Building a Startup While in Medical School: Yoobin Lee on Innovation, AI, and Time Mastery
Listen to the episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Listen to the episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
This episode is brought to you in collaboration with Invest Ottawa, Ottawa’s lead economic development agency for knowledge-based industries. We teamed up to produce this special podcast series to celebrate women leading in Ottawa during International Women’s Month.
In support of its Women Founders and Owners strategy, Invest Ottawa offers programs and services that enable and accelerate the growth and success of women entrepreneurs from every walk of life.
Visit www.investottawa.ca/women to learn more!
Yoobin Lee, the visionary CEO and Co-Founder of Quip Medical—a company revolutionizing the way physicians navigate clinical documentation and billing.
Building a startup while navigating medical school sounds like an impossible challenge. But Yoobin Lee, founder of Quip Medical, has found a way—not by working harder, but by working smarter.
She grew up between Vancouver, Seoul, and California, experiencing different ways of thinking, different cultures, and different expectations of what a “successful” career should look like. And for a long time, she thought that meant choosing between them.
Then, in medical school, she saw something that she couldn’t ignore:
Doctors were losing significant revenue in unbilled work. Not because they weren’t providing care—but because the billing system was outdated, complex, and impossible to navigate at scale.
So she did what she believed made the most. She started building.
What started as market research turned into an idea.
She talked to tech and medical professionals to validate her business.
Brought on her technical co-founder, Brian Li.
Brought on her first customer and used real-time feedback to refine the platform.
That idea became a pitch.
That pitch became Quip Medical—the company she co-founded to help physicians spend less time on administrative tasks and more time with patients.
She didn’t wait for permission.
She didn’t tell herself, I’m “just” a medical student.
She reached out. Asked for help. Found the right co-founder. Built a product.
And today, Quip Medical is working with real physicians, solving a real problem, and making sure that doctors are actually paid for the care they provide.
There’s this idea that you can’t be both—that medicine requires singular focus, that startups demand total sacrifice.
Yoobin is proving that you don’t have to choose.
You just have to start.
My favorite takeaway? Investing in learning & development compounds in ways nothing else does.
This episode is for you if:
You’re curious about balancing medical school and entrepreneurship—and making it work.
You’re passionate about healthcare innovation and want to learn how Yoobin is tackling inefficiencies in the system.
You’re constantly managing competing priorities and need time management strategies that actually move the needle on your priorities.
You’re building something new and want to learn how to get busy professionals to respond to your cold outreach.
Looking for a specific gem?
0:00 Introducing Yoobin Lee
3:43 Developing her own sense of independence and social circle
8:50 What a privilege it is to dream
10:05 The Bay Area — constantly surrounded by tech and innovation and a desire to use new things ubiquitous
15:20 Navigating medical school, carving out a few hours each day to focus on her business idea
16:00 doing market research, connecting with professionals in tech to understand the market she is building in
16:19 When she knew she needed to bring on her technical co-founder
19:17 Getting her first customer
20:15 Receiving real-time feedback from her ideal clients on how their platform can be improved
21:00 Family physicians are some of the most underpaid physicians
23:04 AI scribes and addressing a BIGGER pain point
25:44 The most effective strategies Yoobin has seen with cold emailing people
28:33 How do you decide what problems to address and what not to - what can tech address and what is policy-based and systemic??
29:48 Advocates in government and clinical champions to push for change
30:29 SheBoot program and the value of community
33:37 Balancing medical school and entrepreneurship
34:07 The high level mindset shifts that have helped me advance
36:16 “I deleted social media in 2024 and never looked back. And life has been a lot better since”
38:49 I disassociated my phone from entertainment and as a form of distraction from what really matters to me
42:00 Investments in your learning and development compounds in way nothing else really does.
Conversation Transcript
Naomi Haile: I'd love for you to start by sharing a little bit more about your origin story. I know that it spans continents—you studied in the States, you were born in Korea, and you moved to Canada. So, tell us about how you grew up, what you loved doing as a kid, and what has kind of informed how you see the world.
