Justin Bayless is busy renovating his Bayless Integrated Healthcare clinic to pave the way for two of his new ventures aimed at helping entrepreneurs succeed.
Plans call for moving his new company, Ten Figures, into the two-story, 8,700-square-foot building at 3620 N. 3rd St. in Phoenix. The renovation process could take several months before his two new startups, Ten Figures and Journey Venture Studio, are able to move in, said Bayless, who is founder and CEO of both entities.
With a total development cost of $2 million, the project is being built by Rounds Construction, which had built all the Bayless clinics in the past, he said. House of Form is the interior design firm selected for the project. Also moving into that building will be Bayless' Journey Venture Studio, which will include coworking office space.
Mark Moeremans is leaving his position as senior vice president of entrepreneurship and venture development at Arizona Commerce Authority to serve as managing director at Journey Venture Studio. His last day at ACA is Jan. 27.
While the headquarters for Ten Figures and Journey Venture Studio will be in space that previously housed a Bayless clinic, Justin Bayless said he still has long-range plans to resurrect a new community health care solution using the Bayless family name in the future.
In 2008, Justin Bayless took over his father's practice, Bayless Integrated Healthcare, and grew it to nine health clinics before selling a 70% stake in the business to Scottdale-based Magellan Health Inc. in December 2020. A month later, Magellan agreed to sell its assets to Centene Health (NYSE: CNC). That $2.2 billion acquisition closed in January 2022.
Bayless envisions finding future unicorns
Funding education and entrepreneurs especially in underserved communities is important to Bayless and is fueling his new ventures. Over the years, Bayless donated $1.5 million to his alma mater Morehouse College in Atlanta to start an entrepreneurship program that lead to an entrepreneurship degree and funded entrepreneurship programs for the Boys and Girls Club.
His goal with his new ventures is to help dark horses succeed.
"We are on a hunt for dark horses that can become unicorns," Bayless said.
Ten Figures is a management consulting and ventures firm that only works with minority and women founders in early stage health care companies.
His nonprofit Journey Venture Studio will reach out to young entrepreneurs who want to co-found health care companies with Bayless and his team. His team will come up with ideas for new startups, issue requests for proposals nationally and provide a stipend and place to live for those selected.
"Hosting them will eliminate social determinants of entrepreneurship," Bayless said.
The venture studio will be much like the minor leagues for professional athletes, he said. "We will identify talented entrepreneurs early on and get them in here and turn them into pros," Bayless said.
The renovated clinic building will be state-of-the-art, Bayless said, with a professional league locker room. The atmosphere will remind the young entrepreneurs how talented and unique they are, he said.
Forming a collaboration
Moeremans, who met Bayless last year at a Boys and Girls Club gala, said he immediately connected with Bayless, hoping to get him involved in ACA's programs as a mentor and coach.
Over the next few months, they brainstormed on how to get more underserved and underrepresented people to pursue entrepreneurship as a path, Moeremans said.
"A few months later, his friend pulled me aside and said, 'You know, Justin wants you to run this initiative,'" Moeremans said. "I was caught off guard. I did not think he was planning to ask me to be so immediately involved."
Over the next several months, they hammered out programming and strategies.
Moeremans said Journey venture studio isn't like an an incubator or an accelerator.
"We are a startup creating more startups," he said. "A venture studio is a widget maker and the widget is more businesses."
The studio also will provide a track where an entrepreneur might bring an idea to the table and the venture studio helps bring it to life, Moeremans said.
"The goal is to provide an opportunity to be an entrepreneur and to have that path for people that have been historically excluded from that career path," he said.
