Goldie Health would not exist without the Eshelman Innovation Venture Studio. That’s the conclusion of Chris Martin, who became Goldie’s CEO in June of 2024 following a successful career as a healthcare and technology entrepreneur.
After his own brother died from a drug overdose, Martin began donating his time and money to help people with substance use disorder. With Goldie Health, developed by the Eshelman Innovation Venture Studio, he saw a chance to make an even greater impact.
“Goldie Health is a life-saving detection platform that focuses on creating a safety net to capture as many individuals that are at risk and ultimately connecting them to the care that they need in a timely manner,” says Martin during the latest episode of the video series “North Carolina Innovators You Should Know,” hosted by former Eshelman Innovation Executive Director John Bamforth. “I lost a sibling to an opioid overdose when he was 32 years old. That’s been a huge driving force creating that passion and the fuel behind Goldie.”
Martin’s passion found a foothold thanks to Eshelman Innovation’s mission-focused approach to the creation of Goldie.
“If you look at most founders and most startups, they are heavily focused on ‘how do we create a product that has the best fit for various market attributes?’” Martin says. They ask: Is the market big enough? Is the sell-cycle short enough? Is the cost of customer acquisition low enough?
The Eshelman Innovation Venture Studio, by contrast, focused first and foremost on finding a solution to the problem of overdose deaths, which was acute in North Carolina. “Had Eshelman Innovation not been the place that created Goldie, we would not have had the runway to focus on creating a solution to the problem.”
Since its launch in November of 2024, as its customer base has grown, Goldie Health has moved beyond being a workflow management tool into a lifesaving detection platform, Martin says. Compared to existing emergency medical services (EMS) referrals, Goldie’s algorithm detected 72% more patients that met the criteria to be treated by an overdose response team, according to early data. Compared to hospital referrals, Goldie detected 300% more patients.