Yoobin Lee: Thank you so much for the kind words, Naomi. I guess, to start, like you said, I was born in South Korea, and then, at the age of two, I moved to Vancouver with my brother and my mother for his education. At the time, it was quite common for fathers in Korea to stay behind to financially support the family’s immigration abroad, and so they were actually termed Kirogi appa in Korean.
Soon after, we moved back to Korea without my brother because he had graduated high school. I found myself growing up in Seoul, South Korea, until high school, and then from there, I went to undergrad in California, where I was able to, you know, develop my own sense of independence.
I grew up very close to my mom, so being apart from family for the first time—kind of getting on my own two feet and developing my own social circle—not just because we were close in proximity, like in high school, but because we genuinely had shared interests, all of that combined reshaped who I was. That’s where I learned that I wanted to pursue medicine.
And so, from there, I applied, and thankfully, by the luck of God, I got into medicine and now find myself in Ottawa.
Naomi Haile: Very cool. I'm so curious about how growing up and being able to touch so many different places, and being exposed to different cultural norms and perspectives—because all the places you've been are very different. The way of life is very different, even the values of, you know, the country.
So, I'm wondering how that shaped how you move today and what your approach is in terms of, like, you know, what you value and how you see life.
Yoobin Lee: That's an excellent question. I don't think I realized how big of an impact the cultural diversity I was exposed to at such a young age had on my life going forward. I always associated these individual characteristics with important people in my life, but of course, they were shaped by their own culture.
I was heavily shaped by my father's tenacity and my mother's kindness and hospitality—but in a very particular Korean way, you know, growing up. Then my brother, having studied abroad himself, developed a more foreign type of confidence that you might not often see in Korea.
And then, of course, all the friends I made abroad, in the U.S. and now in Canada. I think, individually, I've had different stages of my life where I feel like new characteristics were kind of added on to my identity.
Naomi Haile: Yeah, and you had shared some of the things that influenced you to get into healthcare. In a previous call, you talked about how you loved, like, working with kids and helping people.
So, can you bring us in? If you have any stories to share about, you know, these moments in your life, I'd love to hear them because I think it absolutely informs everything you're doing right now—whether that's education or the company that you started, right?
Yoobin Lee: And so, in terms of what sparked my interest in medicine, I wish there was, like, one, you know, aha moment—that would have made my interview prep for medical school so much easier. But at the crux of it, I really just loved helping people (which you should never say in a medical school interview, by the way).
In middle school and high school, I loved going to the local community center to teach elementary students how to speak English as a second language because we were in Korea. Then, when I went to undergrad, I wanted to continue teaching, so I did the same thing, but for math. I also joined a phenomenal program called CoachArts, where they pair you with a family with children who have disabilities or are siblings of children who have disabilities.
There’s one very distinct moment I remember—kids with autism spectrum disorder often have ARFID, which means they are very sensitive to different textures. Some don’t like mushy things, while others dislike crunchy things; they all have their own isms. This one kid really disliked broccoli (understandably), and his mother challenged me to see if we could get him to eat it. So, we just kind of pulverized it, put it into this cheese dip, and he licked the plate clean. I was so proud of that moment.
You just get so close to the kids over the course of the three years that I was in undergrad. And so, I made sure to continue that type of volunteering work to this day, where I try to help individual students in the community on a weekly basis.
Naomi Haile: That's incredible. I think anytime I hear about people's love for community, volunteerism, and just helping—not just through their work, but because they genuinely want to and see the value and importance of it—those stories are really important.
I also think they spark others to consider how they could, you know, volunteer and use their gifts in different ways. You know, I was on the plane on Sunday—so, like, three days ago—and I was seated next to a woman who is big into philanthropy. The area she lives in, in California, is decked out with philanthropists and educators. She was telling me about the different ways she gets involved in her community, and we had a very long conversation about community and volunteerism.
So, I love that that's a part of your story.
I would love for you to share more—I kind of hinted at your first formal exposure to the medical space through your job. But if you could talk to us a little bit about your time on the West Coast of the U.S., going to school, and that transition before entering the workforce—what was that period of life like for you?
