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Mar 27, 2017 · 26m · top-founders

EP 611: VSee Helping 1000 Customers Use Video To Transact Information with CEO Milton Chen

Dr. Milton Chen · 14m spoken Nathan Latka · 9m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews VSee co-founder and CEO Dr. Milton Chen, who discusses scaling a specialized, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform to over 1,000 paying accounts through tailored clinical workflows and capital-efficient growth.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 41.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 3.5 Guest disagreement 1.5 Nathan pushing back 3.8
05100:0010:0020:005:05–13:05 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 VSee Founding Journey, Capital Structure, and Customer Traction Nathan presses Milton repeatedly on undisclosed metrics including initial investment size, total capital raised, and first-year revenues. Milton remains polite and self-deprecating while withholding confidential figures.13:08–15:23 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 XMPP Video Protocol Innovations and Telehealth Workflow Specialization Nathan teases Milton about not negotiating royalties on the open-source XMPP video standard. Milton educates him on how standards bodies work and why telehealth tech is 80% clinical workflow integration rather than pure video.15:24–21:22 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Unit Economics, Go-To-Market Strategy, and Telemedicine Adoption Milton schools Nathan on vanity metrics in the telemedicine sector by debunking Kaiser Permanente's claimed 52% virtual visit statistic. Nathan attempts to corner Milton about whether he is traveling to raise capital or sell the business.21:23–25:36 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Sponsor Break: FreshBooks Accounting and Invoicing Solutions Segment features a FreshBooks ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions. Milton politely declines to reveal his age.5:05–13:05 · Guest teaching 2/10 VSee Founding Journey, Capital Structure, and Customer Traction Nathan presses Milton repeatedly on undisclosed metrics including initial investment size, total capital raised, and first-year revenues. Milton remains polite and self-deprecating while withholding confidential figures.13:08–15:23 · Guest teaching 5/10 XMPP Video Protocol Innovations and Telehealth Workflow Specialization Nathan teases Milton about not negotiating royalties on the open-source XMPP video standard. Milton educates him on how standards bodies work and why telehealth tech is 80% clinical workflow integration rather than pure video.15:24–21:22 · Guest teaching 6/10 Unit Economics, Go-To-Market Strategy, and Telemedicine Adoption Milton schools Nathan on vanity metrics in the telemedicine sector by debunking Kaiser Permanente's claimed 52% virtual visit statistic. Nathan attempts to corner Milton about whether he is traveling to raise capital or sell the business.21:23–25:36 · Guest teaching 1/10 Sponsor Break: FreshBooks Accounting and Invoicing Solutions Segment features a FreshBooks ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions. Milton politely declines to reveal his age.5:05–13:05 · Guest disagreement 1/10 VSee Founding Journey, Capital Structure, and Customer Traction Nathan presses Milton repeatedly on undisclosed metrics including initial investment size, total capital raised, and first-year revenues. Milton remains polite and self-deprecating while withholding confidential figures.13:08–15:23 · Guest disagreement 2/10 XMPP Video Protocol Innovations and Telehealth Workflow Specialization Nathan teases Milton about not negotiating royalties on the open-source XMPP video standard. Milton educates him on how standards bodies work and why telehealth tech is 80% clinical workflow integration rather than pure video.15:24–21:22 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Unit Economics, Go-To-Market Strategy, and Telemedicine Adoption Milton schools Nathan on vanity metrics in the telemedicine sector by debunking Kaiser Permanente's claimed 52% virtual visit statistic. Nathan attempts to corner Milton about whether he is traveling to raise capital or sell the business.21:23–25:36 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Break: FreshBooks Accounting and Invoicing Solutions Segment features a FreshBooks ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions. Milton politely declines to reveal his age.5:05–13:05 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 VSee Founding Journey, Capital Structure, and Customer Traction Nathan presses Milton repeatedly on undisclosed metrics including initial investment size, total capital raised, and first-year revenues. Milton remains polite and self-deprecating while withholding confidential figures.13:08–15:23 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 XMPP Video Protocol Innovations and Telehealth Workflow Specialization Nathan teases Milton about not negotiating royalties on the open-source XMPP video standard. Milton educates him on how standards bodies work and why telehealth tech is 80% clinical workflow integration rather than pure video.15:24–21:22 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Unit Economics, Go-To-Market Strategy, and Telemedicine Adoption Milton schools Nathan on vanity metrics in the telemedicine sector by debunking Kaiser Permanente's claimed 52% virtual visit statistic. Nathan attempts to corner Milton about whether he is traveling to raise capital or sell the business.21:23–25:36 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Sponsor Break: FreshBooks Accounting and Invoicing Solutions Segment features a FreshBooks ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions. Milton politely declines to reveal his age.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 81.6% · guest 18.4%0:00 · Nathan 81.6% · guest 18.4%3:00 · Nathan 23.2% · guest 76.8%3:00 · Nathan 23.2% · guest 76.8%6:00 · Nathan 30.4% · guest 69.6%6:00 · Nathan 30.4% · guest 69.6%9:00 · Nathan 40.3% · guest 59.7%9:00 · Nathan 40.3% · guest 59.7%12:00 · Nathan 29.5% · guest 70.5%12:00 · Nathan 29.5% · guest 70.5%15:00 · Nathan 15.4% · guest 84.6%15:00 · Nathan 15.4% · guest 84.6%18:00 · Nathan 19.3% · guest 80.7%18:00 · Nathan 19.3% · guest 80.7%21:00 · Nathan 72.9% · guest 27.1%21:00 · Nathan 72.9% · guest 27.1%24:00 · Nathan 69.3% · guest 30.7%24:00 · Nathan 69.3% · guest 30.7%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 21:00 Milton denies fundraising and acquisition rumors

