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Why Listen

Vincent's story is pretty much the opposite of the standard entrepreneurial success story you hear. Yes - he has experienced incredible success - his company, VisitPay, now has over 100 employees, 3 of his 7 C-Suite executives are Service Academy graduates, and he has received over $26M in funding from some of the best investors in the world, like Norwest. However, where his story differs is that this didn't happen overnight. Vincent has been at this for nearly 12 years. His success didn't come all at once, it came through a sustained effort over a decade. What I love most about Vincent's story is how he elegantly merged two vital aspects of entrepreneurship that - to me - often seem to be complete opposite skill sets - that of rapidly iterating (building, learning, and reacting as quickly as possible to feedback from customers), and at an opposite extreme, building for scale (slowing down to build things properly so that it can sustain the load of a massive influx of customers). I learned so much from my conversation with Vincent and hope you will too.

About Vincent

Vincent Martino is the Co-Founder of VisitPay, a company he started nearly 12 years ago that now has over 100 employees and has raised $26M in funding from top notch investors like Norwest. 3 of his 7 C-Suite executives are Service Academy Grads. His journey started at the Naval Academy, included five years in the Marine Corps, followed by an MBA at the Wharton School, and includes work at Dynamicsoft, Capital One, COO at Balihoo and co-authoring the book, The Marine Corps Way.

Selected Resources: 

• Mission43

Transcript & Time Stamps:

2:55

Joining us today from Eagle, Idaho is Vincent Martino.

What was your first job search like after leaving the military?

Getting out of the Marine Corps was a difficult decision for me. It wasn’t one thing that lead to that decision. It was a bunch of things combined. My wife really wanted to be a physical therapist but there were no Marine bases that were located near physical therapy school. So that was one thing that lead to my separation. We also wanted to start a family one day and I recognized that it would probably be a little bit easier balancing a family life if I was outside the military. 

I was a communications officer and I recognized that technology was rapidly changing the world. So the idea of getting out of the military and exploring that more was also a factor in my decision. 

When I separated, I went to Wharton to get my MBA. I recognized that I was lacking a business skill set - I had no background in finance or accounting. I know a lot of veterans that have gone into business without an MBA but for me, it was extremely helpful. I had no background in business - I studied engineering as an undergraduate. So I think for me the MBA made a lot of sense. In my case, I went to school full-time. But I think a part-time program can also be an appealing option to explore. 

During business school, I did an internship in investment banking and realized that it wasn’t the right fit for me. I wanted to be more hands on and operational. I came across a company in New Jersey called Dynamicsoft. I connected with a veteran that was working there and he suggested that Product Management might be a good fit for me. When I looked more into what the job would entail, I realized that it would be a good fit for me. I was employee #43 at Dynamicsoft. The company was purchased by Cisco about a year after I joined. It was a huge learning experience to be part of such a successful company and to see the acquisition process up close. 

13:40

One thing I love about your story is that you haven’t been afraid to reach out to other people to learn about their company or industry in order to understand more about whether or not it might be a good fit for you. 

When I have the opportunity to talk to veterans, it’s something I love to do. If there’s a company you’re interested in, don’t be afraid to reach out, especially if there’s a veteran there that you can connect with. You might have the opportunity to take a paid or unpaid internship with that company to really understand what working in that industry is like. 

15:10

How would you explain VisitPay? 

Our mission at VisitPay is to help people manage their healthcare bills. We do this with both patients and healthcare systems. There are about 2900 hospitals across the United States. We work with about 250 of those hospitals. We help these hospitals make their bills more transparent so patients understand what they are getting charged for. We also help patients pay their healthcare bills in a more affordable and flexible manner. 

16:30

How did you get the idea to start VisitPay?

Prior to starting the company, I had some experience working for Capital One. In the summer of 2009, I got together with one of my colleagues at Capital One. We both wanted to start something new. We were inspired by the idea of building a solution that would help patients and healthcare systems more seamlessly manage their billing. 

20:20

How long was it from the first time you met your co-founder to the time you both started VisitPay?

It was quick - only about a month. I had known of my co-founder before we actually met. So I already had a huge amount of respect for him. 

24:20

What has the journey been like for you since founding the company?

Our growth was very flat for a long time which we expected. We came in knowing we didn’t have a super flashy idea. We had an idea that we wanted to help solve the issue of how healthcare bills got paid in America. We wanted something national in scope. So our first five years were very flat in growth but we were iterating on our original idea to find what would work at a larger scale. Once we figured that out, our growth started rising significantly. 

Getting a healthcare system is a drawn out system - it usually takes about a year. So building that relationship with various healthcare systems took time too. 

27:50

Do you have any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

My co-founder is very strong in areas I’m not. He had a very good gut feeling on when we needed to iterate and reshape our business during those early years. I probably would have stuck with some of our early ideas for too long. So I encourage people to think about co-founders that complement your skillset. My co-founder is strong in areas where I’m weak and vice versa.

Early on we saw how valuable our software was to patients. But we also knew that software version we had wasn’t scalable. So we wanted to be patient and go back to the beginning to rewrite the software in a way that would be more scalable. I think that helped make us more successful long-term. 

For me, it would have been difficult to start my own business right out of the military but for other people that might be the right option. I think for a lot of people it makes sense to get an education and some experience in the civilian sector before starting your own business. Also try to build a network of other veterans in the domain in which you want to start your business. They’ll be able to give you great advice before you dive in. 

33:00

How has your day-to-day changed throughout the time of the company’s existence?

As we’ve grown we've gone from working in my co-founder’s basement to working increasingly larger offices. 

Early on, I had my hands in many different areas. As the company has grown, I’ve become more concentrated in fewer areas. I’m solely responsible for the product and the product vision for the company. I’ve also gotten quite involved with sales. 

35:10

Are there any resources that you would recommend to listeners?

I don’t think there’s any one thing but what has helped me is that I have mentors both inside and outside our company which has really helped me along the way. That’s been a huge source of development for me. 

36:40

Do you have any advice for fostering mentorship relationships?

I don’t think there’s one right answer. I think it depends upon the specifics of that relationship. Some of my mentors I talk to once or twice a year and for other mentors it’s more frequent. I haven’t given equity to any of my mentors although I think that can be a great option to explore. 

38:20

You co-authored a book The Marine Corps Way. What was that process like? 

It was published about 20 years ago.  A fellow Marine and I worked on it during our time at Wharton. What we did is break down the Marine Corps framework for battle and then we applied that to business. It took me about four months to write the book. It was a really rewarding process. 

43:25

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

There’s some great veterans resources out there. Everything from SBA loans to veteran accelerators. So I encourage transitioning military members to seek out resources and assistance from those organizations. They can be a great place to start when you’re making your transition to the civilian workforce.