Yoobin Lee: I alluded to this earlier when I mentioned my first taste of independence—you know, being away from my mother's embrace, if you will. In that moment, I think I realized what a privilege it was to dream.
It was my first exposure to seeing how limited different social circumstances could be. And I know that thought comes from an immense place of privilege. I think that type of exposure just further solidified my desire to try and help people in the community.
You know, initially, I was very rebellious in my teenage years. In high school in Korea, you're either a lawyer, a doctor, or a disappointment. I was like, No, I will go against this…
Naomi Haile: Dang…. You know, it's crazy—I hear that so many times from people on the show, but also just in life. And I'm like, it doesn't get old. The way you said it, I was like, Oh, that hurts.
Yoobin Lee: And so, I was like, well, bless my parents—they never actually, like, forced me to pursue a certain profession. But, you know, they would gently suggest, What about the thought of medicine? And I would slam my door and be like, No, I'm not going to be a doctor.
Then, once I started thinking independently in undergrad, I realized, Oh, wait—actually, medicine might be the job for me.
But the thing about the West Coast, specifically the Bay Area, is that you are constantly surrounded by tech and innovation. There’s always something new, something that’s hot and in, and the Bay Area is typically the first place to experience that type of exposure, where new technology is actually used quite ubiquitously throughout the region.
For instance, self-driving cars—anywhere else, if you placed some sort of Waymo in the middle of the city, nobody would touch it with a ten-foot pole. But in SF, people are openly trying to test it out for the first time.
So, I think that level of open-mindedness, the level of drive that a lot of people have, and the entrepreneurial spirit—despite not actually starting their own companies—definitely played a pretty big role in my own desire to ask myself, Can I build something? Do I have what it takes to be a founder.
Naomi Haile: Yeah, okay, and then you decided to answer that question after entering the workforce and noticing something that was pretty glaring to you.
So, what was it like after graduating—entering the field and, you know, your first role? Bring us to that time as well.
Yoobin Lee: In medicine, the first few months, honestly, were—I don't know if I have the right words to describe it—but I felt a bit lost.
I grew up being involved in a variety of extracurriculars, both in high school and undergrad. In high school, I was part of the theater department and played basketball. In undergrad, I joined a business club. And then, suddenly, 100% of my time was supposed to revolve around medicine—which, you know, in theory, should be exciting. But to me, it felt like I was missing something, like I was missing a part of what I was also passionate about outside of medicine.
So that was one of the factors that definitely played into it. And, of course, there were the glaring crevices within the healthcare system that you're exposed to as a medical student once you step into the clinic—which you already alluded to.
Just being able to see firsthand what the limits of technology really are, seeing how far we've come, but also how far behind medicine is—seeing how big that gap was—it just kind of forced me to say, Okay, if nobody else is going to do something about it, maybe I can.
Naomi Haile: Yeah, and I think that maybe, at the time, it didn’t feel bold—it just felt like, This is what I need to do. You know, like, I can see this thing, it’s staring me in the eye. How can I use what I know—and what I will know soon, in the future—to really make an impact?
But I want to go back to something you said about being involved in multiple things, having multiple passions, and then having to really drill down into one area. It’s something I can resonate with.
What did those feelings look like for you? Was it you grappling with your identity, or did you feel like you had to give up certain parts of yourself to choose this profession and career? Like, what was that feeling?
Yoobin Lee: You kind of hit the nail on the head with that one.
I remember calling one of my closest friends from undergrad when I was grappling with these feelings, and part of it was guilt. You know, I was lucky to get into medicine, and now I wanted to do things outside of medicine. But that part wasn’t happening.
Then there was the thought that, Oh, I’ve locked myself into these next four years of 100% medicine without being able to balance it with anything else. Or hearing people say, You can’t do anything else. You don’t have time to do anything else.
And you know, I wish I could go back and tell myself, No, no—that’s what they might have thought, that’s what they might have experienced, but times have changed. You can pave your own path. It’s what you make of it.
