S7E2: Kelsey Mellard is Easing Access to Specialists in Health, Tech, Policy, and Product with Her Company, Sitka

Season 7 continues with another incredible episode as we chat with Kelsey Mellard, co-founder and CEO of Sitka. Sitka is an online network of experts in medicine, technology, policy, and product with the goal of making access to specialists more available for all people.

Kelsey talks to us about her initial career in healthcare, both public and private, and what that taught her before she began her journey of founding Sitka. Kelsey also details her experience of raising a baby and a company at the same time and how her investors felt when she broke the news.

The themes of this episode include; problems in the healthcare system and how Sitka is making a difference, the complexities of being a new mom while founding a company, and lessons learned in developing a core product and go-to-market strategies.

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5:04 - How did beginning in the public sector help form Kelsey’s view of the world?
6:35 - What has Kelsey learned about the complexities of the healthcare system?
8:27 - How did Kelsey’s career drive her to start Sitka?
11:00 - Did Kelsey ever think she was going to become a founder?
12:16 - What problem did Kesley identify that encouraged her to create Sitka?
13:27 - What were some of the early days like in founding Sitka?
15:00 - What product did Sitka take to market?
16:42 - What lessons did Kelsey learn during the creation and evolution of Sitka’s core product?
18:36 - What was Kelsey’s fundraising journey like?
23:45 - What did Kelsey learn when developing her go-to-market strategy?
27:24 - What does Kelsey think will become the status quo five years from today that perhaps right now maybe would sound very unlikely?
30:47 - What did Kelsey’s investors say when she told them that she was having a baby while running the company?
36:49 - What is something that Kelsey is excited about moving forward?
38:10 - What should users and potential Sitka users be looking forward to?
39:17 - Who is a woman in Kelsey’s life that has had a profound impact on her and her career?

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