Some problems hit you and won't let go. They follow you out the door, stick to you like a tick, and refuse to be ignored. For founders, those are the problems worth building for.

Before his second open-heart surgery, Carl Stecker paid a $407 pharmacy bill and couldn’t shake the frustration. That experience led him to uncover a broken system where major pharmacy chains were marking up prescriptions between 1500% and 3000%.

So, he built FreeRx, a subscription model delivering medications for under $50 a month.

But this wasn’t a smooth startup story.

Carl survived three open-heart surgeries, spent 11 days in a coma, and watched his Ohio pharmacy partner go bankrupt overnight while customers were waiting on prescriptions. Instead of shutting down, he bought into pharmacies across four states to control the experience and kept moving forward.

His mission is simple: if FreeRx never makes a dime but helps fix healthcare pricing, he’ll consider it a win.

The best founder stories aren’t about avoiding chaos. They’re about what you do when everything falls apart, and you choose to keep building anyway. Carl’s story is a reminder that real mission clarity shows up when growth is slow, partners disappear, and the path forward isn’t obvious.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to disrupt a broken system while your own life is falling apart, this episode will show you.

🎧 Listen now to hear how Carl is turning chaos into affordable healthcare for families who need it most.

If you’d like to be a guest on our Hello Chaos Podcast, ​click here​ for more information and to sign up. We look forward to connecting with you soon!

If you know another founder or creative who would benefit from being part of the OrangeWIP community, invite them to subscribe and explore more inspiring founder stories and resources built for entrepreneurs. OrangeWIP shares real, raw, and honest stories—the unvarnished truth of what it means to build something from the ground up. It’s why our mantra is Where A-ha! Meets Oh, sh*t.^TM It’s 100% free and gives founders access to a one-stop content hub designed to inform, inspire, and connect.

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^{*According to Masterworks data. Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. See important Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.}