When a Merger Makes the Most Sense

SOMEWHERE ALONG the way, most founders realize things aren’t going according to plan. This shouldn’t be a surprise—a startup is basically a double scoop of hopes and dreams, drizzled with uncertainty. You might update your road map hourly, but eventually you end up somewhere you never expected to be.

A year ago, the plans for Iodine—my startup—were carefully scripted. We began 2016 with two great products: a website and a mobile app. Both were growing in popularity with consumers, and we had begun trying to translate that appeal into actual revenue. This isn’t a straightforward proposition, though, because in the health care industry, consumers don’t generally pay directly for things like apps and websites. To make money, we needed to pull off a bank shot that would turn consumer traction into enterprise