S4: #038: Unity Stoakes (Part 1) The Journey from Tech Startups to Startup Health
In this episode I speak with Unity Stoakes, co-founder and president of Startup Health. Unity has a great story and a great job. His mission is to improve the well-being of everyone in the world. You read that right. He is working to improve health not exclusively for his community, not for a few hundred million people not for people with a certain physical condition or income level. Nope,not Unity, he just wants to improve the well-being for everyone in the world. Just everyone. Just 7.4 billion people. I walked away from this conversation and realized the most exciting part of his journey, is that it still is just the beginning! He’s got 20 something years under his belt, and now he’s set out a 25 year vision…he’s still in the first half!
Unity and I spoke about his experiences that took him from Iowa to Boston and from New York to the Oval Office. He’s an innovator, a batteries-included change-maker, a health transformer, a successful entrepreneur and he is leading a charge to reshape our future. On this first part of the conversation, episode 38, Unity takes us through the experiences that shaped his views from childhood to his becoming a health tech innovator. He’s got some great stories in there including his journey racing to the White House. Then, in the second part of the conversation, episode 39, Unity shares with us the vision for the future. He also does (and I say this as a huge Stars Wars fan) he also delivers an incredible Yoda impersonation. You won’t want to miss that, tune in to episode 39 to be sure to hear that.
Today’s Topics:
- Unity’s early interest in and access to technology
- How his first jobs after finishing university gave him insights into the power of technology
- How he met Startup Health co-founder Steven Krein
- The success Unity and Steven had with a 1999 tech IPO
- The personal story that put Unity’s focus on health
- How the idea for ‘Startup Health’ was born
- Unity’s cross-town race to meet Obama, and how the political and economic climate affected their beginning
Links and Resources Mentioned:
- Articles on Forbes
- Startup Health on Medium
- Startup Health website
- YPO Young Presidents Organization
- Aneesh Chopra
- Todd Park
- Unity Stoakes on Twitter (@unitystoakes)
- Unity Stoakes on LinkedIn
- List of 200+ Startup Health companies
- Startup Health Festival
- Get started with the Moonshot Academy
- Dot Health
- Digital Health Events
- Join Digital Health Today
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