On this episode of On the Brink with Andi Simon, I sat down with Delia Passi, a three-time exited entrepreneur, women’s health advocate, and the founder and CEO of MyCabinet — a groundbreaking virtual medicine cabinet that’s changing how families and caregivers manage medications.
Delia’s story isn’t just about building a successful business. It’s about transforming a deeply personal, life-threatening moment into a purpose-driven company that blends healthcare innovation with impact entrepreneurship.
The Crisis That Sparked a Movement
Delia’s journey into healthcare technology began when her elderly mother suffered a massive heart attack while Delia was 200 miles away. In the chaos of the moment, doctors urgently needed her mother’s medical history — current medications, allergies, and past adverse reactions — but Delia didn’t have the information.
The result was sheer terror and helplessness. “I thought I was going to kill my mother,” she recalls. That moment became a catalyst for change. Delia made a promise to God: if her mother survived, she would dedicate herself to ensuring no one else endured such a situation again.
That promise became MyCabinet, a smart, virtual medicine cabinet designed to securely store, organize, and share critical medication information instantly with caregivers, healthcare providers, and family members.
A Track Record of Impact
Before founding MyCabinet, Delia had already made waves as the publisher of Working Mother magazine, where she championed family-friendly workplace policies and launched the “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” list.
After battling breast cancer herself, she founded WomenCertified, Inc., home of the Women’s Choice Award, which helps women make informed healthcare decisions and sets rigorous standards for hospitals and providers. While proud of that work, Delia says she didn’t initially view it as “purpose-driven” — it was doing good, yes, but not with the intentional integration of purpose into every business decision.
MyCabinet, however, was different from the start.
If you would like to watch our video, here it is on YouTube.
Building a Purpose-Driven Company
Determined to align her entrepreneurial skills with a deeper mission, Delia joined Amplify, a nine-month program from the National Christian Foundation that taught her how to embed purpose into every aspect of a company. She now applies that framework to MyCabinet through four pillars:
- Employees – Hosting quarterly retreats with space for reflection, gratitude, and shared values, fostering a culture where faith and respect thrive across religious backgrounds.
- Investors – Choosing only impact investors who put people before profit and share the company’s mission.
- Clients – Taking a holistic approach to helping healthcare partners and institutions improve patient lives, not just offering a product.
- Customers – Delivering peace of mind for caregivers and patients by preventing dangerous medication errors and improving health outcomes.
Blue Ocean Thinking: Creating a New Market
As I often share with my clients, Blue Ocean Strategy is about creating a market space where none existed before — and MyCabinet is a perfect example. There was no “smart medicine cabinet” category before Delia created it. Like the leap from standard TVs to smart TVs, MyCabinet transforms a familiar object into a connected, intelligent solution.
Originally, Delia planned to sell direct-to-consumer (B2C), but quickly pivoted to a B2B2C model, partnering with large health plans, school systems, and other organizations that could deliver her product to hundreds of thousands of users at once. This strategic shift saved millions in marketing costs and accelerated adoption.
Lessons for Entrepreneurs
Delia’s story offers powerful lessons for anyone building a purpose-driven business:
- Get out of your comfort zone. For Delia, that meant reaching out to politicians and leaders she didn’t know, which opened unexpected doors in sectors like foster care, prison healthcare, and schools.
- Surround yourself with the right people. Seek advisors, investors, and partners who challenge you, support your vision, and keep your mission intact.
- Be prepared for the unseen. Women founders often face additional hurdles raising capital. Delia chose to navigate those challenges without compromising her values or taking on partners who didn’t align with her mission.
- Focus on unmet needs, not just your product. MyCabinet succeeds because it solves a real, often hidden problem — the lack of accessible, accurate medication information in critical moments.
Why This Matters
In an era where healthcare technology is evolving rapidly, MyCabinet stands out as both a life-saving innovation and a model for how businesses can integrate purpose, profit, and impact. It’s not just about managing medications — it’s about protecting lives, reducing caregiver stress, and empowering families with information when they need it most.
As Delia puts it, “You can build a unicorn and still be an active, purpose-driven organization.” Her journey proves that the bottom line and higher calling don’t have to be at odds.