Milton firmly rejects Nathan's binary assertion that he must be in a hotel room either pitching VCs or negotiating an acquisition.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:34 Nathan pushes past investor secrecy

Nathan refuses to accept Milton's confidentiality excuse regarding early financial history and pushes him until he gives a rough revenue estimate.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 19:25 Milton dissects misleading healthcare metrics

Milton breaks down the reality behind headline-grabbing corporate announcements, revealing that portal logins are often inflated to represent remote doctor visits.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:43 Nathan models unit revenue live

Nathan demonstrates SaaS fluency by quickly synthesizing seat pricing, account tiers, and user volumes to deduce an estimated recurring revenue run rate.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
VSee Founding Journey, Capital Structure, and Customer Traction 5216 Nathan presses Milton repeatedly on undisclosed metrics including initial investment size, total capital raised, and first-year revenues. Milton remains polite and self-deprecating while withholding confidential figures.
XMPP Video Protocol Innovations and Telehealth Workflow Specialization 4523 Nathan teases Milton about not negotiating royalties on the open-source XMPP video standard. Milton educates him on how standards bodies work and why telehealth tech is 80% clinical workflow integration rather than pure video.
Unit Economics, Go-To-Market Strategy, and Telemedicine Adoption 5624 Milton schools Nathan on vanity metrics in the telemedicine sector by debunking Kaiser Permanente's claimed 52% virtual visit statistic. Nathan attempts to corner Milton about whether he is traveling to raise capital or sell the business.
Sponsor Break: FreshBooks Accounting and Invoicing Solutions 2112 Segment features a FreshBooks ad read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions. Milton politely declines to reveal his age.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Supported
Chen: VSee built telemedicine systems for Trinity and Ascension Healthcare
“In terms of the second and third largest healthcare system in the U.S., Trinity and Ascension Healthcare, specifically like C-Ten, so we're the company that build their telemedicine system”
Dr. Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017 ▶ 2:50
Disclosure
Chen: VSee charges $49 to $499 per medical provider monthly
“Typically our customers, when they buy stuff, the cost ranges of between about 49 to 499 dollars per medical provider per month, again, based on the features and options.”
Dr. Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017 ▶ 2:50
Assertion Supported
Chen: VSee received its initial investment from In-Q-Tel
“We actually receive our initial investment with In-Q-Tel, the investment arm by the U S government.”
Dr. Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017 ▶ 6:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Chen: VSee has more than 1,000 paid customer accounts
“We have in general, we have overall, we have a little more than a thousand paid customers.”
Dr. Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017 ▶ 7:35
Assertion Partly supported
Chen: International Space Station video communication uses VSee exclusively
“For example, one of our customers are most proud of is the astronauts. In fact, all video communication from the International Space Station are done exclusively using our software.”
Dr. Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017 ▶ 12:55
Disclosure
Chen: VSee pivoted from general video conferencing to pure telehealth
“We actually started as a general video conference market, but we actually pivoted to be purely on telehealth.”
Dr. Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017 ▶ 14:40
Disclosure
Chen: Video accounts for roughly 20% of VSee's product effort
“Turn out that these days about probably videos, maybe about 20% what we do, the 80% what we do is about aiming to make telemedicine just an everyday experience.”
Dr. Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017 ▶ 15:09
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Chen: VSee maintains close to 100% customer retention
“We have a close to a hundred percent customer retention in there.”
Dr. Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017 ▶ 17:39
Assertion Supported
Chen: Kaiser's 52% virtual visit metric includes web portal logins
“Turned out that It's a little bit not quite true, right? Most people say, say, do you mean like, 52% of Kaiser Permanente visitors are not on telemedicine? No. What they mean is, every time you're going to, ah, let's say, a webpage, a patient portal, request s…”
Dr. Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017 ▶ 19:48
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