Kavian Mojabe Founder and CEO of MediScan AI
A doctor's office in Southern California is still running on a fax machine. That single detail is what convinced Kavian Mojabe there was a real business to build, and two years later that business is doing 7 figures in revenue.
In this episode of What Fuels You, host Shauna Swerland sits down with Kavian Mojabe, founder and CEO of MediScan AI, the AI back office for independent medical evaluators, the licensed physicians whose opinions decide the outcome of workers' compensation, personal injury, and disability cases. The conversation moves from Mojabe's family's path from Iran and East Los Angeles to Rancho Cucamonga, through two prior startups acquired by Amazon and Adobe, to the ego he says nearly derailed his most recent fundraise. Underneath all of it is a founder who keeps circling back to the same idea, that the work only means something if it is in service of someone else.
📋 Episode Chapters
| 00:00 | Cold open: doing the work as an act of service to customers |
| 01:15 | Rapid fire: savory food, Brazil, house music, and a biography every other month |
| 04:30 | Rereading Andre Agassi's Open and the Kobe Bryant mentality behind MediScan |
| 07:15 | Wanting to be a CEO since childhood and believing in manifesting |
| 09:45 | Growing up in Rancho Cucamonga between Persian and Mexican family roots |
| 12:45 | His father's path out of Iran and eventual move to East Los Angeles |
| 16:00 | Why money meant safety, not status, for the oldest son in an immigrant family |
| 19:30 | Studying computer engineering at Purdue and a Texas Instruments internship |
| 22:45 | Backpacking Spain and Portugal, a coding bootcamp, and landing at INLT before Amazon acquired it |
| 28:00 | Scenery, a $20 million Greylock round, and mentor Mike Folgner |
| 31:30 | Leaving Scenery and finding MediScan in his father's fax machine |
| 34:15 | What independent medical evaluators do and the $32 billion market behind them |
| 37:00 | Sean Podvent, Colleen Pendergast, and building on curiosity and transparency |
| 41:00 | Two fundraises, one that worked and one that didn't, and what fuels Kavian Mojabe |
The Back Office Nobody Built for Independent Medical Evaluators
MediScan AI serves a specific and largely overlooked corner of healthcare: independent medical evaluators, the physician consultants whose findings help determine the outcome of workers' compensation, personal injury, and Department of Veterans Affairs disability cases. Mojabe describes it as a $32 billion market that powers a large share of the medical legal industry, and one that most software companies have ignored.
The company charges on a per-page, usage-based model. Doctors upload tens of thousands of pages of medical records every month, and MediScan processes millions of pages monthly, summarizing and organizing them into chronologies a physician can actually use. Today MediScan works with more than 300 doctors across the country, including physician groups that bring 50 to 60 doctors on through a single relationship.
"I saw my dad's office still using a fax machine, so I kind of knew there was a there there."
-- Kavian Mojabe
Mojabe's father is an independent medical evaluator in Southern California, and it was a visit to his office after leaving his last startup that turned an idea into a company.
An Immigrant Story: From Iran and East LA to Rancho Cucamonga
Mojabe grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, in San Bernardino County east of Los Angeles. His father left Iran around 1978, before the fall of the Shah, arriving first with an aunt's family before eventually settling in East Los Angeles. His mother, who is Mexican and moved to the United States as a young child, met his father while they were both working at a shoe store. Years later, the two of them went to school together and became chiropractors, a profession his father still practices today.
As the eldest son in what he describes as a patriarchal Iranian household, Mojabe says there were clear expectations placed on him early.
"I think it meant growing up, it meant freedom, and it also meant support and like safety."
-- Kavian Mojabe
His parents were the only ones among their siblings to pursue formal education, and the family took in relatives as they immigrated over the years. That sense of responsibility, he says, is part of what money has always represented to him: not status, but the ability to take care of the people around him.
Two Exits Before MediScan
Mojabe studied computer engineering at Purdue University, choosing the school partly to put distance between himself and California and partly for the appeal of the Midwest. After an internship at Texas Instruments left him cold on both sales and corporate life, he graduated without a job, backpacked through Spain and Portugal, then enrolled in a coding bootcamp back in the United States.
"Corporate sucks."
