Veda Eswarappa is a Vice President at Great Hill Partners, where she specializes in the healthcare and software sectors. Her responsibilities include idea generation, deal execution, and portfolio development. She is passionate about the power of innovative service models and technology to improve healthcare outcomes, enhance the patient experience, and reduce unnecessary costs. She helped execute investments in and serves as a board observer of ParetoHealth, a leading employee benefits group captive manager, and Quantum Health, a leading provider of care coordination and healthcare navigation solutions.

Before joining Great Hill in 2018, Veda was a consulting case team leader at Parthenon-EY. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences and engineering with honors from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

How did you become a leader in private equity? Was healthcare investing always something you were interested in?

I have long been interested in healthcare and motivated to work in the industry given its ability to truly improve lives, but I became more interested in investing while getting my MBA and learning more about the different styles and stages of investing. The intellectual variety keeps me on my toes – one day you may be thinking about risk adjustment solutions for Medicare Advantage plans, another day you are focused on outpatient infusion centers – and I really enjoy the partnership aspect of getting to work closely with world-class entrepreneurs and management teams to help them scale their businesses and have even greater impact.

The world of private equity can seem intimidating from the outside looking in. What’s a piece of advice you can share with WBL members who are interested in working with PE (perhaps as a portfolio company board member, executive in residence, or operating partner) but don’t have a background in investing?

You don’t need to be an investor to be valuable to an investment firm. Investors like Great Hill seek out smart people who have different skill sets and areas of expertise that they can bring to the table, so focus on what your unique value add could be. For example: did you previously run a state Medicaid plan? If so, you could provide firsthand insights on pain points and purchase criteria to an investor conducting due diligence on a company serving Medicaid plans. Are you a senior executive at a large health system? Perhaps you have contacts at other health systems of scale and can facilitate intro conversations for a portfolio company that you think would be impactful. There are many ways to offer meaningful value that don’t require you to be a financial modeling wizard.

Also, keep in mind that every investment firm operates differently, so be clear about what you are looking for and ensure that your interests align. Firms like Great Hill take a very flexible approach and work with sharp executives and advisors in a variety of ways, from executives-in-residence focused on our thematic areas of interest to consultants providing diligence advisory as we evaluate a potential investment to advisors, board members, or executives that work closely with our companies during our investment hold.

What qualities of a company stand out to you most when evaluating an investment these days?

Great Hill typically looks for companies that will improve healthcare outcomes, reduce unnecessary costs, and/or improve the overall experience. While specific criteria or relative weightings may vary by investment, we generally spend a lot of time evaluating factors such as the strength of the value proposition and the total addressable market opportunity. Since we are growth investors, we are attracted to opportunities where we can invest heavily in strategic areas (e.g., go-to-market, tech & product) to drive significant yet sustainable growth.

Personally or professionally, what might the WBL network be surprised to know about you?

I grew up playing the violin, flute, and oboe and used to teach violin. My first trip to Europe was actually for an orchestra tour in high school!