life RN, a 1.2M-follower nurse meme account that gates membership by verifying you're a nurse. The owner took equity in Bala Shoes (the 'Nike for nurses') as its promotional vehicle, and could spin the audience into a job board or the next Incredible Health.

“But he partnered with the makers of Bala Shoes, which is the nurse shoe brand that's coming out that's trying to be Nike for nurses basically. It's Nike for medical footwear. And so he got equity in that company and gets paid every month because he is the promotional vehicle for Bala Shoes who wants to like penetrate this community, right?”

From 2 founders and an idea to a $50M Series A

Iman Abouzeid describes raising Incredible Health's initial $2M seed (75-100 meetings, just two co-founders and an idea) and, two years later, a $50M Series A.

“2 years ago, when it was just Rome and I, we were raising our seed round, just raising the initial $2 million. And at that time, honestly, it was just 2 co-founders and an idea. Probably had to go through through 75 to 100 meetings. And where are we now? We just raised a $50 million Series A.”

Healthcare is the largest labor sector in the US — and the most short-staffed

Iman Abouzeid notes that healthcare employs the most workers of any sector in America yet suffers the worst shortages, because demand keeps rising while the workforce can't keep up. Incredible Health cuts permanent nurse hiring from 90+ days to under 30.

“The reason that matters is the healthcare industry employs the most number of workers in America today. It is the largest labor sector in the country, but it also suffers from the biggest shortages. Our demand for healthcare as a country keeps going up, but we don't have enough workers in the system, and so it's becoming harder and harder to hire.”

'There has to be a better way' is the nugget of a business idea

Iman found Incredible Health by noticing that her doctor relatives complained of understaffing while Rome's nurse relatives took 2-3 months to land a job. The mismatch in a high-demand group's terrible job search experience signaled the opportunity.

“And so we looked into it, started doing the market research, started doing the customer research, and we realized what a big problem this is, how inefficient the entire process is. How is it that a group in such high demand has such a terrible job search experience? Why it takes them 2, 3 months to get their next job? And like, we're like, this doesn't make any sense. And then that's when we're like, okay, there has to be a better way.”

Steal thisWhen you catch yourself thinking 'there has to be a better way,' treat it as the seed of a business and dig into the root cause.

Language matters — from your company name to the copy in your app

Iman relays the NFX view (via James Currier) that language is load-bearing: the company name, the tiny copy in your app, your outbound emails — it's often the first interaction a customer has with you. They chose 'Incredible Health' because it's unique and sounds big.

“Where language matters. Everything from the name of your company down to like the tiny copy in your app, to your emails that you're sending out, language matters. It is often the first time users or customers, clients interact with you.”

Steal thisSweat the language everywhere — name, microcopy, emails — because it's usually the customer's first touchpoint.