10x the Incumbent with AI | Abridge CEO Shiv Rao

Clinical notes are one of the more tedious parts of doctors’ day-to-day lives—so much so that they’re often called “pajama time,” since physicians spend 2-3 hours writing them at night. In this episode, Steve Kraus sits down with Dr. Shiv Rao, co-founder and CEO of Abridge, an AI-first healthcare company that’s been in the spotlight for solving this problem. Abridge uses advanced machine learning to structure and summarize medical conversations, creating clinical documentation and structured data while reducing clinician burnout.

Shiv traces his journey from a skateboarding rebel to a cardiologist, professor, healthcare investor, and now founder of a pioneering digital health startup. He shares how his passion for scalable impact and exposure to cutting-edge research at Carnegie Mellon led him to start Abridge in 2018.

Steve and Shiv discuss:

• How Abridge differentiated itself early on through AI technology and go-to-market (GTM) strategy
• The company’s ROI and anti-burnout metrics, like note quality, pajama time, and cognitive load
• Clinician-AI collaboration vs. direct-to-consumer applications
• The surprising parallels between managing an ICU and running a startup
• The habits and mindsets that keep Shiv grounded while leading a fast-growing, mission-driven company

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