Season 2 • Episode 79

From Orthopedic Surgeon to VR Startup Founder with Dr. Danny Goel

Episode Description

Orthopedic surgeon and physician founder Dr. Danny Goel went from identifying gaps in surgical training to co-founding PrecisionOS, a virtual reality and AI-powered platform designed to help surgeons practice skills and judgment in a risk-free environment.

In this conversation, Danny joins Dr. Alison Curfman to talk about what that path looked like: starting with no intention of building a company, finding technical co-founders outside of medicine, validating the idea with other physicians, raising early capital, learning the business side of healthcare, and deciding to remain in clinical practice while building.

They also discuss why staying close to clinical practice can strengthen a physician founder, how advisors can shape an early company, and why physicians should pressure-test their ideas instead of keeping them hidden until they feel perfect.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

00:58 The transition from surgical training to independent practice

03:20 Building a risk-free environment for surgical training

05:07 Why timing matters in medical simulation

07:48 Building from a problem inside clinical practice

09:17 Why physician founders can stay in medicine

11:31 How the company started

13:15 Finding technical co-founders outside of medicine

15:41 Raising early capital and validating the problem

18:27 Learning the business side of healthcare

20:17 Why physicians do not need an MBA to start