Heroes in Business - Dan Cane Founder of Modernizing Medicine is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

Dan Cane Founder of Modernizing Medicine is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes radio show amfm. Cane discusses inspiration and the drive to revolutionize not one but two industries Education and Healthcare.

welcome back to alliances heroes where heroes in business aligned to be part of our super community and find out more about alliances visit www.allianz.com now back to our super host David Kogan founder of alliances well they call me the super host David Kogan, founder of Alliances. Well, they call me the super host, David Kogan, because I'm bouncing off the wall with the amount of energy that's going on in the studio. And the heroes that we have, these are today's heroes. They're doing incredible things. I mean, we just had the president of ChildHelp working to help with children who have been abused. We had the co-founder of Eventbrite. I mean, everybody in the world knows Eventbrite.

We just had the president of the UPS store, right? 4,500 franchise locations. Imagine trying to manage all those. Well, our next hero that unfortunately is going to end the show today, but you are going to be bouncing off the wall. If you're listening in your car, you're going to be bouncing off your car wherever you're at. So make sure you try and stay as calm as you can because he, listen to this, he was the founder of Blackboard. He sold his company for $1.6 billion. That's with a B. I mean, can you just imagine that?

And it may not be the most recognized name, but when you hear him, it's Dan Cain. And he's made such an impact in fact before we talk about his current project as the co-founder of blackboard that's a learning management system and this was at the forefront of educational technology as I mentioned he sold the company for 1.6 billion Dan Cain Dan I gotta ask you I want to know exactly what it was like when the paperwork was complete on that sale and exactly what was going through your mind. Well, David, it was, you know, to be honest, it's anticlimactic. It's very bittersweet.

You know, you've sold your company, but it was your baby. And I think most entrepreneurs, though not all, but most, really like to create something out of nothing. I mean, they like to, through sheer force of willpower and charisma and just grit, they like to assemble all the parts and create a product and create a company and then sell things and grow and hire and change, you know, in this case, millions and almost hundreds of millions of lives. The students all over the world use Blackboard software. And so the impact we made was wonderful. But when we made the decision to exit the company, and then like you said, when the paperwork was

dry, I would say it was actually more bittersweet that that particular chapter in my life was over, and I was going to be embarking on something new. I mean, incredible. But I tell you, yeah, people sell their companies, but not every day does someone sell their company for $1.6 billion. I mean, that's a lot of zeros. It's more than I can count. It's a lot of zeros. You know what's funny? As a first-time entrepreneur when I had co-founded Blackboard,

we really didn't understand or fully appreciate just the power of dilution and the fact that we had raised well over $100 million of venture along the way. And each time we raised capital, we were giving away more and more equity. So I certainly wouldn't want you and your listeners to think that I was running around with a crazy bankroll on the books. There's a lot of investors that also made quite a bit of money. And something we did, which I feel really good about, is we really were equitable in giving away the company to the employees. And so, you know, there are a lot of Blackboard millionaires out there running around who have themselves started other companies, and they're really continuing to carry that flag, carry that torch of creating change, using technology to really transform the way that

we live. And that feels wonderful. And for those that may not know, just share briefly what Blackboard Inc. does and why you built it, too. Sure. So I helped found Blackboard when I was still an undergraduate at college. I went to a small school in upstate New York called Cornell. And while I was there, the Internet was just really being born. The device that became known as the browser had just been invented. And we saw an opportunity as a bunch of students to change the only industry we knew,

which was education. It was the only industry we had been really immersed in. And so we knew something about that as compared to what I'm doing now with health care, which frankly I knew nothing about before I jumped into it with both feet. But the process was actually really quite simple. And the more naive you are about starting some companies, I think the better off you are. Because if you knew that much you know now, you may not have made the same decisions and gone into it quite as blindly. But we started an e-learning company that took all the course materials, all the online tests, all the online grades, your group projects and discussions, basically everything that involves around your activity that would be around taking your courses in college.

