How Did Will Young Build Sana From the Ground Up

[Audrey Walker]

Hey everyone, I came across an interesting profile of Will Young, the co-founder of Sana, and thought it was worth sharing here. From what I gathered, he and his co-founder Nathan started Sana to make high-quality healthcare accessible for small businesses. Before Sana, Will was at Justworks helping small business owners with payroll and benefits, and even spent a couple of years at Google. It seems like his experience really shaped the way Sana was built to address gaps in traditional healthcare plans.

What I found particularly intriguing is how they started remotely before COVID was even a factor, hiring all their first employees across different locations. It seems like they were quite ahead of the curve on remote operations, which is impressive considering they were still figuring out product-market fit at the time. Also, the company has grown to over 100 employees and has helped thousands of people, which is a decent footprint for a relatively young startup.

Will also shares some practical advice about staying productive and balancing work with personal life, which seems very relatable. He emphasizes focusing on proactive initiatives and keeping in touch with customers rather than just reacting to emails and meetings. The whole story makes me curious about how other startups are approaching growth and customer engagement in healthcare and tech more broadly.

 

[Harry Collins]

I like that they started remote. A lot of startups struggle with culture when everyone is scattered, but it looks like they managed to scale pretty well. Wonder how much of their early strategy was trial and error versus deliberate planning.

 

[Ruby Bennett]

It’s really cool to see someone from a big company background like Google take those lessons into a startup context. Makes me think about how corporate experience can translate to small business innovation.

 

[Audrey Walker]

It’s really cool to see someone from a big company background like Google take those lessons into a startup context. Makes me think about how corporate experience can translate to small business innovation.

Yeah, exactly. I also found it interesting that they spent over a year just finding their first customer. Shows how patient you have to be in the early days, even when you feel ready to go.

 

[James Carter]

The whole “focus on a few strategic initiatives each day” part really resonated with me. Startups can get so distracted with emails and meetings, it’s refreshing to see someone advocating for a more disciplined approach.

 

[Julian Cross]

I wonder how they handled compliance and legal issues while scaling. Healthcare is such a tricky space, especially for small businesses trying to

 

[Audrey Walker]

I wonder how they handled compliance and legal issues while scaling. Healthcare is such a tricky space, especially for small businesses trying to

True, that part wasn’t too detailed in the profile, but they did mention building a tech platform around customer needs. I imagine they had to work closely with insurance providers and legal advisors.

 

[Owen Clarke]

Also curious about how they integrate newer digital health services. Sounds like they partner with other startups, which could make their offerings pretty dynamic compared to traditional insurers.