From Registered Nurse to CEO: How Jasmine Bhatti Built Navi Nurses from the Ground Up

Susan Sly 00:00
Well, what is up, Raw and Real Entrepreneurs? I hope you are having an amazing day wherever you are in the world, and I’m back. You know, it’s, um, it’s, it’s been a minute since our last show. I recorded almost 400 interviews for the podcast, and then my father passed suddenly. And if you’ve been a long-time listener, you will know Joe was his name, that he was raising me as a single dad, and it was a gut punch on July 10, 2024.
Susan Sly 00:33
When I got up and received that call. And I know some of you have aging parents, some of you have dealt with loss, and my heart goes out to you. And so when that happened, I was also spinning up my newest venture, ThePause.ai.

Susan Sly 00:47
And what The Pause is, it is making menopause care accessible for millions of women through a commercial app. It’s currently available in the App Store, and soon it will be available in the Play Store. So, I was building a company, navigating grief, and doing all of those things. The show paused for a minute, but we are back, and I’m so excited about this season’s guests, especially my guest today, who is absolutely remarkable.
So, let’s get into the show. Today, I have the privilege of bringing on someone who is not just the founder and CEO of Navii Nurses, a rapidly growing private duty nursing company. She is also a healthcare provider. She saw gaps in the system and was a nurse at Barrow Neurological Institute, which is extremely prestigious, and the Mayo Clinic, where she focused on neurology, plastics, and Ear, Nose, and Throat populations for 12 years.
It was during the pandemic that she saw so starkly what was happening in terms of patient care and at-home care that she decided to make the leap. In this episode, she’s going to talk about what it’s like to go from being an employee to an entrepreneur, calculated risk, dealing with scale, what happens when people leave or you have to let people go, and how she manages stress now compared to how she used to.
So, let’s jump into the show with my friend and guest, the amazing CEO and founder of Navi Nurses, Jasmine Bhatti.
Voiceover 02:31
This is Raw and Real Entrepreneurship, the show that brings the no-nonsense truth of what is required to start, grow, and scale your business. I am your host, Susan Sly.
Susan Sly 02:43
Okay, I’m back. It’s been a minute. 400 shows, the downloads just growing, 141 countries, and I put everything on pause, literally, after my dad died. And as I’ve always said to all of you, you know, hey, when you have to focus and life throws you a curve, it’s time to prioritize. I got a company stood up, and during this entire time, I was thinking about all of you. I was thinking about the show, the global audience, and our first show back—there was one person at the top of my list, and she is here today, which I’m super flippin’ fired up about. So Jasmine, welcome to Raw and Real Entrepreneurship.
Jasmine Bhatti 03:26
Oh, thank you, Susan, for having me. I’m so, so honored to be here.
Susan Sly 03:31
Well, listen, I mean, first—you are like—when I first met you, you walk around, and I think that literally angels follow you, and there’s a light just on you. And I met you at an award ceremony where you were receiving an award, and you have this, like, incredible—as we would say in French—this joie de vivre, this joy of living about you. And as I got to know you, and then you spoke at our femtech event, you have an incredible story.
And so you, you founded this company, Navi Nurses, which people are calling, like, the Uber for nurses. And I even feel that, you know, hey, I use Uber—I love Uber (disclosure: I don’t own any Uber stock). I almost feel that’s a downgrade, because I think what you’re doing is so much more. But before we jump into Navi Nurses, like, when did you decide to become an entrepreneur?
Jasmine Bhatti 04:28
Yeah, so I think my first experience with being an entrepreneur was actually being a Girl Scout, going door to door, like, knocking, flying, Girl Scout cookies. And I don’t think there was, like, a clear point where I was like, “Okay, this is what I want to do.” I’ve been a nurse for almost 14 years now, and it wasn’t until just a constellation of things happened—like noticing problems in healthcare that I wanted changed and feeling like I couldn’t do anything about it in this system. Then, just working through COVID and, like, losing my soul to all of that, it just was like...
Jasmine Bhatti 05:00
I’ve got to get out, like, for my own health and well-being. And it was just kind of like, okay, I’ve had this idea for so long. Why don’t I just take this opportunity, heal myself, and then just see what comes of it—like, what happens with everything?