Naomi Haile: And has that rung true for you in your career? Like, can you say that the thing you told yourself—Yes, you can be all of these things—is that your truth now?
Or what have you had to shift in order to make it work?
Yoobin Lee: I think that, for that initial leap of faith, you need a teeny, teeny, tiny dose of ignorance—you know, ignorant naivety—because I don’t think you truly realize how difficult it’s going to be in the early stages since you haven’t gone through it yourself, right?
And at the time, and still to this day, I think a lot of my mentality is, I’ll figure it out. You know, I don’t know how to do it now, but I’m going to figure it out no matter what.
And I think that mindset can get you very far.
Naomi Haile: Yeah, and so, can you talk to me about how that mindset has helped you with your company, Quip Medical?
Can you talk to us about how that idea formed in that family office—seeing and experiencing the day-to-day there? How did that I can figure it out type of mentality help you through that experience and shape what you wanted to build from there?
Yoobin Lee: In my first year, I was still kind of getting used to the whole concept of medical school. But after a while, I got into the groove of things, and I was able to carve out hours of my day purely to dedicate my thoughts to this idea.
I told myself, Okay, I can't stop thinking about it. Let's do something about it.
At the time, when I saw this problem, I didn’t know how to start a company, but I knew how to do research. You know, everybody in medicine probably knows how to do some basic research. So I spent at least a couple of weeks just digging and digging.
Of course, I have a lot of friends in tech as well, so I asked for their expertise—What do you think is new? Do you think this exists? And after going back and forth, I realized, Okay, this is a pretty saturated market, but there are issues that need to be fixed. I don’t know how to figure it out yet, but I will do my damn hardest to try.
So those were the initial phases of actual ideation. From there, I knew I needed a co-founder—a technical co-founder. I might be able to bring some sort of medical expertise (limited medical expertise as a medical student), but we needed someone who could actually build out the full-fledged product.
And that’s when I was able to meet my co-founder, who, serendipitously, happens to be very, very close friends with my current roommates in medicine.
Naomi Haile: Wow. Yeah, I remember hearing this the first time you told me, and I was like, Coincidence? Probably not.
But when you're first starting to think about what you want to build, it's likely that those initial ideas are definitely not the final product. Because as you're building—yeah, as you're building—your idea is constantly evolving, and what you're creating is constantly evolving.
So, definitely, at the beginning, how did you, for lack of a better word, sell your idea to your now co-founder? Just to get them to say, Yes, I'm in. Let's do this.
Yoobin Lee: I will be completely honest with you—I think I just got incredibly lucky to land such an amazing co-founder.
He was the first person I talked to about the idea, and initially, it wasn’t to ask him to be a co-founder. You know, I just kind of pitched the idea to him, like, Hey, here’s the problem I’ve experienced. I’ve seen it. Here’s the research. What do you think? And I kind of just left the ball in his court.
He is not a man of many words, but he acts very quickly. And so, after that initial call, the small conversations snowballed into developing something—like, Oh, who do we need next? Okay, we need software engineers. Of course, him going to the University of Waterloo, he knew a lot of software engineers.
From there, we just developed our small little team, and we were able to crank out the MVP, get the initial feedback, and, in terms of actually selling the product—not just to the co-founder, but to other doctors—I think this is where being a medical student was truly such an important factor.
I could just, you know, go up to my preceptor at the time and say, Hey, there’s this thing. Would you be open to trying it out? And I guarantee you, nine times out of ten, even if they weren’t willing to use it for their actual practice, they were willing to test it out. They were willing to talk to me about it, or at least open to discussing the problem space a bit more so that my understanding of it became more nuanced.
That was definitely a very important factor in the earlier stages of Quip.
Naomi Haile: What's a preceptor? You said preceptor?
Yoobin Lee: Apologies, yes. So, in medicine or in medical school, we are obviously still in the training phases. The staff physician who supervises us—we call them our preceptors. Okay.
Naomi Haile: Very cool. So, what you're saying is you leveraged where you are currently—the access you have, the context you have, and the relationships you've built—to kind of advance what you're working on and gather more information.