Listen to other podcasts about people building purpose-driven companies where profit aligns with meaning. You will enjoy Joyce Salzberg’s story:
442: Joyce Salzberg is Changing Lives Through Early Intervention
Connect with me:
- Website: www.simonassociates.net
- Email: info@simonassociates.net
- Books: Learn more about our books here:
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From Observation to Innovation,
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Andi Simon 00:00:02 Welcome to On the Brink with Andi Simon. Thanks for joining us today. As you know, in all of our podcasts, my job is to help you become a little like an anthropologist. I want you to step out and look at yourself or your business and rethink what you’re doing. Think about it through a fresh lens. Understand what other people have done and learned from them. Their stories are going to help you change your story. And remember, we live our story. So whatever is in that mind of yours about who you are and how you’re doing it. My job is to tell you, think carefully. I want you to see, feel and think in new ways, because sometimes there’s an opportunity right in front of you. And our job is to turn all your observations into big innovations. Like our guest today has done so. Welcome, Delia. Passing. Delia. I met at an Entrepreneurs of Purpose session that we held through the Women Business Collaborative in Washington, D.C. at the beginning of March.
Andi Simon 00:01:04 It was wonderful. She presented something she’s doing to help people. You and me better manage our medication, but also our care. Let me tell you a little bit about her, and then she’ll tell you her journey, because the journey is much flashier and much more interesting when they tell it to you themselves than when I read their bio. But here’s who she is. Adelia pace is a seasoned entrepreneur and advocate for women’s health. Renowned for her innovative contributions to healthcare technology. It’s really wonderful. She is the founder and CEO of My Cabinet, a virtual medicine cabinet designed to streamline medication management for families and caregivers. Now, the inspiration for my cabinet came as so many of these do. From experience, she was managing her elderly parents and their complex medication regimens. Regiments, highlighting the need for a user friendly solution in the caregiving landscape. Now, this is really interesting because all of us at some point have managed the our parents and we didn’t realize how complicated it was growing older and having someone else help them stay healthy, or at least manage the medications they need to get healthy.
Andi Simon 00:02:20 Before launching my cabinet, Delia held the position of publisher, a working mother magazine, where she played a pivotal role in the success of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers list. Her tenure there underscored her commitment to addressing the needs of working women and advocating for family friendly workplace policies. In 2010, driven by her own battle with breast cancer and the challenges she faced navigating the health care system, the Delia founded the Women’s Certified Inc., home of the Women’s Choice Award. The initiative aims to empower women to make informed health care decisions. And it recognizes hospitals, businesses and services that meet high standards of excellence and are recommended by women for women. Her dedication to improving health care experiences has been recognized through various accolades. She was named a runner up in the Dell for Startups Pitch competition. Her work continues to impact the lives of countless individuals, providing tools and resources that prioritize health, wellness, and informed decision making. Here’s the situation of a woman facing all kinds of tactics and tactical issues. Who comes up with a purpose driven company that’s different.
Andi Simon 00:03:30 It isn’t simply about giving back. It’s not about volunteering. It’s not about doing good things. Although she does those. This is about a business that has a purpose that matters so that she matters as well. Thanks for joining me today.
Delia Passi 00:03:46 Thank you Andrea.
Andi Simon 00:03:48 Till the listeners about who you are, about your journey and make all of this come alive, how did you get to where we are today? And then we’ll talk about my cabinet and what you’re building here.
Delia Passi 00:03:59 Well, I’m appreciative of the opportunity to share my story, but also to inspire others to think about taking this journey of becoming a purpose driven organization. So I’m a three time exited entrepreneur. I built publishing and media companies, and I’ve sold three of them. I’m very, bottom line driven. you know, I had investors all my career, throughout my career and boards that demanded a lot. Most of it was bottom line. and that’s the only way I knew how to think. Right? How do I build a profitable company that will make people a lot of money? Well, I’ve done a good job of it.
Delia Passi 00:04:40 And, And I will tell you that, the journey was rewarding in the sense that, you know, I secured my retirement, my children’s future. But I also, made a lot of people happy. Right? But there was a turn. But there does come a point in your life. And it happened to me with my mother. But there does come a point in your life where you go that. Is that enough? And can I do more? And am I done? And what’s next? And so, I was at a point where I was thinking about retiring. I actually have another company, a health care marketing company that is now being looking at. We’re looking to sell it. So, that should be sold probably in the next 12 to 18 months. And, and that’s done a lot of good. Many of you have heard about the Women’s Choice Award, that we look at the best hospitals, the best doctors, the best everything. We make it easy for women to make good consumer choices.
