Future of the Business World Podcast · Wharton Global Youth Program

Kicking Off a Gap Year with a World Record and an Angel Investor

December 19, 2024·25 min·4 clips

So like you just mentioned, CheckRx is an app that serves as a plan comparison tool for Medicare ben

Diana Drake frames the conversation as the final installment in a year spent talking with high school entrepreneurs. She welcomes Augustus Holm to the show with a warm introduction. Augustus says he is from San Diego and attended Bishop's School. He explains that he is a recent graduate and is taking a gap year. That choice gives him time to focus on entrepreneurial work. It also gives him more time to keep growing his startup and nonprofit. Drake responds with encouragement and treats the gap year as a smart move. The interview then shifts into the mechanics of Medicare. Augustus explains Medicare at a high level and describes what a Medicare agent does. He says the process is extremely complicated. He also notes that a government system can be hard to navigate when it comes to flow. From there he tells the story of helping his grandmother when he was 13. His grandmother was a Medicare agent. She had a giant white binder that was about 500 pages thick. The binder was filled with formularies. Augustus explains that formularies are lists of drugs that health plans cover. He walks through how he would flip through the binder to find the right plan details. He says he would look up prescriptions one by one and note their tier levels. He also explains the difference between copay and coinsurance. Those details matter because they help estimate monthly prescription costs for a senior. He describes comparing multiple plans to find the best fit for a client. The episode uses that example to show how business thinking can start with everyday service work. Later questions move away from the policy mechanics and into Augustus's personal background. He shares that he is Peruvian, Japanese, and Swedish. He talks about how he got his name from his grandfather. He gives an entrepreneurship lesson he has heard: grit can outweigh talent. He also says he would choose purpose over profit. The closing stretch stays light while keeping the focus on ambition, identity, and what kind of business leader he wants to become.

As heard by us

A gap-year founder story that keeps the business mechanics visible.

Augustus Holm's interview lands best when Diana Drake moves past the personal setup and into the Medicare details behind it. The grandmother formularies-and-drug-tiers story gives the conversation a real anchor, turning broad startup talk into something concrete and useful.

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Why you'd press play

Listen if you want a recent-graduate founder story that gets concrete about startup work.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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