TENTANG EPISODE INI
Episode Summary
Most healthcare technology companies are built on venture timelines. John Serri built EyeQue on a different premise — that the technology would eventually matter enough to justify the long game.
Founded in 2015, EyeQue set out to make accurate vision testing accessible through a smartphone. Nearly a decade later, the company holds 35 patents, operates across direct-to-consumer and B2B channels, and is now integrating AI to reduce support burden, accelerate development, and improve testing accuracy.
In this conversation, John and Amanda cover what it takes to build in a regulated healthcare market without venture backing — navigating FDA registration, evolving from D2C to a telemedicine platform, and making capital decisions across multiple market cycles. They also dig into EyeQue's current inflection point and how John is weighing equity investment versus a strategic partnership for the next phase of growth.
Key Themes
- Building without venture capital — discipline and trade-offs of a decade-long independent build
- D2C to telemedicine — how regulatory realities and COVID shaped EyeQue's evolution
- AI as an operational tool — cutting support costs, accelerating development, speeding up testing
- The vision care market — the myopia epidemic, aging population, and provider shortage
- Capital strategy — equity investment versus strategic partnership at an inflection point
- What investors get wrong — why understanding the technology matters as much as the return
About the Guest
John Serri is the CEO and Founder of EyeQue Inc, which he co-founded in 2015 to rethink vision testing using smartphones, optical hardware, and telemedicine infrastructure. EyeQue has developed 35 patents, registered seven devices with the FDA, and scaled across D2C and B2B channels. John brings a background in aerospace and physics to healthcare technology and is based in Pleasanton, California.
About the Host
Amanda Verner Thompson is the Founder & CEO of Madison Advisory AI and a former healthcare investment banker with nearly two decades of experience advising healthcare services companies, founders, and investors on growth, strategy, and transactions.
Through the Madison Advisory AI Podcast, Amanda leads conversations with founders, operators, investors, and executives navigating leadership, decision-making, and AI adoption across healthcare and founder-led businesses.
Website: https://www.madisonadvisory.ai/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-verner-thompson/
