70,000 Pharmacies. Zero Good Ones. So He Built His Own | Eric Kinariwala | The Catapult Code Ep. 8

What happens when you decide to rebuild a $500B industry that everyone seems to hate?

Eric Kinariwala, Founder & CEO of Capsule, joins The Catapult Code to break down what it takes to rebuild pharmacy from the ground up - not just with better technology, but by rethinking the entire customer experience.

Capsule started with a simple frustration: a pharmacy trip that went almost comically wrong. That experience led Eric to ask a bigger question: why does a category this large still work the way it did decades ago?

In this conversation, Eric takes us inside Capsule's full-stack model, why he believes the "magic" is in the 90% of the business customers never see, and why making healthcare feel simple requires solving enormous complexity underneath.

A conversation about building in healthcare, competing with giants, culture, AI, and what it really takes to rebuild an industry from the inside out.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
(00:00) - Taking on an entire industry
(01:19) - Welcome to The Catapult Code
(02:22) - The terrible pharmacy trip that started Capsule
(04:01) - Why pharmacy became a $500B problem
(05:18) - "What if everyone had access to this?"
(07:05) - Why Capsule chose to build the full stack
(11:20) - Taking on the entire industry
(13:41) - Why Capsule chose to work inside the insurance system
(15:32) - The 90% of the pharmacy iceberg nobody sees
(16:34) - Why talent mattered more than anything else
(20:25) - Culture, AI & the hidden complexity of healthcare
(27:02) - Did Capsule actually change pharmacy?
(28:28) - The hardest decisions of building a company
(30:35) - Why Amazon's culture couldn't simply be copied
(34:17) - What happens when the 800-pound gorilla enters?
(40:41) - How AI could reshape healthcare
(42:29) - The bigger AI opportunity isn't just efficiency
(44:49) - How building Capsule changed Eric
(48:30) - From fear and scarcity to fearlessness
(52:40) - What Eric looks for when hiring
(54:06) - The interview question that actually matters
(58:16) - AI is changing how teams work
(01:00:20) - When building becomes cheap, what matters?
(01:01:41) - Why bigger companies create narrower roles
(01:03:54) - Eric's 2026 prediction

👤 ABOUT THE GUEST
Eric Kinariwala is the Founder & CEO of Capsule, a New York-based technology company rebuilding pharmacy from the inside out through a full-stack digital pharmacy, consumer brand, and technology for doctors, hospitals, insurers and manufacturers. Before Capsule, Eric invested in healthcare, technology and retail at Bain Capital and Perry Capital. He is a Wharton and Stanford GSB graduate. Capsule is backed by Thrive Capital and Baillie Gifford.

🔗 CONNECT WITH ERIC
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekinariwala
Capsule: https://www.capsule.com

🎙️ ABOUT THE CATAPULT CODE
The Catapult Code is a podcast for builders navigating the journey from current traction to the next orbit — founders and leaders focused on expanding their impact and building enduring companies.

From the Indus Valley to Silicon Valley, the podcast brings voices from founders and operators who have built enduring companies across India and the US.

Hosted by Ravi Ravulaparthi (Co-founder & CEO, Qapita) and Brendan Marshall (serial founder, investor and Silicon Valley operator).

🏢 ABOUT QAPITA
Qapita is a global private markets infrastructure platform offering equity management, fund administration and liquidity solutions. From cap table and stock options management to valuations, fund management and structured liquidity, Qapita helps founders, employees and investors unlock the power of ownership across the US, India, Southeast Asia and beyond.

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