A spotlight on Thatch

How solving an awful problem led to a $40m Series B and 1000s of customers

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What is truly awful in your life?

I know that is a bit of a ridiculous prompt to start an essay with—but more and more I am noticing that so many of the now successful startups were born by a founder asking themselves that simple question: what is awful?

So yes, seriously, ask yourself that question: What are the most awful aspects of your life? What awful workflows do you have while running your business? What is awful about planning your weekends? What things are so sufficiently awful that paying for some sort of solution feels like a no-brainer?

We need more startups making our lives (personally, professionally) less awful.

Starting a company that solves an awful problem for customers is a pretty efficient way to find product-market fit. Solving that problem for yourself tends to be even more efficient—no need to read people’s minds or chase beta customers around hoping they will give you useful feedback. If you can solve the awful problem for yourself in a real way, you may indeed fast track your path to product-market fit.

That’s how Adam Stevenson and Chris Ellis came up with the idea behind Thatch, an all-in-one platform that makes it easier for startups and small businesses to offer a personalized healthcare experience to their employees.

Chris shared an awful experience he and his family had with the healthcare system: “I found out recently that I'm going to be a dad. My wife, Christina, is as type A as I am (and I mean that with all the love in the world) so she researched and found the best OB-Gyn for her specific needs in Austin where we live. Unfortunately, it turns out this doctor wasn't covered by my wife's company's insurance plan.”

Nearly everyone you meet has an experience with the healthcare system that passes the “This is indeed a sufficiently awful problem” test.

And it’s awful for all stakeholders:

• Awful for small businesses who want to offer great healthcare to their employees but cannot afford to do so

• Awful for employees who work at small businesses who have to jump through hoops to figure out and use their health insurance

Adam, Chris, and team launched Thatch in 2023 with a rather straightforward premise: “What if paying for healthcare (as a business, and an employee) was not awful?”

The result has been exciting: they have thousands of customers, a comprehensive product offering, partnerships with HRIS systems like Quickbooks, and also just announced a $40 million Series B funding round (on top of their $38 million Series A in 2024). (Oh, and yes they are hiring remotely for basically every department: sales, marketing, operations, engineering, etc.).

We thought it would be interesting to spend some time with the Thatch team and go behind-the-scenes in hopes of understanding more about what it’s like to work at a company experiencing true hyper-growth.

[And thanks for the Thatch team for sharing details and supporting the Next Play community!]

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The risk of succeeding “too much” as a startup is actually a real problem. If you scale too quickly and compromise your core principles as an organization, you often end up with a bad culture which leads to a bad product and…eventually…a bad business. There are of course much worse problems to have (e.g. building something no one wants) - but deviating from what’s core to you as a business can lead to your failure.

It takes a certain level of thoughtfulness to build a culture that can handle rapid scale. You need to be able to think very long-term about what’s important to you as an organization while at the same time figuring out plans that help you unlock short-term milestones. Thatch seems to be threading this needle particularly well.

• “What’s surprised me is how quickly the company has scaled without losing its strong sense of community. Even as we grow, the focus on our values and our customers hasn’t wavered. It’s rare to see a company balance growth with staying true to its core principles.”

They most definitely want to move fast (and clearly have across many dimensions, including the important ones like revenue and product!) — but want to do so in a way that drives real progress (and doesn’t ruin the magic they have created internally):

• “One of our core values is festina lente, or "make haste, slowly". The paradox of swift execution with deep work is how we approach problems. You can't move fast and break things when it comes to healthcare. We have to take the right steps, for all users, every time.”

This perspective, which translates practically to making sure people work on the most important things and not be distracted by noise, has led to a culture that stands out from the sea of startups we have seen. In talking to people at Thatch (they go by “Thatchers”) - something felt a bit different. More mature. More long-term. More thoughtful.

So when we spoke to more people from the company about what it’s like to work there, we were unsurprisingly surprised by some of their answers.

We asked folks: What is the culture of the company like?

There are many ways you could imagine an employee who works at a hot startup could go about answering that question. You could picture them talking about how hard everyone works. You could see them mentioning how smart everyone is and how everyone comes from a very impressive background and has high standards. You could envision them describing the company’s particularly intentional approach to collaboration.

And while all those things may be true in some ways about Thatch, that is not where the conversation started when we spoke to people on the team. In fact, nearly everyone we spoke with centered their experience around one central idea: optimism.

People who work at Thatch, for one reason or another, carry with them a tangible sense of optimism. The type of optimism that does not come across as cocky—but rather as patient and confident.

