2021 Startups to Watch: SureShow turns no shows into cash flow amid virtual healthcare boon
January 13, 2021 | Austin Barnes
Editor’s note: Startland News selected 10 Kansas City firms to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. The following is one of 2021’s companies. Click here to view the full, ranked list of Startups to Watch — presented by sponsors Husch Blackwell and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The stage is set, Dr. Shelley Cooper said, recalling ways 2020-prescribed pivots have positioned SureShow for a New Year bow that promises to be most momentous.
Elevator pitch: Twenty-five percent of medical appointments end in no shows or late cancellations. SureShow helps patients see their doctors more often and reclaims revenue for doctors by replacing no-shows with revenue-generating telehealth visits.
• Founders: Dr. Shelley Cooper, Dr. Moe Hamid
• Founding year: 2019
• Amount raised to date: $60,500
• Noteworthy investors: Digital Sandbox KC
• Current employee count: 2
“I started hearing ‘telehealth’ on TV and other places [during the pandemic shutdown]. I was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute. That’s my word,’” Cooper, founder and CEO of SureShow by Diversity Telehealth, said as she detailed ways virtual healthcare became a sudden lifeline for the nation’s most vulnerable.
“I’ve been doing telehealth since 2015. Now these newbies are coming along,” she continued to joke, noting she felt a certain reassurance in her work as the trend took hold — and unshakeable confidence in the abilities of SureShow to meet such a rising demand.
“You don’t have to use the emergency room as your primary care physician,” Cooper said, further explaining SureShow’s purpose and the way its platform automatically fills missed appointment slots at traditional doctors offices with telehealth consultations.
Click here to learn more about how SureShow works and how the sudden loss of Cooper’s father inspired her to build the company.
“The first thing we thought of was, ‘We’ve got to get out there,’ I’m talking to people, putting information on social media, applying for different fellowships and pitch competitions — anything I can think of to get the word out to people, [letting them know] that just because you might not have transportation or a regular physician, there are other options for receiving healthcare.”
The pandemic era also yielded new applications of SureShow’s platform, Cooper teased, noting new interest from the animal health industry.
Participation in such local programs as OHUB.KC and Pure Pitch Rally further helped prime SureShow for its next steps, Cooper said, hopeful to see the startup finalize large-scale partnerships in 2021 with the company also eying plans to secure its first major injection of capital.
“The software we have meets the highest level of security, it’s HIPAA compliant, patent pending. We’ve got a beta going on right now and we’re collecting data from that beta to move on to a larger beta. We’ve changed our pricing structure so that it can yield at least an eight-x return,” she said of what Kansas City can expect to see out of SureShow as it navigates a wide-open, fast moving market in the months ahead.
“The sky’s the limit! Telehealth is here to stay — and, like I say, ‘When there is a no show, that means no dough, but with SureShow that increases cash flow.’”
The Kansas City Startups Watch in 2021 list is made possible by presenting sponsors Husch Blackwell, a value-driven law firm with offices in Kansas City, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, though independently produced by Startland News.
1) TripleBlind
2) LaborChart
3) Bar K
4) Ronawk
5) SureShow
6) Daupler
7) PMI Rate Pro
8) Scissors & Scotch
9) Replica
10) The Market Base
Startups to Watch is now in its sixth year, thanks to ongoing support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
Featured Business
2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Endeavor could bring its global capital network to KC startups; leaders weigh its local need
Leaders from the Heartland division of Endeavor on Monday gave local entrepreneurs a first look at capital, resources, and programming that could come to Kansas City as the global nonprofit considers expansion into the region. During the preview event, organized as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, representatives from Endeavor’s regional office in Northwest Arkansas discussed…
Jason Sudeikis’ rockstar karaoke fantasy returns: Here’s why Thundergong! matters to homegrown ‘Ted Lasso’ star
Kansas City is the “secret sauce” in the recipes for Thundergong! and Big Slick, said Jason Sudeikis, who helps host the two high-profile events. The Overland Park native and “Ted Lasso” star was in Kansas City Friday to promote the annual Thundergong! fundraiser for Steps of Faith Foundation — returning Saturday at the Uptown Theater.…
Triple (stitched) threat: Olathe apparel shop brings design, sewing, printing in-house with shirts hitting store shelves soon
Adam Worrel’s vision for a fabric-to-finish apparel and screen printing business is finally sewing itself together — nearly 4,000 miles from where it began — with a label made in KC. First formulating the idea in 2010, he imagined creating a line with production and printing in-house and as much control over the supply chain as…
Why employers should hire veterans: KC entrepreneurs say combat prepared them for startup life
Effectively communicating the skills and experiences gained from military service can be a major challenge for veterans, said Zachary Oshinbanjo. Too often that disconnect contributes to unemployment or mental health struggles when a service member returns to civilian life. “Many veterans may have gone straight from high school into the military and now are looking…