Makers: Rik Renard
David McCarthy
“Makers” is an interview series with people in healthcare and health tech who create bookmark-worthy content and make the industry easier (and more entertaining) to understand.
If content creators in health tech and healthcare had their version of an EGOT, Rik Renard would likely be the first to win the honor. The co-founder of CareOps and current product lead at Sword Health seemingly fears no content format. He’s been so prolific since the early 2020s that “content creator” may not even be the right category for him -- “audience builder” may be more apt, as it can be for the leading creators in a space.
Here’s an excessively abridged rundown of some highlights:
He is a tireless creator for social, especially LinkedIn, where he’s amassed more than 7,000 followers.
He co-created the CareOps creator brand and movement, where he’s partnered with leaders from Sword Health, Waymark, Iora, Virta, and many others to improve software-based care workflows.
He’s hosted so many LinkedIn Live events that he should be considered a qualified candidate to host an awards ceremony, with one earning more than 800 registrations.
He memorably built a grassroots campaign for his former employer Awell, creating swag with the tagline “Awell. Not Amwell,” which earned him and his employer at the time attention and brand affinity.
Before his move to Sword, Rik and I chatted asynchronously about his omnivorous work as a creator, his steadfast belief in collaboration, and his concern about the patient experience.
Since the pandemic, you have emerged as a tireless, diverse content creator. You write, you lead webinars, you run live LinkedIn sessions. At this point, I'm waiting to see when you release a film. How did you make that leap to being such an active creator?
I actually started creating content to build trust in the market for Awell. We were selling a very complex product, and we only sell when people trust us. For example, we recently signed Astrana, a multi-billion-dollar care organization, and a big reason was because the CEO had engaged with a lot of my content over time. But what started as a way to build trust quickly became my personal way to learn. You read something, and sure, you learn a bit. But when you try to summarize or add thoughts, that’s when you really start to understand it at a deeper level. I'm also super bullish on content creators being the next big thing. Every company out there is struggling to sell their software, and soon, they’ll all need to collaborate with creators to cut through the noise. I’m definitely playing the long game here—I’m only 27, so there’s plenty of time to see where my content can take me!
How would you describe the type of content that you create?
I started off on Twitter, sharing a lot of memes and doing some shitposting. It was fun while it lasted, but honestly, the vibe shifted, and engagement tanked, so I knew it was time for a change. That’s when I shifted my focus to LinkedIn and my blog, CareOps.org. Now, on LinkedIn, I write about pretty much anything healthcare-related that grabs my attention.
As for the blog, that’s where I really dive deep. I focus on tools and practices for continuous workflow improvement—mostly things I’ve learned firsthand in my day-to-day. Plus, I’ve been lucky enough to interview some amazing leaders from places like Oak Street, Iora, and Carbon Health.
In roughly the length of a Tweet, what's the value proposition of your content?
To deliver insights that would take months to uncover on your own—straight from people who've been through it before.
Who is your ideal audience, and what do they care, or worry, about?
My ideal audience is made up of operators in care delivery organizations—mostly in operations, clinical, product, or engineering roles. They care about no-fluff, straight-to-the-point content, and appreciate knowing they're not alone in the struggles they face ("Oof, it's not just me").
What's been your best-performing or best-received piece of content?
The panel I hosted with the CTO and VP of Product at Oak Street Health. It wasn’t written content but was a 60-minute webinar that had around 800 signups and has over 800 views on YouTube. Even months after publishing it, I still get feedback from people who found value in it. I think it worked so well because of three things:
The people – interviewing the CTO of an organization like Oak Street definitely creates buzz.
The topic – we really dove deep into the nuts and bolts of how they operate, which resonated with the audience.
The questions – I always aim to ask no-BS questions, or ones that are a bit out of the box, and that seems to keep people engaged.
A piece of advice for anyone trying something similar: Create a hot list of people you want to interview and just reach out. You’d be surprised how many will say yes. Also, when you lock someone in, spend at least 60 minutes researching them. That extra effort will elevate your questions 100x. Also, at first, we didn’t want to share the questions upfront, but we realized that’s a mistake. People come way more prepared when they’ve seen the questions beforehand.
“I’m also super bullish on content creators being the next big thing. Every company out there is struggling to sell their software, and soon, they’ll all need to collaborate with creators to cut through the noise.”
Are there other brands, creators, or thought leaders that inspire your work?
Yes, definitely! In healthcare, I really look up to XPC (Paulius & Kenneth), Benjamin Schwartz, and Dr. Graham Walker. It’s awesome to see clinicians put in the time and effort to create content based on their real-world experience. It brings a level of transparency that the industry really needs!
When it comes to creating content, what are your first principles or rules?
Short over long. In the beginning, I spent a lot of time writing deep dives that took days, sometimes weeks, to produce. Now, I focus on newsletters that take no more than two minutes to read and deliver one actionable insight. One of my favorite quotes is, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one." It’s a reminder to constantly cut out the fluff and get straight to the point. Less is always more.
How do you decide on a topic? Do you plan your content out?
I don’t really plan my content in advance! It often comes organically from conversations—I try to speak to about three new people every week. Sometimes it’s sparked by something I read (I’m always reading books and Substacks) or something I listen to (I follow a lot of investor updates, podcasts, etc.). Honestly, the hardest part is just starting to write. Everyone deals with imposter syndrome, thinking they have nothing interesting to say, but the truth is, you do. Getting over that mental barrier is often the toughest part. Once you do, the content flows naturally.
What I've noticed in a lot of your work is that you love to collaborate. Can you share how you think about content collaboration and what you look for in potential collaborators?
“I think you can learn a lot from other people. In fact, I think if you learn basically from other people, you don’t have to get too many new ideas on your own. You can just apply the best of what you see.”- Warren Buffet
When it comes to collaboration, it’s about recognizing that there are people out there with way more experience on certain topics—like change management, for example. Sure, I have my own thoughts, but when I collaborate with those experts, they elevate my content 100x. What I look for in a collaborator is simple: they need to have something meaningful to share, and they’re in it for knowledge sharing, not just a hard sell. If that’s the case, I’m all in for partnering.
Do you use any tools for your content creation (e.g., planning, research, publishing, or measurement tools)?
I keep it pretty simple. I use an audio recorder to capture my thoughts on the go, and then I work with ChatGPT to help streamline those ideas into something more polished.
What is your optimistic contrarian take on healthcare or health tech this coming year?
Most care organizations focus on the wrong type of patient experience! Or even bolder, the way tech companies focus on the patient experience is overrated. Care organizations have been neglecting the provider experience for years! Like they spent months of engineering team building a fancy patient application, but their care team is managing that same patient set in spreadsheets and are dealing with soul-sucking tasks. Instead, they should focus on creating the best care experience EVER so their staff is raving, and this will lead to a better patient experience too. (obviously if you have a D2C brand you need to focus on a nice design).
Last one: if your content had a theme song or anthem, what song would it be?
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Rik Renard is the co-founder of CareOps and a product lead at Sword Health. You can find him on LinkedIn.