Perhaps this optimism comes at least in part from their CEO Chris, who brings a unique sense of long-term clarity in every interaction.

• “Chris is extremely optimistic. His optimism is the first thing I noticed when speaking with him for the first time. He has such a clear vision of where the health insurance world is going and how Thatch fits perfectly into it. It's this vision that's the precipice for everything we have (and soon to be rolling out!) at Thatch. The gravitational purpose that he brings to our company is really impactful.”

• “Our CEO, Chris Ellis, is incredibly driven and visionary. He’s always thinking several steps ahead but is also very approachable. He’s someone who challenges the team to think big, but he also knows when to roll up his sleeves and get into the details.”

• “Chris, the co-founder/CEO, possesses an innate intelligence that reassures that the company is in good hands under his leadership. No details slip by him - he's always on top of the goings-on at the company and is so open to sharing his vision and the steps he's taking to grow our company.”

It’s hard to imagine taking on the healthcare industry—which today is very much ruled by the fax machine—without this blend of clarity and optimism.

• “We have a strong focus on positivity—we always look for the opportunities even when faced with challenges. At the same time, we celebrate failures as learning moments.”

It is also hard, at least for some of us, to imagine doing this with a remote-first team.

But Thatch has seemingly made it work:

• “I was surprised by how connected and together I've felt with my team, despite being remote. Everyone has been so on top of making time for me and are always there to answer my questions.”

How? There’s not a single driver but rather a number of thoughtful decisions:

• Prioritizing transparency at all levels of the organization:

  • “Thatch's culture is one of transparency - the majority of communication is public (whether it's email, slack, etc). So everyone remains up-to-speed on what is happening in the company, within all departments.”

  • “My favorite aspect of Thatch culture is the emphasis on transparency. The company leaders announce info that many others may keep under wraps, we reflect on the company performance together. One specific example that shows we walk the walk is we practice email transparency - we bcc public lists on every email so anyone at the company can follow conversations as they develop.”

• Having leadership that genuinely cares about its people:

  • “Both Adam & Chris are great leaders that genuinely care about the people that work at Thatch. They each have a desire to have this company succeed beyond our wildest imagination - so everyone that works here is held to a high (but reasonable) bar (deservedly so).”

  • “Leadership is empathetic, fair, and understanding, which I feel like can be somewhat rare (especially at startups).”

  • “Leadership at Thatch is empowering and supportive. They encourage autonomy, trust their teams, and are always open to feedback. They excel at communicating the company’s vision and strategy, making sure everyone feels connected to the bigger picture. Most importantly, they inspire a culture of continuous learning.”

  • “Our co-founders balance very well - a combination of deep tactical business execution and strategy with a very first principles approach to product, design, and taste.”

• Making time for team bonding:

  • “Since Thatch is a remote-first company, we have quarterly offsites where everyone flies out to meet up - the destination is different every time! It's such a great privilege to be able to explore different corners of the US and forge those memories with teammates.”

  • “Even though we are a remote first company, getting to know each person I work with is really enjoyable.”

• Hiring kind, respectful people:

  • “Kind, friendly, connected - our slack is vibrant at all times of the day despite us being remote-first. We hype each other up as a baseline. Everyone is humble, goal-oriented, and executes fully on what's needed when it's needed.”

  • “Really good people - everyone wants to be here and is rowing in the same direction because we believe in the mission.”

  • “The environment is high trust - typically limited meetings, you are held accountable for the work you commit to. With that, comes respect - people are highly respectful of your time / your commitments.”

Thatch is in a very interesting position right now—as they just (April 2025):

• Announced a $40M Series B funding round, led by Index Ventures with a16z, General Catalyst, The General Partnership, ADP Ventures, SemperVirens, and more.

• Hired former United Healthcare CEO Gary Daniels joins as Chief Growth Officer.

• Partnered with ADP, the largest payroll provider in the world (who also invested in the company)

They are looking for people with a growth mindset, people who are excited to take on new challenges and work hard. They are hiring remotely for nearly every role (sales, marketing, operations, engineering, etc.).

• “What keeps people at Thatch for the long term?” The answer to that is growth. We create a space for people to develop and take on new challenges. That sense of continuous personal and professional growth is what keeps me excited about my work every day.”

• “If you want to make an impact, grow rapidly, and be part of a team that genuinely cares about customers and each other, Thatch is the place for you. We’re a fast-moving company with big ambitions, and if you have a growth mindset and a passion for doing meaningful work, you’ll thrive here.”

You can learn more about Thatch here and view their open roles here.

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