Altrix
University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
Industry: Healthcare & Hospitals
Founding Student Name(s):
- Hector Benitez Ventura, CEO (BBA)
- Jake Zur, CTO (CS & Math)
- Yashraj Patel, Head of AI (CS)
- Ihsaan Yasin, Head of Systems (CS)
- Noah Alexander, Head of GTM (BBA)
Brief Description of Solution: Altrix is building Nova, the first end-to-end AI assistant for acute care nurses. Today Nova is offloading over 80 minutes of administrative work per nurse, per shift. This, in turn, saves millions of dollars in bloated overtime costs for hospitals and improves the patient’s perspective of quality of care (HCAHPS scores).
Funding Dollars: ~$300,000 from Techstars, General Catalyst VF, and competitive grants.
What led you to launch this venture? Impact has always been a central tenet of ours. At first, we pursued research, looking into what is considered one of our most burdened workers of today: nurses, due to the 4.5mm shortage expected by 2030.
We then realized that while research taught us a lot about impact, we needed to take matters into our own hands if we wanted to see change all the way through. That’s when Altrix was born.
What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? Our biggest accomplishment so far has been being the first undergraduate team ever to be accepted to the coveted Techstars Health AI accelerator powered by Johns Hopkins and BlueCross BlueShield.
This was made possible by our endless hours of co-development with nurse leaders and the nourishment of our pipeline of customers, which includes some the largest health systems in the US.
How has your business-related major helped you further this startup venture? Our business majors have allowed us to effectively navigate the sophisticated sales-cycle of large hospital systems. Our education has sharpened our work, from building case-studies, to coordinating agreement amongst the multiple buyer personas, to leveraging our strategic position to compete against giants like Microsoft and Epic.
Which business class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? Our strategy courses have provided the most actionable insights out of any class. We are constantly having to make decisions and test hypotheses. Having the framework of business decision-making in mind has helped us hypothesize, experiment, and get results faster.
What business professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? Dr. Mike Johnson has played a pivotal role in our journey. Prior to his involvement with our venture, we had no idea how we were going to sell a piece of advanced AI software to a buyer who is rightfully so skeptical of AI and used to interacting with people twice our age.
Through his mentorship, we slowly learned the ropes of complex enterprise sales cycles, pilots, and creating a fly-wheel sales motion.
What founder or entrepreneur inspired you to start your own entrepreneurial journey? How did he or she prove motivational to you? Andrew Feldman, Founder & CEO of Cerebras Systems, has been a great source inspiration. Feldman is a modern epitome of a non-technical CEO driving forward a very technical product and vision. As a non-technical CEO working alongside some of the brightest engineers on campus, I like to study Feldman’s strategy so that I can best serve my teammates.
What is your long-term goal with your startup? Our mission is to build tomorrow’s layer of engagement for healthcare, starting with nurses. Today, clinicians and patients are burdened by clunky interfaces that were built decades ago (e.g. electronic health records). While Nova is currently purpose built for nurses, we’re unlocking a new mode of human-AI interface that will serve as the new layer of engagement for all stakeholders in a hospital.
How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success? The Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurship has helped us thoroughly, from the Dare-to-Dream grant that we used to launch our initial evidence-based study with Michigan Medicine to the Pinkert Healthcare Accelerator that helped us productize our AI system. Anne Perigo, who leads the team at Zell, has put together a great ecosystem that supports aspiring impact-makers like us.
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