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The Pitch

#175 Above Health: The Allergy Clinic of the Future

46 min episode · 2 min read
·

Episode

46 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Career Growth, Health & Wellness, Investing

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Hardware cost innovation: Matt builds clinical-grade devices at unprecedented prices—a smart inhaler with GPS for $1,000 per prototype iteration and a diagnostic stethoscope for $9.99 manufacturing cost, compared to traditional costs of $500,000 and $88 respectively, enabling mass distribution.
  • Value-based care acceleration: Above Health targets value-based care contracts within two years instead of the typical five by combining telehealth with proprietary devices as differentiators, starting with underserved markets like Kern County with 700,000 people and zero allergists.
  • Precision diagnostics approach: The platform uses GPS-enabled inhalers to capture location, pollen, and air quality data within one square kilometer, then offers targeted lab testing for specific allergens like Cottonwood instead of expensive 50-allergen panels with 20% false positives.
  • Market entry strategy: Customer acquisition cost of $10 through free at-home allergy stickers promoted on parent forums, booking telehealth visits through October while building toward retail distribution and health system contracts, maintaining $3,000-4,000 monthly burn rate with just the founder full-time.

What It Covers

Matt Truby pitches Above Health, an AI diagnostic platform combining telehealth, custom lab panels, and proprietary hardware devices to revolutionize allergy and asthma care, raising $450,000 from four investors at a $10 million valuation.

Key Questions Answered

  • Hardware cost innovation: Matt builds clinical-grade devices at unprecedented prices—a smart inhaler with GPS for $1,000 per prototype iteration and a diagnostic stethoscope for $9.99 manufacturing cost, compared to traditional costs of $500,000 and $88 respectively, enabling mass distribution.
  • Value-based care acceleration: Above Health targets value-based care contracts within two years instead of the typical five by combining telehealth with proprietary devices as differentiators, starting with underserved markets like Kern County with 700,000 people and zero allergists.
  • Precision diagnostics approach: The platform uses GPS-enabled inhalers to capture location, pollen, and air quality data within one square kilometer, then offers targeted lab testing for specific allergens like Cottonwood instead of expensive 50-allergen panels with 20% false positives.
  • Market entry strategy: Customer acquisition cost of $10 through free at-home allergy stickers promoted on parent forums, booking telehealth visits through October while building toward retail distribution and health system contracts, maintaining $3,000-4,000 monthly burn rate with just the founder full-time.

Notable Moment

Matt's daughter experienced anaphylaxis from yogurt, triggering AI alerts from her Apple Watch detecting elevated heart rate, cough patterns, and dropping oxygen levels—the personal crisis that drove him to dedicate his career to building comprehensive allergy care solutions.

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Episode Transcript

Welcome to The Pitch, where startup founders raise millions and listeners can invest. I'm Josh Muccio. And I'm Lisa Muccio. And before we get to The Pitch, we are Doing a live show. Show. In two weeks in Brooklyn on December 4, three founders will pitch three VCs, and perhaps someone will walk away with funding. Grab your tickets before they sell out at pitch.show/live. On the show today, we have Above Health, and they're raising $1,000,000. Oh, my gosh. Today's founder, Matt Truby. I can't believe we met this guy when we did. What do you mean? Matt's pitch is we're building the allergy clinic of the future. We're speaking to him when he's only raised a 150,000 from one investor. Mhmm. And I think he's a genius in the way he's approaching it. I think, normally, we would look at a company like this and be like, wow. You're doing too much. You need to simplify. But I do think this might be one of the cases where not only is it the way to do it, but he seems to have the capabilities to do it. Yeah. He's just this crazy, like, mad scientist, like, cooking up, like, hardware devices in his home for crazy low prices. He's just, like, spinning out new ideas left and right. But with his background, he might just pull it off. I definitely think that the timing is now for this business, and he couldn't have built it sooner. The pitch for Above Health is coming up after this. It's true that some things change as we get older. But if you're a woman over 40 and you're dealing with insomnia, brain fog, moodiness, and weight gain, you don't have to accept it as just another part of aging. And with Mitty Health, you can get help and stop pushing through it alone. The experts at Mitty understand that all these symptoms can be connected to the hormonal changes that happen around menopause. And Mitty can help you feel more like yourself again. Many healthcare providers aren't trained to treat or even recognize menopause symptoms. MiddI clinicians are menopause experts. They're dedicated to providing safe, effective, FDA approved solutions for dozens of hormonal symptoms, not just hot flashes. Most importantly, they're covered by insurance. Ninety one percent of Middi patients get relief from symptoms within just two months. You deserve to feel great. Book your virtual visit today at joinmidi.com. That's join,midi,.com. Welcome back to the pitch for Above Health. Let's meet the investors. Cyan Bannister with Long Journey Ventures. Someone of his caliber is taking this seriously. I'm just stoked about it. Charles Hudson with Precursor Ventures. Sometimes a business is what it is not what you want it to be. And three new investors to the show, Ahmad Acoon, CEO of Mercury and prolific angel investor. I think with one day of coaching, this would be a 20,000,000 valuation. Monique Woodard with Cake Ventures. I'm looking for a founder …

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    Matt's daughter experienced anaphylaxis from yogurt, triggering AI alerts from her Apple Watch detecting elevated heart rate, cough patterns, and dropping oxygen levels.

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  • Matt Truby pitches Above Health, an AI diagnostic platform combining telehealth, custom lab panels, and proprietary hardware devices to revolutionize allergy and asthma care, raising $450,000 from four investors at a $10 million valuation.

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