Dan Burton never planned to become a CEO.
He thought he was going to medical school until one economics class changed everything. After spending a decade building businesses inside large technology companies, Dan joined a five-person healthcare startup called Health Catalyst. Fifteen years later, the company had grown into a publicly traded healthcare technology leader serving more than 1,100 healthcare organizations.
Today, Dan serves as Strategic Advisor at Health Catalyst, helping the company navigate one of the biggest technological shifts the software industry has ever experienced.
In this Start School conversation, Strategic Advisor at Health Catalyst Dan Burton joins Silicon Slopes CEO Clint Betts to discuss scaling a company from five employees to an IPO, leading through constant technological disruption, and what every founder needs to know about building in the age of AI.
They discuss:
• How Health Catalyst grew from five employees to a public company
• What Sequoia Capital looks for in early-stage startups
• Why every SaaS company must rethink its business in the AI era
• How to build a competitive advantage when technology changes overnight
• Why founders should always be a little paranoid
• The biggest opportunities AI creates for entrepreneurs
• How AI is changing healthcare, software development, and startups
• Why relationships became one of Health Catalyst's greatest competitive advantages
• The future of SaaS and what comes after traditional software companies
• Why character and self-leadership still matter more than ever
Whether you're building a startup, leading a technology company, or trying to understand how AI is reshaping business, Dan shares practical lessons from scaling a company through multiple waves of innovation while staying grounded in timeless leadership principles.
00:00 Introduction
02:20 Dan Burton's journey to Health Catalyst
08:15 How Sequoia Capital invested in Health Catalyst
14:30 Scaling from five employees to a public company
20:10 Reinventing a SaaS company in the age of AI
27:00 Every SaaS company is under siege
33:40 AI, healthcare, and the future of software
39:20 Building competitive moats in a changing market
44:15 Advice for founders building with AI today
48:10 The importance of self-leadership and timeless principles
51:00 Closing remarks
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