Episode 65
August 3, 2021

Rethinking Pharmacy

with Achal Patel, Co-Founder and CEO of Cabinet Health

About this episode

Achal Patel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cabinet Health, a sustainable health care brand on a mission to provide high quality and fairly priced medicines directly to your door. In this episode, Achal shares with us his entrepreneurial journey from growing up in a family of doctors, to working as a Sandwich Artist at Subway, to working and consulting at Deloitte, where he met his Co-Founder Russ, to launching and growing Cabinet to over 13 million dollars in revenue in just three years. He talks with us about the lessons he learned from meeting with over 300 investors, which led to raising 5.2 million dollars, and how the role as a Founder evolves into a CEO and how they differ.

This episode is sponsored by

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

  • What it was like for Achal to grow up in a family of doctors and health care professionals with roots both in India and in the US and how much he learned from being a part of such a family legacy
  • How his first jobs were scanning patient charts in order to convert them to digital and then working at Subway as a Sandwich Artist
  • What his work at Deloitte was like and why meeting his Co-Founder then created a strong partnership that led to the idea and creation of Cabinet
  • What convictions led to Achal and Russ deciding that they could bring about innovation in using sustainable options for packaging and why it is so important to them
  • Why batch level testing is so important and a vital part of how Cabinet ensures product quality and safety
  • How fundraising has gone and what valuable lessons he has learned along the way, which has led to wonderful financial partnerships
  • What great advice Achal has for hiring and maintaining a cohesive company culture, even involving various team members in the hiring process who can help keep the cultural fit clear with new hires
  • What routines and mindsets he operates in daily in order to keep himself balanced and work through the highs and lows of being a Co-Founder/CEO and building a company with a great impact
  • How he has grown from a Founder into a CEO and why he sees those roles as different with a different set of needs at a different time

To Find Out More:

CabinetHealth.com 

Quotes:

“My vantage point is, if you build a business, especially in the world of health care, that isn't prioritizing consumers' well-being, then that's directly oppositional to the purpose of being a business.”

“I think our physical health and the environment around us are inextricably linked. And yet in the world of health care, there are no sustainable options today.”

“It's exceptionally complex to innovate in this space. The supply chains are global. They're fragmented. Bringing more sustainable products to market requires regulatory expertise, requires buy-in from your entire supply chain.”

“Being able to call someone who actually believes in you as a person, and not just the business, has been fundamentally important to our well-being and our success over the last few years.”

“Reflect on why you are raising money before you go and raise capital.”

“If you sell a product, it makes money, really think twice about why you're raising and if there are ways that are not just focused on a more heavily equity driven route that could actually enable you to be more successful in the long run.”

“Your goal when you're fundraising is to gain momentum. And so really what you're looking for is not necessarily the check itself immediately, but the commitment that the investor will participate in the round.”

“Don't get too caught up in setting a valuation or in some of the caveats the investors give you. Focus on getting the dollar commitment and you'll find that the rest of those contingencies typically fall away as a round comes together.”

“Being a CEO... I fundamentally have three responsibilities. The first is setting a clear vision for our team and the strategy that goes with that. Secondly, making sure we actually have the right team in place, making sure that they're taken care of... And then third, making sure we don't run out of money or that we're making enough money to support that team.”

“Building this company is my opportunity to continue the legacy of my family in the world of medicine to help people live healthier, happier lives, fundamentally building a more sustainable health care company.”

“When you feel that you don't really care if you're going to hit barriers or failures otherwise and you're going to build that thing, I think that's when you found the correct why for yourself.”


Read the transcript

More Episodes

Episode 193

Turnarounds, Transformations, and Taking Charge

with Mary van Praag, Global CEO at Milani Cosmetics
Listen
Episode 192

Connection, Community and Conversation

with Julie Rice, Co-Founder and CEO of Peoplehood
Listen
Episode 191

Behind the Frames

with Nathan Kondamuri, Co-Founder and CEO of Pair Eyewear
Listen