Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to IndustriesHealthcare

People, Process, Service: Entrepreneurship is About Cleaning Toilets and Negotiating Millions

For Michael Gorton, summing Mt. Kilimanjaro was his second largest accomplishment while on his journey to Africa. That week-long trek to the top resulted in the formation of Teladoc, a telemedicine company that connects patients with remote physicians. Gorton joined Tyler Kern, Bill Kasko, and April Melton on this episode of People, Process, Service,…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Healthcare teams put it to work with Executive Thought Leadership.

Share

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Healthcare?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Healthcare coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

For Michael Gorton, summing Mt. Kilimanjaro was his second largest accomplishment while on his journey to Africa. That week-long trek to the top resulted in the formation of Teladoc, a telemedicine company that connects patients with remote physicians.

Gorton joined Tyler Kern, Bill Kasko, and April Melton on this episode of People, Process, Service, a Frontline Source Group podcast.

“In the beginning,[the idea] was that every downtown should have a room where people can walk in and see a remote doctor,” Gorton said. “We spent two years building and testing the model, because we knew it was going to be controversial.”

Gorton noted how he and his collaborators tested the model for years, nailing down their processes. He admitted that they took the controversial perception very seriously.

“We knew we were going to change the world. The board of medical examiners knew we were going to prison,” Gorton said.

The Teladoc team decided to approach the various state boards of medical examiners by taking every concern as seriously as possible and consulting with the most talented and respected clinical physicians and doctors in public service.

“We got some of the best doctors in the country,” Gorton said.

Now, Gorton is focusing on much larger goals, literally. His current operation, Back To Space, is aiming to motivate young people to return to space the way they did in the

heyday of the Apollo missions to the moon.

He motioned that, to be an entrepreneur, one needs to be willing to clean the toilets in the morning, negotiate the million-dollar deal in the afternoon and, perhaps one day, even walk on the moon.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Healthcare Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Healthcare starts with a company putting its clinicians, service-line leaders, and field engineers on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Service-line buyers vet vendors quietly, and your clinicians become the proof they find while doing it.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Healthcare, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Healthcare: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Healthcare buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Healthcare expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your clinicians, service-line leaders, and field engineers into the articles, video, and social content Healthcare buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Healthcare Insights

NICE recommends Enhertu for HER2-low advanced breast cancer in England

NICE recommends Enhertu for HER2-low advanced breast cancer in England

American Pharmaceutical Review reported that NICE has recommended AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Enhertu for routine NHS use in people with HER2-low advanced breast cancer, following a commercial agreement and updates to NICE’s methods under the U.K.-U.S. Pharmaceutical Pricing Agreement.

  • 01NICE tied the reversal to 2026 changes: higher cost-effectiveness thresholds that took effect in April and a new quality-of-life assessment method published Aug. 27, 2026.
  • 02Access planning still varies by nation: Fierce Pharma reported Wales requires funding within 60 days of final guidance, while Scotland and Northern Ireland follow separate processes.

Sep 21, 2026

Eli Lilly’s $6.5B Houston Bet Highlights U.S. Pharma Reshoring

Eli Lilly’s $6.5B Houston Bet Highlights U.S. Pharma Reshoring

Eli Lilly is investing $6.5 billion in a Houston manufacturing facility set to open around 2030, primarily to scale production of Foundayo, its oral GLP-1 treatment. The project signals a broader shift in U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing reshoring and underscores the supply chain challenge of forecasting demand and building capacity years in advance for breakthrough therapeutics.

  • 01Eli Lilly commits $6.5 billion to a Houston pharmaceutical manufacturing facility due for completion around 2030, one of the largest single U.S. pharma production investments in recent years
  • 02GLP-1 demand forecasting remains highly uncertain: Lilly's CEO noted that one-third of new GLP-1 pill patients are now choosing Foundayo, illustrating fast-moving market share shifts that complicate production planning years in advance
  • 03Houston's selection reflects industrial capacity and workforce depth, positioning the region as a biomanufacturing corridor and creating long-term hiring demand in engineering, quality control, and skilled trades

Sep 21, 2026

Waiting for perfectly clean data is stalling healthcare AI, not protecting it

Healthcare organizations often delay AI initiatives waiting for perfectly clean data, but this assumption no longer holds: reliable subsets and synthetic data allow projects to start now while data work continues in parallel. Success requires starting with business outcomes rather than technology capabilities, and embedding governance in product strategy before implementation, not after.

  • 01Waiting for 100% clean data is effectively a decision never to start; hospital AI projects can begin on reliable data subsets while quality work continues in parallel.
  • 02Frame AI decisions around business outcomes (revenue growth, cost reduction, competitive advantage, new products, or ecosystem influence) rather than asking what AI can do.
  • 03Governance should be part of product strategy before design or purchase, especially as agentic AI takes actions—such as handling many revenue-cycle denials—while routing the rest to humans.

Sep 21, 2026

Explore More Healthcare Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Healthcare.

Browse Healthcare Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Healthcare and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512