Susan Sly 05:14
And I want to give a shoutout to Girl Scouts, because I was a Girl Guide in Canada, and you get rejected! You would think everyone wants your cookies, but that’s not true. Like, not everyone wants your cookies. It’s like, “I’m cute,” like, you know. And facing that rejection—the door knocking, the like, “Yes, I want your cookies,” it’s a win, but “No, I don’t.”
Susan Sly 05:39
You know, I love that you brought that up because I think that, you know, COVID, especially too—I was having this conversation with a friend about our kids because I had one who graduated high school during COVID, and one who graduated university. And there’s a whole group of young people that, you know, they were at home and they were sheltered. They didn’t go out and knock on doors and sell cookies. They didn’t get that experience or that grit, and we’re starting to see some of that now.
I know we’re going to talk about finding the right team members. Obviously, as you’re growing the company, you’re bringing on so many amazing people, but we’ll talk about that in a minute.
I want to ask you—Navi Nurses is disrupting this model of healthcare. For the listeners who don’t know about the company, how did you go from “I have this idea” to “I’m actually starting a company”? Because the statistic is that 70% of Americans want to start a business, but less than—you know, what is it?—7% actually do. So how did you become one of those 7%, Jasmine, who was like, “This is my idea, and I’m actually going to go for it”?
Jasmine Bhatti 06:52
Yeah. Well, so much of it really is rooted in my own personal experience as a family caregiver. My grandmother was diagnosed with head and neck cancer. We took her home, and what we realized during that time was that insurance covered almost nothing. There were definitely points where I was like, Where else can we go? There has to be more help and support.
That whole experience inspired me to become a nurse, but it also opened my eyes to the idea that there’s a lot of shame in healthcare. We don’t talk about things as often as we should, and caregiving is one of those spaces. My patients would always tug at my clothes and say, “Hey, can you come home with me?” I thought the problem my family and I faced was unique to us—like maybe we just couldn’t handle it.
But in truth, there are millions of people who go home, and about half of those discharged from the hospital don’t even qualify for any support. That doesn’t mean they don’t want it or couldn’t benefit from it—we all can. It was just this idea, and working in a system can be difficult. You can have ideas and see problems, but where do you take them? Who’s going to pay attention to you? The hospital has 500 other things to think about—why would they listen to me as a nurse?
So I realized I had this idea, and I needed to take it forward. I actually had a professor at ASU—I’m trying to finish my PhD—and when I was talking to this professor, he said, “I’m going to start connecting you to people in the startup community.” That’s really how it started. Someone else said, “Hey, I know some resources. Let me share them with you.”
For me, that changed the game. Because otherwise, it’s really daunting—where do you start? Who do you talk to? What do you need? What do you do? Having some direction pointed toward me was really helpful.
Susan Sly 08:53
So you see a problem, right? There’s this whole thing with entrepreneurs solving problems. And I’m going to give a mad shoutout to Gregory Shepard, who has been here before. He’s had so many exits totaling over a billion dollars. He’s amazing, and one of the things he talks about is this story, Jasmine, of his mom when he was a little kid. She asked him, Who made more money—the people mining for gold, or the Levi Strauss company providing them all with jeans?
She explained that the chances of finding gold were very slim, but the company saying, Everyone’s going to need jeans, those were the ones who made all the money. And look at Levi’s—they’re still going strong. I don’t even know how old they are, but well over 150 years old.
It’s the same thing. You see this problem, the industry is ripe for disruption. Healthcare is a massive, monolithic industry. But then you’re like, No, I’m actually going to do something about it. Just point me in the right direction.
Susan Sly 09:59
Yeah, and, you know, just knowing you as I do, it’s like, Point me in the right direction. You’re like a husky dog, and you’re going to run in that direction, and you’re going to go. So, what were the first steps you took?
And speak to—you know, we have a global audience: India, Nigeria, Australia, the UK, everywhere. Speak to the person listening who’s like, You know what? I want to start a business, and like Jasmine, I don’t know which way to turn. What were those first steps you took?
Jasmine Bhatti 10:29
Oh, it was 100% just immersing myself into the community. For me, that meant two communities: one being ASU, the university I’m at, and tapping into the resources of the university, which was incredibly helpful. But then also the startup community around me, which is filled with all these other big dreamers who have experience in so many different realms.
