Dare to Disrupt Episode 12 – Empowering Patients with Ro Founder Rob Schutz

Rob Schutz is the Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder of Ro, a direct-to-patient healthcare company providing high-quality, affordable healthcare without the need for insurance. Rob guides Ro’s growth, marketing and communications functions to tell Ro’s story of putting patients in control of their health. He applies his extensive experience in consumer marketing to ensure Ro is resonating with patients by directly addressing their healthcare concerns. Under Rob’s leadership, these functions have helped propel Ro into one of the fastest growing companies in the country, achieving unicorn status in 2020. As of September ’22, Rob has stepped back from day-to-day at Ro while continuing to serve as an advisor and on Ro’s Board of Directors.

In this episode, Schutz talks about how his experience growing Ro alongside two seasoned co-founders differed from his first entrepreneurial endeavor, as well as about how Ro had a part in setting the standard business model for vertically integrated online healthcare. 

At the end of the episode, Emily Snow, a 4th year honors student studying biomedical engineering  on the premedical track, joins the conversation. Through Penn State’s Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship program, Snow helped develop a technological solution for literacy education in Kenya. Snow talks to Schutz about the trends and future of healthcare, as well as how the Ro platform benefits not just patients but also providers.

Episode Chapters:

0:00 – 7:26 Blue Band and kinesiology at Penn State

7:26 – 11:55 Digitizing medical records, launching daily deals business

11:55 – 26:10 Running BarkBox dog toy/treat subscription service

26:10 – 30:40 Launching Ro, vertical integration

30:40 – 37:56 Watching the growth of user demand, growing product offerings

37:56 – 40:20 Knowing when to move on from a startup

40:20 – 51:48 Student section

About Rob Schutz

Rob Schutz is the Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder of Ro, a direct-to-patient healthcare company providing high-quality, affordable healthcare without the need for insurance. Rob earned his B.S. in Management Information Systems from Penn State University. 

Download the full episode transcript

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Dare to Disrupt is a podcast about Penn State alumni who are innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders, and the stories behind their success. Learn more.