Dr. Ryan Grant on Rebuilding Healthcare: Building Vori Health, Startup Teams, and Entrepreneurial Mindset

In this episode of the Underdog Physician Podcast, host interviews Dr. Ryan Grant, a neurosurgeon, healthcare executive, educator, and serial entrepreneur behind venture-backed startups including Vori Health and Nomad Health. Dr. Grant shares early inspirations for medicine and entrepreneurship, emphasizing a mindset of courage, adaptability, learning from failure, and a “healthy disrespect for the status quo.” He encourages people stuck in analysis paralysis to start, confront fear and discomfort, and avoid future regret. Dr. Grant explains the inception of Vori Health as a 50-state medical practice addressing widespread non–evidence-based musculoskeletal care and high rates of inappropriate spine surgery, arguing that surgeons are often the wrong first specialists for conservative management. Vori’s model employs non-operative specialists (PM&R/sports medicine), physical therapists, and coaches, with physician and PT conducting history and exam together, combining medical and functional diagnoses and using a biopsychosocial approach that prioritizes what matters to patients. The conversation covers team-building principles focused on self-awareness, hiring people who complement founders’ weaknesses, prioritizing culture, and interviewing for collaborative traits. Dr. Grant discusses venture funding as a function of desired scale, advises seeking “smart money,” and stresses that founders must always be selling their vision to investors, talent, customers, and patients through clear storytelling and a concise pitch refined through feedback. He also describes how a CEO’s role shifts from doing everything to delegating, managing metrics, confronting brutal facts, and ensuring the company builds what customers want. Dr. Grant closes with a legacy goal of using what he’s learned to help others, improve healthcare, and remain both a teacher and student.

00:00 Meet Dr. Ryan Grant: Neurosurgeon, Executive & Serial Entrepreneur

00:52 Why Medicine? Early Curiosity, Service & the Pull Toward Neurosurgery

01:47 First Businesses & the Entrepreneurial Mindset

04:20 Beating Analysis Paralysis: Books, Fear, and ‘Just Start’

06:21 Why Worry Health Exists: Fixing Broken MSK Care & Inappropriate Spine Surgery

08:55 The New Care Model: Right First Specialist + Integrated PT/Physician Team

11:25 Patient-First MSK Care: What Matters to the Patient, Not Just the Diagnosis

14:17 Building a Startup Team: Self-Awareness, Hiring for Culture, Avoiding Ego Traps

18:13 Venture Funding & Networking: Always Be Selling + Choosing the Right Investors

23:25 Founder-to-CEO Evolution: Delegation, Metrics, Feedback & Product-Market Fit

26:09 Legacy & Closing: Teaching, Learning, and Leaving Healthcare Better