Who Owns Zocdoc?

Zocdoc was founded in New York City in 2007 by Cyrus Massoumi, Oliver Kharraz, and Nick Ganju. Massoumi, a former McKinsey consultant, conceived the idea after a burst eardrum on a flight left him struggling to find a doctor who could see him quickly. The original product was a simple scheduling tool: patients could see doctors' real-time availability and book appointments online instead of calling offices.

The company raised $15 million in Series B funding in 2010 from Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures, capital it used to expand beyond New York. Its original business model charged doctors a flat subscription of roughly $3,000 per year to be listed and bookable on the platform.

Growth accelerated through the mid-2010s. By 2014 Zocdoc had five million monthly users, and a 2015 funding round valued the company at $1.8 billion. But the flat subscription model was breaking down: doctors paid the same fee whether they received one patient or a hundred, which worked in dense early markets but failed as the company expanded to areas where demand was thin. Kharraz has since described the strategy as nearly killing the company.

The board removed Massoumi as CEO in late 2015 and installed Kharraz the following day. Massoumi later sued the company alleging fraud, a case dismissed in 2024. Under Kharraz, Zocdoc spent years rebuilding its business model around per-booking fees of roughly $30 to $140 per new patient, a transition that met resistance from physicians, particularly in New York, its largest market, and involved years of face-to-face provider outreach.

The rebuilt model worked. Zocdoc became profitable, expanded to cover all 50 states, added telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, and processed appointment volumes typically fulfilled within 24 to 72 hours of booking. By 2025 the company employed roughly 800 to 1,300 people and was operating profitably without raising new equity capital since 2021.