By becoming more integrated with the community, I started to think and see differently, and that was really pivotal for me. Being surrounded by people who are ambitious, excited, and passionate, and who’ve had experience doing things before, helped me potentially avoid mistakes or think about things differently.
So, being connected to your community—that’s the golden piece. I don’t think it matters what country you’re in; finding that community is key. Now that so much is available online, I think people can find virtual communities to help support them on whatever mission they’re on.
Susan Sly 11:39
I love that, and that’s a testament to a brilliant entrepreneur. You’re coachable, right? You’re plugging into the community. It’s not just showing up—you’re actually taking the advice and saying, Okay, I’m going to do this.
So, you bootstrapped Navi Nurses. Talk about the beginnings of the company. For people whose first language isn’t English, bootstrapping means you’re putting up your own money. Just like Sarah Blakely bootstrapped Spanx—she put $5,000 into building her prototypes, and now, you know, the company is...
Susan Sly 12:19
You know, massive, multi-billion-dollar company. So that’s what it means—you took your own resources to start it. Talk about starting it and bootstrapping it with your idea and your energy, and that’s all there was.
Jasmine Bhatti 12:33
That’s pretty much it, yeah. So, everything kind of started toward—
Jasmine Bhatti 12:39
The idea really started during COVID, but it wasn’t until the tail end that I finally said, Okay, I’m leaving. That was actually really hard for me because it was still the tail end of COVID, and as a clinician working in the hospital, I felt a lot of guilt about leaving. I didn’t want to leave my colleagues to finish taking care of everything that was happening. That was probably the hardest barrier for me to overcome—the guilt.
But I knew that if I really wanted to build something that was going to make a difference, I needed to focus 100% on building. So I set a date. I told myself, I’m going to leave the hospital by this date. I planned it months ahead of time.
While still working in the hospital, I was taking patients on the side and figuring out, Is this something I can do? I set the date based on the number of patients I was caring for at the time and thought, I think I’ll be okay. And if it doesn’t work out, I’m a nurse—I can always go back to practicing in a hospital. I had something to fall back on.
Susan Sly 14:37
Wow, and that—there are so many questions I have for you, and I want to unpack that a little bit. Like you said, it’s just you, and it’s harder, right? We’ve had so many entrepreneurs on the show where—
Jasmine Bhatti 14:53
They have had a partner who is working, right? So it does give that buffer. And by the same token, we’ve—
Susan Sly 14:59
Had those who haven’t, who are in your space. It’s just proof positive that if you’re fiscally responsible, deliberate, and—you know—you started in hybrid, right? You went part-time while also building your company part-time, which is what a lot of entrepreneurs do. So, how did you find your first clients, and what was your pricing model?
Jasmine Bhatti 15:28
Oh, gosh. Okay, so first of all, as nurses, it’s really hard to charge for what we do. You just want to help everyone, and it was really hard for me to even come up with a number. So I looked at the current rate for something similar. I researched across the country—what are people charging?—and I set a number that I thought aligned with current market trends.
We started at $75 an hour, but we’re actually much farther beyond that now because we’ve had to build infrastructure and a lot of other things.
Jasmine Bhatti 16:06
But that was really how we set the pricing. As far as finding our first customers, I actually turned to social media. I found some Facebook groups for senior care providers and posted, Hey, I’m Jasmine, I’m a nurse, here’s my philosophy, here’s what I’m doing. I’d love any referrals.
This December will be our four-year anniversary of booking our very first client. It’s been an amazing whirlwind since then. In healthcare, so much of what you do is built on trust—healthcare providers feeling comfortable saying, Okay, I’m going to pass this person off to your care.
When you can demonstrate that you’ll meet or exceed their expectations, people start to come. So much of our business—actually, almost all of it—has grown through word of mouth and consistent referrals from people who know we provide great outcomes.
Susan Sly 17:12
That’s amazing. I love what you said about the pricing model because pricing is such an interesting thing, right? I was having this conversation with a friend about pricing software, and in my previous world, we priced something that didn’t exist.
How do you price it? How do you benchmark it? Especially when you’re opening a business in an area that doesn’t have that type of business—how do you account for geolocation and all sorts of other factors? Kudos to you for figuring that out.
Initially, was your business all cash pay, or was there an insurance component? How did that work?
