Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n\n- Incredible Health flips the hiring model so employers apply to nurses, helping 1.5 million U.S. healthcare workers find permanent roles more efficiently.<\/li>\n
- Dr. Iman Abuzeid co-founded Incredible Health in 2017 and currently serves as its CEO.<\/li>\n
- Since 2017, the company has raised about $100 million at a $1.65 billion valuation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
The spark for Incredible Health<\/a>, a $1.65 billion platform to tackle staffing shortages in healthcare, came from cofounder and CEO Dr. Iman Abuzeid\u2019s own family.<\/p>\n\u201cA lot of my family members are doctors, surgeons who practice, and they were often complaining about understaffing,\u201d she says in a new interview with Entrepreneur<\/em>. \u201cThey just don\u2019t have enough nurses in the operating room; they can\u2019t do as many surgeries as they would like.\u201d<\/p>\nAt the same time, her cofounder, MIT software engineer Rome Portlock, kept hearing the opposite frustration from nurses in his family. They were experienced and qualified nurses who applied at 10 places and usually didn\u2019t even hear back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Abuzeid and Portlock dug into healthcare hiring around 2017, they found a system stuck in time. \u201cWe just realized that the processes, the tools, the technology \u2014 nothing\u2019s changed in healthcare hiring in particular for over 20 years. We just figured there just has to be an easier way,\u201d Abuzeid says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Incredible Health uses AI to tackle one of healthcare\u2019s biggest crises: chronic workforce shortages. Today, more than 1.5 million nurses (about one in two nurses in the U.S.) use the platform to manage their careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From medical school to founder<\/h2>\n
Abuzeid was born in Sudan and grew up in Saudi Arabia. She completed a six-year combined undergraduate and medical degree in London between the ages of 18 and 24.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to medical school because my dad, my two older brothers were doctors as well,\u201d Abuzeid says. \u201cI just figured, hey, other people in the family are doing it, I might as well do it too.\u201d<\/p>\n
During medical school, she realized that while being a doctor is \u201ca fantastic career,\u201d she wanted to \u201chave an impact on a much bigger scale.\u201d So she finished her degree, skipped residency, and moved on. She didn\u2019t practice medicine after earning her medical degree.\u00a0<\/p>\nIman Abuzeid. Credit: Anastasiia Sapon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nInstead, after medical school, she joined McKinsey, doing hospital operations and strategy. Then she went to the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School of Business to get her MBA with a focus on healthcare management, before relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There, she became a product manager at early-stage healthcare tech startups, learning how to work with engineers, designers, and data scientists. She saw what it actually takes \u201cto build and grow products,\u201d she says. Those skills, combined with her clinical and consulting background, positioned her to see both the pain points and the potential in healthcare hiring.<\/p>\n
Flipping the hiring model<\/h2>\n
In 2017, \u201call the stars aligned\u201d for Abuzeid. She had the advantage of living in the Bay Area and she had experience working for startups. That year, she left her product role to start Incredible Health. \u201cIt was a good time to start and to become an entrepreneur, which is a dream that I\u2019ve had since I was young,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Incredible Health\u2019s first product was a two-sided marketplace, but with an important twist: employers apply to nurses, not the other way around. Nurses sign up and create a profile, entering their preferences. After that, employers send them interview requests. The nurses decide which interviews they want to accept and which ones they want to decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That reversal resonated immediately. \u201cThe healthcare workers absolutely loved that,\u201d Abuzeid says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Building a marketplace meant confronting the problem of needing both employers and workers. Abuzeid\u2019s solution was to start narrow. The company launched only in the Bay Area, then added Los Angeles, and stayed in California for about two years. That geographic focus made it manageable to build the product and gather feedback before expanding to other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
Reaching unicorn scale<\/h2>\n
Today, Incredible Health has just under 100 employees and supports about 1,500 hospitals and facilities, including major national systems, regional networks, academic medical centers, community hospitals, surgery centers and home health organizations.<\/p>\n
The platform now includes continuing education, salary estimators, and AI-driven services in addition to its core marketplace. There are two main AI offerings: a voice agent named Gale<\/a> and another one named Lyn<\/a>. Gale is a career partner for healthcare workers, which helps create resumes and run mock interviews. Lyn can conduct interviews on behalf of employers, interviewing candidates in days, not weeks. Abuzeid debuted<\/a> both AI agents in September 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cWe are saving each HR team member one to two months of their time with our agents right now,\u201d she notes. \u201cThat\u2019s meaningful, and that\u2019s changing their job description.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Gale](\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Gale.jpg?w=1024\")
Gale in action. Credit: Incredible Health<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFinancially, the company has raised about $100 million, and in 2022, it reached a $1.65 billion valuation, making it a unicorn. Revenue comes primarily from a subscription model in which employers pay for access to the platform. Nurses can sign up for free.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lessons for founders<\/h2>\n
Abuzeid emphasizes that founders should have a clear, steady North Star. \u201cAlways try to have a very clear vision [and] mission,\u201d she says. \u201cYour strategy and tactics change over time, but just make sure your North Star, where you\u2019re ultimately headed, stays consistent and authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of her most striking points is about mental health and leadership. Citing Ben Horowitz, Abuzeid says that \u201cthe number one job of a CEO is to manage your own psychology.\u201d In her eyes, the mental health of founders and CEOs has not been talked about enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Abuzeid credits therapy, executive coaching, a peer group of CEOs and firm boundaries with making sure that work doesn\u2019t take over her life. She invests in herself so she can stay effective in her role over the long term.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Underneath the unicorn valuation, Abuzeid\u2019s motivation remains to help nurses find employment. She roots her goal in her original training and her family\u2019s experiences in medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think healthcare workers are some of the most overworked and underappreciated workers in this country,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to be able to build products and solutions that help them and help their employers too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\nKey Takeaways<\/h2>\n\n- Incredible Health flips the hiring model so employers apply to nurses, helping 1.5 million U.S. healthcare workers find permanent roles more efficiently.<\/li>\n
