Entrepreneur who built core of Intuit Health won’t seek to buy it back

Intuit has written down the value of its once-$91 million Intuit Health jewel to “zero” on its books and is looking to sell the Cary-based company, but the man behind the birth and growth of the firm once known as MedFusion has no interest in owning it again. He has a new mission: Helping other Triangle entrepreneurs.

Stephen Malik, who lives in Raleigh, built MedFusion before selling it to Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) in 2010 to form Intuit Health. He’s fully aware that Inuit announced on Monday plans to sell the business group as part of a corporate reorganization.

“Now, while the business is for sale,” said Malik, “I’m sure there will be a lot of interest in the nation’s leading health platform.”

Intead, Malik plans to recharge and focus on investments he has made in the Triangle’s startup ecosystem, particularly in Raleigh.

“There’s a lot of activity in Durham and in Chapel Hill,” said Malik, “and we need to continue to grow Raleigh’s entrepreneurial community.”

Malik, who owns currently vacant office space in downtown Raleigh, said that he is currently pursuing options “to get entrepreneurs into the space.”

Malik is a limited partner in three local venture funds – Hatteras Venture Partners’ fund, Bull City Ventures’ fund, and IDEA Fund Partners’ fund.

There remains a big opportunity in healthcare, said Malik, due to the government mandating the focus on patient engagement.

MedFusion and Intuit Health focused primarily on patient engagement, said Malik, which is one of the main reasons that Malik expects Intuit Health to sell quickly.

Malik left Intuit Health in the middle of June. “There comes a time when you want to set aside business concerns,” said Malik, “and focus more on your personal life.”

Malik, who built MedFusion for a decade prior to its acquisition, has led the life of an entrepreneur for close to 15 years.

“It was a good experience working with Intuit,” said Malik, “and I have only good things to say about them.”

“The transition was well planned – I had the opportunity to train a general manager for 18 months prior to departing,” said Malik, “and Intuit did a very good job with it – they couldn’t have done a better job with the transition.”