By PAULA BURKES
COPYRIGHT © 2020, The Oklahoman
Laura Fleet hatched the idea for her startup tech company — a customized, concierge door-to-door transportation service for the health care industry — at one of her lowest times ever.
Flat on her back for weeks following surgery, Fleet relied on family and friends to drive her to follow-up appointments, before she determined to arrange transportation on her own. Slow moving, Fleet couldn’t get out of her front door fast enough for the first contracted rideshare driver, who left and charged her a $5 cancellation fee. The subsequent cab driver waited for her, but she still felt frail and vulnerable.
A health care lawyer, Fleet and her husband put in $500,000 of their own money and raised funds from i2E Inc. and other angel investors to bootstrap her company — SendaRide — specifically for the health care industry and patients like herself.
Started in May 2017, SendaRide partners with healthcare facilities to ensure patients arrive on time for their dialysis, chemotherapy and other medical appointments. Social workers or caseworkers typically book round-trip transportation for patients, using a web portal that meets the privacy regulations and other laws that govern the industry. On average, a 10- to 15-minute ride costs $25.
The company, which employs nine at its Oklahoma City-based call center, hundreds of contracted drivers and a contracted team of code writers in Bangalore, India, serves customers in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston, with plans to launch in Houston and San Antonio this year. It’s now providing more than 4,000 rides a month, and has hit $1 million in annual revenue, Fleet said.
From her leased offices at 14201 Wireless Way, Fleet, 47, recently sat down with The Oklahoman to talk about her life and career. This is an edited transcript:
Tell us about your childhood.
My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved around a lot. I was born in Texas, and we lived in Turkey, then in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, before returning to Wichita Falls, Texas, where I graduated high school and my mother worked as a bank secretary. I have twin siblings: a brother and sister, who are five years younger.
Until recently, you’ve been an avid horseback rider. When did you start?
As a young girl. My parents held my 5-year-old birthday party at a stable in Fayetteville, and when we lived in New Mexico, I’d ride the city bus to the Air Force Base, where there was a stable. My dad would take me home. Our family spent summer vacations in Minnesota, where my parents retired to. Both have extended family there, and all my cousins had horses. In Wich