You need those types of data points, especially in that phase, right?
So, what were some of the things you were able to test with that very first MVP? And can you tell us about the first office or practitioner that actually started using your product and how that's going?
Yoobin Lee: I have such a soft spot for our first two early adopters. One of them was my preceptor in first year, and the other was actually my roommate's preceptor in first year.
When I pitched the product to them and asked them to just test it out—at the time, we weren’t even charging money; we just really wanted as much feedback as possible—they were willing to use it in their daily practices and give us real-time advice on what could be changed and improved.
With that, we were able to iterate more quickly on the actual UI design and the efficiency of the product. And from there, they were able to introduce us to other physicians after trying it out, which snowballed into even more feedback for our future product iterations.
Naomi Haile: Yes, okay. I know we just skimmed right over it, but tell us about it—because I gave the very high-level cliff notes.
Tell us about Quit Medical. What’s the problem you’re solving, and where are you right now in terms of iteration?
What does your product do, how does it help, and how does it support offices?
Yoobin Lee: So, the main problem space that we are tackling right now is actually the billing space.
For some context on the issue—right now, family physicians are probably one of the most underpaid specialties among all doctors, and it's heartbreaking because they hold one of the most important positions within the healthcare system. I mean, they're all important, but generally speaking, preventative medicine helps keep the population healthier—that’s a fact.
If you look at the fine print, a lot of this is because they’re not billing properly. They see, what, 20, 30, 40—I've even seen a doctor see 60 patients in a day. And because they have such high volume, they don’t have time to sift through the 1,000-page Schedule of Benefits to check the proper combinations, the premium codes, and what can or cannot be billed for a certain demographic.
Because of this, a lot of family doctors choose to bill only the bread and butter—A007, which is the intermediate assessment—leaving a lot of money on the table. And since they don’t have time to double-check their work, they end up with a lot of error codes. Many doctors either don’t have the time or simply don’t bother going back to reconcile those errors.
So, essentially, what we are trying to do is provide a more preventative approach to avoid those errors and minimize potential losses—ensuring that doctors are actually getting fully compensated for all the care they provide.
Naomi Haile: Wow. Okay, so you saw this in your first experiences.
In those early days, were you the one actually involved with billing and inputting these codes that you're referencing? Like, how close were you to these activities?
Yoobin Lee: To clarify, in my very first experience, I was not exposed to any of the billing codes.
We actually started off as an AI scribe, and that was also when all of the other AI scribes were picking up. So we realized, Oh, this is a very saturated market. How can we differentiate ourselves?
Rather than compete with the 50 other AI scribes across North America, we wanted to see—What is a bigger problem? What is a bigger pain point that is just not being addressed right now?
That’s when we saw that you have to bill codes based on the documentation. Because if you are audited by the government for the codes and don’t have the proper documentation, you’ll be fined a lot of money.
So our thought process was, Okay, we’ll take that AI scribe, extract the billing codes, and then provide optimized suggestions in real time as well.
We started off with just the AI scribe because documentation was the only thing I was personally exposed to. But it was through that iterative process—talking to doctors, asking them about the problem space, and gathering feedback—that we saw, Oh, that’s not the only problem.
Naomi Haile: Wow. Okay, and so I’m wondering—for you, since you started ideating in 2022 (just to provide a timeline for those listening) and then moved to building an MVP in 2023—what are some of the lessons you’ve learned?
I think I have a couple already, but what are some of the biggest takeaways you’ve had around product development and really navigating the process of building a startup in this space?
Feedback, I think—like, off the cuff—feedback and getting this into the hands of the people who are actually going to be using it, and really listening to what they have to say. That’s one thing for sure I’ve heard from you.
Yoobin Lee: To start with a positive surprise—I was very pleasantly surprised to see how willing people are to help in the healthcare and startup ecosystems.
Not just physicians, but also other mentor figures and health tech founders who are willing to take 30 minutes out of their day to talk to a random medical student they’ve never heard of before and provide really solid life advice.
