The plan · universal — not versioned

The Path Map

Two ways in, one destination. Where I am now, and how each route keeps founding live.

01

Where I am now

Applying on two tracks.

Consulting — healthcare strategy / CDD. Top targets (ranking varies): Mansfield Advisors, Candesic, Carnall Farrar (October cohort, warmest access), PMSI Strategy, Edge Health — plus a wider list of ~13 more across healthcare boutiques and generalist strategy.

Commercial — founding-GTM / first commercial hire at seed–Series B health-tech startups. This track is both a bridge (income and immersion before a consulting start) and a backup (if consulting doesn't land this cycle).

Underneath both, continuously, the technical co-founder search.

Consulting Path A Commercial Path B Found health tech startup

Two ways in, one destination.

02

The map

WHERE I AM NOW Applying in parallel — consulting + commercial / startup roles consulting offer commercial offer — bridge / backup PATH A · CONSULTING PATH B · COMMERCIAL Land a healthcare consulting role Mansfield · Candesic · Carnall Farrar — + more Immerse & explore build relationships · test fit · learn the commercial map Continue, or branch? Progress toward Partner Settle as Partner Found my own AI-native firm Corporate strategy role e.g. Palantir health · established health tech Senior operator in an emerging health tech Found a health tech — direct from consulting Land a commercial role founding GTM / first commercial hire · seed–Series B Progress to senior commercial roles own clearance · evidence · buyer relationships Move across to stronger health techs compound scope + relationships Branch? Operating / platform role at a VC Senior operator / leadership in health tech Found a health tech startup commercial role bridges into / backs up consulting FOUND A HEALTH TECH STARTUP domain credibility + technical co-founder + a validated, regulated wedge RUNS THROUGHOUT Technical co-founder search — EF cohort · personal network · YC co-founder matching RUNS THROUGHOUT Tend institutional relationships as people, not contracts · keep operator muscle live on side projects
Two ways in, one destination. Every branch — Partner (settle or found my own AI-native firm), corporate strategy, senior operator, VC platform — ultimately routes back to founding rather than closing it off. The dashed link is the bridge/backup relationship between the tracks I'm running right now.
03

Operating principles

  1. Time-box the experiment. If I enter consulting, it's a diagnostic with a readout date (~24 months), not an open-ended stay. Institutional gravity turns two years into five by inertia — decide by preference, not default.
  2. Name the exits in advance. Partner track · corporate strategy (e.g. Palantir health) · senior operator · found. Revisit them deliberately at the readout date.
  3. Build relationships as people, not engagements. Medical directors, clinical leads, service managers only become a network if I tend them after the project ends. This is the asset with the longest half-life — and the one consulting won't hand me automatically.
  4. Pick relationship-rewarding buyers. Favour B2B / B2B2C into NHS & ICS, employers, insurers, pharma — where credibility compounds — over pure D2C, where capital and brand win and clinical relationships don't.
  5. Keep the co-founder search always-on. No technical co-founder in a reasonable window means I'm the clinical/commercial founder of someone else's company, not a solo CEO. Decide that consciously.
  6. Gate founding on evidence, not enthusiasm. Threshold to raise: at least one signed design partner plus a defensible evidence plan. Regulation is necessary, not sufficient — the moat is the specific thing I build.
  7. Stay falsification-first. Run the kill signals below against whichever path I'm on, honestly and on a schedule.
04

Kill signals — what would change my mind

  1. Consulting — 12+ months in, staffed only on short CDD sprints, no provider-side immersion, no durable operator relationships: the "relationships + map" rationale isn't accruing. Re-evaluate the firm or the path.
  2. Commercial — title inflation without real ownership of clearance, evidence or buyer relationships: the role isn't building the assets. Move.
  3. Founding — the wedge relies on cheap-to-replicate software with no regulatory, data or workflow moat: the defensibility thesis fails. Kill the idea, not the domain.
  4. Domain — nothing seen so far falsifies health as the 10–15 year area. The open question is always the vehicle, never the domain. If that ever inverts, this whole document is up for review.