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
‘We’re a big damn deal!’ KC is an underground fintech hub, says Zach Pettet
Editor’s note: Zach Pettet is the Fintech Strategist at nbkc bank, with which Startland News has partnered on an upcoming Innovation Exchange event. Opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Kansas City is the United States’ underground financial center. Over the years, many financial juggernauts have been born and grown up in Kansas…
Traditional marketing tactics fail to wow consumers, Boomn startup says
If an idea doesn’t prompt a “Heck yeah!” response from the team at Boomn, it gets an “Um, no” verdict, said Ryan O’Connell. A data-driven and performance-based digital marketing company, KC-based Boomn works primarily with ecommerce brands. Such clients range from food and beverage companies to TV and YouTube personalities, said O’Connell, Boomn’s chief operating…
Video: ‘Have you eaten?’ KC Pinoy adds food math to flavorful Filipino fare
Editor’s note: The following content about Chrissy Nucum’s KC Pinoy is sponsored by Mid-Continent Public Library but independently produced by Startland News. KC Pinoy food truck’s last customer of the day was aptly named: Lucky. “We’ve had a good enough day to break a hundred [dollar bill],” owner Chrissy Nucum told the diner at the…
Blue Hills incubator merging with mission-based urban core developer
A catalyst for change within the neighborhoods surrounding Prospect Avenue, the Blue Hills incubator is expected to continue serving entrepreneurs after merging with a leading development group in the urban core. The not-for-profit formed by combining the expertise of Blue Hills Community Services and Swope Community Builders aims to reclaim areas of Kansas City by…