I also have professors here at the University of Ottawa who have volunteered their time to talk through balancing both medicine and entrepreneurship. Granted, a lot of the advice was, You probably can’t do it in medical school, but we take advice with the greatest thoughts here.
So, all in all, I would say that’s been one of the most pleasantly surprising things I’ve seen.
Naomi Haile: Wonderful. So, you made a comment about people being willing to speak with someone they’ve never, you know, heard of before.
I’m assuming you, you know, cold emailed, cold called, and cold messaged people. And that’s been a big part of how you’ve gained users—even through warm introductions, right? Like you mentioned your roommate’s preceptor.
So, what strategies and insights have you learned that have been most effective in getting responses from these individuals?
With the understanding that you’re probably not hearing back from 100% of the people you reach out to, what have you noticed has worked for you?
Yoobin Lee: At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that on the other side of the email or LinkedIn message, there’s another person. And people tend to respond to strangers they think they might have a connection with.
So, any sort of possible personal point of connection will increase the likelihood that they’ll respond. The card I most often play is, Hey, I’m a medical student, and you used to be a medical student. I don’t say it that explicitly, but they remember what it was like. So, I frame it as, I’m working on this project, and I would just love your advice, your feedback, your expertise.
Having that personal connection within healthcare—or getting a warm introduction, of course—is always going to be the best bet.
Another pro tip I would give is, if there’s someone in particular—a big name, maybe—that you’d really like to speak to, find out if they’re giving a webinar or attending a conference. Where will they be next publicly? Make an active effort to be there.
Even if you don’t get to speak to them one-on-one, if they’re presenting, you can reach out afterward and say, Hey, I really loved the webinar you gave, and I was hoping we could discuss a bit more about this one specific point you talked about.
It shows them that you took the time to understand what they’re all about, that you actually attended their presentation, and that you were listening. I think a little goes a long way in that sense.
Naomi Haile: Yeah, I completely agree—both as someone who reaches out to folks and also as someone who receives messages. That’s something we can’t overlook.
And I think, in the age of AI and tech and all of these things, we cannot forget who we are and how we relate to people. So, those are all very wonderful insights. Thank you for sharing.
I’m also wondering—and this will probably shed light on how you look at your product—but as you have conversations with potential users of your product or service, I’m sure you also learn about other inefficiencies or gaps that exist, whether they directly touch the one you’re solving or indirectly.
So, as CEO, how do you think about focusing on what your product does and deciding which pathways you’re willing to go down—and which ones you’re not—because there’s a lot to fix?
Yoobin Lee: You're right about that one.
I think to answer that question, you really need to reflect on what can be changed with software and technology and what can’t be fixed with technology. Because there are a lot of problems in the healthcare space that are simply systemic and policy-based.
No amount of technology is going to fix the doctor shortage. I think there are things that can help—things that can encourage doctors to go into family medicine or encourage more people to pursue medical school. But at the crux of that issue, it’s really a policy change that’s required to see true impact on a high level.
So, trying to make that distinction is definitely one of the factors I consider when asking, Is this a problem space we want to target, or is this something we need to wait for policy change on?
But they also go hand in hand, right? I think if you want to develop some sort of technology to aid with policy change, then you also need an advocate from the government side to be your champion.
A lot of the time in health tech, you need a clinical champion—someone who can say, Hey, this technology works. Let’s implement it within our hospital or ecosystem.
And I think the same applies to driving change at a government level—you need that same type of champion and advocate.
Naomi Haile: So well put. And that applies to multiple industries, right? Not just the medical space, but this idea of having people who understand how you solve a problem in different spaces—people who can help advance your ability to reach and help more people.
So, you're part of SheBoot, which is part of Invest Ottawa’s programming. Can you talk about that program, how it was instrumental in helping you, and also, on a broader level, the value of community?
Going back to what you mentioned earlier—bringing something like this to life can be isolating and really tough. So, what has been your experience with community and programs like SheBoot?
