Dr. Kavita Patel’s résumé reads like a masterclass in overachieving: She is currently a primary care physician, a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, and an NBC News medical contributor.
She’s also worked on the front lines of health care policy development, both in the Obama White House and as a deputy staff director for health for Senator Ted Kennedy.
Clearly, she relishes challenges and loves learning new things. But despite all her accomplishments, it took her some time to think more expansively about earning money.
A Daughter of Immigrants & A Unique Upbringing
Dr. Kavita Patel grew up alongside two sisters in San Antonio, Texas. Her family was part of the “Patel Motel” phenomenon: Indian immigrants who found work in this country by owning and operating motels.
“I worked 24/7,” Dr. Patel recalls. But she dreamed of something bigger for herself, as did her mom, whose concerns were influenced by their Indian culture.
“My mother, who had an arranged marriage, said, ‘You need to figure out how to be smart and how to do this on your own, because you’re not going to have brothers, and I don’t know if you’ll have a husband that can do this for you, ’” Dr. Patel said.
For her, that meant becoming a doctor or a lawyer —a career that would provide financial security. She took both the MCAT and the LSAT and eventually decided on medical school. She landed in internal medicine, where she found it “pretty satisfying to solve a complicated diagnosis.”
From Practicing Medicine To Making Policy
During her residency, Dr. Kavita Patel found herself frustrated by policies surrounding health care. She remembers being on the phone with an insurance company, advocating for one of her patients.
“I said, ‘We have access to a drug that will literally save this person’s life. I don’t understand what you mean by prior authorization.’ And then I thought, who designed this? And why did I not learn about it in medical school? So, I started just learning more about the policy part of it and then had a chance to work for someone who could actually fix it.’
She went on to work on health care policy with Senator Ted Kennedy and later in President Barack Obama’s White House. In many ways, the experience of working for the President prepared her for future opportunities.
“Everything was very timed and orchestrated, and his time was obviously very valuable,” she recalls, “We had to get across complicated concepts in a minute or less. It taught me a lot about probably what helps on TV,” she shared.
Her time in government also introduced her to someone who would become a key advocate in her career growth: someone who would “RSVP” her into a very valuable room.
Thinking Differently About Making Money
Her entry into venture capital came unexpectedly through a colleague, Dr. Scott Gottlieb. They first met when she worked on Capitol Hill, and he worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“And the true story of bipartisan relationships, we became friends over the years,” she said. “He called me and he said, ‘Listen, would you like to make some money? ’”
Dr. Patel was intrigued. At the time, Dr. Gottlieb was departing the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates to take on a role at the FDA.
“I had worked on legislation that was spawning billion-dollar companies but had not really thought about playing the role of private sector capital.”
Thanks to Dr. Gottlieb, Dr. Patel joined NEA as a venture partner, and a new chapter in her education began.
“My first purchase was on Amazon, which was how to read a term sheet,” she admitted with a laugh. She took the time to learn things about investing she did not already know, like “how to think about everything from warrants to how you structure a deal for a founder to be attractive, to even how you think about public stocks.”
Eventually, Dr. Patel realized something crucial about making the kind of money that creates generational wealth. “It’s okay to say that you want to have that be an explicit goal: to have that not only financial security, but the journey to that financial security.”
Dr. Kavita Patel: Raising the Bar and Paying It Forward
Working in venture capital, she noticed a pattern among female founders. When asked to think big about their companies’ potential, “I’m usually waiting to hear, ‘this is a billion-dollar company,’ or ‘I can see a path to a hundred million to a billion.’ I don’t hear it as much as I do from the men that we meet at the table.”
So, Dr. Patel has actively encouraged female entrepreneurs to aim higher. “We can make a hundred million dollars. You should have that as your goal,” she tells them. Her daughter has absorbed the message, too. “In fact, my 8-year-old now hears it enough and she’s like, ‘yeah, a hundred million dollars’.”
She reminds her daughter, “It’s not easy, but you shouldn’t be embarrassed about wanting to do that.”
Now, her goal is to continue to pay it forward to other talented individuals, especially women. “How do I RSVP one more person into a room that they wouldn’t have been able to get into?”
“Someone RSVP’d me. Each time, I deserved it, which now takes me a while to admit, but I deserved it,” she explains. “I had to start someplace, and now that’s what I do.”
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