Patrick FitzGerald & Matti Perilstein | Eternally
PATRICK FITZGERALD & MATTI PERILSTEIN
Co-Founders of Eternally, a company that connects you and your family to the personalized solutions that you need for you to have control over your healthcare.
What Is Eternally? Tell Us About What You Do And Your Overall Mission.
Eternally is here to radically improve end-of-life care. This is something that impacts everyone in the world and yet, we are still using bizarrely antiquated methods of planning and preparing for it. Eternally starts by making it easy; we provide personalized Advance Care Planning to patients around the country.
Eternally’s one-on-one patient conversations are facilitated by expert clinicians who help patients complete their living will/advance directive from the comfort of their own home; driving our mission to enable this support for everyone anywhere at any time.
What Are Your Backgrounds? What Led You To Starting Your Own Company, And How Did You Choose This Space?
Matti: I grew up watching my mother driving nurses around New Jersey in her Volvo station wagon as a director of a home health care business. When people were experiencing the decline of loved one’s health, they called my mom. Fast forward to my career in healthcare management consulting, I watched as my clients - health care systems and payers - struggle to properly incentivize and ultimately, how to figure out how to improve the end-of-life care experience for their patients. Eternally fundamentally believes in pairing patients with a 1:1 credentialed and trusted resource with technology to help a patient document their goals of care and ultimately, take control and remove the emotional and financial burden on their families.
Patrick: I’ve been a builder and operator in the startup world for the past 15 years. I’ve had the pleasure of building companies from the cocktail napkin drawing to reality. I’ve had my hand in almost any industry you can think of. Recycling, greeting cards, diapers, craft distilling, pediatrics, you name it. I’ve also been lucky enough to have been teaching a class in the field at Wharton so I get to see companies like Deliveroo, Warby Parker & Venmo before they become a reality.
What Was The Inspiration Behind The Company Name?
Eternally comes from the phrase “Eternally grateful” as in, our patients will feel Eternally grateful when they take control of their healthcare wishes and relieve their families of the burden of emotional and financial burden of having to figure out their end-of-life care. Additionally, how Eternally grateful those loved ones would be for having this intel, without having the burden of guessing or potentially making an unwanted life-or-death decision.
What Have Been Both Your Favorite And Least-liked Parts Of Your Entrepreneurial Journey? What Have Been Your Most Challenging And Most Exciting Moments For You And The Company?
Patrick: I love the speed of building this from scratch.
Matti: The accountability and forcing function of it all is unmatched. That said, I was also taken aback at how emotional it has been for me. There is not a single comparative experience I can equate to except to say it reminds me of my days as a competitive swimmer in high school in that performance is measured in intensely quick intervals. Within the span of day, I experience exuberant highs and devastating lows but like at the end of those races in high school, I generally know I did my very best.
Recruiting talent is by far the hardest part of all of this. Our mission is our north star and makes it so easy to work with talented clinicians every day. The recruiting though, that is constant as we are always trying to add talented people to our team. The exciting moments are all of the little wins we experience every day. Hearing from a patient that they now have peace of mind about a very emotional topic and it’s because of the tools and technology we built at Eternally…..you just can’t beat that feeling!
Having The Right Team In Place Is Undoubtedly Critical In Any Healthcare Related Business. What Traits And Skills Do You Look For When Hiring Nurses At Eternally? What Kind Of Training Does Your Team Go Through?
We have world-class clinicians that are the leaders in their field. Our team is special because they are able to have a vulnerable conversation with patients and quickly become a trusted advisor by providing education, examples of treatment scenarios from their own years of experience, and by continuing to connect with them following their initial contact, when necessary. The majority of our team has come from referrals. We had one or two team members who referred their colleagues to us then those colleagues shared the opportunity with their colleagues and their networks and we found ourselves with A-team talent.
How Has COVID-19 Impacted Eternally’s Growth Over The Last Year? Has The Advance Care Industry As A Whole Surged As A Result Of These Uncertain Times?
We started Eternally before the pandemic really hit but certainly COVID shed a major light on what we are doing. When millions of people flooded the healthcare system all at once and less than 10% of them had an Advance Directive in place, we all saw first hand how devastating that was logistically, financially and emotionally for individuals, families and healthcare workers. Hopefully, Eternally can help in a major way by giving people a safe space to have these conversations in advance of a medical emergency.
Can You Tell Us About Some Of Your Numbers? How Has Growth Been Since Your Launch?
We started off with one nurse on our platform and now have dozens of nurses and social workers from around the country. It keeps growing as this is a passionate community that wants to help families from all walks of life. 70% of completed advance directives are done by Caucasians. That has to change and our team is making a difference every day.
As Co-Founders, How Do You Complement Each Other In Terms Of Skill Sets and Strengths?
Matti’s healthcare domain expertise, project management skills and overall company vision complements Patrick’s expert understanding of startup building blocks and focus on testing, iterating and launching. We also have a healthy blend of varying levels of impatience:)
What Are Your Daily Routines? Walk Us Through Your Typical Workday Schedule.
