Office Hours Podcast: GoodRx Makes Prescription Drugs More Affordable
Spencer Rascoff
Spencer Rascoff is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire and dot.LA, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. He is currently executive chairman of dot.LA and a board member at Zillow and TripAdvisor. In fall 2019, Spencer was a Visiting Executive Professor at Harvard Business School where he co-taught the "Managing Tech Ventures" course. In 2015, Spencer co-wrote and published his first book, the New York Times' Best Seller "Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate." Spencer is the host of "Office Hours," a monthly podcast on dot.LA featuring candid conversations between prominent executives on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and startups.
It became a kind of game.
Doug Hirsch, cofounder and co-CEO of GoodRx, needed to get a prescription filled. His pharmacy said it would cost a whopping $500. On a whim, Doug crossed the street to check out a different drugstore, and found the price offered was half as much. Intrigued, he went to another pharmacy and found yet another price.
In conclusion, there was no clear reason why the drug prices fluctuated so much. Pharmacists could not explain why.
The discovery of unpredictable and opaque prescription drug pricing led Doug to co-found Santa-Monica based GoodRx in 2011. It's a company that compares prescription drug prices and allows members to use free coupons to purchase steeply discounted prescriptions. Doug says GoodRx has saved Americans over $20 billion in prescription drug fees.
On this episode of my Office Hours podcast, hear Doug and I discuss how he built his business slowly and steadily, the ways in which paranoia keeps him on his toes — and why naiveté is an entrepreneurial strength.
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Los Angeles is home to thousands of founders working day and often night to create a startup that's the next breakout hit.
Who are the most impressive L.A. founders? To find out, we asked our cohort of dozens of L.A.'s to VCs top weigh in.
<p>In somewhat of a surprise, given he has less high-profile than many other founders, Andrew Peterson, co-founder of the cybersecurity platform Signal Sciences, topped the list. Last year, he sold his company for $825 million to Fastly, which he joined during the transaction. He now leads the cloud computing giant's security practice. </p><p>Unfortunately, the list is lacking in diversity and does not include any females, which is emblematic of problems that continue to plague the industry. </p><p><a href="https://venturebeat.com/2020/06/26/1-of-venture-backed-startup-founders-are-black-heres-how-one-entrepreneur-beat-those-odds/#:~:text=Just%201%25%20of%20venture%2Dfunded,Credit%2C%20has%20beaten%20the%20odds." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A mere 1% of venture-backed companies are led by Black entrepreneurs.</a> Last year, only a quarter of venture dollars nationwide went to companies with a female founder and L.A. fares especially poorly, ranking fourth for capital invested with female teams. </p><p>The complete list is below, in alphabetical order, except for Peterson, who received the most votes. The others were all tied. </p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5ODQ2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODIxNTAwOH0.PamqNW_K-QjRnc6unuroZ2zEvvGL78YRwDi3wE5eTDU/img.jpg?width=980" id="9acfe" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3cae469a3d1d7b9fc06b50734f093337" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Andrew Peterson, Signal Sciences" data-width="356" data-height="445" />
Andrew Peterson
<p>Andrew Peterson is the co-founder and former chief executive of Signal Sciences, a web application security platform that he founded in 2014 and <a href="https://dot.la/signal-science-snapped-up-for-775m-in-big-l-a-saas-exit-2647256430.html" target="_self">was acquired in 2020 by Fastly in a $775 million deal</a>. Signal Sciences protects web applications from attacks and data breaches for clients like Duo Security, Under Armor and DoorDash.</p><p>Prior to starting Signal Sciences, Peterson worked at Etsy, helping the online marketplace with international growth as a group project manager. Etsy <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3056900/how-three-ex-etsy-employees-turned-their-old-employer-into-a-consumer" target="_blank">reportedly became </a>one of Signal Sciences's first customers. Peterson has also served stints as health information management officer at the Clinton Foundation and as a senior product specialist at Google.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5ODQ2NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzQ3MjYyM30.nCnOZig6uomhJcmLRXZtmhGO9pGW_O4yorSN4UyTzdU/img.jpg?width=980" id="d4c75" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="21f4dc469c3766951d1a7406e6b92d22" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Ara Mahdessian, ServiceTitan" data-width="1386" data-height="1920" />
Ara Mahdessian
<p>Ara Mahdessian is the co-founder of ServiceTitan, a SaaS product for managing a home services business.</p><p>The inspiration for ServiceTitan, Mahdessian's first company, came from watching his parents start their own businesses in building and plumbing, only to struggle with the logistics behind keeping them running, he <a href="https://www.inc.com/magazine/201906/emily-canal/servicetitan-immigrant-inclusion-diversity-best-workplaces-2019.html" target="_blank">told Inc in 2019</a>. Mahdessian and his co-founder Vahe Kuzoyan met while in college, and worked on several consulting projects before starting ServiceTitan, in hopes of aiding small business owners like their parents.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5ODQ2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTA1ODU5MX0.9-8zvqksIfHIqXoZqix36UBqtUtbE1W5o6OVFxdcqbI/img.jpg?width=980" id="b9405" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9aeb5e29b7ddf534eb8407af0998a2fe" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Evan Spiegel, Snap Inc" data-width="327" data-height="416" />
