Member #1, Author, Investor
I’m not a doctor. I’m not a health guru. I’m not someone who figured out health optimization before getting sick.
I’m Member #1 of End Heart Disease because I’m living with heart disease and building the system I wish existed when I was diagnosed.
The Diagnosis
Several years ago, I learned I have heart disease. Not from symptoms—I felt fine. I learned through testing, the same way most people with early-stage chronic diseases discover their conditions: accidentally.
Like most people, I assumed the healthcare system would take care of me. What I found instead was a fragmented maze of providers and data silos designed for everyone except the patient.
I had questions: What’s my actual risk? How do I track progress? Who can help me optimize lifestyle based on my specific data?
The system had answers: Wait for your next appointment. Check three different portals. Eat less, move more.
I realized I needed to take control.
The Investment Background
For over a decade, I’ve been a health innovation investor at Jumpstart Health Investors. I’ve seen the promise and the failures of health tech from the inside.
The promise: AI diagnostics, genomic medicine, personalized therapeutics.
The failures: Systems built for providers and payers, not patients. Data locked in silos. Innovation that serves shareholders instead of sick people.
The irony wasn’t lost on me: I was investing in health innovation while experiencing firsthand how little of that innovation actually reached the people who needed it most.
The Book
In 2024, I published “Elevate Health 2050”—a blueprint for building healthcare markets that serve people instead of institutions.
Chapter 10 focuses on our moonshot project: Ending Heart Disease by 2035. This isn’t theoretical. It’s the system I’m building for myself and others facing chronic conditions who refuse to accept the status quo.
The Daily Reality: The “Daily Deposit”
Every morning, I make a 30-minute “Daily Deposit” into my health. I don’t do this alone—I’m supported by Walter, my AI Chief of Staff.
Walter helps me review my health data, coach my peers, and manage the three ventures I run from this same sovereign infrastructure:
- End Heart Disease: The member-owned utility.
- 10x Leverage: The executive intelligence product for PE partners.
- Vic Personal: The consulting that funds the mission.
My Dashboard:
- Garmin metrics: Sleep quality, heart rate variability, stress levels.
- Lab results: Lipid panels, inflammatory markers, metabolic health.
- Calcium scores: Tracking atherosclerosis progression over time.
This isn’t health optimization porn. This is the basic intelligence anyone with a chronic condition should have about their body.
The Work: Building the Fortress
End Heart Disease is the first functioning Elevate Health market. We’re testing every concept from the book in the real world:
The 20+1 Stewardship: A legislative council of 21 co-founders who hold the “Victor Key” to our governance.
Data Sovereignty: Every member gets an encrypted Health Vault. Your data is encrypted before it hits the cloud. We never see it; we just hold the safe.
The 15% Cap: We are a Public Health Utility. Any surplus beyond a 15% margin is reinvested into the community as a Wellness Dividend.
The Bigger Vision
10x Leverage works with select leaders implementing similar ideas in their organizations. It’s the “engine” that allows me to keep End Heart Disease pure and member-owned.
This isn’t about selling consulting. It’s about accelerating the transformation of healthcare from a system that happens to you to one that happens with you.
The Personal Stakes
I have skin in the game. Heart disease could kill me, just like it kills 655,000 Americans every year.
But I also have something most patients don’t: the expertise to build systems, the capital to fund experiments, and the network to scale solutions.
Member #1 means I’m the first test case. If these ideas work for me, they’ll work for others. If they don’t work for me, we’ll iterate until they do.
Join Me
If you’re living with heart disease, or if you simply believe healthcare should serve patients instead of shareholders, there’s a place for you in this movement.
Not as a customer. As a member.
Vic Gatto
Member #1, End Heart Disease
Author, “Elevate Health 2050”
Nashville, TN