-- Kavian Mojabe
That bootcamp led to a job at INLT, a small startup in West Hollywood, which was later acquired by Amazon, bringing Mojabe and five or six coworkers to Seattle. From there he was recruited to Scenery, a Greylock-backed startup that raised $20 million and was later acquired by Adobe. At Scenery, Mojabe credits CEO Mike Folgner, a Stanford graduate with prior exits to Yahoo and Twitter, as one of his closest mentors, someone who coached him even as Mojabe told him from the start that he planned to eventually start his own company. Mojabe left Scenery before the Adobe acquisition closed to do exactly that.
Curiosity, Transparency, and Building the Team
Mojabe's co-founder is Sean Podvent, who joined as COO and head of revenue after roughly 15 years in health tech and originally came on as an advisor before moving to part time and then full time. MediScan also brought on Colleen Pendergast, who spent about 20 years at Apple, where she led the team behind Final Cut Pro X and iMovie, to advise on product and design.
Mojabe says he resisted the idea of formal company values early on, until Pendergast pushed him to define them. MediScan's two current values are curiosity and transparency, the latter of which shapes how the company talks to customers about its own product.
"I'd rather sell the product for what it is and then churn them later. And we've had crazy reduction in churn."
-- Kavian Mojabe
The team of 9 works hybrid, three days a week on Capitol Hill in Seattle, in office space above the startup incubator Foundations, where MediScan was part of the first cohort.
The Ego, the Failed Raise, and Redefining Success
MediScan raised $1.9 million in pre-seed funding in March 2025 from Tidal Ventures, an Australian fund, largely on the strength of its growth numbers as a then-unknown team. A subsequent attempt to raise a Series A earlier this year was less successful, and Mojabe is candid about why.
"I think a lot of the intentions I had around fundraising were coming from the ego this last fundraise this year. And I think that's maybe why it didn't go so well."
-- Kavian Mojabe
Mojabe says MediScan is getting closer to profitable and may pursue debt financing later this year or early next, rather than continue chasing a priced round. He also says his own definition of success has shifted since he started the company from his bedroom, from simply building a small, lean, bootstrapped business to seeing an independent medical evaluator run their entire practice through MediScan.
"But to be a winner, you just need one good season."
-- Kavian Mojabe
What Fuels Kavian Mojabe
Asked the show's closing question, Mojabe returns to a theme that runs through the entire conversation: the idea that the work is worth doing because of who it serves, not what it earns him.
"I believe all the work I do is an act of service to them, even if it feels like a small part of the universe."
-- Kavian Mojabe
He points specifically to the independent medical evaluators he serves, many of whom treat working class patients navigating workers' compensation and personal injury cases, and to the team he has built at MediScan, which he says has grown alongside him through his own difficult stretches.
5 Key Takeaways
Frequently Asked Questions
What does MediScan AI do?
MediScan AI builds AI-powered back office software for independent medical evaluators, the licensed physicians whose findings help decide workers' compensation, personal injury, and disability cases. Its per-page medical record review tool processes millions of pages a month, reducing work that used to take weeks down to minutes.
Who founded MediScan AI?
MediScan AI was founded by Kavian Mojabe, who serves as CEO, and Sean Podvent, who joined as co-founder, COO, and head of revenue. Mojabe previously worked as a founding engineer at INLT, which was acquired by Amazon, and at Scenery, which was acquired by Adobe.
Why did Kavian Mojabe start MediScan AI?
Mojabe's father is an independent medical evaluator in Southern California, and Mojabe grew up around the administrative burden that job carries. He has said that seeing his father's office still running on a fax machine is what convinced him there was a real problem to solve.
How big is the independent medical evaluator market?
Mojabe describes the medical legal industry served by independent medical evaluators as roughly a $32 billion market, covering workers' compensation, personal injury, and Department of Veterans Affairs disability cases. MediScan currently works with more than 300 doctors nationwide.
How has MediScan AI been funded?
MediScan AI raised $1.9 million in pre-seed funding in March 2025 from Tidal Ventures, an Australian fund. A subsequent attempt to raise a Series A round earlier this year was unsuccessful, and Mojabe has said the company is considering debt financing as it approaches profitability.
