DaVinci Cafe x StartX Med - Navigating Healthcare: From First Deal to Scale
About Event Series
In a world driven by rapid technological shifts, innovation thrives at the convergence of disciplines.
By bringing together founders, researchers, and industry leaders across AI infrastructure and applications, we aim to foster deeper conversations and meaningful collaborations.
Welcome to DaVinci Cafe 2026 AI Event Series — a space where builders, thinkers, and investors connect and shape the future of intelligent systems together.
Special Edition: Co-Organized by StartX Med & LDV Partners
This special edition brings together the AI and healthcare communities to explore the opportunities and challenges of building and scaling AI-powered companies in healthcare.
About This Event
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Building great technology is only the beginning. For AI and digital health companies, the real challenge is navigating the complex healthcare enterprise — identifying the right customers, securing the first deal, building trust with hospitals and payers, and turning early traction into scalable growth.
This conversation brings together healthcare operators, investors, founders, and advisors to explore what it really takes to bring innovative technology into healthcare organizations. We’ll discuss how companies approach enterprise sales, partnerships, procurement, regulatory considerations, pricing, and long-term customer relationships — and what separates companies that win their first healthcare customers from those that successfully scale.
From the perspective of founders building healthcare AI companies, health systems evaluating new technologies, investors backing the next generation of healthcare innovators, and advisors helping companies navigate the path from formation to scale, our speakers will share practical lessons, hard-earned insights, and perspectives on where the healthcare market is heading.
🗓️ Agenda
Date: Oct 2nd 2026 16:00-18:00
Location: Palo Alto
4:00 – 4:30 PM: Check-in & networking
4:30 – 5:30 PM: Speaker panel discussion
5:30 – 6:00 PM: Open networking 🍕🍺
This event will include light appetizers, wine/beer and non-alcoholic beverages, generously provided by our sponsor Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
🎙️ Speakers — More to be announced
Alex Efron
Alex Efron manages Strategic Partnerships and Investments at Sutter Health, a not-for-profit integrated health system serving millions of Californians annually. In this role, Alex leads initiatives that foster growth and operational improvement – through high-impact commercial collaborations, product co-development, and targeted direct investments.
Alex brings over 15 years of healthcare experience across venture capital & growth equity, management consulting, and entrepreneurship. Previously, Alex held investment roles at Telegraph Hill Partners, Spring Mountain Capital, and Windham Capital Partners, focused on digital health, life sciences and medical technology. Prior to investing, Alex worked at leading advisory firms including Goldman Sachs (healthcare investment banking), Huron Consulting Group (biopharma & medtech), and AArete (managed care and health systems). Alex co-founded Tezcat Biosciences, an oncology biotech developing novel receptor-independent protein-drug conjugates for aggressive cancers.
Alex holds a BA in Neuroscience from Pomona College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Tanay Tandon
Tanay Tandon is the co-founder and CEO of Commure, an AI-powered healthcare technology platform serving more than 500 healthcare organizations across 3,000 sites of care. Tandon originally founded Athelas at age 18 while a student at Stanford University, with Athelas merging with Commure in 2023 to form the current combined company. Commure’s products span ambient AI scribing, revenue cycle management, staff safety, and care navigation, supporting more than 200 million patient encounters annually. Under Tandon’s leadership, the company has scaled to roughly 1,500 employees and raised more than $750 million in funding, reaching a $7 billion post-money valuation as of 2026. Tandon is also recognized for his serial-acquisition strategy and for building one of the leading AI platforms in healthcare.
Elena Viboch
Elena Viboch is a Managing Director at General Catalyst, where she invests in life sciences and healthcare technology companies focused on transforming medicine and improving access to care. Elena began her career in biotech venture capital before taking on corporate development and operations leadership roles and later joining SoftBank, where she led a team focused on life sciences investing and helped build the Vision Fund’s portfolio with 12 health technology investments. At General Catalyst, she works closely with founders developing transformative science and technologies addressing significant unmet medical needs. Elena’s research focused on translational biology, and she holds an MS from Johns Hopkins University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA from Swarthmore College.
Steven Green
Steven Green is a partner in Pillsbury's Silicon Valley office who advises emerging growth companies and venture capital investors across the life sciences and digital health sectors. He works closely with digital health companies that sell directly into health plans and health systems, including Wellth, guiding them through venture financings, strategic partnerships, and the corporate and regulatory groundwork needed to scale in enterprise healthcare. Steven counsels his clients from formation through M&A and IPOs, and also represents venture capital firms and strategic investors in transactions across the innovation economy.
About the hosts & sponsors
Hosts
StartX Med: The medical and healthcare vertical of StartX, the accelerator for Stanford University's most elite entrepreneurs. StartX spans 3000+ founders and a portfolio valued at $200B+, with 144 companies worth over $100M, 29 valued over $1B, and 85+ tenured Stanford professors. Its medical vertical includes 300+ medical companies driven by 700+ founders, a growing roster of Med Unicorns (OrcaBio, Freenome, Clarify, etc), and 63 Stanford Med Professors.
DaVinci Café: Where thinkers, creators, and visionaries from every industry connect, collaborate, and shape the future. Find your tribe, your partners, and your inspiration.
Sponsors
LDV Partners: A deep tech venture capital fund in Silicon Valley. LDV is named in honor of Leonardo Da Vinci, who approached the world with a fearless ambition to bring multiple disciplines together for disruptive innovation.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP: An international law firm supporting technology companies, founders, and investors through venture financing, corporate, and innovation-driven growth. We appreciate their continued partnership and support in hosting our events.
Notes
This event may be photographed or recorded for community and marketing purposes.
Due to limited capacity, registration approval may be required.