Startup Decoder’s “From the Trenches” series shares the stories of mid- or late-career employees or founders working in tech.
Hi Laurence! Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your current work.
My name is Laurence Briggs (69 years of experience) and I am currently CEO/Founder of Doctor Wiki Inc.
I founded Doctor Wiki because I feel pretty disgusted by all the greedy aspects and terrible outcomes of the healthcare industry in the US: the unnecessary over-testing, the long waits for a doctor’s appointment, the whole money first treatment after approach.
The number of people who live on a miserly income and have either no insurance or useless insurance with high copays really is disturbing. Nearly fifty percent of adult Americans take five pills a day. The opioid crisis is awful and the consequence of the greedy approach.
A friend of mine had gout in his right big toe in his forties—he went to see an MD who immediately put him on a pill a day to “manage” his uric acid. So far he has spent around $8,000 over 8 years and continues to take a pill every day. I, too, had gout in my right big toe. An Indian friend used an ayurvedic treatment of turmeric and olive oil, malaxed it and rubbed it on to my foot. I slept for 12 hours and have never had a problem since. Cost $2! No pills.
With my experience as a serial entrepreneur, I felt that I could do something about this, hence Doctor Wiki.
Doctor Wiki is a consumer-facing online healthcare platform that is dedicated to educating/informing consumers about primary care and known alternative treatments form around the globe.
What has your career path looked like?
I first qualified as a professional accountant in the city of London in my 20s and then immediately was assigned to a post in Egypt that was opening up. I immediately found a niche in representing foreign companies in joint-venture and government negotiations. After four years I moved to Paris, then took a year off to complete the Slocan Fellowship program at the London Business School. In France I had an opportunity to turn around a paint tunnel construction business, which rapidly became a buyout. I then acquired a number of companies in difficulty and turned them around. They included metal transformation, bomb disposal robots and the first company to use robots in the operating room.
In 1991 I moved to the United States where I built a pan-US and European day trading firm.
In 2005 I recognized the need for an angel investor group in Dallas, and started an angel investor group. In 2014 with a few friends we bought a small biopharma company and created from it PrevaLeaf, a consumer natural products company for intimate feminine needs (now sold all over the country).
In 2015 I moved to Silicon Valley. In 2018 I took a desk in Plug and Play and whilst consulting in Healthcare contagion prevention, I was inspired to create Doctor Wiki.
What does the “age geography” of your company look like, how do you fit in it, and has that made any difference to your worklife?
I go out of my way to be as diverse as possible in age and gender. Everyone is currently independent. Being multicultural and multilingual, I really appreciate diversity and the value it brings to a company and its culture of innovation and problem-solving.
In what ways does your experience level make a positive contribution to your team?
I do not get flustered when a problem arises–it is just a problem to work through. Throughout my life I have seen so many negative people who see only problems and reasons not to do things. I try to always have a positive attitude and tell everyone, “Let’s work this out.” Experience and the inspiration you can engender in others helps you make things happen. In particular, I have been successful in convincing other larger companies to work with a startup.
What are your five favorite tools to use at work?
My laptop, smartphone, Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
Do you see yourself as a mentor to any younger employees?
I love to teach and have sometimes been very effective at helping younger entrepreneurs to learn.
What is one word that describes how you feel about this stage of your career? Excited. I love taking a problem and finding a solution–one that includes a high-level sense of purpose. It is a wonderful feeling to look back at a company or product and be able to say that exists because I was here with an idea and was able to pull in others and implement it.
Can you recommend any people, books, apps or podcasts that have recently had an impact on your worklife?
I have only just started listening to podcasts and one really has made me rethink negotiating skills. It is by a retired FB I hostage negotiator who changed the way the FBI negotiates for hostages and improved the chances of victim survival rates. He’s Chris Voss and you can read more about him here (or search your podcast provider for his many interviews).
If you could recommend one change that would help eliminate ageism, what would it be?
I think in a corporation it requires positive action on the part of management but also on the part of aging individuals. Whereas it is terrible to see that after 50 it is often difficult to be considered for a job, we older people have to realize we must move over to allow the younger set to move up. I have always been an entrepreneur being my own boss, but I see friends become very depressed when they are left aside or don’t get selected for the job they interviewed for.
What’s next for you?
Build out Doctor Wiki, get it funded, replace myself at the helm and/or get acquired. Seriously considering a crowdfunding campaign on We Funder, which I will enjoy undertaking. Then I think it is time to buy a decked out Sprinter camping van and visit all the parks of the US and maybe travel around South America.
We’d love to share your story of work in the startup trenches, too! Jot us an email (nancy@startupdecoder.com) and we’ll get you started.