Delia Passi 00:05:46 I built that, out of a purpose when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I couldn’t find any resource to help me, evaluate one breath center from the other. So I changed that. By setting the highest standards of breast care in the world. So we worked with leading hospitals and so forth. So. So I did feel good about that. I always felt like, you know, I helped truly millions of women because that company’s been around for 15 years, helped millions of women find the best breast care in the country, and set standards. Which hospitals and breast centers and mammogram centers work hard to reach because we award them right this designation. So very proud of that, because I know we’ve made a contribution, but I really never thought of that as a purpose driven organization. I thought of that as doing good. Right. My my brand does good. It helps people, does the homework for them. So I’m going to help spare women by making the right choice versus costing their lives, by making the wrong choice of where to go.
Delia Passi 00:06:49 And by the way, in healthcare, if there’s a piece of advice I can tell you is, before you go anywhere, please? Go to the Women’s Choice Award and see how we rank every hospital in America Breast Center in America. Because honestly, I’ve seen too many times unnecessarily from maternal deaths to, you know, breast cancer deaths and so much of it has to go down and really boils down to treatment. So that that’s one thing I really feel really proud of. But that still was never formed to be purpose driven. It was just a good company that did good things, very different. And I hope that this, podcast will help people understand the difference because so many of them sitting here are going, well, I have a company that does good. We help people do this. We help teachers do this. We help employers do this. We’re doing good. Yes you are. And good for you. And you can go to sleep at night knowing that you know, you are, You’re making a difference.
Delia Passi 00:07:50 So congratulations. But purposes is much deeper than that.
Andi Simon 00:07:56 Well, much deeper has lots of meaning to it. And I know you’re going to dig into it, but I don’t want to discourage people from finding a pathway to have a purpose, to matter their way. But I also want them to hear what you discovered, because I don’t think this was without deep meditation concentration. Thinking about what does the word mean? What do I what do I personally want to contribute? How can I make business different than simply a bottom line? Please share with us.
Delia Passi 00:08:30 So. Well, my cabinet was. I am probably the furthest away person. Anyone who knows me knows that I can’t even get a TV remote to work. So. Running a technology company is gods, you know, playing a little, you know, good sense of humor. Let me put it that way. Right. And, But when my mother. And by the way, there will be a video on this on the podcast or the blog that I really encourage you to watch, you’ll see the experience that I went through with my mother, when she was rushed to the hospital and I was 200 miles away.
Delia Passi 00:09:09 No access to her home to retrieval her medication. And when they’re rushing her to the hospital, they’re on the phone with me because she couldn’t speak clearly. she was having a massive heart attack. What meds was she on? When did she take her meds? What is she allergic to? I, thought I was myself going to have a heart attack because I thought, that’s it. I’m going to kill my mother. Right. so I didn’t know. And that, that left me with a very difficult, positioning that left me with a, How can we make sure that this never, ever happens. And so I was, I really felt a calling for the first time in my life, more of a spiritual calling. I do consider myself. You know, I am a Christian. I believe that, you know, I follow in my faith. But I never felt it so profound. But I didn’t know what it meant. So I started to inquire about how do I how do I change the world for the better? Build a company that can do good, but also think about, how do I bring my values into this in a way that I have not done so before? So in short, I joined a program called amplify by the National Christian Foundation, and it taught me a nine month program on how to be a, purpose driven organization.
Delia Passi 00:10:46 so that’s why when I said it goes much deeper, is because literally, I took a nine month course on it, and it’s so hard to put it together in in a few minutes. But I will say it starts and ends with think about the value you want to bring to society. what what is the thing that you want to create the impact most? And then how does that trickle into every part of your business? For example, you want to do good, but, you know, mama always said, you know, charity begins at home, right? So think of your employees. How do you how do you better the lives of your employees through, through your, your company. So simple things I’ve done is we do now quarterly, you know, day retreat where we, a chaplain comes in and actually starts with a prayer. And by the way, I have Muslims and, Jewish employees. I have them all. And yet everyone embraces the fact that we could all be grateful. We could all live better lives.
Delia Passi 00:11:58 That sometimes having somebody to talk to as we’re going through the stresses of building a company. And so having that retreat to really think about, you know, what we’re doing in our contribution has been a game changer. You know, I thought it might be difficult at first, not all being from the same religion and so forth, but absolutely, it has been a game changer in the culture of our company. people are freer to bring their faith into our conversations, which was a beautiful thing to see. you know, saying have a blessed day is okay in our company. then you look at my investors. So I’ve raised a couple of million dollars so far. I have two more million to go. So I had to make a decision of who I wanted to impact my company. So I made a very bold decision to, be selective in who I invite to, contribute and to invest in us. And so now I’m on a journey to meet like minded investors who value what we’re trying to do and put people before profit.
