Healthcare, AI, and Challenging the Status Quo w/ Daniel Yeboah of Revella Health
What do successful entrepreneurs have in common? They ask the questions no one else is asking. Today, I sit down with Daniel Yeboah—founder, problem-solver, and challenger of the status quo. From his first paper route to successfully exiting multiple startups, Daniel has always seen opportunities where others see roadblocks. Now, he’s tackling one of the toughest industries—healthcare—with AI-powered, real-time insights for providers. We cover so much in this episode. We break down the myths of building a business, the realities of fundraising, and why running lean is critical in a company’s early stages. There’s a ton in here to chew on, and anyone in the Startup space will take something practical and insightful away from his perspective.
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Episode Resources
Check out what Daniel and his co-founder are building at Ravella Health (https://www.revellahealth.com)
“Startup Success” by Gordon Daugherty (https://a.co/d/b50Xzn5)
Show Notes
Listen on
Summary
In this episode, Brandon Reed sits down with Daniel Yeboah, founder and CEO of Ravella Health, to explore his journey from a paper route to pioneering real-time AI-powered healthcare insights. Daniel’s story is grounded in deep industry experience—from nursing to pharma—and a relentless drive to find better ways of doing things. His background gives him a rare lens into the complexities of healthcare, and he brings a founder’s mindset rooted in problem-solving, humility, and clarity of vision.
Daniel shares the hard lessons of entrepreneurship, including the myth of “build it and they will come,” the reality of competing against deep-pocketed incumbents, and how to create an unfair advantage through rapid iteration and niche focus. He also opens up about the challenges and nuances of building truly AI-native products in a space that’s often flooded with buzzwords.
This episode is packed with insights on lean company building, customer discovery, and the tactical use of AI in care delivery. Whether you’re building in healthcare, AI, or just love stories of founders navigating complex systems, this one’s for you.
Takeaways
- The urge to improve systems is the entrepreneurial spark – Daniel’s early jobs revealed his instinct to challenge inefficiencies and imagine better solutions.
- “If you build it, they will come” is a myth – Distribution, storytelling, and customer engagement are more critical than product perfection.
- Big bets require conviction – Daniel left a pharma job right before COVID to pursue his vision, and it forced a pivotal business pivot that paid off.
- Ask who will pay for it early on – Founders often overlook the buyer vs. user distinction, especially in healthcare where incentives are complex.
- Healthcare innovation means long sales cycles – One champion called Daniel’s product “effing amazing” but said it wouldn’t get in the hospital for 24 months.
- Real-time data is Ravella’s edge – Unlike retrospective analysis, Ravella uses AI to interpret live patient-provider conversations and surface care gaps immediately.
- Ravella isn’t a GPT wrapper – They use custom LLMs trained on millions of medical records and avoid leading with “AI company” to steer clear of investor fatigue.
- Past startup exits taught lean execution – Daniel learned from firing large teams and now builds hyper-efficient companies powered by AI from the ground up.
- Know when to hire – He brings on team members only when reaching 80-90% personal capacity, ensuring smart delegation and resource use.
- Fundraising should be strategic, not reactive – Daniel views capital as fuel for inflection points, not the starting line, and encourages founders to build first.
Chapters
- [00:01] How Daniel’s entrepreneurial spirit started with a paper route
- A young Daniel lays out newspaper money on a kitchen table and decides he’ll be a businessman one day.
- [03:35] The false gospel of “build it and they will come”
- Daniel explains why distribution, storytelling, and customer access trump even the best product.
- [04:56] Leaving pharma and leaping into the unknown
- He reflects on quitting his job, the surprise of COVID, and how the pivot helped Ravella succeed.
- [07:31] Founders must ask: Who’s going to pay for this?
- In healthcare, buyers and users are different. Daniel breaks down the stakeholder map and sales complexity.
- [12:21] From nurse to founder: Building on a healthcare foundation
- Daniel shares how his diverse roles across clinical research, underwriting, and pharma equipped him to tackle big problems.
- [16:26] Going up against well-funded incumbents
- He talks about navigating a space dominated by giants by being niche, fast, and deeply focused.
- [18:29] Progress on Ravella’s key milestones for 2025
- Daniel shares a new partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama and progress toward $1M ARR.
- [21:27] Ravella’s real-time AI engine explained
- The platform transcribes patient conversations live and uses AI to surface critical care gaps instantly.
- [26:36] Avoiding the “GPT wrapper” trap
- Daniel shares how Ravella builds proprietary, defensible AI models that aren’t just cosmetic chat integrations.
- [30:41] Lessons from two previous exits
- How letting go of large teams taught him to rebuild lean and design better roles with clear value.
- [35:17] When and how to hire efficiently
- Daniel describes his 80–90% threshold rule and the discipline of resisting the urge to “just do it all.”
- [37:55] Fundraising is not the beginning
- He emphasizes that capital should only come after traction and be used to amplify validated progress.
- [40:51] What Daniel would do with $1,000 and a laptop
- He’d spend it all on Uber rides, visiting clinics, asking questions, and building what they need.
- [42:36] Book recommendation: Startup Success by Gordon Daughtry
- Daniel highlights a Capital Factory book that helped him map stages of funding and identify his next “aha” moment.
