It was cool and drizzly when Neel Mehta, co-founder of EpiFinder, and EpiFinder Creative Officer Kristi Kietzmann left Memphis. Grim trees rose on the sides of the road. The shapes of cacti and Palo Verde were long gone, vanished hundreds of miles ago. The EpiFinder crew’s black Nissan Rogue rumbled two and a half hours until the road trip’s next stop: Nashville.

Gray clouds filled the sky over Music City. But the weather did little to dampen our team’s spirits. We had three great meetings lined up for our daylong stay in Nashville.

Three Wonderful Meetings

The first meeting was with Elisa Hertzan of the Epilepsy Foundation of Middle and West Tennessee. Neel and Elisa met for two hours, discussing a host of issues. One focus was what Hertzan’s organization aims to accomplish in 2018. The conversation eventually turned to EpiFinder and our new Patient Portal, the Kickstarter for which ends in less than a week.

“It was great meeting you and learning as much as possible about this really innovative and fabulous product called EpiFinder,” Elisa told Neel at the end of their meeting. “I think that this product is going to give many epilepsy patients the ability to take control of their disease and feel empowered.”

Afterward, Neel and Kristi explored downtown Nashville.

The day’s second meeting was with Eller Mallchok of Jumpstart Foundry. Eller’s group is considering investing in EpiFinder. He met with Neel for more information about what EpiFinder does and has planned for the future.

The meeting took place in Nashville Entrepreneur Center. This shared office space looked much like Arizona State’s SkySong, the cutting-edge campus EpiFinder calls home.

Eller explained how his fund operates, how he invests in digital health companies. He noted the things he looks for considering an investment in a company like EpiFinder. The meeting was a fruitful and positive one.

Finally, EpiFinder met with Randy Arthur and Mary Straub, two friends of Robert Yao, co-founder of EpiFinder. The three-hour meeting touched on the culture and opportunities Nashville presents, particularly those of the Music City’s medical community.

Neel and Kristi got dinner with Randy and Mary at J. Alexander’s, a local restaurant. They enjoyed many dishes, including grilled artichokes and a tasty key lime pie.

An Enjoyable Trip

While in Nashville, Neel and Kristi were thrilled to visit the Parthenon in Centennial Park. This vast structure is a replica of the storied Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The striking Nashville replica was completed in 1897.

Our road warriors left Nashville the day before the D.C. conference started. A trying 11-hour drive lay ahead, spanning 670 miles of road often winding through hills. The Rogue registered a temperature of 35 degrees, so cold that the car beeped a warning. Nonetheless, Neel and Kristi landed in D.C. after sunset, having stopped for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the road.

The conference began the next morning. We’ll share exciting conference updates in our next post.

If you’re up for an adventure, ‘like’ us on Facebook. We would love for you to follow along on our journey!