Before starting Watsi, I traveled, worked, and studied in over 20 countries, including launching a national health program in Haiti and serving in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica.

Despite being featured on TechCrunch, I felt overwhelmed by the reality of our operations, which were chaotic and unstructured, leading me to quit my job to work on Watsi full-time.

I realized that while non-profits are crucial for addressing certain problems, the most pressing issues in the world were being solved too slowly, which led me to start Watsi.

At Y Combinator, I was inspired by the ambitious mindset of other founders, which contrasted sharply with the skepticism we faced before. It motivated me to fully commit to making Watsi a reality.

Two weeks after winning the competition, we received an email from Paul Graham inviting us to be the first nonprofit to join Y Combinator, which became a pivotal moment for Watsi's development.

I made many mistakes at Watsi, but I was careful to hire people who are much smarter and better than I am.

In the early days of Watsi, we decided that 100% of every donation would fund healthcare, we would be the most transparent organization, and we would treat everyone with respect and dignity. On August 23, 2010, we launched Watsi after a year and a half of preparation, and our initial goal was to fund healthcare for 10 patients in the first six months. We achieved that goal within the first couple of hours after launch.

After graduating, I took a job at a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., while working on small internet projects with friends on the side.

During the early days of Watsi, I was juggling a full-time job while trying to manage the influx of donations and patient profiles, which often required me to sneak away to the bathroom to update our website.