David Hadden is the co-CEO of Pro-ficiency, a maker of simulation learning technology for the healthcare industry. Using Pro-ficiency’s technology, doctors, patients and clinical trial investigators can face real life scenarios and make decisions in a consequence free environment to improve their performance and create better outcomes. In this episode, David talks about how he came up with the idea for the company after helping train doctors in Africa, what it was like to exit his first company, Therasim, and how simulation is a superior learning construct for those in jobs where people face life or death decisions.
In this episode we explore:
- David describes the Pro-ficiency products [2:52]
- Where simulation training is used and why [8:48]
- David describes how he realized how he could apply the power of simulation to improve patient outcomes while working on an AI product to train doctors to combine medicines together to combat AIDs in Africa.[11:35]
- David describes exiting his first company Therasim, a venture backed company, which also did virtual patient simulation [23:47]
- David talks about how he is self-funding this company today [32:19]
- David talks about how and why one would choose venture capital over self funding [33:16]
- “The only thing I haven’t done to fund a company so far is rob a bank.” [33:29]
- David paints what success looks like in 5 years [55:36]
- “If the founder is doing stuff that isn’t sales, find a way to not do that stuff.” [56:37]