Tempus CEO Eric Lefkofsky Says ‘This Could Be as Big as Apple’ in Healthcare AI

"We haven't yet really figured out how to pay for AI in healthcare," says Tempus AI CEO Dr. Eric Lefkofsky, a challenge that led to the birth of Tempus, a company that’s impossible to ignore

Lefkofsky’s approach to business is as unconventional as it is relentless. Born in West Bloomfield, Michigan, the youngest of three siblings all University of Michigan graduates, he discovered early on that he had a knack for commerce. As a college freshman, he was already selling carpets to peers and earning $100,000 a year, a success he detailed in a 2012 blog post. “I have never been afraid to act. It is one of my greatest strengths in business. When I have an idea or reach a conclusion, I act on it, immediately and without reservation,” he wrote, a sentiment that would come to define his career.

That fearless drive led him to launch a series of companies that spanned diverse industries. In 1999, Lefkofsky and his law school classmate Brad Keywell moved to Chicago to build Starbelly, an early internet company that was scaled—and sold—for $240 million in less than a year. Over the next decade, each problem Lefkofsky encountered became the seed for a new venture. From InnerWorkings in 2001, designed to manage printing and shipping for books and magazines, to Echo Global Logistics in 2005 and MediaBank in 2006, his entrepreneurial resume grew rapidly. Notably, his involvement in Groupon—seeded with a modest $1 million contribution—ushered him into the Forbes 400 following a meteoric rise and a $13 billion IPO in 2011, despite later struggles.

A Personal Call to Healthcare

Following his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis in 2014 and a subsequent year of conversations with oncologists, Lefkofsky, despite his lack of healthcare experience, founded Tempus in 2015. “I was afraid that it might not make anyone any money,” he recalls, a reflection of his persistent focus on profit. Olufunmilayo Olopade, a respected oncologist at the University of Chicago and Tempus’ founding scientific advisor, recounts a moment when she asked for research funding. “He said, ‘why would I give you $50 million when I can start my own company’ to solve the issue for every university and hospital?” Although Lefkofsky doesn’t remember using those exact words, he agrees that a for-profit model was essential to bring advanced technology and AI to healthcare.