Phreesia: The Patient Intake Company

How should the co-founders of an organization that provides patient sign-in and billing services scale their company after five years of successfully targeting small private physician practices? Phreesia had deployed a direct mail and sales force strategy that resulted in more than 10 million patient check-ins across 2,400 practices by its fifth year, but co-founder and CEO Chaim Indig knew that the company’s venture funding was drying up and its Board was expecting new growth initiatives. Should Phreesia stick to its core competencies in the small practice or market, or should the company expand its services to urgent care centers, payers, and hospitals? Will its ad-based revenue model continue to thrive, or should the company proactively decrease its revenue concentration by shifting resources toward monthly subscription fees and claims processing? Perhaps Phreesia should simply lean into its original strategy and avoid the pitfalls of scaling a venture after a successful startup phase.