Delia Passi 00:13:20 And we’ll understand that I am programmed to build businesses that get acquired. I will never change who I am as a businesswoman in the sense that, I am determined to build a unicorn here. I’ve never built a unicorn, by the way. I’ve built profitable, very nice companies, but never a unicorn. So I want this to be a lesson that you could also build a unicorn and still be very active of an organization. So I have a higher purpose even to what I’m doing, which is, you know, help people. But to to to show and demonstrate that, that those type of companies can be hugely successful. So now I have impact investors. 80% of my investors the for 20% came from family and friends. So I consider them you know, they’re they’re friendly investors right. They know what I’m doing. And but I’ve turned away hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors who wanted to have a controlling say in how I ran the business. And so that’s that’s you have to be brave to do that when you’re a startup, especially in this economic market.
Delia Passi 00:14:39 but I have a lot of faith that I will continue to find them and they will continue to find me. I and then I look at my clients, who are my clients and how do I make their lives better? And that is a very individualized approach. So we we talk about that as a team. How do we help our clients live better? And most people think of how do I build the best product for my clients, right. So that they are successful? We take a little different approach. How do we help our clients live better? So we look at a very holistic approach to who our clients are, what their needs are, and how do we help them? Helping them by giving them a successful product is probably on the top of their list. But believe it or not, they’ve embraced a lot of our conversations that have gone beyond the business to business part. Yeah. And then I look at the customer and you and as you said, Andrea, our customer, are people who are on medications Vacations or loved ones who are on medications and that we’ve had the most fun with.
Delia Passi 00:15:52 Because we built a product that truly makes a difference in their lives and helps caregivers like myself avoid those traumatic situations and and readies them to live their life out fully and more healthful, healthy, but also such a peace of mind for people who care for them, whether they’re near or far. So I take that four prong approach to being a, impact company.
Andi Simon 00:16:24 You know, you’re a smart woman. did this all come from one of those epiphanies that you had? Did you have mentors? Was there something you read? I often tell people to stay open. Hear what others are saying. don’t judge them, but listen carefully. It isn’t what they say. Sometimes what they mean. It’s what you hear. And and often we don’t hear what they really meant. But there’s something going on inside us. Like your mother being sick and not knowing what her medicine was or what she had taken. That became a cataclysmic moment. but I’m often preaching to others to to surround yourself with others, to find a mentor you can talk to honestly and safely.
Andi Simon 00:17:07 Give some how to build the kind of input of ideas that can help you begin to craft something unfamiliar. And very. I’m a blue ocean strategist. This is a very blue ocean. You’re opening a whole new market space. Both what and how am I right?
Delia Passi 00:17:23 So, when my mother, when I got the call, I got on the call. And for those who know Florida, I went on 75. We used to call it Alligator Alley. And I spent all the way from Fort Lauderdale to Fort Myers. And I got there and I kept on saying, two years ago, they gave my mom a die That almost killed her. And I told them that. And it was at their hospital. So I was very disappointed. They didn’t have a record of what that die was, you would think. Right. But they didn’t. so.
Andi Simon 00:17:57 The health care, I mean.
Delia Passi 00:17:59 Well, welcome to our health care. Right. And so I said to them, if you give them the die, you can kill her.
Delia Passi 00:18:06 They said, there’s 11 dies. well, we don’t have no idea which one she almost died from. but if we don’t give her the die to see where the blockage is, she’ll die anyway, right? So we need to put her in there. So when I got to the, When I finally arrived there, I was escorted to a waiting room right near the surgical area. She was in the O.R., and I. I hear the blow. I she was dying. I knew was my mother. You know, when you know, it’s. You just know it. And I said, that’s my mother died right this second. And I started to pray like I’ve never prayed before in my life. And I said, you know, God, you blessed me over and over and over again. And I don’t think I’ve ever truly asked you what I can do to give back. But I promise you, if you help my mom survive this, that I will do everything in my power to use your, you know, your direction to to never let this happen to another human being again.
