On this special mini episode of Lifers, Christina Farr speaks with Josh Tauber, multi-time COO and founder, and Keaton Bedell, co-founder and CEO of Bridge, about a recent New York Times article on Medvi, a cash-pay GLP-1 company valued at $1.8 billion. The conversation covers the infrastructure shifts enabling virtual care companies to launch faster than ever, the legal and regulatory questions still unresolved, and what separates sustainable virtual care businesses from those chasing a short-term opportunity.
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Join Christina for an upcoming webinar:

* 5/19 - What will AI do for employer healthcare and benefits with Garner Health - ⁠⁠https://streamyard.com/watch/sQfWpwRzMqWE⁠⁠

* 5/21 - The case for building an AI native electronic health record system - ⁠https://streamyard.com/watch/RCVSNheSPePs⁠

⁠⁠* 6/3 - Privacy, AI & the future of HIPAA with the former founding director of ONC - ⁠⁠https://streamyard.com/watch/bzW4sh8WAPyS⁠⁠

⁠* 6/23 - Not everyone can access the top 1% of physicians. Will AI change that? - ⁠⁠https://streamyard.com/watch/qY9td6fhiXK3⁠⁠

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SPONSOR: Granola
Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://granola.ai/lifers with code: LIFERS
Interested in sponsoring the show? lifers@a16zstudios.com
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LINKS:
NY Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/technology/ai-billion-dollar-company-medvi.html

Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr
Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/
Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/
Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books

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FOLLOW:
Keaton:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/keatonbedell/
https://x.com/keatonbedell

Josh:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuatauber/

Chrissy:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/
https://x.com/chrissyfarr

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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Intro
(01:51) Leveraging turnkey infrastructure to spin up virtual clinics
(02:52) Evaluating the lack of traditional software moats in health tech
(04:58) Analyzing the legality and ethics of cash-pay medical groups
(06:37) Sponsor: Granola
(07:16) Analyzing the legality and ethics of cash-pay medical groups
(08:02) Improving patient access and agency through direct-to-consumer models
(09:50) Building competitive advantages through patient trust and retention
(11:40) Bootstrapping virtual care companies without traditional venture capital
(13:08) Wrap