Staying an Operator and Embracing Loneliness

Luba Greenwood and Ash Zenooz interview Jonathan Bush. Jonathan is the CEO of a16z-backed Zus Health, Executive Chairman of Firefly Health and a co-founder of Athena Health. They discuss how the real opportunity lies in using AI to tackle healthcare's mundane "shit work" - like automating administrative tasks and streamlining data entry - rather than pursuing moonshot goals like curing cancer. 

—

📰 Be notified early when Turpentine drops new publication: https://www.turpentine.co/exclusiveaccess  

🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse

—

SPONSOR:

 👩‍⚕️ Hot flashes, insomnia, brain fog? You don't have to accept these as just another part of aging. Midi Health is the virtual care clinic for women navigating midlife hormonal transition, offering FDA-approved medications, supplements and lifestyle coaching - all covered by insurance. Visit https://www.joinmidi.com/ to book your virtual visit today.

—

RECOMMENDED PODCAST:

Check out Modern Relationships, where Erik Torenberg interviews tech power couples and leading thinkers to explore how ambitious people actually make partnerships work. Founders Fund's Delian Asparouhov and researcher Nadia Asparouhova kick off the series with an unfiltered conversation about their relationship evolution.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1786227593 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5hJzs0gDg6lRT6r10mdpVg 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModernRelationshipsPod 

—

LINKS: 

Zus Health: https://zushealth.com/ 

Firefly Health: https://www.firefly.health/ 

Athena Health: https://www.athenahealth.com/ 

Subscribe to Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ 

—

FOLLOW:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanbushjr/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lubagreenwood/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashzenooz/

—

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EPISODE:

• Jonathan Bush cuts through the AI hype with characteristic candor. He argues that everyone's getting healthcare AI wrong: The industry is chasing moonshots when the real opportunity lies in automating the mundane administrative work plaguing the system.
• The problem is painfully basic: patients still write their name and birthday hundreds of times because health data remains trapped in silos. Jonathan sees platforms like Zus, which can consolidate patient records in minutes, as the unglamorous but essential future of healthcare tech.
• Following the digital health funding frenzy of 2021, Jonathan notes we're now in the "post-beach party" phase – companies are sobering up, focusing on gross margins, and accepting that those sky-high valuations weren't sustainable.
• Healthcare's obsession with "A students" is stifling innovation. The industry needs both methodical executors and risk-taking "C students" who aren't afraid to push boundaries and hear "no" repeatedly.
• To founders in the trenches, Jonathan offers sobering advice: get comfortable being "lonely and afraid for a very long time." Healthcare transformation isn't for the faint of heart – but for those willing to tackle unsexy problems, the opportunity remains massive.
• As healthcare tech enters its next phase, Jonathan’s pragmatic approach to innovation feels particularly timely. Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come not from chasing the next shiny object, but from solving the basic problems that have frustrated the industry for decades.