Will Johnson

This wasn't the podcast I had planned with @anothercohen & @Will_Gyde. It was supposed to be about the business of health with a sprinkling of Austin. Instead it was all the love, frustrations, & on the ground realities of building a startup in Austin. Drops Wednesday.

Austin has historically imported talent. In the next decade, it is going to be developing it.

We're proud to officially welcome Gerrick Diaz and the Avid Health team to Gyde.

Staying power matters in careers just as it does for startups If in the right seat, better to stay there and compound then keep jumping around

Frederic Hanika joins Gyde as Head of M&A! Frederic built his career partnering with PE and VC-backed companies to design value creation plans and drive growth. At Gyde, he'll work on sourcing deals and bringing the best agency partners to the table. Happy to have you on board

I joined @SpencerSmithSF on the Self Funded podcast to provide an introduction to @GydeInc and what we bring to partners. The broker is an essential part of the value chain for consumers and employers, but is buried by administrative work that doesn't add value to clients. @GydeInc is building the infrastructure to power the most ambitious agency owners. More at the link below. youtube.com/watch?v=pZMmlY…

Brokers are the entry point to coverage decisions, but much of the work is still manual. @GydeInc is changing that by building an AI-powered platform that supports insurance brokers through a partner-centric approach, streamlining operations. Today, we’re proudly leading their $60M funding. This week on The Investment Memo, @BrentonFargnoli and Gyde Co-Founder & CEO @WillJohnson_15 discuss why brokerage is a fragmented market well-suited to an AI-driven roll-up, why Gyde is approaching it differently, and more below. 0:00 Welcome, Will Johnson! 2:33 Why Insurance Brokerage Is an Ideal AI Rollup Market 5:36 The Broker’s Role in the Healthcare System 7:42 Why the Brokerage Market Is Underinvested 10:44 Gyde's AI Rollup & Partner-and-Build Model 13:10 Why Gyde Isn’t a Pure Software Company 18:50 Founder Market Fit & Team Advantage 24:58 Gyde's Mission Beyond Insurance 29:33 Market Size, TAM & Competitive Landscape 33:44 Real AI Use Cases for Brokers & Consumers 41:14 What the $60M Funding Enables 42:17 Gyde's Long-Term Vision & North Star 43:54 Advice for Founders in the AI Era

Thanks to @niceryanlawler at @axios for covering the fundraise, and to our other investors for their partnership and support: Laura at @Optum_Ventures, @JHFCrystal at @cvpartners, @geoffwinegar at @MVP_Ventures, and @seanwdoolan at @virtue_vc. Axios Exclusive: axios.com/pro/fintech-de… Gyde Press Release: gydehealth.ai/resources/gyde…

I joined Lightspeed's Investment Memo with @BrentonFargnoli to discuss Gyde, the partnership model we're bringing to market, and why we're grateful to be partnering with him, Isaac Kim, and Amish Desai. youtube.com/watch?v=zqUx3P…

Today, we're announcing the launch of @GydeInc with $60M in funding, led by @lightspeedvp. Brokers are the most important—and most underserved—player across America's insurance, healthcare, and financial services ecosystem. They're the trusted entry point to these essential products and services. And with the right infrastructure, they can become comprehensive lifelong guides for their clients. That infrastructure hasn't existed. And this is why we built Gyde.

Talk to anyone in PE who has done rollups and they’ll all tell you the same thing The majority of services businesses require strong human to human relationships When most rollups fail they’ve failed because of churn If the VC rollups aren’t focusing a lot of their AI products on how to improve that customer relationship and are only focused on less headcount for service delivery and AI driven growth they’ll be doomed Home service companies, MSPs, vacation rental management…history shows us the mistakes that have been written

just do it

@gilbert @AcquiredFM Unequivocally.

I just re-listened to the LVMH @AcquiredFM episode. Had to refresh my memory on a few things. It is indeed our best work. acquired.fm/episodes/lvmh

New year, new you

Something special is happening in Austin. The next education boom will be here. If you are young, hungry and want the ability to think critically not bend to woke political correctness... Austin is going to be the future. Here's why... I just had breakfast with Ryan Streeter heading up what may become the next Hoover Institute at University of Texas. We have another friend @jtlonsdale building UATX a truly free thinking university w/ some of the greatest contrarian minds of our generation. We have @evanbaehr heading Arena Hall a great minds social club. We have @aei making a big push into the ATX ecosystem. We've had every major political candidate come through to fundraise and speak this election cycle. We have many of the greatest contrarian media minds from Joe Rogan, Tim Ferriss, Lex Fridman here. Contrary to all the news in the world, I see a future that is bright and full of possibility... IF we work towards it. Long Texas.

+Oscar is excited to announce a multi-year agreement with Sanford Health Plan, a provider-sponsored health plan for Sanford Health. Under the agreement, Sanford Health Plan will leverage Campaign Builder, +Oscar’s Engagement and Automation platform, to engage their nearly 200k members, improve clinical outcomes, and grow and retain their membership. hioscar.com/blog/sanford-h…

@cojo0918 @PGA @OmniBartonCreek Proud employee

Someone needs to let #DirectTV know that the @PGA Professional Championship is being played at @OmniBartonCreek in Austin Tx., not in Thailand 😬🤣 🏌🏼

21 thoughts from 2021 I'd like to take into 2022:

guys, I've made a discovery

Whenever I'm with healthcare agencies and physician groups in, say, South Florida, it occurs to me that some of the most impressive entrepreneurship in the country is completely off the radar screen of Silicon Valley