About:

Livongo is probably the most well-known digital health company in the world, following its $18.5B deal with Teledoc. In this series of articles, I will dive into the details of the company. Starting from its history, expanding on its product offerings, and ending with its implications in the Chinese market.

History of Livongo

A company is, essentially, a collection of people and resources. So, to best understand Livongo's history, I will begin with its founder - Glen Tullman. What led him to the founding of Livongo?

Glen Tullman

Here is s quick overview of his career before Livongo:

1982-1996: CCC
1996-1997: Enterprise Systems
1998-2012.12: Allscripts
2013-Now: 7wireVentures
2014: Livongo

Glen graduated college in 1981, majoring in Economics and Psychology, and started working at CCC in 1982. CCC is a company that locate replacement vehicles for insurers. Sounds quite far away from healthcare? Well it is.

During his 14-year stay at CCC, he grew revenue from $17mm to $100mm by introducing numerous software systems. With this toB software and insurance background, he became the CEO of Enterprise System, a healthcare system integrator.

During his short one-year tenure at Enterprise System, he took the company public and was acquired by Mckesson, a giant in the healthcare information industry. Quite a lot done in just one year.

His stay with Enterprise System was also the first time he stepped into the healthcare industry. From there, he landed his most recent job before Livongo, CEO at Allscripts, an electronic health record (EHR) company.

In one year, Glen, again, took the company public. The Allscripts stock ($MDRX) started trading at $16 and rose to $84 within half a year.

Two years, taking two companies public is a great achievement. But then, the dotcom bubble busted and the company stock dropped to $5.

Glen spent the next 14 years at Allscripts building and growing the company. He grew the company revenue from $30mm to $1.4B by reinvesting gains back into the new ventures.

In 2012, after a devastating merger back in 2010 and company stock underperforming, Glen faced serious pressure in the company. He called for privatization of the company in order to "radically innovate" because he believed the company is being held back by quarterly earning expectations.

"The market generally doesn't understand vision," he said. "No one understood Steve Jobs when he said he was getting into phones. The analysts said, 'Stick to what you know.' Well, part of leadership is being brave."

Side note: This reminds me of a podcast I heard recently:‍

I think that America had a huge advantage over the rest of the world for probably 30, 40, 50 years, somewhere between 1930 and 1980, where it had the best capital markets in the world for helping companies grow and prosper. I think in 2020, now, America has got a capital market that is a detriment to American competitiveness.
Source: https://fs.blog/knowledge-project/roger-martin/

The board disagreed with his vision. Glen left the company at the end of 2012.

After ~16 month of preparation, Glen launched 7wire Ventures, a venture capital company focusing on the next generation of healthcare and education.

7wire, named for Cyrus West Field's trans-Atlantic cable — it was made of seven copper wires — that connected Europe with North America in 1866.

One of the companies he invested in is EosHealth, founded by Dr. Kimon Angelides in 2008. 7wire acquired it in Oct. 2013 and rebranded into the Livongo Health we know today.

Back then, EosHealth/Livongo only had one product offering: Diabete Management.

So, why Glen was interested in Livongo?

His son was diagnosed with diabete from a young age. He had first hand experience of the struggle managing his condition and knew there was a way to make it better.

He's also very active in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, for which he serves on the International Board of Directors and on the Artificial Pancreas Project, and has raised millions of dollars to fight the chronic disease.

After joining Livongo, the rest had been widely reported. Glen, served as CEO and Executive Chairman, led the company through rounds of funding, IPO (his 3rd time doing so), and the eventual merge to Teledoc for $18.5B.

Glen was also fun to work with. One of his former employee shared a story:

"We were in a boardroom with 50 seats... It was a very big presentation [to a very important client], and we had done an enormous amount of preparation. So Glen and I are sitting next to each other, and he could tell I was nervous. I just remember listening to the most senior person in the organization speaking to us and Glen is kicking my shoe off every few minutes."

Glen has the connection, motivation, experience, and personality to make Livongo happen and he did exactly that. Ever since his time at CCC, he always had a vision for the future. Back at CCC in the 1990s, he utilized software to improve efficiency and drive sales. When he got to Allscripts, he kept reinventing new business units and driving the company forward through new technology and M&As.

After years of working in the healthcare industry, he had the know-how and connections to innovate within the healthcare industry. Lastly, he had the motivation (improving healthcare for his son) and the personality (hardworking) to survive the long, painful, and lonely startup journey.

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