Katelyn Gleason is not your typical tech CEO. Born and raised in Long Island, Gleason worked her way through school and graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in theater. Though, at one time, she had never written a line of code or designed a user interface, Gleason has stood at the helm of healthtech company Eligible since its 2011 inception. As she explained to Built In NYC, her rise to the top came through a combination of grit and creativity.
“I have been working since I was 13,” Gleason said. “I put myself through school. When I was 18, I started doing sales, and by the time I was 20, I was running sales teams.” Despite this success, Gleason had doubts about more formally entering the business world — particularly as an artist. “Though I innately understood business, I didn’t like it. I was so worried about becoming a salesperson who could sell, but lack pride in what I was selling.”
Soon after, though, Gleason formally cut her teeth in the tech world when she joined Silicon Valley-based drchrono, a medical records platform. While helping the team build up a project that would eventually launch out of the prestigious Y Combinator, Gleason had a realization: launching a product was a lot like acting.
“I was very passionate about creation,” she explained. “[Creating drchrono] and bringing a product to market — it’s a lot like your first go at rehearsal. You bring your product and let everyone tear you down and say ‘you have to fix that.’ Then you go back and work on it until it’s perfect.”
Once drchrono was formally launched, Gleason was officially infected by the startup bug. “I had always felt loved and supported, but I never had much understanding that you could build your own business and create your own product.” Shortly after, Gleason started Eligible from the table of her Mountain View kitchen.
A lot of people don’t realize that patients forego having crucial medical treatments done because they’re worried of what they might owe.”
Eligible works to benefit both healthcare providers and their patients with its intelligent billing software. Using Eligible’s unique APIs, insurance and healthcare providers are able to offer patients an accurate estimate of their financial obligation far in advance. Gleason described an all-too common scenario:
“You go to a doctor to get a lab test done, and as you’re leaving they say you owe $20. Then, two months later you get a bill for $100 in the mail. A lot of people don’t realize that patients forego having crucial medical treatments done because they’re worried of what they might owe.”
Since its founding, Eligible has raised more than $25 million, and works with some of the largest health networks in the country. The firm also established its official headquarters in New York City, which enables it to straddle developer teams on the West Coast and design teams based in Europe. The central location also enables support teams to work with patients in real-time, as many doctor’s appointments take place in the early part of the day.
Our real focus for the next year is [patient] advocacy."
Looking ahead, Gleason and Eligible hope to continue advocating for patients across the country. “Most people don’t think of patients as consumers,” she said. “So our real focus for the next year is advocacy around the fact that patients — if they know what they’ll owe and it’s accurate — will be more likely to get the treatments they need. Most people don’t [get medical help] because they’re scared of what they’ll owe.”
As for her own journey, Gleason hopes others with similar backgrounds, women and those with creative talents, will be inspired to pursue their passions. “I think that a lot of people in my position are wary of [speaking out] because then it’s easy to become a target. Like, ‘this girl has no experience, what’s she doing running this API company?’ But if you want it, you want it.”
The way Gleason describes it, it’s easy to see the parallels between embodying a character and transforming oneself into a CEO.
“If you want to devote your life to this, you can do it. I love people who realize and recognize that you can create your own reality.”
