From Orthopedic Surgeon to AI Founder: Building Healthcare Software

In this episode of the Startup Physicians Podcast, Dr. Alison Curfman sits down with orthopedic surgeon and physician founder Dr. Justin Smith to talk about his path from clinical medicine to entrepreneurship, private practice, and building an AI-powered platform designed to reduce the administrative burden of running a medical practice.

Justin shares how his entrepreneurial journey started with Morning Rounds Coffee and expanded into medical products, private practice, and ultimately healthcare software. He also breaks down what he has learned about working with developers, building for healthcare compliance, fundraising from physician investors, creating a strategic product roadmap, and using AI to build AI.

If you’re a physician with an idea for a startup, or you’re already building one, this conversation is packed with practical lessons on moving from subject matter expertise to an actual company.

CHAPTERS
00:00 – Introduction: Dr. Justin Smith
02:27 – Why AI is empowering physician founders
05:37 – Healthcare security, PHI, and SOC 2 compliance
07:22 – Why physicians still have an edge as subject matter experts
09:49 – Communicating your vision to developers and investors
13:23 – Turning physician investors into aligned beta testers
16:14 – The changing SaaS landscape
18:30 – Prompt engineering, context engineering, and AI agents
21:19 – Using AI internally to build a leaner company
23:28 – Making independent practice more accessible

Resources:
Startup Physicians Resources: https://www.startupphysicians.com/resources
Startup Physicians: https://www.startupphysicians.com/
Connect with Justin Smith, MD :- https://www.turnkeyaipractice.io
@toddwalkermd – toddwalkermd.com
@sportssmithmd – sportssmithmd.com