Pre-Sell the Thing That Doesn't Exist Yet: Dr. Alison Curfman on Building a Pediatric Powerhouse

What does it take to leave a steady hospital job and build a value-based care company for the most medically complex kids in America? In this episode, Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners sit down with Alison — pediatric emergency physician, mom of 4, host of Startup Physicians, and co-founder of Imagine Pediatrics — to trace her path from clinician to telehealth pioneer to founder of a company that now takes full risk for children on Medicaid. Along the way, they get into the realities of homeschooling four kids through COVID, why complex pediatric care has been ignored by investors for so long, and the analogy that finally explains the broken math of insuring only the sickest kids (hint: it involves teenage boys and car insurance). Alison also delivers the single best piece of advice we've heard for physician founders: stop polishing the pitch deck and pre-sell the thing that doesn't exist yet. It's how Imagine Pediatrics walked into day one with thousands of patients already under contract — and it's the playbook she now teaches other doctors who want to build.