Hello and welcome to the 129th edition of Fresh Salmon. 

Today’s newsletter is going to be a bit different, as I’m giving you a sneak peek behind the business I’ve decided to build.

Moving From Germany to The US

A little background first: I moved from Germany to the US over a decade ago to help launch a Telederm startup founded in Berlin. 

Along with the founder, I moved to New York (in 2014-2015) to establish the company here, marking my entry into health tech. 

The company was a Telemedicine app operating on a B2B2C model, and we faced significant challenges early on, particularly with telemedicine being a new concept in Europe back in 2013-2014. 

We got sued in the EU since online diagnosis wasn’t allowed back then. Legal hurdles in Europe prompted us to relocate to the more mature US market and focus on building the telemedicine business for dermatology here in New York.

After a couple of very difficult years in the US, the company thrived. We raised multiple rounds of funding and, three years ago, it was acquired by a major EHR company in the US. 

I spent the first five years in the US growing that company, taking the team from just the founder and me to over 50 people.

Since then, my journey in health tech has been diverse. I’ve worked across various areas including patient engagement, chronic care management software, front desk solutions, telemedicine marketplaces, addiction medicine, home care managed services, and healthcare BPO. 

I’ve sold to providers, medical groups, health plans, health systems, and hospitals, covering the full spectrum of health tech and healthcare B2B businesses.

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Taking a Break From Healthcare

In 2019, I took a break from health tech to join an enterprise software B2B company that operated globally.

This company, initially in its pre-seed stage, grew significantly during my tenure. I helped take it from pre-seed to Series A, raising $17 million, and was instrumental in creating a new subcategory and leading a major rebrand to rename the company and its product offering.

By the time I left, we were recognized by Gartner and listed in a couple of reports.

Why I’m Building a Media Company?

My extensive experience in health tech and my time in enterprise software have been invaluable. For the past few years, I’ve been working as a fractional CMO and consultant. 

While I love this work, it’s challenging to scale. Consulting often means working inside the business rather than on it, making it difficult to achieve sustainable growth.

Additionally, having two young children has made me realize the importance of building a scalable business model that allows me to control my entrepreneurial journey.

As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, the traditional B2B funnel of awareness, consideration, and action has evolved into attention, trust, and customer. 

In today’s world, getting attention has become the most valuable currency—but it’s also incredibly challenging. Sales teams are stuck in a loop of calls and emails, while buyers often ignore or delete these attempts. 

On the inbound side, AI-generated content is flooding the market, making it harder for anything to stand out. This noise means buyers are increasingly tuning out.

The modern go-to-market (GTM) landscape is in turmoil. Channels are saturating, attention is scarce, customer acquisition costs (CAC) are rising, advertising expenses are climbing, competition is intensifying, and economic pressures are mounting. Buyer behaviors have also shifted significantly. 

All of these factors had me thinking about how to create a more productized solution to these problems.

Naturally, I gravitated towards the intersection of tech, marketing, and healthcare. So, I’ve decided to build a healthcare-focused media company to connect buyers and sellers seamlessly. 

My mission is to reduce the friction between buyers and sellers by creating a new marketing channel for B2B healthcare brands.

While I’m still iterating on the exact product offerings, I envision a range of productized services and solutions that will take shape over time.

This venture is a J-curve business, requiring initial investment, and I’m currently opting not to take VC funding. I want to build a sustainable business that aligns with my vision. Therefore, my strategy is to use storytelling, relationships, and media to generate revenue in the beginning.

To set things in motion, I launched my podcast, The Uprising Show, in early July. After recording episodes throughout June, I released the first 7 episodes under the TopHealth brand. You can find more about this initiative at tophealth.care. Since launching, I’ve recorded additional episodes that will be released soon.

I’ve also launched our YouTube channel, which hosts the podcast. Growing our YouTube presence is crucial for business expansion. 

Since the July launch, I’ve nearly reached 700 subscribers and crossed 10,000 views on our videos and shorts.

Each podcast episode is broken into 8-10 clips for social media promotion, maximizing our reach and engagement.

I’m pleased with the progress so far. In just a few weeks, we’ve garnered 10,000 views on YouTube. 

While I continue to juggle fractional consulting work to pay the bills, my primary focus is on building this business. I’m excited about the future and will keep you updated on our journey.

Thank you for your continued support. Stay tuned for more updates as I build this new venture together.

Interesting Thing That I Read This Week

Harry built a media brand that led to creation of a VC fund, he is a legend!

Tweet That I Noticed This Week

Speaking of legends, here is another one: Dave Gerhardt.

What Do You Think?

This concludes this edition of Fresh Salmon.

I would like to hear what you thought of today's newsletter.

Also, let’s connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, or TikTok.

Cheers,

Vivek

PS. Do what is good for your soul ❤️