Derek Streat definitely has more than just skin in this game.  CEO of Medify of Seattle, Washington, his fourth startup was born out of a very alarming circumstance, his daughter’s serious illness.  The need to be an informed parent advocating her best treatment drove him to search for the latest knowledge, and hence Medify.  “We help make the latest medical research truly interactive for the lay person,” Derek  explains.  He goes on to emphasize, “Patients have a right to be respected in their ability to comprehend complicated information.”

Derek  has been fortunate to be resource-rich.  “All the startups I have been involved I have been venture-backed,” which has given the company a strong financial structure (nice to see a young company not starving, ed.) and being in the tech-heavy Seattle area has helped, “I have been able to network with awesome technology people,”

But Medify represents his biggest abyss so far.  “What we are doing is very controversial” and is “disruptive to the status quo” he states.  Medify helps allow patients to be partners with their providers in making important decisions and some of the established guard chafes at the idea.  “Older doctors sometimes just don’t dig it,” Derek  states flatly.  Maybe so, but their patients will.

by Thubten Comerford and Michael Coates

This interview is sponsored by the Bay Area Entrepreneurs Workshop.