Yoobin Lee: First and foremost, I really cannot say enough good things about SheBoot. The whole program was so well organized and put together—you can genuinely see how they take feedback from previous cohorts and apply it to future ones. We saw that reflected in ours as well, in terms of the love and the sense of community.
We were all remote, at least initially, throughout the course of the workshops. Then, they actually brought us together the day before the SaaS North conference. They treated us to breakfast, and we all gathered to reflect on what the past six weeks had been like.
Seeing how hard everyone had worked, how much all the founders had grown, and how they developed their skill sets in different areas was incredible. Everyone came into the program with different strengths—some were well-versed in finance or sales, while others were CTOs but lacked experience in other areas. Watching founders support each other, answer questions, and provide help was so heartwarming.
There was this one moment when we did, what is it—oh, we provided feedback to each other on our pitch decks. And Stephanie from MicroFutures—she’s the sweetest, most kind person ever—very gently gave me a lot of concrete feedback on how I could improve my deck.
And it was night and day. Oh my goodness, that was probably some of the best feedback I’ve received for my pitch deck, and I haven’t looked back since.
Naomi Haile: Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, to even be in spaces with other people who are building—just like you—whether they’re in different stages of their business or the same stage, I think having people you can look over to, exchange ideas with, and brainstorm together can really be such a game changer.
You kind of touched on this when you mentioned the culture in SF—there’s just this electric energy. And I think finding that electricity in your own city and plugging in is super important.
I didn’t mean to make that whole metaphor with electricity and plugging in, but here we are.
The other thing that I think would be valuable for folks listening—and I know you get a lot of questions about this—is time management. Because you have a lot of really big priorities, how do you manage your own time?
How do you balance your startup, your medical studies, and life in general? And what strategies have really helped you stay organized and focused?
Yoobin Lee: I think there are three things that I always tell people on a high level—some general mindset shifts and then some more practical advice.
But the more high-level mindset shifts that have helped with my time management start with surrounding myself with people I want to become like.
My two roommates right now are probably some of the smartest and most hardworking individuals I’ve ever met in my entire life. And so…
Naomi Haile: Wow, please send them this episode. That is so kind.
Yoobin Lee: No, genuinely. And despite all of their many talents and intellect, they are also incredibly humble and down to earth.
Living with them, working with them at cafes, studying with them—just surrounding myself with those types of individuals—even at SheBoot, hearing about everyone’s life experiences and the different professions they’ve gone through—it’s just so inspiring. That has definitely been a big factor.
Second is the co-founder synergy. If you’re going to be an entrepreneur—I know being a solo founder is more of a trend nowadays (I’m not sure if that’s the right word)—but Quit Medical would not exist without Brian. Just putting that out there.
And lastly, everything that feels hard now—I remind myself that it’s a privilege. Being on call in medicine, maybe having a night shift—it’s a privilege that I get to study medicine. Oh, it’s hard that I have to go to a conference? It’s hard that we need to send out all these cold emails? Oh, it’s a privilege that people are even reading my emails and responding to them.
That kind of puts things into perspective for me.
But more on the practical side—I am a strong believer that you don’t need to be a morning person. I personally am; I love waking up early. Just…
Yoobin Lee: I'm one of them. I'm one of them. I love waking up early and getting my stuff out of the way.
But I think we need to get rid of this narrative that if you don’t wake up at 5 a.m., you can’t be successful.
Exactly, exactly—because some people work better at night. And I think as long as you dedicate some part of the day to zoned-in, flow-state work, you’re fine. You don’t need to wake up at 5 a.m., but you do need to dedicate either the morning or night—some part of the day—to that type of work.
I deleted social media last year. It was more so in preparation for one of my exams, and then things started cramming up, so I just deleted Instagram, deleted Facebook, and never looked back. And life has been a lot better since.
Third—this one is honestly counterintuitive because it takes time—but exercise. Just take 30 minutes a day to go on a run, go on a walk, lift weights. The mindset shift of doing it so that I can be more productive or so that I can be healthier completely changed the way I viewed exercise. It became something that fuels my body, as opposed to something that felt like a chore or something I needed to do.