Kavian Mojabe Founder and CEO of MediScan AI
A doctor's office in Southern California is still running on a fax machine. That single detail is what convinced Kavian Mojabe there was a real business to build, and two years later that business is doing 7 figures in revenue.
In this episode of What Fuels You, host Shauna Swerland sits down with Kavian Mojabe, founder and CEO of MediScan AI, the AI back office for independent medical evaluators, the licensed physicians whose opinions decide the outcome of workers' compensation, personal injury, and disability cases. The conversation moves from Mojabe's family's path from Iran and East Los Angeles to Rancho Cucamonga, through two prior startups acquired by Amazon and Adobe, to the ego he says nearly derailed his most recent fundraise. Underneath all of it is a founder who keeps circling back to the same idea, that the work only means something if it is in service of someone else.
📋 Episode Chapters
| 00:00 | Cold open: doing the work as an act of service to customers |
| 01:15 | Rapid fire: savory food, Brazil, house music, and a biography every other month |
| 04:30 | Rereading Andre Agassi's Open and the Kobe Bryant mentality behind MediScan |
| 07:15 | Wanting to be a CEO since childhood and believing in manifesting |
| 09:45 | Growing up in Rancho Cucamonga between Persian and Mexican family roots |
| 12:45 | His father's path out of Iran and eventual move to East Los Angeles |
| 16:00 | Why money meant safety, not status, for the oldest son in an immigrant family |
| 19:30 | Studying computer engineering at Purdue and a Texas Instruments internship |
| 22:45 | Backpacking Spain and Portugal, a coding bootcamp, and landing at INLT before Amazon acquired it |
| 28:00 | Scenery, a $20 million Greylock round, and mentor Mike Folgner |
| 31:30 | Leaving Scenery and finding MediScan in his father's fax machine |
| 34:15 | What independent medical evaluators do and the $32 billion market behind them |
| 37:00 | Sean Podvent, Colleen Pendergast, and building on curiosity and transparency |
| 41:00 | Two fundraises, one that worked and one that didn't, and what fuels Kavian Mojabe |
The Back Office Nobody Built for Independent Medical Evaluators
MediScan AI serves a specific and largely overlooked corner of healthcare: independent medical evaluators, the physician consultants whose findings help determine the outcome of workers' compensation, personal injury, and Department of Veterans Affairs disability cases. Mojabe describes it as a $32 billion market that powers a large share of the medical legal industry, and one that most software companies have ignored.
The company charges on a per-page, usage-based model. Doctors upload tens of thousands of pages of medical records every month, and MediScan processes millions of pages monthly, summarizing and organizing them into chronologies a physician can actually use. Today MediScan works with more than 300 doctors across the country, including physician groups that bring 50 to 60 doctors on through a single relationship.
"I saw my dad's office still using a fax machine, so I kind of knew there was a there there."
-- Kavian Mojabe
Mojabe's father is an independent medical evaluator in Southern California, and it was a visit to his office after leaving his last startup that turned an idea into a company.
An Immigrant Story: From Iran and East LA to Rancho Cucamonga
Mojabe grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, in San Bernardino County east of Los Angeles. His father left Iran around 1978, before the fall of the Shah, arriving first with an aunt's family before eventually settling in East Los Angeles. His mother, who is Mexican and moved to the United States as a young child, met his father while they were both working at a shoe store. Years later, the two of them went to school together and became chiropractors, a profession his father still practices today.
As the eldest son in what he describes as a patriarchal Iranian household, Mojabe says there were clear expectations placed on him early.
"I think it meant growing up, it meant freedom, and it also meant support and like safety."
-- Kavian Mojabe
His parents were the only ones among their siblings to pursue formal education, and the family took in relatives as they immigrated over the years. That sense of responsibility, he says, is part of what money has always represented to him: not status, but the ability to take care of the people around him.
Two Exits Before MediScan
Mojabe studied computer engineering at Purdue University, choosing the school partly to put distance between himself and California and partly for the appeal of the Midwest. After an internship at Texas Instruments left him cold on both sales and corporate life, he graduated without a job, backpacked through Spain and Portugal, then enrolled in a coding bootcamp back in the United States.
"Corporate sucks."
