By Savanah Litton

As a fast growing company, I had a lot of questions about DocNetwork. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with director, Dr. Michael Ambrose, and inquire about his inspirations, passions, and difficulties while starting this amazing business.

Where did it all begin? When did you start working on building this company and what were some of the initial actions you took?
The concept started when I was volunteering at a summer camp. Everything was on pen and paper and health forms were being put into a filing cabinet. It wasn’t uncommon for forms to be misread or get misplaced. I thought that there must be a better way to do it. I had some self taught computer programming and web development skills, so I approached the director of the camp and said if he was willing to invest in a few laptops for the camp, I would build him some software. Long story short, he agreed and so I spent my last year of college building the prototype. I took it to the camp that summer and it ended up working really well.

Where are your passions? How do you identify with camps, and how have camps been apart of your life?
I’ve gone to summer camp every year of my life since I was in first grade. My best friend’s mom was a pediatrician and volunteered as a camp doctor. I went to shadow her one summer and I was only supposed to stay for one week, but I was having such a good time I ended up staying all summer. It was a really cool experience to work in the healthcare field in a nontraditional setting, and I tried to look for a way to bridge camp and medicine. So in medical school, I had approached the dean and proposed a “wilderness pediatrics” rotation, which would allow me to go to camp for a month and work alongside camp doctors and nurses.

What were some of your initial hopes for DocNetwork; when you envisioned life as a startup founder – what was reality and what was different than you imagined?
I originally built the software to make my job easier and to help make the camp I was volunteering at more efficient. At first, it was just me on a laptop by myself, and it is amazing to see how much it has grown since then. I never imagined we’d be working with over one thousand camps and schools all over the country and that I’d have a team of 25 amazing people.

Did you encounter any difficulties during the process? How were you able to overcome them?
The biggest challenge for me was without a doubt balancing my medical education while growing my business. During residency I was working 80 hours a week in the hospital. For three years I would wake up at 5am to be at the hospital by 6am and work a 12 hour shift. I’d get home around 6:30pm, eat a quick dinner and then answer sales emails, support calls, and write code from 7pm until 1am. I did this day after day. In recent years it has been challenging to find the right team members that are as passionate, hardworking, and as motivated as I am. I’ve realized how important it is to surround yourself with passionate people.

How do you think your company has directly impacted the community? What’s the most important thing you’re working on right now?
Individual camps tell us how they used to lose their health forms or occasionally have medication errors, but since using CampDoc no longer experience these problems. It’s awesome to hear how our software has a direct impact on our customers.  We’ve recently teamed up with the University of Michigan to do medical research too.

Where do you wish to see the company in 5 or 10 years? What does success look like for this company?
That’s a really good question. What we’re doing here looks so different every six months. We are growing so fast and it’s so important to me that we maintain those close, personal relationships with our camps and schools. Communication internally and externally is so important for continued success.

What sets DocNetwork apart from its competitors? What advantages does this company have?
Our mission is to improve health and safety through technology, and there is no doubt that our mission aligns with the top priority for every camp and school: health and safety. This is undoubtedly what makes us different than any other company.

Do you believe in a completely paperless world? What do you believe are some of the benefits of going paperless?
I don’t believe in a completely paperless world, my to-do list is still on a pad of paper. But I think for things like health information and essential pieces of data that need to be accessed in emergencies, it is extremely important to have it at your fingertips. Especially with children, seconds or minutes can mean the difference between life or death.

What do you love most about what you do?
I love seeing the impact we’re having on our individual camps and schools. I smile when I hear the stories of how we are improving the lives of the camp director, the school nurse, and ultimately the health and safety of the children. I also love seeing our team members grow individually and professionally. Our Director of Operations started as an intern five years ago and is now leading and managing our amazing team, and overseeing the success of our camps and schools. What’s cooler than that? I had an idea, saw a need, and acted on it.

Do you have any advice for future startup companies?
If you believe in something, then do it. I think people make excuses all the time for why they shouldn’t try something. If you believe in it and think there is value in it, then it can’t hurt to try. Even if you fail, that’s okay. If you’re passionate about something, just do it.

Dr. Ambrose proves to be anything but ordinary. In the midst of the busiest time of his life, medical school and residency, he still managed to create groundbreaking software for camps and schools. His company has grown at exceptional rates, yet he has still maintained a tight-knit culture and close personal relationships with his customers. Dr. Ambrose’s motivation for constant improvement in his software and company truly shows his concerns for the health and safety of children while they are away at camp or school. While he followed a different path from a traditional medical career, he has found a way to bridge his two passions. As he said before, if you’re passionate about something, just do it.