Doc Doc Go

New York University, Stern School of Business

Website Link: docdocgo.co

Industry: Software, Healthcare

MBA Founding Student Name(s): Maria Iliakova (MBA ’25), Colton Margus (MBA ’24), both part of Stern’s Andre Koo Technology & Entrepreneurship MBA

Brief Description of Solution: The pandemic highlighted a critical issue in US healthcare. While hospitals depend heavily on temporary physicians to fill staffing gaps, many positions remain unfilled due to the complexity of the credentialing process. Doctors are often required to sift through emails and folders to locate and submit numerous documents like degrees, licensures, case logs, recommendation letters, and insurance certificates. This cumbersome and time-consuming process deters many from taking on essential roles and reduces the quality of care provided.

Our solution allows physicians to easily store, access, and update all their credentials in one place, accessible anytime and anywhere. By transforming the lengthy, multi-month onboarding process into a seamless, near-instant experience, we help doctors start work faster, boosting the supply of physicians available to hospitals, and ultimately enabling better patient care. We empower physicians with greater mobility and autonomy in their careers, while simultaneously helping hospitals overcome barriers to attracting and onboarding qualified medical staff.

Funding Dollars: None

What led you to launch this venture? Drawing from our own experiences practicing medicine across multiple states and through countless conversations with stakeholders, we realized the physician credentialing bottleneck was a frustrating barrier for both hospitals and doctors. We felt our diverse backgrounds – as two physician MBAs and an ex-Google software engineer and lawyer – gave us a unique opportunity to help simplify this process. We’re optimistic that by addressing this challenge, we can make a real difference in hospital staffing and empower physicians to work more flexibly.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? Our biggest accomplishment so far has been building a strong, cohesive team. While we’re proud of our MVP and securing our first users, it’s the foundation of a humble, enthusiastic, and aligned team that has set us on the right path. In many ways, this is the accomplishment upon which our future accomplishments will one day depend.

What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced in creating your company and how did you solve it? We’re still a work-in-progress. While this is certainly not unique to us, but the need for cold hard cash is our biggest challenge. We have had to resist the temptation of early cash flows that might have otherwise taken our eyes off goal. Yet cash burn is as much a blessing as a curse, getting us to think harder about the smallest of decisions as we scale.

How has your MBA program helped you further this startup venture? My MBA experience (I’m an alum of Stern’s Andre Koo Technology and Entrepreneurship MBA Program) played an important role in assembling our initial team. One of our amazing administrative leaders and colleagues was Sarah Ryan. She put Maria, a current student in that same program, and I in touch in the first place. I think we both rolled our eyes when she suggested the two MDs in the program be introduced – surely not all docs are going to get along – but she was absolutely right.

What founder or entrepreneur inspired you to start your own entrepreneurial journey? How did he or she prove motivational to you? I’ve been inspired by both friends and family who have made the jump – not just in business, but in addressing challenges like incurable disease research and food insecurity. More than any single person, it has been my exposure to a general atmosphere of initiative that has made entrepreneurship feel accessible and achievable. Witnessing people close to me embrace it as a mindset and a viable early career option has been a powerful motivator, opening the door for me to pursue my own path.

Which MBA class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? Glenn Okun’s Entrepreneurial Finance class would have been well worth my time even if I’d gained only one lesson: the difference between experience and expertise. We doctors tend to rely on our extensive training to derive value and draw insight. However, Professor Okun pretty convincingly conveyed that even this heavy exposure to the problem at hand does not inherently translate into an ability to achieve consistent, meaningful results in a startup. In fact, it may actually hold us back. That’s been a pretty humbling, but helpful, perspective for me.

What professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? Healthcare is filled with challenges worth tackling, so narrowing down a clear, focused strategy requires careful consideration. Sonia Marciano, Professor of Management and Organizations, has played a pivotal role in helping Maria and me do just that. Her feedback has helped us through several drastic but necessary pivots, allowing us to sharpen both our initial value proposition and our long-term vision. She has lent us the external, bird’s eye perspective that has built a more coherent and strategic foundation for the venture.

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success? We’ve already benefited from NYU Stern’s startup bootcamp at the NYU Leslie eLab and are excited to participate soon in the Max Stenbeck Venture Equity Program too. From alumni and faculty mentors to fellow entrepreneurs, everyone has been incredibly generous with their time, insights, and guidance, helping us navigate the daunting early stages of building our business.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? Our hope is to learn a lot, have some fun, and build something that really meets a need and makes a difference – something that offers clear, self-evident value to people’s lives.

Looking back, what is the biggest lesson you wished you’d known before launching and scaling your venture? The big lesson for me has been the importance of getting in front of potential users even faster. While we’ve always prioritized moving quickly in ideation and execution, there’s always room to accelerate that first exposure to real customers. The saying that ‘no plan survives first contact never felt more true. Bringing that first contact with users forward is crucial to learning, adapting, and improving more effectively.

DON’T MISS: MOST DISRUPTIVE MBA STARTUPS OF 2024