Joanna Stober, Midi Health CEO and co-founder, has ne'er had an accidental to tally her concern plans past legendary task superior capitalist John Doerr, president astatine Kleiner Perkins. But that didn't halt her from tapping Doerr, successful an AI version, for proposal connected increasing her startup, a virtual session offering midlife wellness attraction for women.
"He is fundamentally accessible to you connected ChatGPT," Strober told CNBC's Julia Boorstin successful the latest occurrence of the "CNBC Changemakers and Power Players" podcast.
A erstwhile task capitalist herself, Strober co-founded Midi Health successful 2021. Today, the institution has a web of 400 women's wellness specialists, has served much than 200,000 patients and precocious introduced testosterone hormone therapy. Midi counts Amy Schumer and Tory Burch among its investors and reports an yearly gross tally complaint of $150 million.
Strober was named to the 2025 CNBC Changemakers list.
As Strober was laying retired the milestones for her startup's adjacent signifier of growth, getting guidance and mentorship from palmy concern leaders — done AI prompts — became a key, astonishing portion of her process.
During a caller level ride, Strober says she "talked to John Doerr for 8 hours," gathering feedback connected her ideas for Midi's 'Objectives and Key Results' (OKRs), a model Doerr has championed to assistance companies and organizations acceptable and execute ambitious goals.
"I got feedback implicit and implicit and implicit again connected the OKRs that I came up with," Strober said. "Finally, helium liked them, and it was precise nice."
A immense trove of Doerr's nationalist enactment enables the AI chatbot to emulate his guidance. Doerr is the writer of "Measure What Matters" — a usher to the OKR strategy adopted by Google, the Gates Foundation, and Bono — and has shared his attack crossed podcasts, speeches, videos and interviews implicit the the past respective decades. That affluent assemblage of content, Strober says, gave her a remarkably lifelike Doerr to interact with.
"This is really truly fun. You tin person a 'nice John Doerr,' oregon you tin accidental 'be a harsh John Doerr' and past it changes the feedback that it gives you," she said.
Though she has ne'er received proposal straight from the existent Doerr, Strober's closest person increasing up successful Silicon Valley was the precocious Susan Wojcicki, who is featured successful Doerr's publication for the OKRs she developed astatine YouTube. Wojcicki, who was an aboriginal Google worker and aboriginal became the CEO of YouTube, died of lung crab astatine property 56 successful August 2024. Strober says her adjacent relationship with Wojcicki, and Susan's occurrence successful business, helped motivate her to commencement Midi.
"I utilized to amusement up astatine Susan's location each the clip asking her questions, and I miss her a lot," Strober said.
As Strober sat connected that aforesaid level thrust refining her concern strategy, and texting with her husband, helium suggested moving the concern goals past an AI-generated mentation of Wojcicki, which helium did. "Her proposal was truthful good," she said. "I was precise affectional connected the level erstwhile she said, 'these are beauteous good, but I mightiness deliberation astir this, and I mightiness alteration this.'"
"It was really precise invaluable to person her giving maine advice," Strober added.
Follow and perceive to this and each occurrence of the "CNBC Changemakers and Power Players" podcast connected Apple and Spotify.
CNBC is accepting nominations for the 3rd CNBC Changemakers: Women Transforming Business list. The unranked database volition admit a distinguished radical of women whose accomplishments person near a people connected the concern satellite and who are paving a way forward.
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