- Dr. Iman Abuzeid co-founded Incredible Health in 2017 and currently serves as its CEO.<\/li>\n
- Since 2017, the company has raised about $100 million at a $1.65 billion valuation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
The spark for Incredible Health<\/a>, a $1.65 billion platform to tackle staffing shortages in healthcare, came from cofounder and CEO Dr. Iman Abuzeid\u2019s own family.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my family members are doctors, surgeons who practice, and they were often complaining about understaffing,\u201d she says in a new interview with Entrepreneur<\/em>. \u201cThey just don\u2019t have enough nurses in the operating room; they can\u2019t do as many surgeries as they would like.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, her cofounder, MIT software engineer Rome Portlock, kept hearing the opposite frustration from nurses in his family. They were experienced and qualified nurses who applied at 10 places and usually didn\u2019t even hear back.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Abuzeid and Portlock dug into healthcare hiring around 2017, they found a system stuck in time. \u201cWe just realized that the processes, the tools, the technology \u2014 nothing\u2019s changed in healthcare hiring in particular for over 20 years. We just figured there just has to be an easier way,\u201d Abuzeid says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Incredible Health uses AI to tackle one of healthcare\u2019s biggest crises: chronic workforce shortages. Today, more than 1.5 million nurses (about one in two nurses in the U.S.) use the platform to manage their careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Abuzeid was born in Sudan and grew up in Saudi Arabia. She completed a six-year combined undergraduate and medical degree in London between the ages of 18 and 24.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI went to medical school because my dad, my two older brothers were doctors as well,\u201d Abuzeid says. \u201cI just figured, hey, other people in the family are doing it, I might as well do it too.\u201d<\/p>\n During medical school, she realized that while being a doctor is \u201ca fantastic career,\u201d she wanted to \u201chave an impact on a much bigger scale.\u201d So she finished her degree, skipped residency, and moved on. She didn\u2019t practice medicine after earning her medical degree.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead, after medical school, she joined McKinsey, doing hospital operations and strategy. Then she went to the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School of Business to get her MBA with a focus on healthcare management, before relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area.\u00a0<\/p>\n There, she became a product manager at early-stage healthcare tech startups, learning how to work with engineers, designers, and data scientists. She saw what it actually takes \u201cto build and grow products,\u201d she says. Those skills, combined with her clinical and consulting background, positioned her to see both the pain points and the potential in healthcare hiring.<\/p>\n In 2017, \u201call the stars aligned\u201d for Abuzeid. She had the advantage of living in the Bay Area and she had experience working for startups. That year, she left her product role to start Incredible Health. \u201cIt was a good time to start and to become an entrepreneur, which is a dream that I\u2019ve had since I was young,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Incredible Health\u2019s first product was a two-sided marketplace, but with an important twist: employers apply to nurses, not the other way around. Nurses sign up and create a profile, entering their preferences. After that, employers send them interview requests. The nurses decide which interviews they want to accept and which ones they want to decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n That reversal resonated immediately. \u201cThe healthcare workers absolutely loved that,\u201d Abuzeid says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Building a marketplace meant confronting the problem of needing both employers and workers. Abuzeid\u2019s solution was to start narrow. The company launched only in the Bay Area, then added Los Angeles, and stayed in California for about two years. That geographic focus made it manageable to build the product and gather feedback before expanding to other parts of the country.<\/p>\n Today, Incredible Health has just under 100 employees and supports about 1,500 hospitals and facilities, including major national systems, regional networks, academic medical centers, community hospitals, surgery centers and home health organizations.<\/p>\n The platform now includes continuing education, salary estimators, and AI-driven services in addition to its core marketplace. There are two main AI offerings: a voice agent named Gale<\/a> and another one named Lyn<\/a>. Gale is a career partner for healthcare workers, which helps create resumes and run mock interviews. Lyn can conduct interviews on behalf of employers, interviewing candidates in days, not weeks. Abuzeid debuted<\/a> both AI agents in September 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are saving each HR team member one to two months of their time with our agents right now,\u201d she notes. \u201cThat\u2019s meaningful, and that\u2019s changing their job description.\u201d<\/p>\n Financially, the company has raised about $100 million, and in 2022, it reached a $1.65 billion valuation, making it a unicorn. Revenue comes primarily from a subscription model in which employers pay for access to the platform. Nurses can sign up for free.\u00a0<\/p>\n Abuzeid emphasizes that founders should have a clear, steady North Star. \u201cAlways try to have a very clear vision [and] mission,\u201d she says. \u201cYour strategy and tactics change over time, but just make sure your North Star, where you\u2019re ultimately headed, stays consistent and authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n One of her most striking points is about mental health and leadership. Citing Ben Horowitz, Abuzeid says that \u201cthe number one job of a CEO is to manage your own psychology.\u201d In her eyes, the mental health of founders and CEOs has not been talked about enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n Abuzeid credits therapy, executive coaching, a peer group of CEOs and firm boundaries with making sure that work doesn\u2019t take over her life. She invests in herself so she can stay effective in her role over the long term.\u00a0<\/p>\n Underneath the unicorn valuation, Abuzeid\u2019s motivation remains to help nurses find employment. She roots her goal in her original training and her family\u2019s experiences in medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think healthcare workers are some of the most overworked and underappreciated workers in this country,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to be able to build products and solutions that help them and help their employers too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nFrom medical school to founder<\/h2>\n
Flipping the hiring model<\/h2>\n
Reaching unicorn scale<\/h2>\n
Lessons for founders<\/h2>\n
Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n
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