Delia Passi 00:19:10 And so the the doctor came out 45 minutes later, all sweated. And he said, I don’t know what to tell you. You got a miracle on your hands. I’m going to tell you, your mother did flatline on the table, and she was at the time, 83 years old. He goes, we got her back. He goes miraculously, and her heart is like that of a 20 year old. He goes, you’re lucky. And I said, I’m not lucky. I have a new job. I said, I said, I have a new job. So, But I didn’t know what that meant. And I think a lot of your listeners will try to will really understand my journey, because when you’re faced with something you’ve never understood before and you’ve never done this in business before. You don’t know where to begin. And I was 60. So these are a few years ago I turned 60. I should have been thinking of retirement, retiring, but I knew I had it in me to do one more time because he’s blessed me with a Rolodex, and I’m aging myself now.
Delia Passi 00:20:11 But a Rolodex to die for. I mean, I can get to just about anybody. And I’m like, okay, now it’s time to turn that on. And I did, and I was invited by a friend of mine who listened to my story and said, you need to come to this meeting. It’s called a redemptive dinner that the NCF puts on the National Foundation. And I went not knowing what redemptive, what the heck is a redemptive business or redemptive dinner. I didn’t know anything about it. But when I got there and listened to these five leaders in the industry talk about the how to build a business of impact and redemption. I became overwhelmed because it was the answer I was looking for, that there are people who could help you and steer you in that direction. And I do encourage people to look into that. There are so many books on building a company with purpose on faith based, driven entrepreneurs. It it just allows you to think a little differently. But I have to tell you, I think there’s a movement out there.
Delia Passi 00:21:12 I think there’s a movement and anyone can be part of that movement if they’re committed enough to take that journey, which is not always the easiest one.
Andi Simon 00:21:21 Well, and and you don’t need to have a life altering experience to be a catalyst to, to do it either.
Speaker 3 00:21:28 That’s right. That’s right.
Andi Simon 00:21:30 I mean, you can learn from someone else’s experience, but realize and this is something you have to feel. I mean, we decide with the heart sometimes with the good, but it isn’t a bad idea. And it isn’t about the bottom line. You need one. But this is about finding meaning and matters and purpose beyond me. It’s about me. It’s something I can do better for others because of who I am. And I have a good fortune to do that. So out of all of this came my cabinet. Tell us about how you start a business like this. How do you let. I mean, I’ve heard what you said a little bit about how you let your purpose thrive through all of it.
Andi Simon 00:22:10 I’m all the parts to it. share with the listeners. Now, if you want to do something like this, here are the three or 4 or 5 things that I would suggest you do. Can you do that?
Speaker 3 00:22:18 Yes.
Delia Passi 00:22:19 So, you know, like I said, never built a technology company. So I’m a SaaS based product, which, by the way, is phenomenal because our margins are ridiculously high. And, and, you know, you’re talking about like 96% margins, right? but building the company is really finding you have to find your product market fit. So the first thing I always say is who’s going to buy your product? Who’s going to write that check for your product? that’s critically important. So as you’re creating your your concept, not even going into prototype, it’s you need to determine what the need is. You must do a very thorough competitive analysis to understand what’s what is your fit that the others do not. It could be the same thing. You just do it better, right? Building a better mousetrap.
Delia Passi 00:23:18 the status quo could be so antiquated, even though there is a fit that you’re like, why are people settling for that level of standard? Right. How do you bring and disrupt the marketplace? Yeah, like I said, just disrupt the standard that could be at that point dated because technology moves so quickly. You know, I don’t think you could build a technology company today without thinking about how to integrate AI into into your product market development. Otherwise, your investors will think you’re antiquated, right? So there’s a lot that goes into building a technology company. Once you determine your what you think is your product market fit, then you need to go out and get your first customer. And in a perfect world, you would get your first customer before your products even built or were completed, so that they can become an early adopter and take some ownership into the development and future of your product, which is we’ve been fortunate enough to to get right. We had people who said, believe in what you’re doing.
Delia Passi 00:24:30 We can be part of that. Everything from national health plans to big school systems. So we, we were very blessed, but it didn’t. It didn’t happen overnight. Okay. I, I had to meet with a lot of people, you know, kiss a lot of frogs, right? I just had to. You know, it’s exhausting. But when you find that person and that company and that person who believes in you, you foster that relationship, and, and you just keep on letting them be part of the vision so that they become, really, they become vested in then the success of the product. in my case, before I even brought it to market or even brought it to, I made sure I was patented in the US. And because in technology, how easy it is to just steal an idea. So I, I was able to get a both utility and design pattern for my cabinet, which looks and feels just like a medicine cabinet. And when I first worked with, a gentleman from Procter Gamble to to create it, Cliff Francis, He’s a genius.
