Brian Shapiro, Internet Entrepreneur, altMD Founder & CEO

I started my first technology company as a sophomore at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.  Back then, most people hadn't yet experienced the Internet and those that did connected to a service like Compuserve over a 28.8 modem.  Yet I was empowered by a deep feeling that "online" was going to be huge, if only we could figure a way for the average small business to get involved.

My initial successes were all for large companies like Xerox, Coca-Cola, Motorola and Burger King.  It was fun and rewarding and I worked on a lot of amazing projects that paved the way to the "Internet" as we know it but my heart always longed to work with entrepreneurs like me.

In 1999, the Internet was still very young but more and more people were beginning to use it.  I was walking to my car after a meeting in Palo Alto, CA when I passed a small office with a paper sign in the window that said "Google".  That walk changed my life forever....

Not long thereafter, I decided to stop working for large corporations and started thinking about how I could help small businesses take advantage of the Internet to level the playing field.

In 2000, I started RECHANNEL Communications to help real estate brokers and agents use the Internet to connect home buyers and sellers.  It wasn't actually all my idea, my mother (Jo-Ann Forster) was the #1 Realtor in Florida and convinced me that property listings needed to be openly accessible to all buyers.  Today, over 300,000 Realtors use RECHANNEL technology to advertise nearly 2 million properties in all 50 states.

For selfish reasons, I sold RECHANNEL in 2004 to Dominion Enterprises (owner of the Weather Channel, AutoTrader, Landmark Newspapers, etc).  But that only inspired me more to continue to leverage the Internet to promote small businesses.

After some soul searching, I realized that the best way to take advantage of the Internet was to promote health and wellness.  So, together with Joel Fellman (my original partner at RECHANNEL) and Evan Haas (my oldest friend turned Acupuncturist), we started altMD with the goal of helping Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioners leverage the Internet to promote natural health and wellness.

We started altMD in early 2007 and it has been incredibly rewarding since day one.  Our goal isn't to copy traditional health websites operated by large corporations but rather to empower practitioners with the "Web 2.0" tools they need to reach today's Internet-connected consumers.

I am extreemly proud that altMD has become the #1 practice building resource for wellness professionals and that we are helping to connect thousands of consumers each day to dedicated practitioners throughout the United States and Canada to promote healthly lifestyles and wellbeing.

Our mission is far from complete, though.  We continue to work to empower health and wellness professionals to build and grow sucessful practices and give back to the community.  There is still so much to be accomplished.

If you are a health and wellness professional and want to join our cause, please contact us to reach those that need our help.