Kenny Schiff is the Director of Analytics at Lone Star Communications, a Texas-based healthcare solutions company specializing in developing emergency response systems, automated patient tracking systems, and other life safety solutions. He founded CareSight in 2016, an analytics-as-a-service platform designed to enhance hospital operations through advanced data analysis. Lone Star uses CareSight’s analytics to securely extract data from multiple device types into a unified environment to correlate, analyze, and report across a wide variety of systems.
With over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Kenny has developed a deep understanding of the sector’s challenges and opportunities, navigating significant industry shifts. He is recognized for his work with notable organizations like Rauland-Borg, Vocera Communications, Ascom, and Connexall.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Kenny Schiff talks about growing up in a family of entrepreneurs
- How Kenny gained the confidence to start his own business
- The gap between technology and its application
- The risks of relying on technology in healthcare without proper support
- What was it like for Kenny to start a company just before the 2007 global economic recession?
- How joining the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) helped Kenny
- Obamacare’s impact on the healthcare industry
- Why Kenny started his company CareSight and how he funded and grew it
- Kenny shares how he and his team handled the pandemic
- How Kenny found the right strategic partner
In this episode…
Can a tech-driven healthcare business not only survive but thrive during a global pandemic? What does it take to navigate the complex and rapidly changing landscape of healthcare technology, particularly when faced with unprecedented challenges?
In light of recent events, the ability to swiftly adapt and form strategic partnerships is crucial for the success of healthcare technology entrepreneurs, according to Kenny Schiff, a seasoned expert in the field. Kenny stresses the importance of bridging the gap between innovative technological solutions and practical, customer-centric services, particularly during times of crisis. By doing so, healthcare entrepreneurs can effectively meet the needs of patients and healthcare providers alike.
In this episode of the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, John Corcoran is joined by Kenny Schiff, Director of Analytics at Lone Star Communications and Founder of CareSight, to discuss scaling a tech-driven healthcare business. They explore Kenny’s journey of navigating industry changes and running a company during significant industry shifts like Obamacare and the pandemic.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
- John Corcoran on LinkedIn
- Smart Business Revolution Podcast
- Rise25
- Kenny Schiff: LinkedIn | Email
- CareSight
- Lone Star Communications
- CarePoints Podcast
- “Marc Randolph | From Co-Founder and First CEO of Netflix to Selling to Google for $2.6 Billion” on the Smart Business Revolution Podcast
- “Paul Orfalea | Founder of Kinko’s Shares Secrets of Going From a 100-Square Foot Shop to 1,000 Locations and $2 Billion in Revenues” on the Smart Business Revolution Podcast
- “Mike Evans | Shifts in Consumer Behavior and Strategies To Mitigate Competition” on the Smart Business Revolution Podcast
- “002: Doug Lebda of LendingTree.com | How to Build and Re-Build a Remarkable Online Business” on the Smart Business Revolution Podcast
- TPC Systems
- Stryker
- Epic
- Oracle Cerner
- Baxter
- CareSight
- Renee Sivinski on LinkedIn
- Eileen Sullivan on LinkedIn
- Sara Hefti on LinkedIn
- Wojtek Wroblewski on LinkedIn
- Joanie Rosenbaum on LinkedIn
- Rauland
- Ray Bailey on LinkedIn
- Jeff Richard on LinkedIn
- Maureen Pajerski on LinkedIn
- Justin Bailey on LinkedIn
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Episode Transcript
Intro 0:03
Welcome to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast where we feature top founders and entrepreneurs and their journey. Now let’s get started with the show.
John Corcoran 0:13
Alright, welcome everyone. John Corcoran here, I am the host of this show. And you know, every week I talk to interesting CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs from all kinds of companies, we’ve had Netflix we’ve had Kinkos, we’ve had GrubHub, we’ve had LendingTree, all kinds of interesting companies, check out our archives, and you can hear some of those episodes. And of course, this company brought to this episode brought to you by Rise25, my company where we specialize in crafting custom podcasts and content marketing strategies for b2b businesses with a high client lifetime value, you can go to our website at rise25.com, and learn all about what we do in our brand new platform, podcast copilot, which we’re really excited about. All right, so Kenny, so excited to have you here today. You are now your title is the Director of Analytics for Lone Star Communications, which is a Texas based healthcare solutions company that provides technology and services for hospitals you spent 25 years or so in the healthcare space in your company care site was founded in 2016. It’s an analytics as a service platform, we’ll talk all about what that is. And of course, your story about finding the right acquisition partner, and running that company during COVID and Obamacare and all these different challenges that you’ve had over the years. And I want to put a plug in for your new podcast, which may be live by the time we publish this episode CarePoints Podcast is the name of it. And you are based in Naples, Florida. But first, I’d love to tell people to start people off Kenny by getting to know you a little bit better. And hearing a little bit about what little Kenny was like back when you’re a kid. And you came from a family of entrepreneurs. Your father was an engineer, you had a grandfather was an entrepreneur. Let’s start with Grandpa, what a grandpa do that was entrepreneurial. I’d love to hear that.
Kenny Schiff 2:20
So my grandfather became a habit dasher in Europe, before World War Two. And he was a refugee and my mother and my grandmother eventually traveled to the United States after the war started. And he had to figure out whatever he needed to do in order to have a livelihood for his family. So he was a diamond cutter. He did wholesale trade for all kinds of things. And then he eventually became a diamond dealer in the New York City area. And he also along the way, had all kinds of side hustles. But that’s what entrepreneurs do. So he was somebody who understood how to create with what was in front of him, and he was a very resourceful guy.
John Corcoran 3:11
Were you conscious of learning any lessons around that as a kid? Or is it now looking back, having been an entrepreneur, that you realize that you picked up some of that?
Kenny Schiff 3:23
I would say what I picked up more than anything else is that this was not a family of corporate people. So one’s livelihood was dependent on one’s own efforts and one’s own ability to take things and make something out of nothing. So whether it be my grandfather, coming to this country with basically no money in his pocket, and trying to figure out a way to earn a living and have a good life for his family, and eventually, my father, working as a pharmacist, to create a good life for his his family. Nobody did anything for them. And if anything I retained it was that sort of self determination and that ability to deal with what was in front of them and do something with it.
John Corcoran 4:13
And I believe you said your father was also an entrepreneur, did he run or or acquire or start his own pharmacy?
Kenny Schiff 4:21
Yeah, he, he owned your chemists on the east side in New York City. And as a young kid, that I experienced that so I understood what that was like for somebody to have to go in on a Saturday morning or respond to a situation and even though it took me a long time to eventually sort of own up to my own entrepreneur, this I always understood and felt that and it was kind of part of a core understanding of what people do.
John Corcoran 4:54
Hmm. And do you recall any sometimes this happens where the next generation of entrepreneurs run the opposite direction, what you did for many years you worked in the corporate world didn’t start a company for a while. Did the experience of seeing your father having to go in on Saturday mornings? You know, do you recall it it? Did it lead you to not want to own your own company for a period of time.
Kenny Schiff 5:21
Um, I don’t think it necessarily had any impact on it. For me, I didn’t understand my own power and my own ability to do something from a livelihood standpoint. I guess it was nascent, it was wait waiting there in the background. But no, I definitely didn’t run in the other direction. I don’t know that I ran in any particular direction. But I think a lot of that is a reflection of the time and place and, and I think, you know, I came of age in the 1970s in New York City. And I wasn’t around people that were creators from a finance, certainly from an entrepreneurial standpoint. And then it took some time for me to kind of climb into that.
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