[h=1]Youngsters are giving established players a run for the money..You need to take a pain area & be passionate to solve it...[/h][h=1]Success story: Shashank started a healthcare start-up when he was just 20![/h]September 14, 2015 10:00 IST
When two youngsters decided to begin a modest venture to digitise health records ago, little did they imagine that their concept would be a much sought after destination in the online healthcare space, catching the attention of the world’s biggest investors.
Image: Co-founded by Shashank ND. Photograph, courtesy: Practo
Seven years ago, twenty-year-old engineering graduates from National Institute of Technology, Suratkal, Karnataka dared to take a different path, even as many of their classmates took up regular jobs in the corporate world.
Co-founded by Shashank ND and Abhinav Lal, Practo is an online health service platform, which assists patients to fix appointments with doctors, build a software platform to digitise their health records and have online consultations as well.
Practo today boasts of an impressive list of clientele comprising two lakh doctors, 10,000 hospitals and 5,000 diagnostic centres based in 35 cities and four countries.
The online service has made rapid strides, raising $124 million so far, the biggest by any healthcare start-up.
What’s the reasons for your success? What does it take to become a successful entrepreneur?
Over the last 7 years that I have been building Practo, there are a few things that I’ve learned.
First, always optimise for the vision. Articulate the vision continuously and ensure each step you take is towards this. Vision helps align the entire team behind a common purpose.
Second, usage is king. Focus more on the usage of the product than how much the users are paying for it. Usage is the single most important metric to determine product value. Pay close attention to what your customers tell you. Product insights will come through interpretation of customer feedback
Third, solve hard problems. At the start, try picking the tough problems to solve. These are usually the ones no one else would have tried solving. Ask yourself, ‘Why hasn’t anyone done this before?’ Logically, due to technology advancements, problems that were harder to solve so far, would become easier now.
Fourth, hire 'A' players only. That should be one of your top priorities. Only get the best of the best. They can give you exponential growth. Ensure they buy into the vision of the company and focus equally hard on retaining them. One of the keys to retention is to build a great culture from day one. It will remain through the life of the company.
Fifth, think global. One of the best things we did was launch in Singapore. The market there really stress-tested our product and helped us improve by leaps and bounds, which was instrumental in us getting such a high market share so quickly.
Sixth, get advisors & consultants. There are many industry experts out there. Take advantage of their expertise, its faster. Don’t try to do everything on your own.
Seventh, growth is the only oxygen for a startup. Continuously focus on the growth. Take risks and do everything possible to grow fast.
Eight, build great products. Never ever ship a subpar product. Customers have an innate sense to detect carelessness. They will penalise you by moving away.
Ninth, choose the right investors. Don’t optimise for valuations, optimise for building a great product or service that people love. Investors will see value in that. Optimise more for who is investing in you than how much. Investors can be great partners in helping you grow so they must share your medium and long-term vision and their goals should be aligned to that.
Tenth, focus. You have limited resources and time. Don’t spend too much time attending conferences, networking events etc. Focus all energy on ensuring there is progress. In our earlier days, we used the mantra of ‘Code & Sell’, everything else is useless.
And finally, have fun. You will spend long hours doing this so make sure you love doing it and are excited by it. There is no room for half-heartedness.
http://www.rediff.com/business/repo...lth-start-up-when-he-was-just-20/20150914.htm
When two youngsters decided to begin a modest venture to digitise health records ago, little did they imagine that their concept would be a much sought after destination in the online healthcare space, catching the attention of the world’s biggest investors.
Image: Co-founded by Shashank ND. Photograph, courtesy: Practo
Seven years ago, twenty-year-old engineering graduates from National Institute of Technology, Suratkal, Karnataka dared to take a different path, even as many of their classmates took up regular jobs in the corporate world.
Co-founded by Shashank ND and Abhinav Lal, Practo is an online health service platform, which assists patients to fix appointments with doctors, build a software platform to digitise their health records and have online consultations as well.
Practo today boasts of an impressive list of clientele comprising two lakh doctors, 10,000 hospitals and 5,000 diagnostic centres based in 35 cities and four countries.
The online service has made rapid strides, raising $124 million so far, the biggest by any healthcare start-up.
What’s the reasons for your success? What does it take to become a successful entrepreneur?
Over the last 7 years that I have been building Practo, there are a few things that I’ve learned.
First, always optimise for the vision. Articulate the vision continuously and ensure each step you take is towards this. Vision helps align the entire team behind a common purpose.
Second, usage is king. Focus more on the usage of the product than how much the users are paying for it. Usage is the single most important metric to determine product value. Pay close attention to what your customers tell you. Product insights will come through interpretation of customer feedback
Third, solve hard problems. At the start, try picking the tough problems to solve. These are usually the ones no one else would have tried solving. Ask yourself, ‘Why hasn’t anyone done this before?’ Logically, due to technology advancements, problems that were harder to solve so far, would become easier now.
Fourth, hire 'A' players only. That should be one of your top priorities. Only get the best of the best. They can give you exponential growth. Ensure they buy into the vision of the company and focus equally hard on retaining them. One of the keys to retention is to build a great culture from day one. It will remain through the life of the company.
Fifth, think global. One of the best things we did was launch in Singapore. The market there really stress-tested our product and helped us improve by leaps and bounds, which was instrumental in us getting such a high market share so quickly.
Sixth, get advisors & consultants. There are many industry experts out there. Take advantage of their expertise, its faster. Don’t try to do everything on your own.
Seventh, growth is the only oxygen for a startup. Continuously focus on the growth. Take risks and do everything possible to grow fast.
Eight, build great products. Never ever ship a subpar product. Customers have an innate sense to detect carelessness. They will penalise you by moving away.
Ninth, choose the right investors. Don’t optimise for valuations, optimise for building a great product or service that people love. Investors will see value in that. Optimise more for who is investing in you than how much. Investors can be great partners in helping you grow so they must share your medium and long-term vision and their goals should be aligned to that.
Tenth, focus. You have limited resources and time. Don’t spend too much time attending conferences, networking events etc. Focus all energy on ensuring there is progress. In our earlier days, we used the mantra of ‘Code & Sell’, everything else is useless.
And finally, have fun. You will spend long hours doing this so make sure you love doing it and are excited by it. There is no room for half-heartedness.
http://www.rediff.com/business/repo...lth-start-up-when-he-was-just-20/20150914.htm
