Join us on the MedCoShare Podcast as we delve into the intricacies of the healthcare industry with Shalin Shah, a seasoned professional boasting over two decades of experience in pharmaceuticals, biotech, and health insurance. With a rich background spanning roles in major health insurance firms, consulting for prestigious companies like Deloitte and Blue Fin Group, and spearheading commercial endeavors for small biotech firms, Shalin brings a wealth of insights to the table. As an avid investor with diverse portfolios in startup companies and real estate, Shalin's journey intersects with the founding ethos of MedCoShare, where he serves as the lead investor. In this episode, Shalin shares his unique perspective on healthcare investments, the evolving landscape of private practices, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the ever-changing healthcare sector. Tune in as we unravel the complexities of healthcare entrepreneurship and investment strategies with Shalin Shah.
Ronak 0:00
Shalin Shah has over 20 years working in the pharmaceutical, biotech and health insurance industries. He started his career working for a major health insurance company in the Risk Management Group. Afterwards, he became a management consultant working for different companies like Deloitte and Blue Fin Group, advising pharmaceutical and biotech companies of all sizes, large and small, and emerging in the areas of product commercialization. Most recently, Shalin has been working in house at small biotech companies developing novel treatments and oncology, and helping them build their commercial capabilities from the ground up. He's also an avid investor with a diverse portfolio of investments in startup companies and real estate, and the lead investor of MedCoShare's wefunder crowdfunding campaign. Shalin, welcome to the show. We're family, so I'm glad you're here. And you're also new father. So tell us a little bit about that and your background?
Shalin 0:51
Yeah, happy to be here. And thanks. You know, obviously, thanks for having me today. And yeah, as you mentioned, obviously, me and Ronak go way back, being first cousins, and, you know, a lot of stories that we could share, but we probably won't for, you know, purposes.
Ronak 1:06
That's another podcast.
Shalin 1:08
Probably well, for purposes of today, but now, you know, yeah, and definitely a new dad and very much enjoying that. You know, it's really been life changing In all aspects.
Ronak 1:25
How's the how's the lack of sleep?
Shalin 1:26
Yeah, you know, that comes with it, you know, and, you know you have your ups and downs, but, you know, have a great support system and, and wife at home. So, you know, we're, we're doing a pretty good job, I think and I'm just thankful for it all. So, yeah, its been great.
Ronak 1:32
You guys are doing a great job.
Shalin 1:49
Yeah. So a little bit about my background. You know, I went to school in Philadelphia, Drexel University. Upon graduating I, I went right into management consulting. And so I worked for, I started out working for a company called IMS Health, in one of their consulting practices. It was there where I really got my foundation in the pharmaceutical industry and learned how things worked. And really, that was like my launching pad. Because from there, I ended up getting into some really good roles at two other firms. And really went from being operational to strategic and, you know, spent the next five years at Deloitte and a small company called Blue Fin Group, where, you know, really, really did a lot of great work for manufacturers of all sizes, large, small, mid tier, emerging, you name it brought dozens of products and services to market. From there, I ended up getting into the biotech industry. And I worked. In 2018, I went to my first biotech company, which was working on a drug in breast cancer in the type of breast cancer that had had no innovation for decades, was able to, from the ground up, helped build the organization, launched the product successfully, and ultimately was acquired by a larger pharmaceutical company, spent some time there. And then, you know, now, I'm at another really small biotech company, also in the cancer space. And have helped sort of build that company as well, from the ground up, develop its commercial capabilities. And, you know, kind of continuing bringing products to market. So, yeah, it's been a great, it's been a great ride.
Ronak 3:53
That's amazing. And I know, with your previous company, you had a little bit of an exit there, that gave you some capital to invest. So can you talk a little bit about some of the companies you've invested in? Obviously, you were the lead investor for us in our crowdfunding campaign, and maybe you can talk about why you also ended up decided to invest in to MedCoShare.
Shalin 4:15
Yeah, so, you know, definitely got into the world of investing. I've always been, I've always loved the idea of investing, you know, from stock markets, etc, at a very young age. And then, you know, growing through your career, you know, you start to learn about all the opportunities that are out there and what you're able to get involved with, and I've been fortunate to kind of have had a fair amount of things come across my desk, so to speak, and have taken advantage of them. So, you know, I'm involved in a handful of different real estate deals, both residential and commercial. involved with some technology companies in the AI space. And then obviously also involved with MedCoShare, and a few other things. So, yeah.
Ronak 5:12
So what's the difference between investing in real estate and investing in healthcare?
Shalin 5:19
Yeah, so I mean, I think, you know, two very different, you know, while there are some similarities, I think they're very different, you know, for, for traditional real estate, you know, real estate is been tried and true sort of investment for decades and decades, and has worked out for a lot of people, I think, if you make the right moves in real estate, at least on the residential side, and even sometimes, on the commercial side, you know, the risk is not as high as it is with investing in early stage companies, or things like that.
