Germaine Kaw is the COO and co-founder of MedGrocer. In 2021, MedGrocer's 400 team members served a million Filipinos and generated $10M in revenue. It has been profitable since 2019 and is fully owned by the founding team.

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👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

I help people get their medicines and vaccines more cheaply, conveniently, and intelligently by integrating telehealth, digital platforms, and value-added services.

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🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

I spent five years of college and my first year of work trying to get into my dream job at a top consulting firm overseas. After (finally) getting an offer, I spent five unpaid months at MedGrocer for fun, where I eventually ended up as an angel investor and co-founder.

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🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

Being in a young healthtech startup during the pandemic. Everything we forecasted in our business plan happened — the need for online pharmacies, proactive healthcare like vaccinations, and "medicine-as-service" models.

Except they happened three years earlier than we expected, so we had to play a lot of catch-up.

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🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

The trend towards more commercially and ethically sustainable business models is encouraging. I'm hopeful that ventures that are built to last rather than to be flipped will vitalize the local startup ecosystem.

💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

You don't have to be a medical expert to improve the healthcare system. The most creative solutions emerge when medical expertise is combined with IT, economics, the arts, or anything that can spark new ideas.

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

Harry Potter. I started reading the books when I was eight and watched the last movie when I was eighteen. A decade well spent!

🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

Seinfeld. It's such a classic.

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Pistachio!