Over the last 32 years I have gotten to know the man they call Kevin Burdick fairly well. A unique individual who prides himself in being aggressive and optimistic, he is both a work-a-holic and a play-a-holic. I sat down with Mr. Burdick over a sandwich and a Diet Pepsi in order to pick his brain

An Interview with Myself

Kevin:  Thanks for spending a little time with me today.

Mr. Burdick:  No problem, but you better make it fast.  The World Series is on in an hour.

Kevin:  So besides being an entrepreneur, you are also a sports fan?

Mr. Burdick:  A die hard sports fan.  I love major league baseball, football, basketball, and I'll even take in a hockey game now and again.  And don't even get me started on college sports and fantasy sports.  I love 'em all.

Kevin:  Okay, besides sports and medical software, what else are you interested in?

Mr. Burdick:  A lot of people don't know this about me, but I'm a musician.  After hours I perform locally for various corporations and schools.  I'm sort of an Elton John or Billy Joel type, I guess.  I play the piano and write my own music (www.kevinburdick.com).  I generally have 1 or 2 performances a month.  In fact, just last week I performed and lectured to 300 high school students, the Youth of Promise, about staying off drugs and continuing their education.  My last CD has sold nearly 1000 copies and I'm recording a new one this November.

Kevin:  Wow.  Is that kind of like a "Jack of All Trades, Master of None?"

Mr. Burdick:  I don't know.  I just like staying busy and I love music.

Kevin:  So tell me about your family.

Mr. Burdick:  I met my wife, Debbie, in 2000 and fell in love with her almost immediately.  It didn't take me long to realize that she was special - someone I could spend the rest of my life with.  We get along great.  She is about 2 months pregnant now with our 2nd child.  Our daughter, Dempsey, passed away in 2003 after complications associated with repairing a heart defect (www.dempseyburdick.com).

Kevin:  I'm sorry.

Mr. Burdick:  Yes its one of those really sad stories, but we feel very lucky.  Debbie and I talk about her all the time.  I guess its our way of dealing with the loss.  We've started a foundation in her name that provides financial help to other families that have lost a child.  Those type of things make us feel like she's not that far away.

Kevin:  So how did you get involved in Medical Software?

Mr. Burdick:  Its a long story.  When I graduated from Brigham Young University in 1998, I took a job with Medisoft.  My cousin, Rand Harris, managed their tech support department at the time.  I owe a lot to him and Darlene Pickron who hired me as the Northwest Regional Sales Manager for Medisoft.  That's how it all began.

Kevin:  Then where did you go?

Mr. Burdick:  After NDCHealth purchased Medisoft, I began looking for other opportunities.  I'm from a small town -- St. Johns, Arizona -- and the big corporate life didn't necessarily agree with me.  I guess its the old adage, "I'd rather be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond."  In 2001, Lathe Bigler and I left NDCHealth at the same time for AltaPoint.  Doug Lyman hired me as their Vice-President of Sales and I took a lot of pride in what we accomplished while there.  During my 2 1/2 years I was able to put my family into a situation where I could leave and start InvestMed.  That, my friend, is the short version.

Kevin:  InvestMed - what is that all about?

Mr. Burdick:  We really have two goals as a company.  One is to provide Medical Software and Hardware Resellers with resources and information that will help them to be more successful.  I really want to make a difference in the healthcare technology industry here in America and in the lives of the resellers who are out there on the front lines everyday.  The newsletter and the medical software matrix help provide communication and information that is helpful and unique to the medical reseller community.  I'm most proud of the medical software matrix.  I really think its one of the best assembled to date, especially for resellers, that gives customer service ratings (from KLAS), feature lists, and even information on the vendor's reseller programs.

Kevin:  And your second goal?

Mr. Burdick:  Our second goal is to develop products that generally aren't being addressed by the industry as a whole.  Our patient kiosk and our web kiosk are both about to go into the beta-test stage.  There are only a few companies out there that have addressed such a need.  I'm really looking forward to replacing all of those forms that have to be filled out each time I go into a new doctors office with our product.

Kevin:  Let me get this straight.  If you are in the development stages of new products and you distribute a free eNewsletter, how do you make any money right now?

Mr. Burdick:  Surprisingly, we have broken even in our first 6 months as a company.  We charge for advertising in the newsletter and have some strategic relationships that pay us residual income.  Additionally, we have a group of solid investors we are working with.  I couldn't be more proud of the team we've assembled.

Kevin:  So who's on the team?

Mr. Burdick:  As far as employees and investors go, Bruce Bogdan is our VP of Development.  He is an excellent programmer with years of experience working with development and databases.  I get a long really well with him and am proud to call him my partner.  Allison Petersen is our manager of human resources.  Of course, I am the primary investor and President, but we also have Keith E. Williams of Kendall Healthcare and Russell H. Burdick Jr, a mental health attorney in Northern Arizona, as part of our core-investment team.

Kevin:  What do you see as the future of InvestMed?

Mr. Burdick:  We'll continue to develop healthcare related products for resellers that will give var's and their clients more options.  Additionally, we will make a big splash in healthcare by forging ahead with our organization.  We have been able to get the attention of a couple national organizations.  The coalition of resellers we are helping forge can be a powerful force in helping to shape the healthcare and technology industry as the industry moves towards a better future.  EHR's, Industry Standards, HL7, HIPAA -- I want us to become a powerful voice in helping to influence as many of those future issues as possible.

Kevin:  Thanks for your time Mr. Burdick.  Enjoy your baseball game.

Mr. Burdick:  Yes sir.  Go Red Sox!

 

- Kevin Burdick,               
InvestMedLLC.com         

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