David Norris doesn’t have free time for cycling, his preferred form of exercise. As chief executive of MD Insider, a Santa Monica startup that uses data to analyze doctor performance, he’s flown more than 120,000 miles over the past six months, crisscrossing the country meeting with prospective customers. Nonetheless, he has found a clever way to incorporate his passion for long bike rides into his business.
Once every six weeks, MD Insider hosts group ride events for medical industry executives led by a former professional cyclist, often Tour de France rider David Zabriskie. The Saturday morning rides last up to four hours and usually take place on the steep, windy roads of the Santa Monica Mountains, a well-known training mecca for cyclists.
“Instead of spending $40,000 or $50,000 on a tradeshow booth and getting a few hundred leads that may or may not be interested in your product,” said Norris, “we use this to spend four hours with 30 people sweating and overcoming a challenge, creating a deeper relationship with people.”
MD Insider has picked up six customers from the roughly dozen riding events it’s hosted over the past year, Norris said.
Beyond networking, the get-togethers provide a great excuse for Norris, 52, who cycles about 10 to 15 hours a week, to slip out of the office and ride his bike.
“I do what I want to do and schedule everything around it,” he said.
Boss OKs Absence
Pasadena plaintiffs’ attorney Scott Glovsky, 49, has attended more than 100 Bruce Springsteen concerts since he first saw the Boss as a high school student in 1984. He immediately became a fan and has a deep passion for the music and its universal themes.
“Bruce sings about things that are so meaningful – love and hope and pain,” Glovsky said.
While all Springsteen shows are memorable, according to Glovsky, the lawyer’s trip to see the venerable rock star at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena on March 15 was unforgettable. Sitting near the stage with his then 9-year old son Xabi, the pair held a sign asking Springsteen if he could sign a note excusing Xabi’s tardiness at school the next day after a late night of “rocking and rolling.”
“We just thought it would be a clever sign to make,” Glovsky said.
The Boss, however, apparently takes school excusals seriously.
After the show’s final encore, Glovsky and his son found themselves whisked backstage by security to Springsteen’s dressing room where they were treated to an audience with the Jersey rocker where Xabi secured his note.
As for Glovsky? The attorney received what he believes was a sort of cosmic note of his own.
“My mom passed away about six months ago and this was my first Bruce show without her,” he said. “It was a hugely powerful and life-affirming experience to meet my idol … and I think she had something to do with it.”
Staff reporters Garrett Reim and Henry Meier contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Jonathan Diamond. He can be reached at [email protected].
