This week we’re taking a look at the investment landscape in Iowa and as part of that series, we’ll be sharing the stories of entrepreneurs who have closed a round of funding in the last year.
We hope these profiles give insight into how a community of entrepreneurs has pursued different avenues to make their businesses a reality.
TelePharm founder Roby Miller says it’s a coincidence he and Iowa state Board of Regents president Bruce Rastetter first met.
Thanks to our sponsor
After pitching a rural Iowa pharmacy owner the value of TelePharm’s product, the owner insisted that Rastetter, a personal friend, hear Miller’s pitch, too.
“When I first talked to him it really wasn’t about investing,” Miller said of the meeting with the pharmacy owner and Rastetter. “They were interested in the business model because it hit home to them. They got the model very quickly.”
“The other thing that really attracted me to him is that he’s genuinely a very nice guy, too,” Miller said of Rastetter. “He’s pro-entrepreneur and pro-Iowa, and that’s the same mentality we have with Built by Iowa.”
Coincidentally, when it came time to raise money for TelePharm, Miller was able to find another “pro-entrepreneur and pro-Iowa” investor in Iowa notable John Pappajohn.
For TelePharm, a proprietary platform that helps connects rural pharmacies to pharmacists in centralized locations and keep rural pharmacies open, the $2.5 million investment led by Rastetter and Pappajohn has helped grow the team and scale the startup. Currently TelePharm has pharmacies in Iowa, Illinois and Texas using its software.
More than anything, Miller says that the relationship between startup and investors is about “both showing interest and wanting to move the relationship forward.”
“For me, since it was John and Bruce investing (as individuals) it moved quicker than a normal investment because they’re both really hands on at TelePharm,” Miller said. “So I might have a skewed view of the length it takes to do something like this.”
Since closing the round in July, Miller says he tries to sit down with Rastetter and Pappajohn face-to-face at least once a month. But even then, he says the relationship extends beyond monthly sit-downs and quarterly board meetings.
“I don’t wait for the 30-day mark to give them an update if something exciting happens and they don’t hesitate to reach out if they hear of something that might relate to TelePharm, even if it’s just a person to learn from, too.
“It’s a very open, communicative relationship.”
Credits: Photo from Faces of Innovation.
