Our mission here at The Muse is simple: to help you find your dream job. So, there’s nothing we love more than hearing about it when you do!
Today, we chatted with John Dwight, VP of Marketing and Partnerships at Simplee. His role is to lead the marketing team and create exciting new partnerships for an ever-growing startup—a perfect fit for his extensive tech background.
Read below to learn more about his story, then check out Simplee’s offices and see how you can land a great new gig of your own.
Tell us about yourself!
I’m originally from Massachusetts (Go Pats!), and moved to the Bay Area 14 years ago because I love the outdoor lifestyle here. I’m married and have two great kids, a six-year-old girl and five-year-old boy who’re becoming avid hikers and skiers just like their mom and dad. I’ve competed in triathlons since college, and recently completed my fourth Ironman distance race in Couer D’Alene, Idaho!
What do you do as VP of Marketing and Partnerships?
My job has two parts:
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I lead the Marketing team, which educates health systems on how Simplee can help improve the patient experience of paying for healthcare costs. We reach out to them through in-person events, webinars, and digital marketing channels to generate demand and early engagement. When a prospective customer starts engaging with our team, we provide support materials to help our sales representatives manage the conversation through the sales process. I spend my time working on content to tell the Simplee story, figuring out the most effective channels for us to use to reach new customers, and, best of all, talking to current and prospective customers to understand how we can continue to evolve our offering to best meet their needs.
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I also lead our Partnership efforts with companies who can help us distribute Simplee’s platform to more health systems, streamline our implementation process, and/or expand the features of our platform. My daily activity ranges from researching detail on potential partners to meeting with them to establish a win-win opportunity. A key part of this role is keeping a close eye on market trends and established and emerging competitors to understand how they create opportunities or challenges for us.
What were you doing before you landed your new job?
I spent a year as the head of product and business development for Trooly, a small startup that assessed an individual’s trustworthiness and potential risk signals based on their public web footprint. Before that, I spent ten years at PayPal, where I worked in many parts of the business, including corporate strategy, financial planning, marketing, and product.
What were you looking for in a job?
I wanted to find a role with a small, fast-growing company where I could have a big impact on the company’s growth and development. I’ve been a part of a large tech company (PayPal) and a very early stage company (Trooly), and I was looking for an opportunity to apply what I’d learned from those two ends of the spectrum to a company early in its growth trajectory.
What attracted you to Simplee when you found it on The Muse?
I was excited that Simplee operated at the intersection of tech—an industry I’ve worked in for many years—and healthcare—an industry that was pretty new for me. I could see there was a big opportunity to bring many of the best practices from consumer web experiences to the healthcare payment journey. I saw that Simplee’s team came from a range of backgrounds, including consumer internet, financial services, and healthcare, and I thought it was a great mix.
What’s something most people would find surprising about working at Simplee?
Hawaiian shirt Fridays! It all started when one person in the office wore a Hawaiian shirt to work, which inspired a second person to wear one the next week, and it sort of grew from there. This little tradition is a good example of the Simplee culture: It’s a collaborative place where people like to work together and have fun—and a space where great ideas can pop up in unusual ways!
Learn More About Working at Simplee
What’s your favorite part so far about working at Simplee?
My absolute favorite thing about Simplee is the people I work with. I love the passion that everyone on the team brings to work every day.
Simplee has a very collegial and direct culture, where people will bring up opportunities, issues, and challenges and work through them together. Our open office space really helps with this; when I have a question, I can almost always just turn around in my chair and see the person I need to talk to about it.
Is there anything in particular you did during your application process that you think helped you stand out and land the job?
I was very honest and open about my interests and strengths, as well as the areas I wasn’t strong in. This helped the Simplee team get a very clear idea for how well I fit the background they were looking for, and it helped me figure out if the role was a fit for what I was interested in and qualified for.
What advice would you have for someone who wants a job like yours or who is stuck in a difficult job hunt right now?
It can take time to find a company and role that’ll be a good fit. It can also be tempting during the job search to focus on meeting a timeline and finding a job rather than the right job. Your next great opportunity may appear one or six months into your search—if it’s taking a long time, try to be patient and stay focused on what’s most important for you in your next role.
Here at The Muse, we partner with a lot of great companies to bring you insider looks at their offices and awesome job listings. These employers pay us to be featured on the site, but rest assured that we don't just work with anyone. And when it comes to articles like this, these Muse-worthy brands are featured not because they want to be included, but because their culture, policies, and employee feedback showed us that they deserve to be. Here's to finding the company of your dreams!