You once created an app to help guests bring unique waffle toppings to a weekly breakfast series. How did that initial experience shape product development at Jane?

While I’ve never tried to equate those two things, it’s ultimately problem solving. People would show up every week with whipping cream and strawberries – there was no variety. So, I built my first app to help everyone sign up for toppings and make sure they were different.

When I came to Jane, I was new to serious software development. However, keeping the mentality from my original app development experience inspired me to believe that you could make something great without necessarily being an expert.

With a mission to help the helpers, how does collaboration with healthcare practitioners influence Jane’s overall strategy?

We have a lot of compassion for practitioners. They’re treating patients during the day and figuring out how to run their small business in their off hours. The latter is where Jane is here to help. While hundreds of different specialties use Jane, we try to find the common problems they all share to determine how we can address those to make their day simpler and more efficient. Their feedback is critical to how we build Jane. We aim to create a very human relationship with our customers, and in turn, they tell us what they need.

How does Jane streamline electronic medical record (EMR) documentation and charting processes?

Most EMR systems have a very prescriptive format for medical records. My co-founder, Ali, needed a system for her clinic with 12 specialities. When we were building Jane, it was an interesting challenge to design an EMR that worked across multiple practitioners. This led us to create a no-code system. Practitioners can build their own charting experience to perfectly suit the way they treat their patients.

With that, we built a library where practitioners can share the templates they create with the entire Jane community – and many share just out of generosity. New users can browse the category and bring templates into their accounts to customise them for their practice. As a result, Jane users significantly reduce their charting time.

Why did Jane decide to first open in smaller markets?

We had an advantage in how we got to build, test, and refine Jane in a friendly, less competitive market like Canada. Our users were supportive and championed our product, giving us an opportunity to enter the US market ahead of where a startup might normally be.

Why has your team adopted Stripe’s new Instant Payouts programme?

Instant Payouts is a perfect example of Jane always trying to be more helpful to our users. Healthcare margins are super tight and cash flow is critical, especially for our customers who bring on more practitioners and staff. When it's time for our customers to cut pay cheques, the difference between hours versus days can make a big impact in maintaining positive cash flow. Instant Payouts is one of those things the old model couldn't do because of the constraints of our financial system. Stripe’s infrastructure of real-time money movement makes it possible.

How integral is the payments experience to the overall Jane product?

Seamless payments simplify the Jane experience, both for healthcare practitioners and their customers. Facilitating transactions after a healthcare visit can feel a bit unnatural at times – you’ve just finished a vulnerable or therapeutic experience and then are asked to go and pay for it. But with Jane Payments that card might already be on file from when you booked the appointment. The patient can then have more of a “stepping out of an Uber experience” rather than a taxi. It’s better for everyone.

Jane Payments is also incredibly helpful for some of the harder parts of running a healthcare business where our customers deal with no-shows or patients who should be covered by insurance but get denied.

Where do you think Stripe and Jane are aligned in terms of our values?

It’s our shared focus on simplicity. We work hard to reduce friction for our customers and we love how Stripe does the same thing for its users. Before Stripe, Jane customers had to go through lengthy membership applications. They had to wait weeks before they could begin processing. Today, they can get started within minutes. Their recording is in real time, and their statements are crystal clear. Since Stripe’s infrastructure is constantly evolving, we can keep introducing cool new features to our customers.