Ronak 5:58
Yeah, I think, you know, with real estate, it's definitely more predictable. And because of that, there's a proven pathway to wealth. And usually it's, it's slower. But at least there is that path that people can, you know, can follow with healthcare, and you've seen it, some companies go bust rather quickly. Others take, you know, 15-20 years to really gain momentum. And that's just the way things are, you know, sometimes you're not necessarily trying to hit a jackpot. But you just really don't know what avenue, you know, you're going to be going down in terms of healthcare investments. So going back to MedCoShare, and why you invested, what excites you the most about, like MedCoShare and the current healthcare environment?
Shalin 6:47
Right. So I think, you know, with MedCoShare, I think it is a very unique concept, because the cost of doing business as a individual provider or a group, as an individual provider, is very high. On top of everything that you have to worry about with delivering patient, patient care, the administrative side of things, you also have to worry about the real estate side of things, right. And so I think, I think what sort of attracted me to this is that, you know, MedCoShare kind of solves a big piece of that, and really, lets providers focus on what they do best, which is taking care of patients, and things like that, and not having to worry about, you know, leases and long term arrangements or having to buy a building per se, right. And so I think with such a large population, and such big opportunity, with all the health care, and all of the things that happen in this country, I think the opportunity, even though hospitals are a major player in this and control a large part of the market, there's still such a big market to be captured for individual providers.
Ronak 8:07
So last night, you shared an article from the AMA, about why, you know, it's becoming harder and harder for practices to get started. And why there are more and more people gravitating towards just becoming a physician at a hospital or a large clinic. Do you see that trend continuing? And you know, one of the reasons why we started MedCoShare is also because we saw that trend, and we figure there has to be another outlet, right? There shouldn't be only you either you work for hospital or you invest, you know, half a million, a million dollars to go out on your own. But where do you see that trend going?
Shalin 8:51
Yep. And so I think for I think for a long time, there was sort of a upward trend of hospitals acquiring any type of practice they could get their hands on, and maybe, you know, to a certain extent that still exists today. At the same time, I feel like there's enough people and providers that are out there that still want to kind of remain on their own, you know, be entrepreneurs, and do their own thing without being tied, you know, to a hospital per se and just, you know, being another hospital employee. I think there's, you know, even if it's 40% of the population, that is still a very big number, when you think about a tam that is over a trillion dollars in terms of, you know, real estate, etc, in the healthcare space. So I think the opportunity is there. I think, especially with the you know, this next generation of physicians coming in, I think, you know, it's a little bit of a different mindset. So I think, I think that they're, you know, there's tremendous growth ahead.
Ronak 9:57
Yeah, no, I totally agree. What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs and investors?
Shalin 10:05
I would say a few things. One is people, people are the most important thing to any endeavor, essentially, right. And so one of the things I always look at, behind any business or opportunities, the people that are involved, and if you have strong people that are passionate, I think the likelihood of success goes all that much more up. And so people are very important. So I would say, as an entrepreneur, definitely surround yourself with great people. I think that really appeals to investors. The second thing, I would say to an entrepreneur, obviously, is, you know, there's no substitute for hard work. No endeavor is easy. No one becomes successful overnight. And so hard work is like, you know, that is like, at the core, and everyone, and their team should really understand that, you know, days, nights weekends, it never stuck for entrepreneurs, it really never stops. Right. And so that piece is that piece is very important. There on the third side, I mean, I would say, you know, you, and this is natural to entrepreneurship, but you know, taking risk is inherent in the business, right of being an entrepreneur. And I think there's going to be times where you have to take risks that are significant. And I would say, you know, the people that have been really successful are the ones that do take those risks. And so I think you have to have that appetite, to be able to take risks. So those are some of the things I would probably say, like I said, your team, very important, hard work, and being able to take risks.
Ronak 11:54
Yeah, and I would add one more to that, which is timing, you know, there's a lot of businesses that have those elements. But if the timing is off, it becomes a failure. And then vice versa. There's businesses that launch at the right time, where you might have, you know, two out of those three things that you mentioned, and it still does phenomenally well, because the market has to be ready for whatever product or service that you're launching. The other thing too, is like with healthcare, and you know, my background is commercial real estate, with healthcare, so just a different animal. So it's like, you know, there's a big difference between launching a tech company versus launching a healthcare company in here because things move, like just a slower pace. Our time horizon when we started MedCoShare was over 10 years because we know that adoption in healthcare isn't going to happen overnight. You know, we're going into year four, and we've set the foundation of being able to scale it to other markets. So I'm excited about that. And as a team, you know, we're aligned, that it's not going to happen just overnight. You know, we do see that it's going to take time, and we're prepared to be in that marathon. Shalin, this was a great conversation. Thank you so much for coming. It was really great having you here.
Shalin 13:23
Ya know, thanks for having me. And, you know, bes
