Don't ask what the other guys are doing. Ask what's best for your patient – Anthony Kantor

In this week's episode of Compound Wisdom, host Steve sits down with Anthony Kantor — co-founder and operator of Ivím Health — to dig into one of the most overlooked secrets in telehealth: building something that actually works for patients, not just for growth metrics.Anthony shares how he and his brother, Taylor, bootstrapped a family-run telehealth company from the ground up, pivoted into the GLP-1 wave at exactly the right moment, and built a high-touch care model by keeping providers in-house when everyone else was outsourcing.Anthony explains why they started with peptides after his mom's Crohn's remission on BPC-157, how a single TikTok video took them from 15 patients to 150 in a month, and why they turned down external provider networks to maintain full control over patient experience.They also get into the messier side of scaling — what it's really like visiting compounding pharmacies in person, why female HRT is more symptom-based than people think, and how AI is already changing what providers can handle at scale.The episode closes with Anthony's belief that the telehealth space is about to see consolidation — and that the companies obsessed with patient outcomes, not exits, are the ones that will survive it.Takeaways1. Start by understanding the patient problem deeply — Ivím Health was born from a personal health story, not a market opportunity.2. Don't chase trends blindly — they almost passed on GLP-1s before understanding the cardio-metabolic benefits.3. Keeping providers in-house costs more upfront but gives you full control over patient experience and clinical quality.4. Organic growth beats paid ads early on — Ivím Health didn't spend a dollar on marketing for the first year.5. Visit your compounding pharmacies in person — if you're putting it in a patient's body, you should know where it comes from.6. Labs aren't always necessary for female HRT — symptom-based care can be more effective, but patient comfort matters too.7. Build tech that personalizes the journey, not just the prescription — engagement is what drives outcomes.8. Use AI to empower providers first, not replace them — the best healthcare will always be a hybrid model.9. If one compounder is doing something no one else is, that's a red flag, not a competitive advantage.10. When the mission is bigger than the business opportunity, patient trust becomes your moat.Chapters00:00 — Intro: Telehealth consolidation is coming — and why Ivím Health isn't worried01:27 — The origin story: From Crohn's remission to building a peptide platform03:29 — How a family of four bootstrapped a telehealth company with zero investors03:51 — The GLP-1 pivot: Why they almost said no, and what changed their mind04:53 — From 15 patients to 150 in 30 days: The TikTok moment that changed everything05:42 — Building for patient experience, not just growth metrics07:22 — Why Ivím Health keeps all providers in-house — and what that costs08:31 — The medications they offer now — and why peptides are coming back09:18 — Female HRT beta learnings: Labs, symptom-based care, and insurance dynamics11:24 — The peptide landscape in 2024 — what's coming back and when16:17 — Compounding pharmacy diligence: Why visiting in person matters17:41 — The seven-pharmacy algorithm — routing prescriptions for speed and quality18:42 — AI for providers, not patients (yet): How Ivím Health is using automation to scale care21:05 — Why healthcare will be the last industry to go fully AI — empathy still matters23:01 — Doubling provider efficiency with AI — from 1:1000 to 1:2000 patient ratios24:49 — Where telehealth is going: Consolidation, exits, and who stays standing26:21 — Why Ivím Health isn't looking to cash out — and what kind of partners they'd actually take28:12 — Final thoughts: Patient outcomes over everything