Host Kaylee welcomes Krista Martin, Partner at Novy (Novy Ventures), a healthcare-focused venture studio based in Iowa. Krista shares her path from product management and growth leadership in Iowa and Indianapolis to hands-on company building at a studio—crediting exposure to High Alpha’s model for inspiring Novy’s approach and community mindset.
Inside Novy’s model
- Focus: Healthcare software (not hardware) to fit the studio’s 18-month creation-to-growth timeline and regulatory realities.
- Process: Six stages—ideation, validation, creation, and growth are highlighted.
- Ideation/Validation: Start with a broad call for ideas, SME gut checks, and deep customer discovery. Founders co-create a Product-Market Fit Narrative covering problem, value prop, GTM, and business model. Novy is highly selective; rounds can end with zero companies.
- Creation/Growth: Build MVP, secure early partners, and drive initial revenue. Novy can co-found, operate, and invest (up to $1M), then tailor further capital strategy case by case.
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Company’s First Portfolio
Leadership: Krista currently serves as CEO; the original idea generator is an advisor. MVP built using modern assistive coding, with pilots and presales ahead. Broader applicability to other 24/7 shift environments is possible over time.
Domain: Emergency medicine scheduling—complex, 24/7 shift work across multiple hospital contracts, competing preferences, and coverage needs.
Why now: Rising ED volume, physician burnout, and logistics burden. The product blends AI with real-world constraints to deliver more equitable, flexible schedules.

A Good Reason Why:
Krista Martin has personal ties to healthcare; her spouse is an EM physician, caregiving experiences. This helps fuel her commitment to pragmatic innovation that improves clinician lives and system performance.
Get involved:
- Submit healthcare software ideas: novyventures.com (open application).
- Join Novy’s Subject Matter Expert network (form on the site).
- Emergency medicine contacts sought for pilots, feedback, and demos.
- Connect on LinkedIn: Krista Martin, and partners Eric Ingleman and Dave Tominsky.
Novy’s near-term: continue piloting its first company, restart ideation soon, and selectively grow the team as the portfolio expands.





