Podcast

860: Heidi Jannenga Shares The Tech Startup Story Behind WebPT

Dr. Heidi Jannenga PT, DPT, ATC/L, is the co-founder and president of WebPT, a leading rehab therapy EMR platform for enhancing patient care and fueling business growth. She regularly speaks at technology, entrepreneurship and leadership events, and national PT industry conferences. But where did her tech startup journey begin?

In 2006, Heidi Jannenga was a leading sports physical therapist and multi-clinic director was looking for ways to improve her practice’s bottom line. After identifying dictation and paper documentation management as two of her business’s biggest costs, she started looking for a less expensive solution to documentation and enlisted the help of Brad Jannenga, a seasoned technologist with three successful SaaS platforms under his belt.

Heidi knew she needed something that would not only fit her workflow as a PT, but also would be affordable, intuitive, and easy to implement in her clinic. The more Brad and Heidi shopped around, though, the more discouraged they became. That was when they decided to partner and develop her business’s ideal software solution. Brad started shadowing Heidi to gain a deep understanding of her workflow and documentation needs. In the evenings, the two would regroup and map out how the software should work. Then, Brad would get to coding and Heidi would get to testing. And piece by piece, WebPT—a web-based physical therapy EMR—was born.

Heidi and Brad officially launched the software in 2008. Within three years, their cloud-based idea grew into the leading physical therapy software on the market. Today, as president and co-founder, Heidi leads WebPT’s product vision, branding efforts, and company culture, while advocating for the physical therapy profession on a national scale. Since its launch, WebPT has evolved from a startup into one of the nation’s fastest-growing privately held companies, employing more than 500 people, while helping nearly 80,000 Members run better, more efficient practices and improve care delivery.

Headquartered in the historic Warehouse District in downtown Phoenix, WebPT has also been listed on Inc. Magazine’s list of the nation’s 5000 fastest-growing companies five consecutive years in a row—earning it a spot on the prestigious Inc. Honor Roll—and ranked on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list in 2016.

Hedi joins me on my daily tech podcast to share her tech startup story from idea to securing funding and enjoying fantastic success. This story will be invaluable to other startup founders searching for inspiration.

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