No one denies that it’s a tough world out there for health start-ups. Finding a customer is tough, financial models are tough to figure out, operationalizing is tough. But the same is true for those other health care stakeholders attempting to purchase and implement the innovations start-ups are creating. Here’s another unassailable truth: Everything is just easier within a supportive community. You gain feedback, mentorship, networking opportunities, and maybe just a venue to sob into your beers together.

Today I speak with Alex Fair, managing partner at MedStartr Ventures and CEO of MedStartr. MedStartr is a community for health tech entrepreneurs that also provides venture capital to crowdsourced contest winners.

And spoiler alert, the one core skill all successful start-up teams possess is listening. The ability to listen.

You can learn more at medstartr.vc, medstartr.com, and medstartr.nyc, or call Medstartr at 530-MedStartr.

Alex Fair is the founder and CEO of MedStartr. He originally trained as a scientist, working in physics, then cancer, and finally in heart disease research. In the 1990s he had an idea for a company that took off, so he finished off his last paper and came into the world of business. MedStartr is his seventh start-up.