“Understand the Difference Between Managing and Leading” The 5 Lessons I Learned Being a 20-Something Founder

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Lissy Hu, CEO and founder, CarePort Health

Jean: Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory” of how you became a founder?

Growing up, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare. My mother worked as a home health aide, so I had an insight into helping vulnerable patient populations at a young age. Understanding what caring for patients meant and the work that goes into it inspired me to pursue a pre-med and sociology degree at Columbia University. After graduation, I pursued a healthcare administrative fellows program at a hospital in the Bronx. This experience shined a light on a problematic area within our healthcare system — communication between acute and post-acute care. Patients I cared for would be discharged and sent to post-acute facilities like skilled nursing facilities. Once they were discharged, we had no idea how they were doing, where they went or even if they wound up back at a hospital. It was a total black hole.

I took what I learned in the Bronx and partnered with several classmates at Harvard to enter the idea of bridging acute and post-acute providers into the Harvard Business Plan competition. While preparing for the competition, we laid the groundwork for a company, developed use cases for the technology, interviewed potential users and started to adjust our platform based on product feedback. We won the competition and, shortly after, went on to join TechStars Boston, and then raised funding to launch a real company, known today as CarePort. CarePort connects hospitals, post-acute providers, payers, and ACOs for better collaboration around care transitions and patient care.

Jean: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Everyone’s voice matters no matter where they sit in the organization. All of us at CarePort have embraced that way of thinking. For example, when we were building out our new office earlier this year, there was an option of private offices for the senior leadership team. Instead, we chose an open office where everyone sits together. So, my door is always open (literally because I have no door).