Member Spotlight: Areo Nazari CEO @ CaryRx

1. Your Company:  Can you provide a brief description of your organization, main products and customer lines, current size/revenue (if not confidential)? What's the latest win and how did you achieve it?

CaryRx is an AI-driven digital pharmacy platform that offers analytics, fulfillment, and automation services to health plans, manufacturers, and their patients. Our primary products include the SaaS platform "OneDash" tailored for health plans, health systems, and manufacturers. Additionally, our mobile app provides a seamless digital pharmacy experience for patients associated with these entities. We are currently profitable, with projected revenue of over $60 million for the year 2023.

Our most recent accomplishment was the acquisition of GalenAI.co (give it a try!), an AI drug and clinical reference tool designed for clinicians that utilizes GPT-4 technology. GalenAI's clinical responses have demonstrated superior accuracy compared to GPT-4, while also offering valuable clinical references. We have successfully integrated GalenAI into CaryRx's platform via API, and going forward, GalenAI will be rebranded as RxDx.ai. GalenAI also provides an API that allows other companies to incorporate its clinical search functionality within their internal infrastructure.

2. Advice: Are there any specific resources or pieces of advice that have helped you/your team along the way to succeed? Were there any ah-ha moments?

In general, being willing to pivot was an essential part of our ability to adjust course. So never be afraid to pivot, agility is a start ups greatest advantage. At an individual level, self improvement and constant learning is key. Read new books and always learn from others in your space. Personally I've tried to read as many business books as possible.Some recent reads include "Exit Path" and "Good to Great".

3. Failures: We need to celebrate failure in DC - and not be afraid of it. Are there any failures that you've encountered along the way and how did it help/hurt you and what did you learn from it? Did it cause you to change any behaviors, thoughts, or activities?

CaryRx originally launched as a B2C company but the scalability and unit economics were just not there for us to continue down that route in a capital efficient manner. We made a decision, roughly around late 2019, to begin a transition to becoming a B2B company. If we continued down the B2C route, we likely would have been out of business fairly quickly. So in a sense, our original business model failed. Our mindset is now fully committed to building a B2B business. Through our pivot, we learned more about the pharma industry and the various niches we could target which ultimately allowed us to expand our product & service far beyond its original scope.

4. DCTAV / DC Tech ecosystem: What should DCTAV/this exec group be doing specifically to help founders and executives like you succeed + help your company? What changes are needed in DC in particular? Is there anything from the past or currently that was or is working well?

DCTAV is a great way to ensure the DC government is aware of policies that work and changes that are needed. DCTAV is a good support system for founders of growing companies as is. Ultimately, DCTAV can help steer the DC government in the right direction to ensure the resources and ecosystem are optimal for both its member and pre-revenue/seed companies. DC is a great place to build an organization as it has all the essentials to support start up needs. For current members, DC should focus on creating a tax and incentive policy that is competitive on a national level. For seed companies, DC should establish a proper seed fund similar to CIT (VA) and Tedco (MD). With a few adjustments, DC really can become a top tech hub, so let's nudge the DC government to make it happen.

5. Need/Offer: Is there anything that you (or your team) need from the DC tech ecosystem that would be particularly helpful for you? (We'll make this public unless you prefer that it not be.)

I'm always happy to meet with any DC founders, especially if they are in the digital health space and could use someone to bounce ideas off of.

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