Why Go Out When You Can Order In?

Anyone who's talked to me in the last 3 years knows my thesis on user engagement. Especially in healthcare I think it's critical to meet patients AND providers where they already are. If it needs behavior change, it'll probably fail. The need for interfaces and tools that you can see are quickly evaporating.

Maybe I'm just projecting my laziness on others but I really don't believe patients don't want to download another app and manually log anything even if its useful, engagement rates will plummet post 6 months. Physicians won't adopt yet another EHR bolt-on that adds clicks to their already huge admin burden. Adoption for new healthcare software is brutal -the solution is engaging people in places they already frequent. It's the convenience economy applied to care delivery - why go out when you can order in? Why open a portal when you can just text?

Fundamentally less bullish on apps or any tech that inconveniences the user (there are exceptions) because I believe entire experiences can be facilitated through text or some other "place"/environment where the user already frequents. For example, Poke developed by The Interaction Company of California just raised $15M at a $100M valuation from General Catalyst. their entire product is an AI assistant that lives in iMessage and acts on your behalf via text convos - no app download, no new interface. Also it acts like an a**h*l*e and makes you negotiate the subscription price.

Leona Health embodies this thesis in healthcare. It was founded by Caroline Merin who is former Uber Eats - very relevant (why go out when you can order in). They just closed a $14M seed led by a16z, General Catalyst, and Accel. Leona recognized that Latin American physicians already communicate with patients on WhatsApp, but they're drowning: 100+ messages daily, zero clinical context, no prioritization. Instead of building another portal, Leona plugs directly into WhatsApp, sorts messages by clinical urgency, suggests responses, and lets care teams reply on the physician's behalf. Users report saving two to three hours daily.

What's the engagement/retention rates on an app vs a person you like? Tools are evolving to be almost invisible, interfaces are evaporating, and they are mimicking the way humans natural interact with people/things.