Jared Taylor, 28

“Serial entrepreneur” wasn’t Jared Taylor’s original career choice. The Massachusetts native majored in accounting and finance at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire, with an eye toward securing a job in investment banking. He worked in that field for a few months before starting his first business, EduPlanz LLC, an education and — somewhat ironically — career planning company.

Taylor next launched ventures in a diverse range of areas, including tennis, health care, podcasting and video production. His most successful startup to date is BlocHealth, a platform for health care professionals that eases complicated tasks such as licensing, payer enrollment and credentialing.

“During the pandemic, virtual care came to the forefront,” Taylor says. “People weren’t going to urgent care; they weren't going to the hospital as much. So we saw an opportunity to create a way for clinicians to submit an application and get licensed in all 50 states and set up with many of the top insurance carriers across those states so they can see more patients virtually.”

The company’s value skyrocketed during the pandemic, he says, which led it to be acquired earlier this year by St. Louis-based telehealth firm SteadyMD.

“I knew I was going to have to sell one day,” Taylor says. “As a founder, I didn’t think about it that much, but it just made too much sense, when you look at the competitive landscape and the offerings that are out there, there was no all-in-one solution.”

Terms of the deal included a SteadyMD executive role for Taylor — he’s the company’s senior vice president of licensing and credentialing. He says one of his goals to reach by the time he’s 40 is to help SteadyMD continue to grow while continuing to build up other companies, such as current ventures Slice of Media and Slice of Healthcare, which produce video and podcast content.

“There’s a lot I intend to put together over the next 12 years,” Taylor says. “I think you’re going to see Slice of Healthcare and Slice of Media as the two biggest media companies in the space. We produce our own content and content for others. We’ll probably end up applying for the Inc. 5000 next year because the growth has been insane.”

City of residence: St. Petersburg

Employer: SteadyMD

Title: Senior vice president of licensing and credentialing

Birthplace: Massachusetts

Years in the area: 2

Marital status/children: Single, no kids 

Alma mater/degree: Franklin Pierce University/bachelor of science in accounting and finance

Are you working from the company office, home office or hybrid? Hybrid

What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had? Moving file boxes after a flood in a building

What’s your top tip for being productive? Write down what you want to accomplish the day before.

If you could have a side hustle, what would it be? Teaching tennis and stringing tennis racquets

What’s your favorite off-hours activity? Walking around downtown St. Pete

What's the most significant item on your life bucket list — and what's keeping you from completing it? Visit Europe - I work a lot on my own ventures and at my company.

What's your favorite podcast? "How I Built This"

At what percentage on your phone to you start to get low battery anxiety? 10%

What are the top three apps used on your smartphone? Monday.com, YouTube, Gmail

What books are you reading now? Atomic Habits

What's your go-to music genre, band or act to be inspired? NF

Who would play you in the movie of your life? Josh Hutcherson

Where is your happy place? In front of my laptop with a view outside

Describe yourself in three words: Ambitious, kind, bright

Who is your mentor for your career and why? Bart Van Rhijn, an early advisor investor in my startup BlocHealth and my co-founder at Slice of Media. He is someone who has always been available to bounce ideas off of and game plan with.

What are the biggest lessons you have learned from your mentor? How to accurately put together startup pro-forma financial statements; how to navigate the life sciences industry; how to raise capital from certain investors