Susan Sly 18:48
Oh, definitely. And when I think about my dad—so I’ve talked about Joe on almost every show. Long-time listeners of the show kind of followed along in his journey.
Just over a year ago, he went into the hospital. Prior to that, we’d had an intervention with his doctor, and his doctor said, Joe, if you go into the hospital, you are not coming out. So, he went into the hospital, and then we struggled to find an assisted living facility for him because he was on a sliding scale of insulin.
There were a lot of very specific needs, but prior to that, the goal was to keep my dad in his house as long as possible with dignity. He was in Canada, and I kept searching and searching. I wanted a nurse to come in and take his blood sugar readings because I didn’t trust him to give me accurate numbers.
Susan Sly 19:59
Love you in Heaven, Dad—I know you lied to me.
Susan Sly 20:04
Anyway, I can laugh about it now. And, you know, we didn’t have that. To your point, there is such a need. Being Gen X and part of the sandwich generation—still having kids at home and, at that point, dealing with an aging parent—not having that person to come in, care for him medically, and report back to me about what was going on was challenging. I love the need you’re fulfilling.
Now, as you approach your four-year anniversary, talk about how you’ve managed to bootstrap your company and still grow. How big is the team now, and approximately how many clients are you reaching?
Jasmine Bhatti 20:48
Wow, so we have over 200 nurses now, just here in Phoenix alone. This year, we’ve already surpassed 30,000 hours of care provided in our community. Again, it’s been entirely through word of mouth.
We’re also learning what people are searching for because we’re running a study. I won a $1.5 million grant to study our work, and we’re seeing incredible differences—not just for patients but also for nurses, which is really important. Along the way, we’ve done both qualitative and quantitative work. We’ve talked to people and asked them questions, and we’ve analyzed data.
Interestingly, many people don’t even understand what nurses can do. When given the option to go home with a nurse, some say, I don’t know how that’s going to help me. But once they experience it, they can’t imagine going home without that support because of the immense value it provides.
We’re now focused on educating the community about what we do, why we’re important, and how we can help in so many ways. Even as a profession, we haven’t done a great job of that. People often see nurses as hand-holders or order-followers, but in reality, we’re your eyes and ears every second you’re in the hospital. We catch the small changes, coordinate care, and shield you from the chaos so you can focus on healing.
My mission now is to essentially rebrand nursing—not just for my company but for the profession as a whole. I want people to recognize what we do, so more people can find us and learn how we can help, especially in challenging healthcare situations.
Going into a hospital is scary, and staffing impacts mortality—we don’t talk about that enough. My dad spent a lot of time in the hospital last year, so I completely understand how vulnerable that feels. But when hospitals aren’t properly staffed with nurses, patients are more likely to die. That’s why nurses strike—we know we can provide the care people need and deserve.
Sorry, that was a long-winded answer!
Susan Sly 23:26
No, and preach, because in the United States, there’s a healthcare worker shortage, and it’s only going to get worse. Even with thePause™—for people who don’t know, that’s the company I’ve been building—we look at the ratio of patients to certified providers in the U.S. alone, which is one to 30,000.
Looking at that problem, it’s like, How do we provide accessible support to women navigating perimenopause and menopause until they can get with a provider? Even then, the provider has limited time. So how can we continue to support them? That’s what we’re building—and have built—but we’re still building.
Jasmine, when I think about your growth, it’s incredible. You go from having this idea, a professor pointing you in the right direction, and now you have 200 nurses working for you. What has been a big learning lesson for you in scaling a team? That’s huge—most companies don’t scale that fast. What’s been a big takeaway for you in terms of building a team?
Jasmine Bhatti 24:47
Oh, gosh. The importance of having the right people around you is so critical. I’ve come to realize that some people are here for part of the journey, while others can stay longer. I think there are people who are really good at certain segments, and being okay with that...
Jasmine Bhatti 25:04
That’s been a big aha for me—just appreciating people for the significance of their contributions during their time with us. Coming from healthcare especially, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of this, but in nursing, we call it “nurses eat their young.” There’s a lot of what we call lateral violence, where instead of helping one another, we actually hurt one another. It’s very pervasive in nursing culture.
