An entrepreneur is plowing seeds from selling a digital marketing agency into what he sees as fertile ground for health-care IT.
Bill Balderaz headed the Central Ohio-based health-care arm of Fathom Online Marketing for four years after the Cleveland agency acquired his Webbed Marketing LLC.
Now he’s launching Futurety LLC: A consultant to idea-stage and established health-care companies seeking to capitalize on the growing retail mindset in medicine via software, telemedicine or wearable technology.
“The big vision is helping health-care IT companies grow,” he said, whether that’s validating the market potential of an idea or breaking into a larger market.
As interest in health data and wellness apps grows, he said, Columbus has a disproportionately low share of the deals. Meanwhile, health systems are looking for ways to operate efficiently, boost patient satisfaction and prevent readmissions.
“I saw a lot of good ideas that weren’t being commercialized,” he said. “I talked to investors … who weren’t sure where to find the deal flow.”
For now Balderaz, a member of the Ohio TechAngel Funds, invests personally in some of the companies. Futurety itself does not have a fund – but the coalition of its backers is committed to raising one, he said.
Over the past eight months he has built a coalition of company founders, scientists and investors interested in health IT who meet monthly. What started with half a dozen grew to about 30 members, he said.
He visited health IT accelerators in other cities, and the group in Boston impressed on him the idea of matching and bundling ideas and patents into a real product.
“In Columbus as I look at early-stage ideas and take them to health-care organizations, they say, that’s great, where’s the rest of it?” he said.
In a Henderson Road office in Upper Arlington, Futurety’s revenue comes from consultant fees and equity stakes in startups.
“Bill brings great perspective and experience,” said a statement from Falon Donohue, executive director of the VentureOhio state trade group who has participated in the coalition. “He has also surrounded himself with the right network of entrepreneurs, investors, inventors and scientists to make Futurety a success.”
While Balderaz has stepped away from daily operations at Fathom, he remains a paid consultant on a contract basis and will continue to write and do podcasts for the agency. The Grandview Heights office, the 12th largest advertising agency in Central Ohio as of 2014, is still growing, he said.
Date: July 22, 2015