Success Formula Podcast

Success Formula Podcast

The Telehealth Company Your Doctor Doesn't Want You To Know About

Sep 23, 2026 · 1 hr 54 min · 14 segments

Mike Stratton grew up on 10 Mile Road just outside of Detroit with a single 21-year-old mom, no money, and no exposure to anything beyond blue collar work. He dropped out of traditional school early…

Mike Stratton grew up on 10 Mile Road just outside of Detroit with a single 21-year-old mom, no money, and no exposure to anything beyond blue collar work. He dropped out of traditional school early, got certified as a personal trainer at 17, and decided he would never work for a salary. What followed was over a decade of grinding through fitness, sales, industrial machinery, and recruiting before he found his way back to the one industry that actually aligned with who he was. He co-founded Marek Health during Covid with less than $100,000 and built it into a 150-person telehealth operation that serves thousands of patients across all 50 states. He gives Shawn Lynch the full breakdown, how he built the business from zero, why most doctors still do not understand hormone optimization, how he recruits physicians who are not afraid to evolve their practice, and why he believes the traditional medical system is built around the minimum, not the optimal. He also talks about burnout, the mistakes he made as a leader, why he almost destroyed his company culture, and what he would do differently if he was starting Marek from day one. Subscribe to Official Success Formula for more real conversations with founders who built from nothing. Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/mikestratton\_/ Website- https://www.marekhealth.com/ Buzzsprout- https://successformulapodcast.buzzsprout.com/ Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7aRe06pXIq6yq8GQf62NBM Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/1393b77c-626a-4a53-bdd5-43ce3b1aa15b/success-formula-podcast Apple Podcast- https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/success-formula-podcast/id1748704615 Our Social Media: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OfficialSuccessFormula Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialsuccessformula/ Twitter: https://x.com/\_SuccessFormula/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@officialsuccessformula

Mike Stratton grew up on 10 Mile Road just outside of Detroit with a single 21-year-old mom, no money, and no exposure to anything beyond blue collar work. He dropped out of traditional school early…

Personalized Medicine Versus Traditional Care30:18 – 39:22

Shawn LynchHost

30:18

Yeah, it's funny because you know now that you own a business that you would never run your business without knowing any of the numbers.

Shawn LynchHost

30:26

Yes.

Shawn LynchHost

30:27

And if you really think about it, why wouldn't you do your lab work all throughout the year? Especially as you got older, why would you not...

Shawn LynchHost

30:37

check all these things all the time and like okay if this is out of range how can i make it in range how can i make it more optimized instead of just going for a physical every once in a while and then doing the normal lab work and they're like oh this is high here's your medication to to So keep it down.

Shawn LynchHost

30:54

That's it.

Mike StrattonGuest

30:54

Because besides a select few practitioners or practitioners that you selected, they're doing the minimal amount of diagnostic screening, meeting your insurance-based criteria.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:05

And at that point in time was a shift where we're at now, where it's kind of like my mom and patients.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:12

You

Shawn LynchHost

31:13

have to do cash pay.

Shawn LynchHost

31:13

I mean, it sucks, but that's what it is.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:15

And it's dogmatic.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:17

There's a generation where you listen to your doctor and you take their word.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:22

for what it is and you trust them and you listen.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:24

And my doctor said, I don't need this.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:26

So like, it was weird at that point in time to want to be better than normal.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:31

It was weird to do that.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:32

If I think back,

Shawn LynchHost

31:34

like imagine every doctor you've ever been to, they're like really out of shape.

Shawn LynchHost

31:38

Oh my gosh.

Shawn LynchHost

31:38

It's like, usually you're like taking advice from like, not even just not necessarily saying somebody that's like, I'm not talking about muscular.

Shawn LynchHost

31:45

I'm just saying like, not in good health, like just really in bad health.

Mike StrattonGuest

31:49

Smoking, not looking good.

Shawn LynchHost

31:51

Just really big guy.

Shawn LynchHost

31:52

Just

Mike StrattonGuest

31:53

let me go to college, take a course in entrepreneurship from a guy that's never launched a business.