Jacob Brody
Managing Partner at Helpful Networks
Jacob Brody
Managing Partner at Helpful Networks
New York, New York
Overview
Work Experience
Founder & CEO
2024 - Current
340 Health administers chronic disease specific programs including: medical care, medications, & flex benefits. We partner with health system practices & pharmacies to help payers lower pharmacy benefit costs by as much as 55% versus using existing benefits.
Founder & Managing Partner
2016
Helpful Networks is a forward-thinking consultancy that works with both corporate and startup clients. We specialize in incubation, investment, innovation, and go-to-market strategies, helping our clients navigate the complexities of the modern business landscape. Responsibilities: - Lead business development efforts, from initial sourcing through to contracting, effectively managing client relationships and securing new partnerships. - Oversee multiple client engagements concurently, handling account and project management, ensuring the delivery of high-quality services and solutions. - Develop innovative business concepts and recruiting founders for incubation projects, translating strategic vision into actionable plans. - Produced programming and analysis for corporate clients to educate their senior executives on emerging innovation opportunities. Achievements: - Successfully sourced and negotiated various engagements, ranging from mid-five figure exploratory projects to mid-six figure annual retainer arrangements with both corporate and select startup clients. - Recruited high-profile clients, including GE, Mutual of Omaha, Reinsurance Group of America, Route, Descartes Labs, and Salido (acquired by North American Bancard - Developed a point of sale life insurance product in partnership with an insurance client and recruited the founder of a now New York Stock Exchange listed company as CEO. - Programmed and executed innovation briefings for senior executives at client organizations in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sao Paulo, showcasing the company's expertise and thought leadership.
Co-Founder & CEO
2020 - 2023
Born from my personal weight loss journey of 71 pounds, Accomplish Health is a telehealth medical weight management practice. Accomplish Health partners with health systems to become their in-house weight management practice. Responsibilities: - Oversaw essential operations of the company, including recruiting, business development, fundraising, finance/P&L, operations, and compliance, ensuring a balanced and effective leadership approach. - Owned recruitment and management of leadership and team members including clinical, operations, compliance, healthcare management, finance, design, and engineering. - Led business development including prospecting, modeling partnership economics, and negotiating commercial terms for professional service arrangements with large NY health system bariatric practices. - Co-developed billing model leveraging category 1 CPT codes corresponding with our pharmacotherapy and coaching programs. - Successfully raised $4 million in funding from top-tier venture capital investors, facilitating the expansion of our services and geographic reach. Achievements: - Recruited clinical team that achieved impressive patient outcomes, with average weight loss of 12% at 6 months and 21% at 12 months, a testament to our personalized weight management programs and sustained support. - Oversaw launch of practice in 16 states including establishing MSO/friendly PCs. - Negotiated commercial terms for annual professional services arrangements with two significant NY health system bariatric practices, leading to our establishment as their preferred in-house medical weight management practice. - Recruited and managed a team of 11 with leadership experience from renowned organizations such as Cedars Sinai Medical Center, United Health, Capsule, Cityblock Health, and Recombine - Successfully raised $4 million in funding from top-tier venture capital investors.
Advisor
2019 - 2021
Cantos Ventures is a seed fund backing frontier technology startups. - Advise portfolio companies on sales, marketing, fundraising, and product strategy. - Conduct diligence calls with prospective Cantos Ventures investments. - Provide warm introductions for Cantos Ventures portfolio companies to potential customer and marketing partners.
Co-Founder and CEO
2014 - 2016
Benny was a tech startup that creating tools to assist freelancers with purchasing health insurance and managing their taxes. Our mission was to streamline these complex processes, freeing up freelancers to focus on their craft. Responsibilities: - Led fundraising efforts with venture capital and angel investors. - Spear-headed recruiting process for founding technical, design and marketing team members. - Managed all business development for marketing, health insurance and fintech partnerships. - Sourced and managed key vendors encompassing areas such as insurance brokerage operations, editorial, legal, accounting, and compliance. - Conducted comprehensive customer development interviews to better understand and address client pain points. Achievements: - Secured over $1 million in seed funding from top-tier investors, including GV (Google Ventures), Expansion VC, WGI, and Jesse Middleton (Flybridge). - Successfully negotiated and executed brokerage partnerships with industry leaders such as eHealth and Health Sherpa, expanding the company's reach and service offerings. - Built and managed a team of 5 full-time employees, including a technical co-founder, two additional engineers, a designer, and head of operations. The team boasted a combined experience from leading companies such as Google, Rdio, iHeartRadio, and NewsCred.
Founding Partner
2012 - 2014
MESA Ventures was a $10 million strategic seed/early-stage venture fund, a subsidiary of MESA, a leading investment bank later acquired by Houlihan Lokey. The fund focused on investing in innovative companies in the media, entertainment, and technology sectors. Responsibilities: - Sourced, evaluated, conducted due diligence, and led investments for the venture fund, managing a diverse portfolio of 30 investments. - Orchestrated strategic planning for investment execution, focusing on high growth potential and long-term financial stability. - Consistently communicated with stakeholders to update them on the fund's performance and key portfolio developments. Achievements: - My portfolio of investments returned over 3.5x to investors net-of-fees, with a significant portion of the portfolio remaining. - Directed 30 investments in high-growth companies like Triple Lift, which yielded an 85x exit to Vista Equity Partners for $1.4 billion, as well as Easypost, Tala, Abra, Fitstar (acquired by Fitbit), and Grand St. - According to Cambridge Associates benchmarks, the fund's performance was top decile for the 2012 vintage. - When filtered for my portfolio of investments, performance was in the top 5% of the 2012 vintage.
Head of Business and Community Development
2011 - 2012
MESA was a leading small and mid-market investment bank focused on providing private placement and M&A advisory services for media, entertainment, and technology companies. The company was acquired by Houlihan Lokey in 2015. Responsibilities: - Led business development efforts by organizing and participating in marketing/client meetings, and conducting industry and company-specific due diligence for transactions. - Spearheaded the programming and marketing for business development events including company-sponsored conferences and networking dinners. - Conducted outreach to a broad range of stakeholders, including corporate clients, lenders, private equity firms, venture capital firms, and family offices. Achievements: - Developed an extensive network of senior and mid-level executives within the digital media and technology industry, burnishing MESA's reputation as a trusted advisor within the sector. - Contributed to the founding of MESA Ventures, a $10 million strategic venture fund, expanding the bank's footprint in venture investment. - Successfully secured my Series 79 license, further demonstrating my commitment to providing exceptional financial advisory services. - Garnered press coverage from outlets including Business Insider, Venturebeat and The New York Observer. - Orchestrated high-profile business development conferences with acclaimed speakers such as Alan Patricof (Greycroft, APAX), Albert Wenger (Union Square Ventures), and Nihal Mehta (Eniac Ventures). Media coverage by top journalists including Alyson Shontel (Forbes), Erin Griffth (NY Times), and Peter Kafka (Recode + WSJ). - Successfully negotiated sponsorship deals with key legal service and commercial banking partnerst. - Led a series of quarterly business development dinners in partnership with Microsoft Bing, featuring elite investors and startup founders/executives from companies such as WeWork, Union Square Ventures, Moat, MovableInk, Boldstart, Softbank, and Mayfield Fund.
Founder and Chairman
2009 - 2011
Non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the entrepreneurship through educating entrepreneurs and providing them the tools to succeed. - Developed standardized and annotated legal documents for company formation and financing with legal partners. - Aggregated and secured rights to republish educational content on how to start and operate a startup.
Contributing Writer
2008 - 2011
Tech blog covering the technology and venture capital industry.
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