Delia Passi 00:25:38 I said to him, somebody must have this. But when we looked into it, no one did. So we were very fortunate to have an innovative, disruptive design that is in everyone’s home we just created. You have TVs that became smart TVs. You have telephones that became smart telephones, refrigerators that became smart refrigerators. Why not have a medicine cabinet that became a smart medicine cabinet, right. And so that’s where we fit in and develop some patents worldwide around that. And then I felt very comfortable taking it to market. and then once I brought it out there, I will tell you, be prepared. Depends on your industry. Some move faster in healthcare. It’s painfully slow. So I needed to know. And my investor needed to understand that you’re looking at 2 to 3 years before you have, you know, enough in the pipeline to even see the profitability long term. So, you know, you have to have. You have to have the planning. Correct. According to your marketplace. When I built publishing companies.
Delia Passi 00:26:48 It was much different. When I had media companies much different. I could have a business up in three months with paying clients. I’m talking about $1 million in paying clients within three months. And health care, you’re looking at 24 months easy before you get a paid client. So you know, know your market, know what what you need and, and have the perseverance and the bandwidth to be able to sustain that.
Andi Simon 00:27:13 Now do you sell is this B2B first or B2B is to B to C, or are you going direct B to C?
Delia Passi 00:27:20 Oh, what a wonderful question, Andrea. When I first launched I thought I was being the same. Okay. And this is why it’s so important for entrepreneurs to listen to others because I thought I was B2C, but I been through it enough to know how to pivot quickly. So when I put the business plan together and I said it’s going to cost me tens or hundreds of millions. I look at him and hers. You know, those that pharmaceutical company, they had to raise a half a billion.
Delia Passi 00:27:53 And then I think they raised another half a billion. I mean, like just to compete in the B2C market. I didn’t have the bandwidth to do that. Okay. I just didn’t see it. I didn’t think I had the relationships to do it. So I knew my shortcomings and thought, okay, how do you get there faster. So if it’s going to cost me $50 million to acquire, you know, a couple hundred thousand users, what if I find a client that could deliver a couple hundred thousand users? And so I pivoted to B to B to C. Best decision I ever made. Eight. But now you’ve got to start thinking, who do I know in that industry? And, I didn’t really know the health plan industry well, so I had to hire people who did. Right. I had to bring advisors in. I, I looked for investors. I have the former CEO of Edna as one of my investors. And I said to him, yes, I approve. I appreciate the money, but I really need your ear.
Delia Passi 00:28:59 And, and so he opened doors for me. So you have to be very strategic.
Andi Simon 00:29:05 Well, and but strategic is a great word. so many, entrepreneurs understand something, a product, a need. They want to feel, an idea. They have something they saw. without the scope of really understanding how to understand it. I mean, I use that word incorrectly here because you don’t want to understand how to understand it, but but in fact, it isn’t simple. I mean, it isn’t simply that I’ve got this thing called my cabinet, and I can put it in people’s homes, and their children will know what their parents have in the cabinet. I mean, that’s my story, but that’s really not the story at all. Because what you’re doing and remember, I’m a blue ocean strategist. You’re creating a new market. That’s just what blue oceans do. You’re not competing. There’s nobody out there like it in perfect situation. But now a whole new business model is needed to figure out how to get others to market it to others, to get them to use it.
Andi Simon 00:30:04 Certainly, the end user isn’t lining up and saying to Aetna or anybody else, I need my cabinet so I can manage my medication. I don’t even know that I could get a cabinet, much less manage it. You know, nobody walked around saying, I need a smart TV. But there was and there you are. So for the listener. Think carefully about what the story is here, because what Delia has done is taken a great idea, something she observed turn it into an innovation. True, but then figured out how to make it come to market. Not in the way you might have anticipated, but in a whole different business model that now is beginning to thrive. How long have you been in this business now? Two years.
Delia Passi 00:30:44 So we. The napkin design was three years ago, almost a year and a half in research and development, getting the patents. All of that. And then, you know, and then we we brought it to market. August. Well, September of 23.
Delia Passi 00:31:02 Yep. So, I have to tell you, it is not easy swimming in the blue ocean.
Speaker 3 00:31:09 Yeah.