Evan Spiegel
<p>Evan Spiegel is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Snap Inc., the Venice-based company known for its app Snapchat. He's also one of the youngest billionaires in the world, launching Snapchat while still an undergraduate at Stanford. </p><p>SnapChat, the company's app, has recently been taking on rival TikTok <a href="https://dot.la/snap-spotlight-2649022645.html" data-linked-post="2649022645" target="_blank">with a new feature</a> and a program meant to attract creators to its platform. And it is been at the center of a larger national debate on the power of big tech. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5ODQ4My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTM1OTA1Nn0.-ZZDDgU08PzE98tuj-X4mPiatHWkTc-WGw3nt9zKgk4/img.jpg?width=980" id="62ca9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="59c916b4905b0129d5c3464cbf69121a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="273" data-height="360" />
Spencer Rascoff
<p>Spencer Rascoff is the founder of several companies, including dot.LA. He started his career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, later leaving to co-found travel website Hotwire. After serving as vice president of lodging at Expedia, he went on to found Zillow, an online real estate marketplace that went public in 2011.</p><p>Rascoff's most recent project is Pacaso, a marketplace for buying, selling and co-owning a second home.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE2MzYyMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MjgzOTI3MH0.5S6valfb4JDt7l8FDdr4CC2sxBFSPJ-Bn88t1yS8cu4/img.jpg?width=980" id="e42b9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="88846e1473c6c1fe0670326ac048d44a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Tim Ellis, Relativity Space" />
Tim Ellis
<p>Tim Ellis is the co-founder and chief executive of Relativity Space, an autonomous rocket factory and launch services leader for satellite constellations. He is the youngest member on the National Space Council Users Advisory Group and serves on the World Economic Forum as a "technology pioneer."</p><p>Before founding Relativity Space, Ellis studied aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California and interned at Masten Space Systems and Blue Origin, where he worked after graduation. He was a propulsion engineer and brought metal 3D printing in-house to the company.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5ODQ4NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjA2NzEyMH0.zTurzStk48BqpRqI4We_rjaexuQpIcnYOZj37mlgCjY/img.jpg?width=980" id="c46f1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="42e91e96cc15301fd0c4bc73a3199415" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Travis Schneider, PatientPop" data-width="492" data-height="662" />
Travis Schneider
<p>Travis Schneider is the co-founder and co-chief executive of PatientPop, a practice growth platform for healthcare providers. He founded the company with Luke Kervin in 2014. <br><br>The two have founded three companies together, including ShopNation, a fashion shopping engine that was later acquired by the Meredith Commerce Network.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5ODQ4Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MDA5Mzg3MX0.ZaIiuWDJO6ot6Jwjx7K3E5p4q5CW5alIwl3luOL6KrA/img.jpg?width=980" id="eb374" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0422e976de023e81f7eef03a41f9d145" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Luke Kervin, PatientPop" data-width="366" data-height="476" />
Luke Kervin
<p>Luke Kervin is the other co-founder and co-chief of PatientPop. He is a serial entrepreneur — his first venture was Starbrand Media, which was acquired by Popsugar in May 2008. <br><br>Kervin and Schneider then founded ShopNation, and when it was acquired in 2012, Kervin served as the general manager and vice president at the Meredith Commerce Network for a few years before leaving to found PatientPop.</p><p>Kervin had the idea for PatientPop when he and his wife were expecting their first child, he told <a href="http://voyagela.com/interview/meet-luke-kervin-patientpop-santa-monica/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">VoyageLA</a>. They were frustrated with how the healthcare system wasn't focused on the consumers it was meant to serve. So in 2014, he and Schneider created PatientPop.</p>From Your Site Articles
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On this week's episode of Office Hours, you'll hear from Gregg Renfrew, serial entrepreneur and founder of clean beauty company, Beauty Counter. She also serves on the board of directors of Supernova, my special purpose acquisition company.
<p>Gregg has lived a life full of entrepreneurial endeavors starting in college when she started a house-cleaning business. We had a free-flowing conversation where we swapped lots of entrepreneurial learnings. Hear her insight about what to look for in an investor, ideas about scaling, her sensible passion for multi-channel business -- and why people should get rid of non-stick pans (which was news to me!).</p><div class="horizontal-rule"></div><p><em>Want to hear more episodes? Subscribe to Office Hours on <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff/id1124608295" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5mXgvbUsaOv7JJQRecBdYw" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-office-hours-with-sp-28214033/" target="_blank">iHeart Radio</a> or wherever you get your podcasts.</em><br/></p>
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