Stephen Sullivan BlueChew CEO
Stephen Sullivan is co-founder and CEO at BlueChew.com, where he spends most of his time on new product development, scaling challenges, marketing, and hiring.
A natural ambition for problem solving led Stephen to tinker in the world of consumer product entrepreneurship early on, experimenting with self-run business ideas throughout high school and college. Along with present BlueChew co-founder Dr. Alex Jovanovich, Stephen explored the creation of products such as SpotNot, a detergent pen for on-the-go stain removal. SpotNot met with popular success, convincing its co-founders that it had promise, but their hopes were shot down when they saw a Tide Stick ad on TV.
In 2000, he began his studies at Tufts University, from which he graduated with a degree in economics. He went on to work for nine years as a trader at Citi Group, where he witnessed firsthand the speed with which technology is changing the economic foundation of the world. His years trading on the floor taught him the skills and confidence needed to elevate his own enterprises, using technology to creatively solve problems for people via the internet.
After leaving Citi Group, Stephen worked for a time as a mergers and acquisitions consultant while pursuing a Master of Business Administration at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He graduated in 2014 and went on to co-found Dermacare with business partner Dr. Alex Jovanovich. Dermacare's goal was to offer the highest standard of medical expertise in dermatological care while eliminating the unnecessary clinic visits, wait times, and exorbitant costs for generic drugs that often accompany even the most basic of diagnoses and treatments.
Stephen's background in trading—an industry that functions on principles of meticulous precision and efficiency—contrasted sharply with the massive inefficiencies of the pharmaceutical and medical industries, granting him a unique vantage point from which to design a sleeker, more efficient way of providing quality medical care.
The public received Dermacare with open arms, proving that people were eager for reliable alternatives to the lethargy of the standard medical system. Committed to the belief that telemedicine was the way of the future and knowing that Sildenafil and Tadalafil were coming off patent, Stephen set about building another telehealth company to concentrate on men's health.
In 2017, he and co-founder Dr. Jovanovich created BlueChew, a company whose mission is to help men have healthier lives and better sex without the stigmas of Erectile Dysfunction. The BlueChew's launch was a dramatic success, with over $1M in revenue in its first couple of months alone. In order to focus full-time on BlueChew, Stephen shut down Dermacare shortly thereafter.
Having built Dermacare and BlueChew from a two-man office in a storage facility to a company of 250+ employees that has served over 2 million patients, he appreciates the daily challenges of building a unique business and brand in a highly competitive market. His dedication to finding better ways of doing things permeates every part of his life, from team building to customer service and personal relationships. He believes that the best ideas will always win; the challenge is finding the idea and dedicating yourself to it.
Portfolio Website: https://stephensullivan.org/
