Argonaut Ventures

Argonaut Ventures LLC provides strategic consulting, funding, and business development as well as design and technical expertise for the development and monetization of Internet businesses.

Argonaut Ventures' founders have been in the business of developing Internet companies since 1995, with the establishment of a number of online health and medical communities, such as Alzheimers.com, Depression.com, Diabetes.com, and Obesity.com. Through Epicenter Communications, they have developed and sold a number of fully developed websites, including Alzheimers.com, Diabetes.com, Depression.com, and Obesity.com.

The company is located in Sausalito, California, and is connected to Silicon Valley expertise and capital to identify and build technologies connecting consumers, business and medical professional networks.

Matthew Naythons MD, Partner

After graduating from medical school, Dr. Naythons combined hospital ER medicine with an award-winning career as an international photojournalist for Time magazine. While covering the exodus of Cambodian refugees from the genocide of Pol Pot in 1979, he formed and led International Medical Teams (IMT), a mobile relief organization that provided medical care to Cambodian refugees and displaced Thai villagers from 1979–1982.

In 1991, Naythons founded Epicenter Communications. The company created prestigious photojournalism, multimedia, and Internet projects with a global reach. Projects included The Face of Mercy: A Photographic History of Medicine at War, with an introduction by William Styron; Sarajevo: A Portrait of the Siege, and Clinton: A Portrait of Victory—the first best-selling book to have an accompanying CD-ROM.

In 1995, after producing a series of user-friendly consumer guides to the world of new media, including editions of The Multimedia Home Companion, Naythons' Epicenter Communications published the first guide to online health: The Internet Health, Fitness, and Medicine Yellow Pages.

Later that year, under Naythons' direction, Epicenter formed two Internet health divisions: NetMed and NetHealth. Supported by pharmaceutical corporations, the company created some of the first disease-specific health sites on the Internet, including award-winning websites such as Diabetes.com, Depression.com, Obesity.com and Alzheimers.com.

In January 1999, Naythons joined PlanetRx and became Vice President and Publisher of the online pharmacy. In 2000, while still at PlanetRx, and based on research and writing he commissioned for Alzheimers.com, he co-authored There is Still A Person In There: A Complete Guide to Treating and Coping with Alzheimer's.

In 2002, Naythons co-founded EpiCom Media. EpiCom Media, like Epicenter Communications, produced large scale, multimillion-dollar photojournalism projects such as A Day in the Life of the United States Armed Forces and A Day in the Life of the American Woman (published in 2005).

In 2006, Naythons co-founded Argonaut Ventures LLC, which funds and takes an active role in developing early stage companies, currently specializing in online health.

He is a charter member of the International Society of Travel Medicine and the Explorers Club.

In addition to his BS from Muhlenberg College and MD from Hahnemann University, he received a Doctor of Humanities honoris causa from his alma mater in 1995.

Peter Goggin,  Partner

Peter Goggin has been a pioneer in online health since 1995. As vice-president of NetHealth, a division of Epicenter Communications, Inc., Goggin led the development of some of the first vertical community health information websites online, including Diabetes.com, Alzheimers.com, Depression.com, Obesity.com and others.

In January, 1999, NetHealth was purchased by PlanetRx, and Goggin became Director of Project Management at PlanetRx.com where he managed a team of 20 Business Analysts and Project Managers, reporting to the company's CTO. As PlanetRx developed additional "satellite websites" such as Hypertension.com and Arthritis.com, Goggin was promoted to Vice-President, Design and Production.

In 2003 he joined ISL Consulting, a San Francisco Internet consulting firm specializing in strategic consulting and the development of open-source web applications. At ISL he managed a major corporate eCommerce website, and led the development of a number of lead-generation websites and disease-specific physician portals which featured applications for building online Physician Continuing Medical Education courses (CME), online slide-libraries, XML-based news feeds, and sophisticated workflow content management systems for editorial staff to create and publish online content.

Peter Goggin is currently a Partner at Argonaut Ventures, LLC, a business consulting and development company for early-stage start-ups.

Argonaut Ventures' portfolio of companies includes both consumer and professional health and medical companies.

Current Ventures
Malaria.com — Malaria.com was created to harness the power of the Internet to raise awareness of malaria, and to help fund the purchase and distribution of bed nets. The goal of Malaria.com is quite simple—fighting malaria one net at a time.

MedNews — MedNews provides original and aggregated health and medical news by category. The site offers research and networking tools, such as story clipping and storage, commenting, blogging, and RSS subscriptions.

PhysiciansNet.com — PhysiciansNet.com is an online directory of more than 650,000 U.S. physicians, searchable by location, specialty, or name. Physician members can manage their personal homepages by adding and editing information. Launch date: Fall, 2015.

Sold
Diabetes.com — A consumer health portal for diabetics and their families, Diabetes.com featured health information, daily news, lifestyle tips and recipes, and community features for site members to share stories and network with others. (Acquired)

Alzheimers.com — Targeted to Alzheimer's caregivers, Alzheimers.com was a strong community site that provided news, information, support, and social networking features to caregivers and their families. (Acquired)

Depression.com — A consumer health information and support website, Depression.com provided individuals suffering from Depression with a source of information and support. Members could browse the informative health library, or share stories and support with other registered members. (Acquired)