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Meet one of the fastest growing startups in the world

How Heidi Health is now powering more than 1.5 million healthcare consultations per week

Sep 18

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When you ask people why they are looking to join a startup, they will often mention the “energy.” They are looking to escape the slowness of big companies and find a fast-moving environment where bureaucracy does not get in the way.

The problem is that many startups are just as bogged down as big companies. Think internal politics. Pointless meetings. Overbearing processes. You get the idea.

And so if you are looking for true “startup energy,” my suggestion is to focus on finding a meritocratic organization. Where succeeding depends primarily on your effectiveness (as opposed to for example your loudness or status or connections). Where people (actually!) care about results.

A company I recently met that seems to embody this spirit is Heidi Health.

Led by Dr. Thomas Kelly as their founder and CEO, Heidi’s mission is to increase the world’s healthcare capacity by freeing up clinicians to focus on patient care. Their first product is an AI powered medical scribe that already powers over 1.5 million healthcare consultations in 50+ countries every week. They have raised over $20 million, has become one of the top 5% of growing startups globally, and are hiring for 73 (!) roles right now across every department: marketing, sales, engineering, operations, and more (in New York, Australia, SF, London, Canada, and across the globe. ).

What very much stood out about Heidi Health—beyond their rapid growth—is how they have distilled their culture into a rather simple phrase: “Do it well, or not at all.” I take it to mean that what matters most are outcomes. And that distractions, and things you cannot commit 100% to, are not worthwhile.

Lots of people and startups tend to spread themselves very thin. They try to take on lots of projects thinking that’ll lead to the most progress, and also because perhaps it sounds higher status to some to seem “more ambitious.”

Well, what happens when you take more or less the opposite approach? What happens if you really focus on getting things done well and working backwards from that aim, instead of being influenced by what sounds the most “ambitious?”

We dive into the impact of that ethos in this Next Play Spotlight, where we hope to answer questions like “What is it like to work at Heidi Health?”, “What is the culture of the organization?”, and “What types of people do they hire?”

Major thanks to the Heidi Health team for sharing behind the scenes details and supporting the Next Play community.

Jesse Creighton is currently a director at Heidi Health. He was one of the early employees, and he’s seen the company scale from pre to post product market fit. He recently published a “cheat sheet” to succeeding at the company. In it, he shared a big idea that is worth taking seriously, as it can be useful advice for anyone thinking about joining a startup. It’s also a version of the same idea that came up countless times as we spoke with several other people at the company, as it really underscores Heidi’s uniquely meritocratic culture.

His message is rather simple and straightforward. But you’d be surprised by how many people do not really understand or embrace it.

The idea: “your specific job title does not really matter. What actually matters is your ability to drive results.”

It is tempting (and common!) to “optimize” for signing a job offer that has the perfect title and scope and list of responsibilities. I know people who have passed on joining startups that are now unicorns because the role seemed too “low status.” Some of those people joined (now failed) companies because they were given a high ranking title, like the “Head of X Department.” They used “title” as their primary prioritization mechanism, because they had a vision of one day becoming a Director or Vice President.

This mentality could make sense in a very structured and linear corporate environment. But fast-growing startups like Heidi Health are dynamic. If you get stuck worrying about scope and status, you will lose sight of what really makes a difference.

What matters most, especially in a meritocratic culture, is your ability to drive impactful results. To get outcomes that drive the important metrics at the company. That is how you *actually* make a difference. And that is how you earn ownership and responsibility over the long-term.

To do this, you should focus your energy on doing real work. Spend your time on things that directly drive results (like talking to customers or building the product) instead of ambiguous activities like “strategy.”

“If you think you are too good to do the dirty work…if you find problems and ask other people to fix them…then you are really robbing yourself and the company of growth.”

This sounds obvious when you hear it but it is extremely typical to see people fooling themselves into chasing lofty sounding roles instead of areas where they can make an actual impact (even if they are lower status sounding at first).

The easiest way to avoid this mistake is to make sure you’re hands-on with your work. Sign up for roles that are close to the customer and the product.

“To succeed at Heidi, you’ll want to roll up your sleeves. You will not just watch things happen, you will dive in, take ownership, and directly shape solutions that have a huge impact on providers and patients.”

Being on the ground and in the weeds can really accelerate your personal learnings. If you want to learn about company building, one option is to read books and case studies. Another is to actually do the “grunt work” jobs. Not simply philosophizing, but actually doing.

“You will develop more as a professional in one month than six at another company because Heidi is growing exponentially.”

