Physician Builder Spotlight: David Canes

We’re shining light on MD-entrepreneurs! Each week, we feature an entrepreneurial doctor who’s building a cool product, company, or working on a big idea that you definitely want to know about. This week, meet David Canes, Associate Professor of Urology, Medical Director at Parkland Medical Center, and the founder of WellPrept (more on the company’s mission below!). You can connect further with David on X and LinkedIn.

1. David, what inspired you to become a physician entrepreneur? Honestly, it wasn’t a master plan. I didn’t go into medicine thinking I’d start a software company. But over time, I kept bumping into the same inefficiencies — particularly around how we educate patients. Where is it written that we have to explain what the kidney is, from scratch, every time? I found myself building workarounds, not because I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but because I wanted to stop saying the same things 25 times a day. I wanted to have patients actually walk into clinic prepared. Eventually I realized: if I’m cobbling together solutions, probably other doctors are too. That’s what pulled me in.

2. Tell us what your company does and what problem you're trying to solve. WellPrept helps doctors spend their best energy on the most fulfilling part of being a doctor: the personal 1:1 doctor patient interaction. When patients come in up to speed, you and the patient have the conversation you actually want to have, instead of repeating your spiels all day long. How? WellPrept is a system to deliver curated, specialty-specific patient education before the visit, or on the way out. Think explainer videos, handouts, care team intros, even podcasts — all sent automatically by email and text. It’s beautifully organized, branded to the practice, and actually gets consumed. The problem we’re solving is simple: Doctors are teaching all day long, but with no control over what the patient knows, where they get their information, or when they learn it. That slows us down, leads to confusion, and honestly — it’s exhausting. Burnout central. WellPrept turns the pre-visit into a prep period, like flipping the classroom for medicine.

3. What's your advice to anyone who's thinking about entrepreneurship or pursuing a nontraditional career in medicine? Don’t wait for permission. Nobody’s going to tap you on the shoulder and say, “Hey, you’re allowed to build that.” Just start. Try solving a real problem you care about. And don’t worry if the solution seems too “small” — the little, annoying problems are often the best ones to fix. They’re the ones we all live with and tolerate. Until someone has had enough and fixes it. Also, make sure people are willing to pay before you build it. An entire department of Urologists was ready to pay when WellPrept was just a prototype, before I hired software developers to make the real product.

4. What's one lesson you've learned since building your company that wasn't obvious to you before? Building a great product isn’t enough — you have to learn how to put it in front of doctors who resonate with the problem. And that means listening way more than talking. It also means learning how decisions actually get made in medical groups, which rarely follows a straight line. I’ve had to get comfortable with slow timelines, ghosting, and committee chaos. But I’ve also learned that if you can show real value — and keep showing up — people notice.

Connect with David on LinkedIn here. Know someone else who should be featured? Reply with their name and their company in the comments!