Out Of Pocket Application Reminder
Hello everyone! Hope you’re staying safe and finding new shows to binge watch.
Reminder that next week on 4/29, the application for the private Out Of Pocket Slack channel will close.
Thank you to the 40+ people that have already applied! To apply, please fill out this form.
Details are below.
Overview
While there are lots of healthcare slack groups today, I think there’s room for a channel that:
Has an increased level of vetting for community members, decided based on criteria including
Broad knowledge of healthcare trends
Specific technical knowledge in a certain part of the industry
Strong opinions with an open mind and willingness to engage in constructive debate
Demonstrate they’ll be an active, contributing member to the community
Has planned small events (both virtual and in-person) to foster a stronger community via face-to-face connection.
Focuses on making multiple high quality small/medium size groups with a moderator. The goal is not to maximize the total number of people in the channel, but rather to maintain quality discussion and connections.
Requires participation from its members via occasional short assignments and occasional events.
Is focused on developing stronger, more organic ties between members instead of sporadic asks from strangers
Is more heavily moderated to reduce the amount of self-promotion and encourage thoughtful discussion and sharing of tactics.
Process
The Out Of Pocket slack channel will initially be $20/month. This process and pricing is meant to self-select for a high quality group of people and discussion that would find this valuable. It also incentivizes moderators (aka me, for now) to put the work in to make the group high quality by providing structure.
Interested applicants should fill out this form. This will initially prioritize people building companies before potentially allowing people that are currently investors. No offense investors.
You must be a subscriber to Out Of Pocket to join. I’ll be using the newsletter frequently as a discussion starter in the group + will use sentiment from the group to inform future newsletters.
This will start as a 15 person slack group to establish rapport and iron out the process. If there is enough demand, a second 15 person slack group will be created. The groups will be identical, and will prioritize a diversity of healthcare expertise within each group.
Over time, these groups will slowly allow more people, but each group will have a maximum size (to be determined).
Each week, a few people in the group will be asked to fill out a set of questions to share with the group. These are designed as discussion starters and ways for other members in the group to learn. Some examples might be:
What’s a recent healthcare article you’ve read? What parts did you find particularly interesting?
What’s something interesting you recently learned about building a healthcare company? (e.g. nuances of a certain law, how reimbursement for something works, how certain companies handle procurement, etc.)
What is something you’re currently struggling with at your company?
Etc.
This weekly set of questions might be replaced by a reading assignment, discussion prompt, short presentation, etc. They should not take more than an hour when it’s your turn.
Depending on the number of people, each individual will likely be asked to contribute one of these assignments once per month approximately.
Homework and prompts are meant to keep members invested, learn about each other beyond a surface level context, and help structure your thoughts. Every good community requires some work + contributions from its members, and this is no different.
Everything above is subject to change, this is an experiment.
Community Rules:
This is a moderated community. Violating any of the rules means you will get kicked out without a refund.
To start, I will be the only moderator. As the group size increases, I may ask for help with moderation and rationale behind making someone a moderator
Do not harass/bully anyone. Zero tolerance policy for this, if it happens you will be kicked out.
Everything said in this channel should be assumed to be off the record. If it’s found out you’re spreading information outside of the channel, you will be kicked out.
This channel requires participation. There will be “homework assignments” used as discussion starters and ways to bring the community closer together. If you consistently skip the required assignments, you will be kicked out.
Do not use the group only to promote things. Promoting things in the appropriate channels if you are a regularly contributing member in the other channels is alright.
If something doesn’t make sense to you, ask questions. There are no stupid questions. Healthcare has so many moving parts, there’s no way you’re going to understand all of them. The point of this community is to learn.
Don’t be so uptight, have some fun with the channel. The point of Out Of Pocket is to bring some levity to the industry and make it easier to casually talk to other people in healthcare. The goal is here is to create a community of industry friends that feel comfortable with each other and will work together build great things.
If you’re interested in this group, please fill out this form!