Jesse tells a story detailing his personal evolution that I think is true of many successful early employees: “I was the “generalist” (strategy analyst) at Heidi back when I first began. The growth felt great, I got to touch all functions in the business. But at this time, we had no motion - no revenue, no customers. It was not until I felt the G force of becoming the fastest growing Aussie startup did I realise what real career growth looked like. It was like going from a bicycle to a fighter jet. All in one moment, you realize that the only thing that actually matters in your career is if you’ve picked the right place to work. As our explosion began, I ended up spending a chunk of my time specifically solving performance marketing/growth. The kind of role I would've baulked at months prior - “too siloed, too specific.”

At the end of the day, what led to the most success was Jesse’s ability to find opportunities to make an impact on the business.

To do that, he needed to have a growth mindset. He needed to be quick on his feet and open to adapting.

This is emblematic of a general perspective at Heidi—that no work is beneath anybody and that you should embrace the chaos (and dynamicness) of the startup:

“You need to be comfortable wearing multiple hats, sometimes on the same day, and willing to jump in wherever you can add value.”
“You need to be comfortable with things being a bit chaotic sometimes - we're a startup, so priorities shift and you might end up doing stuff that's not technically "your job." But that's also part of what makes it exciting.”
“People who are very stuck in their ways will struggle to succeed at Heidi.”

At a fast-growing company, you cannot expect your list of responsibilities to be spelled out to you in lots of detail. And you provide a lot more value to the company when you are finding useful things to do on your own.

“People who want a set list of things to do each day and to check out at 5pm. People who are not malleable.”
“If you cannot match the energy both socially and professionally of someone who wants to be a high agency individual to yield great outcomes, you may not find this a strong fit.”
“You need to be pretty independent and driven. You can't be someone who needs to be told what to do all the time.”

Being able to keep up with the pace is essential to thriving in a dynamic environment:

“People who prefer to move slowly or need a lot of structure before taking action would likely struggle here. Heidi is a fast-paced, ever-evolving environment where priorities can shift quickly, and success often depends on being able to make progress with imperfect information.”
“If someone needs long lead times to make decisions, is uncomfortable with ambiguity, or prefers to stick strictly within the boundaries of a defined role, this may not be the right place for them. We thrive on momentum, ownership, and adaptability, and the people who do best here are those who can embrace change, jump in, and figure things out as they go.”
“The pace here is fast - really fast - and you need to be ready to dive in headfirst. We work hard, but we play harder, and that mix is part of what makes it so rewarding.”

And in a meritocratic company, you’ll find the organization and structure is basically entirely built around supporting that speed. Doing whatever it takes to help drive progress.

At Heidi, for example, the leadership team operates in a very high-trust way—largely because they see this as the most effective way to scale a company (quickly!).

“The best part about the leadership at Heidi is that if you can prove that you're reliable, they will absolutely let you do your thing. There is no micromanagement, just trust.”
“A high level of ownership is essential. This is a place where ideas do not just get talked about, they get built, tested, and shipped, often faster than you would expect. You have to enjoy that pace and be ready to figure things out on the fly.”

As part of this, they lead with transparency and are very accessible to help with unblocking any problems.

“Leadership is transparent, and expects transparency to ensure you are exercising your maximum potential while learning & enjoying the journey simultaneously.”
“They are super chill and down to Earth people. I can book a meeting with any of them and have a constructive conversation.”
“We've got a tight feedback loop between leadership, sales, product, and engineering that ensures we are always building high-impact tools.”

This results-oriented, meritocratic culture has led to extremely strong product-market fit in a very short period of time.

“Heidi has cracked the code of PLG in healthcare. We've gone from a nobody to a major player in 18 months, building partnerships with big names in every major market.”
“The BBC have covered Heidi 3 times in the past few weeks. We didn't pitch it - funnily enough, we only found out once the stories went live. Each month, we're supporting over 1.6 million Heidi sessions in the UK. What you see in the press is just the visible edge of that adoption. What matters to us isn't that Heidi is covered, but that it's used. That's the one signal you can't fake.”

And it comes at a very unique time in history for the healthcare industry. Things are changing very quickly. Technology (and perhaps AI in particular) is poised to transform the space.

“The healthcare AI space is ripe for disruption, and Heidi is leading the charge. If you're going to bet on the future of work in healthcare, Heidi is the company to join. The impact we’re making (and seeing) isn’t just incremental, it’s quite revolutionary, and it’s happening now. We're growing faster than Canva and in just over a year we've become the biggest AI scribe in the world. Our growth trajectory is unmatched in the space.”
“Joining us will challenge you to grow into the best version of yourself, solving hard problems that ultimately make an impact on the healthcare as a whole.”