And we brought it to the Internet. And that really gave birth to distance education using modern technology. There was distance education using satellite and radio and television before that, but we really modernized it and made it much more interactive. And that led to a whole slate of technologies that helped really transform the entire e-learning paradigm. And there are literally hundreds of companies now that have been born because of the work that Blackboard and others did to transform education. Incredible. And we have Dan Cain. Okay. You could reach him, by the way, at modmed.com, M-O-D-M-E-D.com. Or you can go to alliances.com, the place where

entrepreneurs align, E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. Because you're listening to Alliance's heroes. Again, E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. In fact, Dan, let's talk about it. It doesn't end. Once you're done with Blackboard, well, you're on to the next thing. In fact, you start modernizing medicine. ModMed.com. Okay, so incredible. You go from one super success, you're on to the next. What's the goal of modernizing medicine? Well, David, it's right there in our name.

I mean, we are trying to take something which is, in this case, the largest industry in this entire country, healthcare. About one-fifth of this entire country's GDP is spent in the healthcare industry. So you're talking about an industry that's even bigger than defense. So after kind of looking at education and leaving an indelible mark on that, I wanted to take my skills and try to fix what I saw was the most broken thing in this entire country, which was healthcare. And it's not broken because we don't have fantastic doctors who are the best trained in the world. We absolutely have that. But the rest of the

system around them is broken. And the technologies that had been created were actually doing the opposite of their intention. They were slowing the physicians down. So we wanted to do two things. One, create software which actually sped up physicians, gave them back their most precious resource, which was their time. And we did it by using modern technology, by using the cloud, which five years ago was really brand new and is now very common. But back then, there were very few, and to this day there are very few healthcare cloud technologies out there.

And the iPad, which really did transform interactivity. Instead of having doctors type, if you've ever seen a doctor's handwriting, you know they can't write. Just imagine how slow they are at typing. We brought it to a touch-based technology on a tablet that had all-day battery life and a cellular backup in case their Wi-Fi in their office went down. And so we overcame a number of the obstacles in healthcare to drive tremendous efficiencies and save our doctors a minute or two per patient. And most of the specialists we serve are seeing 50, 60, 70 patients a day. So the ROI can be

measured in hours. The other thing that modernizing medicine is doing is using data to improve outcomes. So we have, because we're in the cloud, access to almost 100 million patient lives. And looking at that data on a de-identified basis, in other words, we scrub out anything that's identifiable, we can show all of the doctors collectively what works and what doesn't, or what their peers are using to treat patients that are similar to the one that they're presented with. And so we're doing all this with the intention of using data to really bend the cost curve down and improve outcomes. I mean, incredible. What an incredible feat. I mean, I couldn't even imagine doing it within the education world, and you revolutionized that. You're now going to be doing it within health care, which just seems like, I mean, the mountain's so high.

In fact, too, you've won a number of awards, including the EY Entrepreneur of the Year. You've changed one major industry. Clearly, you're doing it on the next one. What life lessons can you share with children that want to be able to change the world like you have? And again, we've got a little less than a minute here, but to change the world, because that's what you're doing. Dan, you're leaving your mark. Well, that's what you're doing. Dan, you're leaving your mark. Well, that's it. I mean, the one lesson would be that you only get one shot through this life, and your goal should be to leave the world a little bit better than when you found it,

and that if you were blessed with gifts, and whether those gifts are technological or an ability to sell or an ability to even just support or market or whatever your gifts are, that you can choose to use it to either make personal wealth, which may be fulfilling for you, or you can use it to improve the world around you, which can not only be something that lets you feel good about yourself and good about your life, but you can also do well by doing good. And so all of my companies have a very philanthropic bend. And as you've heard with the exit of Blackboard, it can help you financially as well. But that's really the side effect of you doing really your calling in life,

which is trying to make this world a really place. Incredible. You can reach Dan Cain. Remember, he was the founder and sold Blackboard for $1.6 billion, revolutionizing the education. Now he's doing it within health care. Has 500 employees working for ModMed.com modernizing medicine and i gotta tell you anyone who can revolutionize not one now but two industries that are so vital to society and give back through mentorship for fellow entrepreneurs dan kane you're our hero thank you for what you've done continue to do it this is david cogan with alliances the place where

entrepreneurs line and thank you to the producer loopyydocs.com, for all your editing needs. David Kogan, Alliances. You have been listening to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. Alliances is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders, celebrities, and startups. To present your superpower, visit www.alliances.com. To unmask Alliances Heroes' secret identities, be sure to tune in every Thursday at 9 a.m. right here on Money Radio 1510 and 99.3 FM.