Simplify Inc.

Ryan Hungate was practicing as an orthodontist when he realized a fundamental problem: every day he'd walk into patient exam rooms with no clue who the patient was, what their history looked like, or what they needed. Meanwhile, Zach Hungate was thriving in tech M&A and investment banking, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The two knew each other and began discussing a side project—what if they could build technology that gave doctors instant access to patient information and enabled secure communication? They were talking about voice interfaces and wearables "way before the Amazon Echo existed."

The real turning point came when they decided to apply to Angelpad, one of the top startup incubators. Over 10,000 companies applied; they were one of 12 accepted. That validation was the signal they needed. In September 2015, both founders quit their jobs—Ryan gave up a $500K+ doctor's salary, and Zach walked away from a position paying between $100K-$500K in tech M&A. Angelpad invested $50K for roughly 5-7% equity. They moved to New York and started building. The platform launched on Apple Watch first—they were among the first companies to go "wearable first"—then expanded to phone and desktop. The core offering was simple: a SaaS chat and workflow application that integrates with practice management systems and provides 256-bit AES encryption (the standard for HIPAA compliance, versus Gmail's 128-bit encryption). This wasn't just a nice-to-have; violating HIPAA standards meant $50,000 per breach incident.

They positioned their software as solving a real pain point: doctors were texting patient information over email and SMS, exposing themselves to massive HIPAA liability. Simplify could outfit an entire practice with Apple Watches and provide secure, compliant communication. Early on, they took the high-touch route—sending team members on-site to train doctors and staff. As they scaled, they moved to virtual training via Skype. Their pricing was intentionally simple: $199/month per location for small practices, scaling up for larger operations.

The HIPAA compliance angle worked as both a feature and a fear sale. Doctors knew instinctively they were breaking rules by texting patient data; Simplify gave them peace of mind. The 98% annual retention rate proved the product stuck. They also benefited from strong investor backing—raising from First Round Capital, SoftTech Ventures, and Felicis Ventures gave them credibility. The founding team's pedigree (an ex-Apple retail strategist and an M&A veteran) helped them navigate both the healthcare and business worlds.

By the time of this interview, they'd grown to over 1,000 healthcare provider offices and a team of 13 based in New York. Total capital raised was approximately $3.5M. At 1,000 customers paying an average of $150-$200/month (though they wouldn't confirm exact current MRR on camera), they were generating meaningful revenue. Their expansion strategy included selling higher-tier features: advanced integrations with practice management software, data analytics, and the HIPAA-compliant chat. The ambition was clear: they wanted to be "in every single doctor's office." As Zach put it, once you do the math on a $500K salary versus the potential upside of a business that could reach hundreds of millions of doctors, the choice becomes obvious—keep your head down and execute.