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
Thirsty fans line up as Weston distillery resurrects pre-Civil War Missouri bourbon
Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by Flatland, the digital magazine of Kansas City PBS and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the weekly Flatland email newsletter. This is a historic moment for the folks at Holladay Distillery in Weston, Missouri, and also a big deal…
Survival rates for new biz in MO, KS lag national average; What’s getting in their way?
Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by Flatland, the digital magazine of Kansas City PBS and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the weekly Flatland email newsletter. Colorful balloons, ribbons, unlimited drinks, food and of course music. There was everything at the ribbon cutting…
NMotion adds ‘concierge’ investment accelerator for early-stage founders; applications close May 30
Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by the NMotion startup accelerator, but was independently produced by Startland News. Following NMotion Venture Studio’s successful launch in 2020, Nebraska’s largest and only startup accelerator is adding a new high-touch opportunity to its lineup: NMotion Growth Accelerator. “Five out of the 10 companies that came through the NMotion…
Donations honoring late podcast host, comedian fund ‘place of peace’ for young creators; recording studio dedicated to Mathew George
Friends and family of the late podcast host Mathew George gathered to celebrate the dedication of Operations Breakthrough’s newly-debuted recording studio on what would have been Mathew’s 27th birthday. “What could have been a really depressing day was more celebratory, like it would have been if he were still here,” shared Mary Ann George, mother…