He raised $300M to prevent heart attacks. Here’s how he got his health tech startup off the ground. | Dr. Min, Founder of Cleerly

Cardiologist Jim Min watched too many 50-year-olds die with no heart-attack warning. He co-founded Cleerly to automate detailed coronary scans—no invasive procedures, no endless manual work. 

Yet healthcare’s glacial pace, payers, and federal approvals all stand in his way. 

Hear how he’s testing AI across thousands of patients, fighting for universal insurance coverage, and coping with near-burnouts. If you’re a founder navigating hyper-regulated markets, Jim’s journey is the blueprint.

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Why You Should Listen

1. Heart Disease Kills More Than All Cancers Combined – The staggering truth behind silent heart attacks (and why most diagnoses come too late).

2. Jim’s Big Bet on Early Detection – He’s using advanced AI to spot “dangerous plaque” long before a patient gets chest pain or drops dead.

3. A 10–15 Year Fight to Save Lives – The brutal reality of building a medtech startup in a system that moves slower than any other.

4. Surviving a 17-Day Runway – How his mission-focus (and supportive backers) pulled Jim’s startup back from the brink.

5. Why repeated failure drives game-changing breakthroughs

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Keywords

Heart Disease Detection, Medtech Startup, Coronary CT Angiogram, AI in Healthcare, Early Heart Attack Prevention, FDA Approval Process, CPT Code Reimbursement, Plaque Imaging, Cardiovascular Innovation, Clinical Trials

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(00:00:00) Embracing Failure & Surviving Dark Days

(00:01:56) From Cardiologist to Startup Founder

(00:03:07) What Most People Don’t Know About Heart Attacks

(00:06:39) Using AI & Imaging to Predict Heart Attacks

(00:09:19) Why Cleerly Needed to Exist

(00:16:34) The Reality of Healthtech

(00:20:41) How Cleerly Built its First Product—and Why it Wasn’t an MVP

(00:28:33) Raising $225M to Prove a Radical Idea

(00:33:57) Finding Product-Market Fit & the Fight Worth Having

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