Dialogue is 3 years old!

It is with so much pride, and with so much gratefulness that I look back on the year we had. Another year at Dialogue feels like another half-decade of learnings, team growth, accomplishments, risks and errors, new friendships and adrenaline rushes. Another year at Dialogue also means tens of thousands of lives positively impacted, touched, and some even saved.

In 2017 and 2018, as I wrote this now traditional post, I compared Dialogue to a newborn child, and then a growing adolescent. Year 3 feels more like a maturing adult, who still thinks that the sky's the limit, but is smarter in the way it takes risks and makes decisions.

Growth, Growth and More Growth

While Year 1 and Year 2 were foundational years, Year 3 was one of scaling. Dialogue expanded its operations Canada-wide and 24/7. We more than tripled in revenue for the third year in a row. We quickly hit the 100,000 number of members who have access to Dialogue, and zoomed past it. We reached 100 full-time employees, and also zoomed past it. We launched a unique Mental Health program, which has demonstrated reduction in depression and anxiety levels for clients who offer the service to their employees. Our dedication and achievements caught the attention of some, and we were thrilled to receive several awards.

We made our first important acquisition. We acquired DXA and became the first telehealth company to have a human-in-the-loop chatbot which builds upon over 16,000 peer-reviewed medical articles to do fast and high-quality triage, to reduce time to see a medical professional and get to a treatment and diagnosis. Our technology is already used both for our Dialogue patients and at the CHUM, Quebec’s busiest ER. It will be deployed even more widely in Year 4 - more on that next year.

A Team of Many Talents (and New Babies!)

Besides company-wide accomplishments, there were many individual highlights, which I am proud and happy to share. There were 6 Dialogue babies (Antoine, Sofia, Gali, Cameron, Leonard, and Rosalie) born during our third year of operations. I myself became a mother, and was able to take a few months off thanks to the super team we have. We cheered for the engagements of several colleagues. Two of our team members, Crystelle and Rob, received the now traditional Dialogue Shackleton award, which recognized unparalleled perseverance. Our care coordinator manager, Andrea, started a Masters of science in health administration and management. Meggie, one of our nurse practitioners, completed 1,000 patient consultations in just 3 short months. Hubert, our director of product, started teaching a robotics class to elementary school students. Roman, sales development representative, won the World of Dance competition in a niche hip-hop/new style category. Hadrien, senior software engineer, finally became a Canadian citizen (he’s now known as Canadrien).

The Road Ahead

As we wave goodbye to Year 3 and look forward to what’s ahead, it’s hard to stay calm. I am so excited to continue the incredible work we have done to date, with the outstanding team we have. Every individual contributes in a unique way to the culture and to the positive day-to-day of the company: from Jenn’s smile as one comes through the front doors at Dialogue, to Max’s obsession with metrics of the medical team at the end of the hallway in the MedOps space.

Team - you are the reason why Year 3 was what it was. On behalf of the co-founders, thank you, thank you, thank you! We cannot wait to dive into Year 4 and continue building the company that will permanently improve access to excellent care. And to our clients and members, thank you for entrusting us daily with your most valuable treasures, your health and your family’s health.