Landing angel investment involves a little bit more than calling up a bunch of rich guys and hoping for the best.Obtaining that initial investment is often a huge hurdle for startups, but once the cash comes in, it provides a critical source of early funding — lifeblood for young, hungry companies. And as the traditional [...]

Healthcare social media company Within3, which describes itself as a LinkedIn for physicians, is looking overseas to help fuel its growth.The Cleveland-based company has communities in about 10 countries, including Australia, Brazil, China and Germany, CEO Lance Hill said. “Global business will be an increasing part of our mix over the next few years,” he [...]

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland called financially troubled Forum Health in Youngstown “a critically urgent situation,” while three federal legislators appealed to President Obama for financial assistance for the bankrupt health-care agency.

The company unveiled its redesigned site last week, which highlights Within3′s transformation from creating a LinkedIn for doctors to a Ning for health-care interests. Instead of building a physicians-only social network for all doctors to commiserate around any subject, it creates customized members-only social networks on specific subjects such as clinical trials, hospital alumni or medical specialties. It plans to double its 25 member staff by the end of 2010, and recent deals end “the speculation about will social media take off in health care,” said Lance Hill, president and chief executive officer at Within3.

Scattered from Cleveland and Seattle to Virginia and Massachusetts are companies still trying to prove out a winning model to gather physicians in a Facebook — or is it a LinkedIn, or is it a Ning? — type of environment reserved solely for the medical community. The perceived reward is worth the pursuit, though. The leaders of these medical social networks say that their sites, if done right, are the new place pharmaceutical companies can come (and spend their marketing dollars) to connect with doctors now that ethics policies and gift bans are keeping drug representatives away.