-- Kavian Mojabe
That bootcamp led to a job at INLT, a small startup in West Hollywood, which was later acquired by Amazon, bringing Mojabe and five or six coworkers to Seattle. From there he was recruited to Scenery, a Greylock-backed startup that raised $20 million and was later acquired by Adobe. At Scenery, Mojabe credits CEO Mike Folgner, a Stanford graduate with prior exits to Yahoo and Twitter, as one of his closest mentors, someone who coached him even as Mojabe told him from the start that he planned to eventually start his own company. Mojabe left Scenery before the Adobe acquisition closed to do exactly that.
Curiosity, Transparency, and Building the Team
Mojabe's co-founder is Sean Podvent, who joined as COO and head of revenue after roughly 15 years in health tech and originally came on as an advisor before moving to part time and then full time. MediScan also brought on Colleen Pendergast, who spent about 20 years at Apple, where she led the team behind Final Cut Pro X and iMovie, to advise on product and design.
Mojabe says he resisted the idea of formal company values early on, until Pendergast pushed him to define them. MediScan's two current values are curiosity and transparency, the latter of which shapes how the company talks to customers about its own product.
"I'd rather sell the product for what it is and then churn them later. And we've had crazy reduction in churn."
-- Kavian Mojabe
The team of 9 works hybrid, three days a week on Capitol Hill in Seattle, in office space above the startup incubator Foundations, where MediScan was part of the first cohort.
The Ego, the Failed Raise, and Redefining Success
MediScan raised $1.9 million in pre-seed funding in March 2025 from Tidal Ventures, an Australian fund, largely on the strength of its growth numbers as a then-unknown team. A subsequent attempt to raise a Series A earlier this year was less successful, and Mojabe is candid about why.
"I think a lot of the intentions I had around fundraising were coming from the ego this last fundraise this year. And I think that's maybe why it didn't go so well."
-- Kavian Mojabe
Mojabe says MediScan is getting closer to profitable and may pursue debt financing later this year or early next, rather than continue chasing a priced round. He also says his own definition of success has shifted since he started the company from his bedroom, from simply building a small, lean, bootstrapped business to seeing an independent medical evaluator run their entire practice through MediScan.
"But to be a winner, you just need one good season."
-- Kavian Mojabe
What Fuels Kavian Mojabe
Asked the show's closing question, Mojabe returns to a theme that runs through the entire conversation: the idea that the work is worth doing because of who it serves, not what it earns him.
"I believe all the work I do is an act of service to them, even if it feels like a small part of the universe."
-- Kavian Mojabe
He points specifically to the independent medical evaluators he serves, many of whom treat working class patients navigating workers' compensation and personal injury cases, and to the team he has built at MediScan, which he says has grown alongside him through his own difficult stretches.
5 Key Takeaways
Frequently Asked Questions
What does MediScan AI do?
MediScan AI builds AI-powered back office software for independent medical evaluators, the licensed physicians whose findings help decide workers' compensation, personal injury, and disability cases. Its per-page medical record review tool processes millions of pages a month, reducing work that used to take weeks down to minutes.
Who founded MediScan AI?
MediScan AI was founded by Kavian Mojabe, who serves as CEO, and Sean Podvent, who joined as co-founder, COO, and head of revenue. Mojabe previously worked as a founding engineer at INLT, which was acquired by Amazon, and at Scenery, which was acquired by Adobe.
Why did Kavian Mojabe start MediScan AI?
Mojabe's father is an independent medical evaluator in Southern California, and Mojabe grew up around the administrative burden that job carries. He has said that seeing his father's office still running on a fax machine is what convinced him there was a real problem to solve.
How big is the independent medical evaluator market?
Mojabe describes the medical legal industry served by independent medical evaluators as roughly a $32 billion market, covering workers' compensation, personal injury, and Department of Veterans Affairs disability cases. MediScan currently works with more than 300 doctors nationwide.
How has MediScan AI been funded?
MediScan AI raised $1.9 million in pre-seed funding in March 2025 from Tidal Ventures, an Australian fund. A subsequent attempt to raise a Series A round earlier this year was unsuccessful, and Mojabe has said the company is considering debt financing as it approaches profitability.
