"I faint when they take my blood," Amee admits with characteristic candor. Yet today, as CEO and Co-founder of WellBeam, she's tackling one of healthcare's most persistent problems: the black box of care that swallows patients after hospital discharge.
Host Laurie McGraw digs into that chance meeting of Amee and her co-founder Pascal. Two Kenyans, on a Stanford cycling training ride, thousands of miles from home with an even stronger bond, both with mothers fighting cancer. And that led to doing something more; a determination to fix a broken system.
Ideas turned into meetings and several bad ideas rejected by various Stanford surgeons until one crucial conversation with pancreatic surgeon Dr. Brendan Visser. His frustration was clear: exceptional inpatient care followed by total blindness once patients left the hospital. Fax machines. Phone tag. Patients bouncing back to the ER before anyone knew there was a problem. And with this, WellBeam was born.
Today, WellBeam serves as the critical infrastructure connecting hospital EMRs with home health, hospice, and skilled nursing facilities. The result? A 20-30% reduction in readmissions and millions in recovered revenue for physicians doing work they couldn't previously bill.
In this episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Amee also discusses:
✔ The unexpected value of "having too much fun" at Cambridge and how it shaped her leadership approach
✔ Why she left the prestige of investment banking and consulting to work out of a shoebox office in London
✔ How catching the "startup bug" at Pavegen prepared her for the healthcare innovation journey
✔ The importance of building a village of mentors, especially as a female founder in healthcare
✔ Why healthcare's biggest problems aren't glamorous—and why that's exactly where innovation is needed
✔ Navigating slow healthcare sales cycles while maintaining startup momentum
✔ Leading as a new mother and CEO: ruthless prioritization and trusting your team
Chapters:
00:54 - Introduction & Background
04:17 - The Stanford Connection & Finding a Co-founder
07:13 - WellBeam's Origin & Solution
11:28 - Business Model & Market Approach
14:06 - Leadership as a Female CEO & New Mother
21:39 - Advice for Aspiring Female Founders
GUEST & HOST LINKS
Connect with Laurie McGraw on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurieasmcgraw/
Connect with Amee Devani on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/amee-devani-a2418812/
CONNECT WITH INSPIRING WOMEN
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