Since retiring from the NFL in 2019, former Seattle Seahawks star Doug Baldwin has dipped his toes within the tech trade, advising early-stage corporations and investing in others.
However now he’s diving deeper into the startup world as CEO of Ventrk, a healthcare spinout of Bellevue, Wash.-based invention agency Mental Ventures.
Baldwin not too long ago took the CEO reins at Ventrk, the mother or father firm of two exercise-focused apps: TheraCentric and TrainCentric.
Baldwin, 33, started advising Ventrk shortly after retiring from the NFL. When it was time to spin the corporate out of Mental Ventures, he was requested to take over as CEO.
That is Baldwin’s first time as an worker of a tech startup, not to mention main one. However his expertise on the soccer subject definitely supplied some preparation as he goals for startup success.
“I’ve been lucky sufficient to be round profitable organizations,” stated Baldwin, who gained a Tremendous Bowl with the Seahawks in 2013. “I do know what it seems like. I do know what it tastes like. I do know what it smells like.”
We caught up with Baldwin to be taught extra about Ventrk and TheraCentric, a house train app designed for bodily remedy sufferers. The expertise behind the app was initially created by Seattle-area entrepreneurs and childhood mates Jarid Adams and Sam Bender; each stay on the firm in government roles. Ventrk employs 4 individuals and has raised $1.65 million since spinning out of IV; buyers embrace HBSI Capital, which led the seed spherical, and different angels.
The interview was edited for brevity and readability.
Startup: It’s nice to talk with you once more, Doug. You’ve been busy since retiring — serving to out The United Manner, constructing a group middle, talking on the Startup Summit, elevating your children, and extra. How did changing into a startup CEO match into your post-NFL life?
Doug Baldwin: Once I left soccer, I had no thought what I needed to do. Diving into enterprise and tech was at all times one thing I used to be curious about. As a baby, I liked taking part in with LEGO units, I liked constructing issues. And I nonetheless have this fascination and fervour to create. That is one thing I’ve been desirous to do, to check out and see if I could be profitable.
Startup: Inform us extra about TheraCentric.
Bodily therapists usually ship sufferers dwelling with a chunk of paper for his or her workouts. There’s no monitoring of progress. There’s no gathering of knowledge to point out the progress and efficacy of the packages.
And folks simply don’t full their packages. Research present that individuals who really full their packages decrease remedy prices. That’s an enormous deal for the affected person, to allow them to get wholesome. It’s an enormous deal for the bodily therapists as a result of they wish to see their sufferers get more healthy. It’s a part of their fame. And it’s an enormous deal to insurance coverage corporations. Our buyer (the clinics and bodily therapists) can pay a subscription price to entry this information for reimbursement. Insurance coverage corporations will wish to know if their insured are literally doing their plan of care.
What’s the bigger imaginative and prescient for Ventrk?
As soon as a consumer has completed their remedy with TheraCentric, they will migrate over to TrainCentric, the place you might have your train packages and may work with trainers. It’s the identical guided expertise. And it’s not simply with train — it’s sleep, weight loss program, and so on.
I’m actually enthusiastic about this as a result of as we glance out into the world, there may be extra of an emphasis on taking good care of your physique. Now we have all these gadgets and expertise now obtainable, capturing information that helps you make higher choices about your well being. We’re going to turn out to be the hub for that. We’re beginning off with bodily remedy as a result of it simply makes a ton of sense.
How will your expertise with sports activities efficiency and information within the NFL assist with TheraCentric and TrainCentric?
You come into the follow facility and it’s made for you. There’s no signup sheet, there’s no ready line. We had all of the instruments obtainable. You may have these conversations and you’ve got all this information about your train load yesterday, and that lets you change what you’re doing the subsequent day in an effort to get the best exercise and in your efficiency to be the perfect on Sunday.
However the common particular person doesn’t have this. We’re taking all these rules and wrapping it up right into a software program platform that’s actually empathetic for the affected person and for the bodily therapist and whoever else is utilizing it.
All my expertise and understanding of what’s worthwhile for the well being and well-being of the high-performing athlete, it comes into play right here. For those who can simply break that down and construct it again up right into a platform that’s simply digestible and user-friendly for on a regular basis individuals, we will make some impression on individuals’s lives.