Delia Passi 00:31:10 Because people tend to have they, they they understand product market fit because they’ve either used it or they’ve whatever. But then you bring something disruptive to the table and they go, what do I do with it? I don’t even know where to begin. It’s a perfect example. So we had a call this morning with our health plan client. and it’s one of the Blue Cross Blue Shield. And we said to her, we can do better, but we can’t do better alone. We need to know where your pain points are. And so she said, you know, every health plan wants to go from a four star to a five star. Let’s figure out who’s holding us back from going from 4 to 5 to start a 4 to 5 star. Usually those people are the people that have the chronic illnesses, right? So then we said, can we come and meet with you? Can we do a half a day with you? Whiteboard food.
Delia Passi 00:32:09 That pain point customer is and what my cabinet and what our capabilities are to help you, you know, attack that particular challenge. And she said absolutely come on in. That’s the position we took. Not I have a I have a solution and I’m going to ram it down your throat because this is a better way to do things. We say we have something. Yeah, we need to figure out what the actual solution will do to reduce a pain point, and that we can’t do alone.
Andi Simon 00:32:44 Well, and so I’m going to follow up because I have a bunch of blue ocean strategy clients. The world we’re in today is very disruptive. And they’re coming in to see how to grow their business, not profit and for profit in a world that’s disrupting. And all of a sudden, Blue ocean is 20 years old. And I’m in a blue ocean strategist for 20 years. and and in the process, your point is essential. It isn’t what you have or do. It’s what them, they and their customers need.
Andi Simon 00:33:16 And these are the unmet needs that you have a solution for. Only if you tell it in a story form that can be easily understood both by the company, the healthcare company, and those who they’re serving who don’t know. They have an unmet need. They just know somebody is making it hard for them, and we have to take the pain to go away. This is such an exciting story to tell for many levels, not the least of which is I love to preach Blue Ocean, but it isn’t. It isn’t. It doesn’t fit. That’s the whole point of it. You’re not thinking out of the box. You’re creating a whole new sandbox, and you cannot do it alone because you are imagining and they have no idea. And they’re thinking, but they don’t really know. And all of you are trying to figure out what that chronically ill person could really use to make it simpler. And it isn’t just that person, it’s their family because you become the model for it wasn’t my mom who needed it, I needed it, the doctor needed it.
Andi Simon 00:34:13 And so we have a very different model coming in. Creating demand is not the easy part. It’s the hard part.
Delia Passi 00:34:20 The hardest part. And also getting people to do things slightly different or bringing in new vendors or revisiting their model. You know, it depends on the industry, but good luck because we all need it. But that’s why, you know, I believe that the best way to do this is to find, your own ambassadors, your own cheerleaders, your own advisors who who open doors for you. Everything that has happened to build toward our, you know, potential success. Because we’re not we’re a startup, right? We’re not profitable by far. We’re done. So I don’t I, I consider us we’ve had moments of success along the way. But that’s not the test of time. The test of time is when we have millions of people using the cabinet, and then we’re delivering back, you know, really strong adherence numbers. Right. That’s going to be our our test. But until then we need to we need to find those people who will, who believe in us.
Andi Simon 00:35:28 Become evangelism. You need evangelist.
Delia Passi 00:35:31 Evangelist. They believe so much in our mission that they’re willing to go the extra mile. They’re willing to take it to their senior people and go. But I want to do this, you know, and that’s and but will you give me the money? Will you give me a pilot? Will you give me. Can I just test this? Can I just give me a give me enough to make to make a case, but not enough to break the bank, right? I used to say we’re a rounding error. Just, you know, Just think about us. You pay that much in toilet paper, can you give it to me to prove what I can do? And, you know, put it in a way that, that they understand everyone wins here because the data I will bring you, no matter what, will help you get, you know, get, get to a better place with your with your members. And I’m talking about insurance plans. but I will tell you that I.
Delia Passi 00:36:27 The key is, you know, getting out there. I have to tell my my daughter is, decide to open a med spa, and I told her, I said, you know, you’re doing something that you loved. You’re so passionate about. I said, but you also now have to put your business cap on for the first time. I said, you know, be prepared to starve for the two first two years. Can you afford the rent? Can you do this? Can you do that? And if you’re going into technology, you have to have pretty deep pockets. because there is no there’s no quick success story key here now.
Andi Simon 00:37:08 And you and I talk a great deal about this, mission purpose. We haven’t even talked about it very much, but we’ve talked about it. And it’s an interesting way of showing how a business my cabinet can emerge from a purpose and and yet not be so consumed with the mission that we can’t understand the business side of it. They aren’t separate. It’s a platform to grow on.