Matti: One thing I am most proud of is every day at 12:30pm, we have a team standup. Sometimes we just talk about the latest episode of Schitt’s Creek or the weather but in a short time, we tend to cover the bulk of our business and what needs fixing or acceleration. Patrick and I usually start texting each other items about the day around 7am, the team shows up at 8am and tend to wrap up the office at 6:30. We try not to take our work home as we pride ourselves on having family time but we are often texting throughout the night as things come in.
Patrick, As A Lecturer And Startup Advisor At Wharton, What Are The Top Three Qualities Or Skills You Find Entrepreneurs Need In Order To Be Successful?
Patrick: Patience, Impatience and Sales Technique. Building something from the ground takes an inordinate amount of patience. You need to be very practical and thoughtful about each step. That said, you need to be constantly impatient as well. Nothing can ever move fast enough. Lastly, no one thinks they are going into sales when they start a company. In reality, that is all you do. Each and every day, you sell your vision to investors, employees, customers, etc. Sometimes you even have to sell yourself that you’re doing the right thing.
What Advice Do You Have For Entrepreneurs Who Are Just Starting Out?
Patrick: My first piece of advice always is to take that first step. Then take another one. I often end conversations with “ok, tell me what you’re going to do next after this call”. You do need to start somewhere and the majority of successful entrepreneurs will shout this from the rooftop: “JUST START”. Start asking people about your idea, start talking to customers, start recruiting, start building, start putting together little pieces of your business early and often.
Tell Us About A Moment Or Time Period That Either Made You Laugh Or Taught You An Important Lesson.
We made so many mistakes in the early days of building Eternally, it’s comical. We laugh all the time about our early beliefs in things that would work or strategies that would be wildly successful. As we improve our processes, etc. we’re laughing less at the decisions we’ve made and smiling more reflecting on our progress and how far we’ve come.
If You Can Have A One-Hour Meeting With Someone Famous Who Is Alive, Who Would It Be And Why?
Matti: The entrepreneurial journey of Whitney Wolfe Herd just astounds me. She learned her field inside and out, realized it wasn’t being done in a light she wanted, and then set out on her own to build Bumble. I’d love to hear what kept her up at night, how she powered through some of the rough times and being the youngest female CEO of company heading towards an IPO.
Who is Your Role Model?
Matti: My biggest role model is my mom. She's pivoted her career a handful of times (from NICU nurse to home care nurse management, to nursing case manager, medical coder, and now healthcare risk consulting) never afraid of a new challenge and always confident in her ability to work hard and make things work. Even with a full-time career, she always made time for myself and my siblings, our family, and her community. While she makes it look easy, she has made me realize that there are always people willing to help you when you demonstrate a genuine willingness and exercise your ability to proactively support others.
What Do You Do In Your Free Time?
Matti: Baking cookies for the Eternally team or reading
Patrick: Coaching sports and playing with my kids
What Is Your Favorite Quote And Why Does It Resonate With You?
“Difficult difficult lemon difficult”.
While building Eternally hasn’t been Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy, nothing life changing usually is.
What Does Success Mean To You?
We have amazing successes almost daily. When we connect an individual or family to one of our Care Team Members who can walk them through an advance directive; that is a major win for that individual and family. It’s a small win from a company macro perspective but the impact of it all is just astounding. The advance directive allows every adult to take control of their future healthcare treatment. Many times, these decisions are preventing financial ruin or emotional disaster for a family years in advance.
Patrick FitzGerald & Matti Perilstein’s Favorites Stack:
Books:
When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, by Daniel Pink
The Healing of America, by T.R. Reid
Creativity, Inc., by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
Health & Fitness:
New Balance - I run 4-5 times a week, usually early in the morning. My father worked for his father and grandfather at Perilstein Glass and I love knowing that there are still family businesses like New Balance that are thriving. God bless em.
Lululemon - For my long runs, I need good quality leggings and bras that don’t chafe and keep me going. I rely on Lululemon for my training and race-day wear. I take good care of my clothes and while they’re expensive, they end up lasting for years.
Classpass - For fast at-home videos, I’ve been tapping into the national boutique studios now offering Livestream classes on classpass. Prior to Covid-19, I enjoyed popping into a boxing class to get some stress out or to a barre class to test my strength.
Brands:
My Tumi backpack I wear everyday (Matti)
My New Balance running sneakers keep me sane (Matti)
Our New Normal PPE Masks by Kristen Sherman (Matti & Patrick)
Consumer Products:
Instant Pot - I don’t have a lot of time to cook and I appreciate the efficiency of this device. The Instant Pot is pure wizardry. I’ve made chili in 18 minutes and mashed potatoes in 20 minutes.
One Line a Day Journal - I both verbalize and document what I am grateful for every day. It’s amazing how reflecting on how much good I have in my life helps me destress and diminish the possibility of overthinking about the negative moments of the day.
Le Petit Mitron’s Amandine with Raspberries (local French bakery near our offices in Narberth, PA)
Newsletters & Podcasts:
