With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
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BCBUSINESS.CA E N T R E P R E N E U R O F T H E Y E A R 2 0 2 2 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 BCBUSINESS 67 with supplements and read about trends in the industry. "When I first started the company, there was a real lag in the digitization and modern- ization of health care in Cana- da," he recalls. "Part of that is because of a unique structure that we have, where we have a culture of encouraging doctors to open up their own practice." As a result, the country has thousands of mom-and-pop outpatient clinics, many of whom needed help delivering medical services during the pandemic. In fact, Well clinics were some of the few to remain open amidst the crisis. To that end, its CEO deems Well a "com- pany that provides care for the caregivers." With some 2,700 people on board, it supplies software, tools and solutions to help clinics and doctors keep up with a digitizing industry. It runs virtual and in-person clinics with a suite of technol- ogy to support operations, including data protection ser- vices. Its practice management software is among the top three management systems in the country. Its digital patient en- gagement software helps with things like online bookings, medical check-ins and waiting room automation. According to Shahbazi, Ontario relies on its software for all e-referrals, and the company currently has 3,300 clinics and 15,000 prac- titioners using its electronic medical records products. "About one out of every four physicians in the country touches the Well platform in some way," Shahbazi says with a sense of pride. Recently, the healthtech company has been trying to foster a team-based approach F U N F A C T S W H AT WA S YOU R F I R ST S U M M E R JOB ? I had two at the same time! Dishwasher at a cafe and paper boy. E N T R E P R E N E U R S N E E D A L O T MOR E . . . Sleep! NA M E ON E T H I NG P E OP L E WOU L D B E S U R P R I S E D T O L E A R N A B OU T YOU I try to walk 20,000 steps per day. Most days I hit it. NA M E A N I T E M YOU T Y P IC A L LY F OR G E T T O PAC K ON BU S I- N E S S T R I P S A N D R E G R E T NO T B R I NG I NG Health supplements— I take so many, I always forget a couple of key ones! by bringing doctors from differ- ent disciplines together in the same clinic, like allied health professionals. But when Well first started operating its clinics in 2018, the industry wasn't exactly hospi- table. "The feeling we got from [doctors] before was, I don't really need you but I under- stand that you own this clinic or you're developing software," says Shahbazi. "What we saw during the pandemic is that they needed us. And they were very appreciative of the work that we did for them." Over the last two years, Well revenues soared from $50 million to $300 million. This year, the company is trend- ing toward $100 million in EBITDA and over half a billion in revenue. Seven percent of the company's business comes from doctors paying SaaS and service fees to use its tools, and 93 percent occurs when doc- tors decide to join one of Well's virtual or physical clinics. "I really love the idea of us- ing technology to reinvent and innovate industries," Shahbazi maintains. —R.R. S P E C I A L C I T A T I O N Marcia Nozick F O U N D E R A N D C E O , E M B E R S A round 20 years ago, Marcia Nozick was living in Vancouver's Strathcona neighbourhood and involved in community organization efforts in the Downtown Eastside when a young man named Brian approached her at a meeting. She remembers his words clearly: "He said, What we really need is a temp labor company. Me and my buddies, whenever we need to work, whenever we