• A Case for Techno Realism with Deena Shakir

  • Sep 18 2024
  • Length: 36 mins
  • Podcast

A Case for Techno Realism with Deena Shakir

  • Summary

  • Deena Shakir is an investor who is obsessed with expanding access to the basic health services people need and often can’t access: pediatric care, community health and women’s services. Her journey to investing passed through policymaking, journalism and big tech and her early techno optimism has given way to a much more nuanced and pragmatic view. She is able to see the big opportunities for impact hiding in plain sight.

    We discuss:

    • The two obvious megatrends hitting healthcare: GLP1s and AI
    • And the not so obvious opportunity: doing basic things better
    • How Dobbs was an accelerant, not a deterrent, for investments in women’s health
    • Why Public Health is great training for healthcare founders

    Deena is excited about “asset light” investments that combine new care models – like community health workers – and technology:

    “There are some things that won't change. And there are things that hopefully tech can help to navigate. And so these asset light models, these models that are leveraging under leveraged care workers – like community health workers that are providing culturally competent care – and at the end of the day, that are improving metrics and outcomes, are the ones that get me excited.”

    Relevant Links

    Lux Capital

    Jonathan Haidt article in The Atlantic titled “Why the past 10 years of American Life have been uniquely stupid”

    President Obama’s Cairo speech

    ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health

    Health companies Deena mentions that she invests in:

    Waymark

    Summer health

    Maven Clinic


    About Our Guest

    Deena's investments span stages and sectors, and include women's health, digital health infrastructure, health equity, foodtech, and fintech. Above all, she seeks out extraordinary, often underdog, founders on a mission. Prior to Lux, Deena was a Partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures), led product partnerships at Google for health, search, and AI/ML, and directed social impact investments at Google.org. Deena also served as a Presidential Management Fellow at The U.S. Department of State under Secretary Clinton, where she helped launch President Obama’s first Global Entrepreneurship...

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