Nick Culbertson - Don't Make Excuses

Extreme Uncertainty

What do you know about drug diversion?

Our guest today is Nick Culbertson, CEO and Co-Founder of Protenus, a Baltimore-based healthcare technology company. Nick was in medical school and doing research at Johns Hopkins University when he and his eventual Co-Founder realized that hospitals have a big problem managing risk and maintaining compliance--a problem their work in data analytics might be able to solve. Nick talks to us about how his background as a Green Beret in the US Army prepared him to step into the role of a founder, and how Protenus went from a two person startup to a company with over 100 employees serving healthcare systems across the country. We talk about the leadership team's response to the call to action of the Black Lives Matter movement, and we discuss how Nick and his team have built a culture of inclusion at Protenus. Nick also offers his advice for entrepreneurs who are working to launch a venture, and gives us his perspective on how strong mentors are an entrepreneur's most valuable asset.

Protenus was recognized in Forbes as a 2020 “Best Startup Employer” and a “Cool Vendor” in Artificial Intelligence by Gartner. Protenus received the 2019 Innovation of the Year in Data Security award by Healthcare Informatics and was recognized as one of the Best Places to Work by Modern Healthcare in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Protenus completed its Series C financing in August 2019, and is one of Baltimore's leading employers in healthcare analytics. Nick Culbertson is also a finalist for Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year 2020" Award.

You can check out all the AI-driven healthcare tech Nick and his team are building at Protenus.com, and you can follow them on Twitter @Protenus.