Andi Simon 00:37:35 That is because the people who are bringing you in to do that one day, white board for those chronically ill folks understand the mission somewhat, but they have another purpose as well. And this is really a wonderful way to make it. I’m going to say human, you know, people caring for people and trying to find better solutions. Give our listeners one or 2 or 3 things they should walk away with, because we’re just about out of time. I loved having this conversation. Thank you. What do we want them to remember?
Delia Passi 00:38:04 You’re never you cannot do this alone. So the first thing that I recommend, if you’re. Well, I don’t care what stage you are. Okay, seek out new advisors. Find. But but go out of your comfort zone a little bit. All right. I decided for the first time in my life I’m a very non-political person. I sit right in the middle. I’m very not political, but I decided to reach out to politicians, not my comfort zone and, and share my story.
Delia Passi 00:38:39 And and before you know it, they’re opening doors. How can my cabinet change the foster care system? How can my cabinet change the prison systems, their health care? How can my cabinet do more in the schools across? Unbelievable. It was probably the most uncomfortable thing for me to do is to start reaching out to politicians. But I found it to be the most rewarding. So my thing is, get out of your comfort zone. Okay?
Andi Simon 00:39:08 But you know, follow up this one thought those are not a direct line from I have this thing I can sell to them because this politicians, you’re not selling them anything. And all of a sudden you’re telling them a story that’s opening up a door that had no If the door didn’t open, you couldn’t go through it. And next thing you know, all the doors were opening through a process that you didn’t even anticipate. So perfect story. Another one. What you got?
Delia Passi 00:39:34 So surround yourself with people who. I’ll leave it with dot, dot, dot.
Delia Passi 00:39:40 You answer that question. Who do you need to surround yourself with? Sometimes you need people who are with the same mindset. Sometimes you need people who will challenge that mindset. And then you need people who will never challenge. So your mission and your purpose, okay. That you do not want because you need your North Star and that. But that doesn’t mean your North Star can shift to be even stronger and brighter. But it’s with the right people who. Dot dot dot. Leave that to you. But I do think that that’s a question I asked myself repeatedly. And then I go and find those people and, be prepared for the unseen. I, you know, it’s it’s very hard to be a woman business owner and raising capital for those women who are out there, you know, we there is a disproportionate, when it comes to being able to give venture capital. So I’ve been told that I need to find a male founder. Co-Founder because I’m much more likely to get funding without having a male partner.
Delia Passi 00:40:52 And they’re right. But I chose not to. so, you know, I’m going to challenge it a little bit, but I would. They’re absolutely right. Women who try to raise money on their own are going up much harder time, 40% more likelihood of raising funds if I have a male partner, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I want to be. I want to be that example of you can do it. so be prepared for the unseen. It might not be as easy as you think to raise the capital. You may need more time in your business than you thought to be to actually get that for sale.
Andi Simon 00:41:23 You know what matters to you. I mean, what you’re really saying is, you know, yes, you can, but what matters. And I love the way you’ve chosen the things that matter the most. if they want to reach you and deal you, where can they reach you? And where can they find out more about my cabinet?
Delia Passi 00:41:39 Yes.
Delia Passi 00:41:39 Please do. I, I value every new relationship. So, you could reach, well, through our website, my cabinet.com, and it’s all one word. My cabinet.com. You know, there’s a contact us. So if you’d like to reach out to me and my team would love to hear from you. if you’d like to reach out to me personally, I have no problem with that as well. Deep at my cabinet and, and on LinkedIn, I’m very active on LinkedIn. Just make sure that you mentioned that you heard through this, this podcast because, you know, especially in your your note to me direct message me, I’m much more inclined if I know people have vested their time to get to know me. so, you know, because I do get like 20 a day things. So I try to prioritize and learn to say no sometimes. But, but I do I do welcome that in a big way.
Andi Simon 00:42:36 Yeah. It’s been a pleasure. I’m going to rep. And because I’ve enjoyed every minute.
Andi Simon 00:42:41 but I know that you and our listeners are ready to move on to your next conversation for the day. It’s been a pleasure. For those of you who come, send me all of your emails and info at Simon Associates net. I too am on LinkedIn. My books are all on Amazon. Just look for Andy Simon there. And it’s always fun to share. This is a situation where Delia took her observations and her life experience and turned it into an innovation, and now has learned how to innovate and change it and respond and innovate and change it, and growing a business. And my cabinet will be in your cabinet before you know it. It’s been a pleasure. Thanks again for coming. What fun. Bye bye now.
Speaker 4 00:43:20 Bye bye.
