HEADLINER Making tomorrow’s portal personal harecare cofounder Jeff Arnold didn’t grow up Jeff Arnold Experts include healthcare professionals, nonprofits harboring entrepreneurial ambitions, though Co-founder, chairman and “knowledge partners,” such as Pfizer, Dove, Unit- Sas the fifth of six children, he was always inde- and CEO, edHealthcare and Weight Watchers. Revenue comes pendent. In 1993, he was a college dropout, working from those partners, which typically have one-year as a reseller of Merck products, when a doctor gave 2007-2009 minimum, multimillion dollar contracts for sponsor- Chief of global digital strategy, him the germ of an idea that would become Quality Discovery ­Communications ship rights to answer questions in a given category, Diagnostic Services, a cardiac arrhythmia monitoring and from $75 per month HCP profile pages. 2002-2007 company. Arnold started it with a $25,000 loan from Chairman/CEO, HowStuffWorks Sharecare hasn’t turned a profit, but revenue was his future father-in-law. up 300% from 2010 to 2011. Staff has grown from 20 When the company sold for $25 million in 1998, 1998-2000 to 110, total site visits hit 12.5 million in December Founder/chair/CEO, WebMD Arnold turned around and got started on WebMD. and page views topped 100 million in January. “My experience with QDS led to the realization The strategy is to move consumers from information that healthcare needed a homepage,” says Arnold. to action to support through measurable evidence- “With WebMD we learned health information is mis- based programs (available on the site and promoted on sion critical information that has to be right 100% of Oz’s show) like “Transformation Nation,” developed the time and that brand matters.” with Weight Watchers, which launched in September He bought HowStuffWorks for about $2 million and has more than one million participants. in 2002, getting “really good at search” before selling “With QDS, we learned it didn’t matter how good it to Discovery Communications for $250 million the technology was if you didn’t build the patient in 2007. relationship because you wouldn’t get compliance A meeting with Dr. , who wanted to and without compliance you wouldn’t get results and build a website, led to Sharecare’s launch in October without results doctors wouldn’t use you,” says Arnold. 2010. More than $40 million has been raised from “If Sharecare doesn’t connect with the consumer we’re investors including Oz, Harpo Studios, Sony Pic- not going to drive engagement, and if we don’t drive tures Television and Discovery. Galen engagement we’re not going to get results.” Partners and TomorrowVentures New 2012 offerings will include: recently infused $14 million. SharecarePro (including CME, “The challenge was how would e-detailing and research); a “You, I do WebMD differently 10 years the Smart Patient” video library; later,” Arnold says. “Healthcare and online doctor appointment needs to become more personal. scheduling. Sharecare recently Instead of one WebMD, we acquired The Little Blue Book, need millions of WebMDs.” whose more than 400,000 phy- Sharecare aims to be “the sicians will be listed on Share- humble host of healthcare,” he care by April (the hope is says, by letting consumers ask they’ll convert to paid profile questions that are answered pages). by multiple experts. Users can Down-to-earth and per- “friend” each other and share sonable, Arnold says his content. There are more than dad taught him that while 200 major partners, almost one it’s nice to be important, million questions and hundreds it’s more important to be of thousands of answers. nice. He’s tried to instill that tenet and the idea that “work doesn’t have to feel like a job” into his four kids. “It didn’t matter “You have to feel like you’re making how good the the right choices and having impact— whatever that impact is for you,” he technology was adds. “I don’t need to work, and I don’t if you didn’t feel like I’m working. The convergence of media, technology and healthcare build the patient interests me.” —Tanya Lewis relationship” An expanded version of this story can

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