The Hidden Force That Can Transform Your Career Beyond Medicine

Most physicians interested in tech focus on the wrong things. They think it’s about learning to code, mastering financial modeling, or memorizing startup jargon.

But they're overlooking the most powerful force in technology: network effects.

What Are Network Effects?

A network effect occurs when a product or service becomes more valuable as more people use it. Each new user increases the value for all existing users.

• If a single person owned a telephone, it would be worthless; the more people that use a phone, the more valuable it is.
• Instagram and TikTok with billions of users are exponentially more valuable than smaller competitors
• Once a critical mass forms, newcomers struggle to break in.
• Users won't switch to a less valuable network, even if the product is superior.

This explains why Facebook, Uber, and LinkedIn remain dominant despite competition and occasionally inferior features.

Types of Network Effects in Healthcare

• Direct network effects: More users directly improve the product (i.e. TikTok or telehealth platforms)
• Marketplace effects: More buyers attract more sellers and vice versa (i.e Amazon or patient-provider marketplaces)
• Data network effects: More users contribute data, improving AI algorithms (diagnostic tools)
• Platform effects: One user group attracts another (EHRs become more valuable with more app integrations)

The Hidden Network Effects in Your Life

These mechanisms don't just govern businesses, they shape your professional and personal life too.

Every community you are a part of has network effects. The more connected you become in the world you want to enter (e.g. tech), the more opportunities flow to you... often exponentially rather than linearly.

Life Transitions Where Network Effects Matter Most

Choosing Your Specialty or Job

• Some specialties have stronger bridges to industry, tech, or consulting
• Academic centers offer stronger pathways to innovation than community hospitals
• The coworkers and bosses you choose could make a difference in the opportunities you see. The Radiology group I work for has two YC startups, two other VC funded startups, several tech business owners, and several startup advisors.
• Each choice embeds you in networks that compound future opportunities.

Selecting Where You Live

• That lower cost of living city with a higher salary may come with a steeper premium on your potential or the potential of your children.
• Geography changes which ideas you're exposed to and which careers seem viable. Every city encourages certain ambitions. Be conscious of the ambitions and values you want to adopt.
• Your professional trajectory is heavily influenced by the desires your city gives you.

Choosing Your Partner & Community

• Your spouse brings their entire network into your life.
• Schools your children attend connect your family to networks that often become sources of career opportunities and social capital.

How Physicians Can Leverage Network Effects

1. Join the networks with the strongest gravity

• Mentor at digital health accelerators
• Become active in online communities where physicians and technologists connect
• Seek out the colleagues/bosses with the intelligence and drive you desire when choosing a job.

2. Choose groups strategically

• Not everyone is headed in the same direction. Make sure the groups you join are filled with the people you want to get to know more of.

3. Give it time

• Everyone wants immediate results. But like investing, the compounding of your network takes time.
• When I first moved to SF, I didn’t know anyone in tech. I eventually made a few friends, and one of them was a connector. That connector introduced me to dozens more. In that group of dozens, I met a few more connectors. And each year I am meeting twice as many impressive, ambitious builders/investors as the year before, which is 1000x from nearly a decade ago.

The Counterintuitive Truth About Network Value

The most important insight about networks is counterintuitive: giving creates more value than taking.

The most connected physicians in tech aren't those constantly asking for introductions. They're those who freely share knowledge, make introductions, and help others navigate transitions.

By increasing the value of the network for everyone, they become central nodes that everyone wants to connect with. Their value becomes self-reinforcing.

Whether you're looking to advise startups, invest in health tech, or found your own company, your success will depend less on individual skills and more on your ability to position yourself within the right networks at the right time.

In networks, position is everything.

Launching New Community at The Doc Market

One of the most rewarding surprises of this newsletter has been connecting with remarkable doctors pushing boundaries beyond medicine. Some are already working on great things and some are just starting to transform their careers.

I'm launching an exclusive group chat for physicians who are pioneering new paths in healthcare, tech, and innovation. This curated community will be a place to:

• Exchange ideas with like-minded doctors

• Find collaborators for projects

• Discover open roles and opportunities

• Accelerate your journey beyond traditional medicine

The waitlist is now open. Join us in building the future of healthcare.