Jeff Novich On What Made His Start-up Fail At Launch - The Venture Capital Coroner's Report

As a serial entrepreneur Jeff Novich could spot a problem that meant opportunity. His Dad had one of those problems in his medical practice. Doctors' offices were drowning in paper and inefficient communication. Jeff and his dad saw an opportunity to disrupt how medical offices operate and at the same time improve patient care and satisfaction. It was a massive home run for Jeff's dad. But in less than a year Jeff walked away in frustration. Listen to this episode to find out who made him fail fast.

My Guest
Jeff Novich describes himself as a "product manager who codes." He's worked on a variety of digital products including VocabSushi.com, FareShare, GroundLink and Grocket. He's applied his product expertise to educational technology, early ride sharing apps, medical communications and his current role is with ClassPass.com in the fitness space. He's also has the unique experience of having been through not one, but two, accelerator programs.

Jeff's credentials have that entrepreneurial quirkiness that lead to success. He started out with a degree in Physics and Computer Science from Johns Hopkins and then moved to the softer side of academics and got a Masters in Broadcast Journalism. For fun and relaxation, he's a regular hackathon participant.
The Take Home Lessons
Jeff and I had a wide-ranging conversation about product market fit and product market timing (the distinction is a key lesson), incubators and co-founders. Jeff's a classic product guy who learned a lot about the difference between a great product and a great company. Fortunately, he was able to fail fast and learn some valuable lessons.

He also shares candidly about what worked and didn't work in his two different Tech Stars accelerator experiences. Finally, the need for and value of a co-founder was crystal clear to Jeff and he shares his perspective on why the relationship worked so well at Patient Communicator.
Resources & Links

JeffNovich.com
Jeff on Twitter - @JeffNovich
Jeff on LinkedIn

Subscribe With Your Favorite App

Share With Entrepreneurial Colleagues & Friends

Connect With Me

Why a Venture Capital Podcast About Failure?
From early childhood you've always heard the saying "Learn from your mistakes." In the venture capital industry you frequently hear "Fail fast" to learn and get to the right idea. Great advice. So, for this venture capital podcast I interview venture capital backed entrepreneurs about what they learned when their start-up didn't go as planned. I hope you can learn from their valuable experience.

The post Fail Fast! Jeff Novich On What Made His Start-up Fail At Launch appeared first on Venture Capital Coroner's Report.