Show notes
NOTE: This is an encore presentation of an episode that first aired on March 6, 2017. Grace Garey and Watsi are featured in the book, Crazy Good Advice: 10 Lessons Learned from 150 Leading Social Entrepreneurs. To hear the original, extended interview, go here: https://tonyloyd.com/157.
Watsi is on a mission to provide healthcare for every person in the world.
A billion people around the world do not have access to basic healthcare. And, for those who are fortunate enough to have access, the cost of healthcare can create a life-crippling financial burden.
Watsi enables anyone to directly fund life-changing healthcare for people around the world. You can go to their website, see photos and read stories of patients. You can donate as little as five dollars. All the donated money goes directly to the patient.
Donors receive updates throughout the funding process. Once the patient’s healthcare is funded, donors receive updates from doctors and healthcare workers. Donors experience full transparency from the donation to the impact.
Since launching four years ago, visitors to the site have raised $7.5 million to provide healthcare for more than 10,000 patients in 24 countries.
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Grace Garey
“We believe everyone deserves healthcare.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“A billion people around the world don’t have access to basic healthcare.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“It’s all through a network of local medical partners.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“When you support a patient, by default, 100% of your donation goes to support that patient’s care.”
“My parents are both progressive people who raised me and my sister to care about the rest of the world, outside of our bubble.”
“When people are safe and healthy and have access to the basic things they need, they make good decisions and they make the world around them better.”
“We started working on Watsi on nights and weekends.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“We just started.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“We employed the generosity of a lot of people who were excited about the idea.”
“We really didn’t know if it would work or not.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“We started with almost no systems.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“Our initial goal was that we would fund healthcare for ten patients in the first six months, and we did it in the first six hours.”
“I didn’t know what Y Combinator was.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“We were more like the for-profit startups than we were different.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“When we got to YC, everyone was thinking really big.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“We told them that we wanted to change global health and they did not blink an eye.”
“They assumed it was worth trying.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“There are now a dozen or so non-profits and social ventures who have gone through Y Combinator. They’ve all meshed this idea of making an impact with the idea of reaching scale.”
“Up to 40% of health funding is lost to inefficiency.” @gracegarey, @watsi
“The hardest part throughout this whole journey is just scaling as a person.”
“Everyone talks about what it takes to scale your startup, but you also have to scale.”
“You have to get used to being really bad at your job most of the time.” @gracegarey, @watsi
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