The inside story of why this once high-flying digital health startup failed
The day after Tim Peck shut down his company, Call9, he ran the Brooklyn half marathon. Or more accurately, he walked it.
If this were a movie, Peck would have crossed the finish line in record time with a look of fierce determination. Instead, Peck felt more defeated, and sleep deprived than he had in a long time. As he walked, he used the opportunity to call family, friends, and angel investors for a series of hard conversations. Through tears, he shared that he’d lost the money they’d invested years ago. He talked about the struggles with his board and his difficulties with fundraising. He opened up about the years of his life dedicated to this one mission - to provide telemedicine to seniors - and the feeling of failure. The whole thing was cathartic, with some moments of laughter and levity, but it also sucked. Grief is a process, and this was just the beginning.
Not long before he shut down his company on May 17, 2019, Peck boarded a redeye flight from New York to San Francisco to meet with many of the top venture firms. But because, in his words, his pitch “smacked of desperation,” no one agreed to write him a check. Call9 had a lot of success with fundraising in the past, but this was a last ditch effort. Fundraising isn’t just about the potential or the traction or team. It’s also about playing the game and projecting FOMO. And by that point in 2019, Peck only had one offer on the table. And it was a bad one: About $1 million, in exchange for essentially liquidating his ownership and that of his existing senior team.
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