Hey, I'm Dan! I'm the CEO of Plus and a venture partner at Madrona. I write the DL, a newsletter about tech in the Pacific Northwest

Featured Posts

Find Stuff

Built with Webflow

Haven Shuts Down

Three years ago, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase teamed up to launch Haven, a joint venture to lower healthcare costs through technology solutions. Here’s what happened:

  • No one really knew what they were going to do, but all the big health care stocks dropped in anticipation of a new competitor
  • In 2019, Haven hired Atul Gawande (famous surgeon, author of Being Mortal) as CEO
  • It looked like their primary product was going to be Starfield, an app to help patients interact more frequently with primary care physicians
  • Over the next year, the Starfield launch went very poorly, and the board could not agree on what Haven should work on next
  • Now they are shutting it down, and each of the companies is pursuing its own healthcare initiatives independently


Moral of the story: Just focus on what you’re building, and don’t worry about what Amazon (or another competitor) is announcing! If an investor asks you if you’re worried about competitor XYZ, just tell them it validates your market opportunity, why you’re better, and move on.

Liked this article? Sign up for the DL, my weekly newsletter 📬

Thank you! You'll receive your first issue of the DL on Monday!
If you want to check out older issues - click here for the archives.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.