And the last thing—I’m absolutely neurotic with my Google Calendar.
Naomi Haile: We are the same person. I'm actually gonna, I dare you just on your phone to show us your calendar. Just swipe through it and I'll do the same.
Yoobin Lee: Oh, another really nice tip is, um, turning your phone black and white. Oh, wow.
Naomi Haile: So how do you—what’s the point of doing all the color coding if you can’t see the colors well?
Yoobin Lee: On my computer, it’s color-coded, and I kind of memorize the different shades of gray. Neurotic? Maybe.
Naomi Haile: Okay, let me show you mine because I wasn’t joking. I use every single color—oh my goodness.
Yoobin Lee: We are actually the same person. We’re the same person.
Naomi Haile: I did try, one time, changing my phone to black and white. It actually made a difference. What I noticed in terms of my behavior was that I was on my phone less. What was the reason that you did it?
Yoobin Lee: I did it around the same time that I deleted social media. I just didn’t want to look at my phone unless I had to. I dissociated my phone from entertainment—it became purely a method of communication. It was a way to get reminders from my calendar, but it was not a source of fun for me. And having that kind of association was night and day.
Naomi Haile: And you never went back. My partner deactivates his social media all the time—he just kind of forgets about it, right? I feel like you’re definitely more present. But how has your life improved because of that decision you made last year?
Yoobin Lee: It makes you prioritize your relationships a lot more. I don’t spend time scrolling on social media, looking at photos from people I haven’t talked to in five years. Instead, I’m intentionally texting and keeping up to date with the friends I want to stay in touch with from undergrad.
Granted, I am not a very good texter. So, I have this one friend from undergrad, and it’s locked into my calendar—every single week, for 30 minutes, we will call, rain or shine. I will have an exam the next day, and we will still call, rain or shine.
Things like that do wonders for your mental health—having that kind of community.
Naomi Haile: This has been such a pleasure. I’m so happy we had a chance to chat.
I have a few more questions before we wrap up. At this stage of your career, after everything you’ve been involved in—how do you personally define success today? And how has that definition evolved over the years?
Yoobin Lee: Well, that’s a difficult question.
Previously, I thought success was this stagnant goal that I needed to achieve. Once I achieved that goal, I would be successful, and I would make my mom proud.
But now, I see success as something more fluid. I define it as growth—am I better than I was yesterday? If me from last year saw me today, what would she say? Would she be proud?
So just being able to continuously and actively grow, put in the work, and not give up—that has kind of become my new definition of success. But even that’s changing. So, maybe we’ll talk again in a year or two, and it will be completely different.
Naomi Haile: That’s amazing. I think there are so many things you’ve said that make me go, That’s such a great insight.
The little things you do—like changing your phone screen to black and white or disassociating from things that seem normal but don’t actually enhance your life. I love that you challenge things people don’t even question. I hope people listening really hear that thread throughout your story.
What’s the best investment you’ve made in your life? It doesn’t have to be financial—it could be an investment of your time, in relationships, or a resource you leveraged.
Yoobin Lee: I think the biggest investment has been learning. Time spent on learning is a type of capital that just compounds over time in ways that nothing else really can.
The knowledge and skills you develop—things other people might not know or be able to do—are highly valuable, and their value keeps growing in ways you can’t even imagine.
Naomi Haile: What’s the best way for people to connect with you online? How can physicians or other innovators interested in your work reach out?
Yoobin Lee: I’m always reachable by email: yoobin@quipmedical.org. I may not be very fast at responding to texts, but I think I’m faster at responding to emails.
Naomi Haile: Wonderful. Thank you, Yoobin, for sharing your story. This was such a treat.
And to everyone listening—we’ll catch you in the next episode.
Listen to the episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Connect with Yoobin
LinkedIn: Yoobin Lee (yoobin@quipmedical.org)
Website: Quip Medical
Connect with Naomi
Website: naomihaile.com
LinkedIn: Naomi Haile
Instagram: @naomiahaile
Twitter: @naomiathaile