There’s also a lot of discussion about psychological safety in healthcare and why it’s so important for patients. But what I’ve realized is that many hospitals have these great missions and visions, but at the basic unit—the people providing care—those individuals don’t feel safe or valued.
I now get to create a culture where we do value our nurses. We treat them as though they’re worthy. Seeing them come to life because someone pays attention to them, appreciates them, and values them—that’s been so beautiful to watch. It’s unlike anything I ever experienced, and it’s something many of my nurses haven’t either.
While building this team has been incredible, one of my biggest concerns going forward is, How do we protect and nurture this beautiful culture as we continue to grow and scale rapidly? It’s so important for the people working for us because it ultimately impacts the patients we serve.
Susan Sly 26:45
Yeah, I hadn’t heard about that piece with nurses. My mother-in-law was a nurse, my mom was a nurse, and my co-founder at TBT is a nurse practitioner—Mia, who you met. All I see is that the people entering the profession have these beautiful hearts of service.
There’s also an attractive salary now, given the supply and demand. But I also see the stress—nurses being pulled in so many directions. During the pandemic, we worked on using computer vision to help pre-screen patients because nurses were so overtaxed. They needed to be saving lives, not pointing an iPad at someone and asking, Have you had the sniffles in the last...whatever.
To your point, How do you create this culture of nurture? I love what you said—I wrote it down: Appreciate people while they’re there. As entrepreneurs, we know that the people who take our company to one level aren’t always the ones who will take it to the next. Sometimes that can feel personal.
Has it ever felt personal to you when someone leaves or when someone has to go?
Jasmine Bhatti 28:14
It has. You know, I actually had to exit my co-founder early on in building everything, and that was really, really hard for me. I think that was my first taste of realizing that you can have the best intentions and try to put everything together the way you want, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out—and that’s okay.
You release them to go out and do what’s beautiful for them in their own life, and it allows you to continue building what you’re meant to build. You honor them for their contributions during that time.
Susan Sly 28:55
Yeah, absolutely. I know for myself, any time I’ve had to let someone go—and very candidly, this is Raw and Real Entrepreneurship—sometimes it hasn’t been hard, but other times it’s been really, really hard.
I’ve found that people who are supposed to come back into your life, they do, right? Especially in entrepreneurship, you’re either learning or you’re dying. If you’re not growing as a founder, your company isn’t growing either. We all grow, shift, and change, and there are seasons for everything.
Let me ask you this—going back to your incredible growth: 200 team members, and I know you’re growing month over month because demand isn’t diminishing. How do you handle stress personally?
Jasmine Bhatti 29:55
Oh, you know, I—
Jasmine Bhatti 29:59
I—
Jasmine Bhatti 30:00
Say all the time...
Jasmine Bhatti 30:00
I worked on a COVID unit in the hospital. There’s nothing that’s ever going to happen to me—ever—that will come close to what I went through. To help me cope with everything that happened, I spent some time in Bali. I worked with some shamans and learned techniques to incorporate, like mindful walking and chanting.
Sitting out in nature, reconnecting to my roots—taking my shoes off and putting my feet on the earth—is so grounding for me. Being near water is especially important; that’s where I go when I need time to reflect, think, and find peace.
I also lost control of my physical health during COVID. You didn’t see me then, but I was 50 pounds heavier because I was eating pizza and ice cream every day. I’d come home, eat, cry, go to bed, and wake up to do it all over again.
Since then, I’ve been more mindful about nutrition. I’ve learned how it impacts my well-being, mental clarity, physical self, and confidence. I focus on eating the right foods for me while still enjoying things I love, like chocolate. It’s about balance.
I’ve also become more intentional about staying connected. When I worked in the hospital, I wasn’t great at keeping up with family and friends—family, yes, but not friends. Now, as an entrepreneur with limited time, I live off my calendar. Every week, I look at it to see which friends I’m spending time with. I block out time for the people who lift my soul, knowing I can do the same for them. That connection is critical for me.
Susan Sly 32:15
Jasmine, thank you for your vulnerability and truth. One thing for entrepreneurs—both men and women—is that sometimes, while grinding it out, it can feel empty or lonely. Your experience in the hospital is profound. My friends who were healthcare workers went through so much.
I was also trading emails with Lorna Breen’s husband. She was the physician famously written about in The New York Times who committed suicide. You’re right—pizza and ice cream aren’t the healthiest coping tools, but they were in your toolkit at the time.
And here’s my PSA for anyone listening: if you’re that guy on the United flight at 6 a.m. pounding Bloody Marys—I’ve seen you—it’s not healthy. If you’re carrying 70 extra pounds, you’re at risk for a heart attack. But you recognized it, said Enough is enough, and made changes.
My question for you is: what’s next? Entrepreneurs are always thinking about growth and scaling. You’re in Phoenix, the fifth-largest city in America, and I know there’s still a lot of runway there. But what’s next for Navi Nurses?
Jasmine Bhatti 35:00
Oh my gosh, there’s so much on the horizon. We’re building out a separate segment of our business focused on business-to-business (B2B), so not necessarily for consumers. There are ways we can have organizations help fund and pay for this, so hopefully people won’t have to pay so much out of pocket. That’s a route I’m really looking at.
We’re also collecting evidence to hopefully create a billing code that shows what we’re doing should be covered by insurance. We’re laying the foundation for that because the way we’re delivering care is life-changing—not just for people, but in terms of cost savings. That’s everything to the healthcare system.
We spend about a fifth of our GDP on healthcare in the U.S., and if we can save these large systems a lot of money, that’s huge. So, we’re working on building relationships to make that happen because every single person deserves the level of care we’re providing.
Partnerships are a big focus. What else? Oh my gosh, my role is always evolving. That’s another interesting thing—I’ve gone from doing everything to figuring out how to be the face of the brand and change the narrative. Part of what we do may involve changing policy or legislation, so those things are on the table, too.
I try to take it a few months at a time because everything is changing so rapidly. I can set goals for where I want us to go or where I think we’ll go in the next few months, but if a new door opens, I might walk through it. That’s one of the exciting things about entrepreneurship—you get to pick which path you want to take.
There’s so much you don’t know yet because those opportunities haven’t revealed themselves. As an entrepreneur, your job is to find all the doors and then decide which ones you want to walk through.
Susan Sly 36:00
I love that because entrepreneurship has changed. One of my friends, Anthony Soho—he’s been an entrepreneur for years and was just appointed CEO of MoneyGram—says, Business plan? I never show a business plan.
Any entrepreneur who says, This is my plan for the next five years,—no! How can you possibly know? The landscape is always changing, so how can you seize new opportunities?
I love your approach: I’m going to take it a few months at a time, seize opportunities, and make sure they fit our brand and growth trajectory.
Well, Jasmine, I freaking love you, girlfriend, and I’m so proud of you. I’m proud to know you. For everyone listening, I hope this show gives you the courage to say, You know what? If Jasmine can do it, I can do it.
You don’t have to raise millions of dollars to start a huge company. You can do what she did—be discerning, take the hybrid approach, and build it step by step.
So, Jasmine, any final words for our audience?
Jasmine Bhatti 36:09
Yeah, no, I think you just nailed it. If I could leave an ending message, it would be: just start. Go and do it. Especially for females, nurses, and minorities—don’t let anything hold you back.
There are people in your community who want nothing more than for you to succeed. Know that they exist, find your people, and you’ll get the support you need. Just start.
Thank you so much for having me, Susan. It’s an honor to be here with you.
Susan Sly 37:51
Absolutely. Well, thank you, Jasmine. Just start. I love that. Just start.
For everyone listening, if this show has helped you, we’d love a five-star review. Please share the show and tag us on social media. All of Jasmine’s social links will be in the show notes, so check those out. Be sure to explore our past episodes for continued inspiration to crush it on your own Raw and Real Entrepreneurship journey.
Thank you, everyone, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
Susan Sly 38:20
Hey, this is Susan, and thanks so much for listening to this episode of Raw and Real Entrepreneurship. If this episode—or any episode—has been helpful to you, and you’ve gotten at least one solid tip from myself or my guests, I’d love it if you left a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts.
After you leave your review, email us at reviews@susansly.com to let us know where you left it. If I read your review on air, you could win a $50 Amazon gift card! We’d appreciate it so much, as reviews help boost the show and spread this message around the world.
If you’re interested in any of the resources we discussed on the show, head over to susansly.com—that’s where all the show notes live. With that, go out, rock your day, and God bless. I’ll see you in the next episode!