Monthly Archives: March 2016

Managing Adversity

Leave a reply
It was found out that the number of startup’s during the Economic downtime in 2009 was much higher than during the Internet and Dot Com boom in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
This means that people are thinking different and having an appetite to do something different during difficult and testing times than when everything is going right.
When Cadbury came to India, it was a new market for them. Not for finding customers to buy chocolate, but selling them without refrigeration in the hot climate. This is the time to step out of their comfort zone and develop a chocolate which does not melt easily in hot climate. Eclairs was their answer. There was soft chocolate in the toffee, but was moulded in hard chocolate. In this way, it did not melt easily even in hot weather.
As Entrepreneurs and Intrepreneurs, it is very important to understand the situation and arrive at solution. The best times to think different is when in times of crisis.

Entrepreneurs are Risk Lovers

Leave a reply
Yes. This is what is the norm. If you are doing anything outside your comfort zone, then you are a risk lover. Leaving a well paying job and starting out to change the world in your way is definitely a risk not everyone is willing to take or interested in taking, but when you do, you will hear a lot of negative criticism.
Actually, Entrepreneurs are not Risk Lovers, but they are people who have mastered the art of managing risks. 
 
No one actually takes risks. Taking a risk is like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. This is not wise. It will not help in any way. Whereas jumping out of an airplane with a parachute is managing risk.
When Entrepreneurs start, they are not jumping into the open air, but they are jumping out with a plan to ensure that they land safely. They identify and manage all their risks and also few unexpected one’s which come up very well so that they achieve the impossible.
According to a venture capital study, there are fewer than 15% of firms who have been venture funded which are still in operation. This clearly shows that 85% have ceased to exist or in other words, did not manage their risks.
 
So, the next time you are thinking different ensures there is a plan for all bumps.

Is your startup ready for tomorrow?

Leave a reply
You have started up. You are excited and you want to look at all possible situations and scenarios where you can build your startup and make it big. Who does not want it?
The aspect of running a company is not just providing a solution/service, but having an immaculate plan of alternative Business Models. What do I mean by this?
Do you remember Kodak? This was one company which rewrote the business of Photography. They had everything available for photographers – from films to cameras to printing solutions. Their business was unbeaten even though they had competition. They were undisputed leaders. However, things started to fall apart with the advent of Digital Photography and Digital SLR camera’s coming into the market. Initially, everyone thought that there is nothing to beat in terms or clarity and quality with the Roll photos, Digital Camera’s were not so advanced. But, by the time Kodak realized, they were being beaten up. Digital photography took over and Kodak was completely out of options. Today, we do not have any more camera rolls. What happened here is the unpreparedness for the competition. Kodak tried multiple options to save the company and its business, but everything went in vain.
Today’s startup’s / businesses focus on the primary business models and miss the fundamental aspect of Business Model, which is sustaining and running the business. What the founder should think is the long-term practicality of the idea and how he can mould the company to withstand competition and turbulent times. This is what makes for a working Business Model.

Adoption Rate

Leave a reply
Aviation and Health Care. Let us take two industries to compare a simple aspect – Adoption Rate.
Both industries are part of each and everyone’s lives. There are people who might fly or have never flown, but there is no person who has never visited a Doctor / Hospital.
In case of emergency, in aviation, the Pilot who is responsible for the safety of the flight knows that if he makes a mistake, even his life is in danger. On the contrary, let us look at Health Care. The Doctor is responsible for his patient’s life, but in this case, if there is a failure or medical error, the Doctor does not loose life, but the patient does. Is this a case point for why the error adoption rates being long and low in Health Care?
If there is a flight accident, the instance is completely evaluated and analysed by an independent team and the findings are quickly circulated across all airlines across the world. In return, all airlines update the required findings and roll them out to their pilots. Also, long papers and thesis reports are not circulated to Pilots, but the findings are either incorporated into the Pilot’s checklists or they are called for updated training. This happens very quickly so that there is no other life lost because of any error.
If there is a medical accident, the similar approach is not adopted. The hospital may or may not bring out the error in the first place and secondly, even if they did, the error finding reports are not immediately available for everyone. The hospital might incorporate the findings, but for others to follow takes a very very long time and in certain cases, even centuries for the change to come.
Why is there this much of difference in adoption rates when in both industries the cost of error is a life? Is there a case in point?

Educating the Healthcare Consumer

Leave a reply
There are over 1000 startups just focusing on Healthcare in India and we see more and more coming up each day. If you look at the pattern of the startups, predominantly we see competitive startup’s. There is one person who is wanting to solve a problem and they are many others following the trend but with an additional feature or functionality. Consider finding Doctors as a pain point. There are few early adopters like Practo, but over the last eight years, there are more than 50 startups in the same space offering similar services. The next thing what happened is the startups have diversified to different cities becoming first in their city. Competition is good, the consumer gets to taste more convenience and functionality. But what should not happen is withdrawal from using technology.
The key area what we need to focus is to streamline the problem-solving abilities and diversify the solution offerings based on the regional requirement. One solution does not fit all.
Consumer education plays a very vital role in building a successful startup and solving a problem. The key aspect of Consumer education is to reach out to the end user and help them utilize services available and for this, education should start at the ground level. Reaching out and working with NGO’s who work with varied population, partnering with Primary Health Centers, organizing educative seminars and workshops at meeting points (Panchayat meetings, Locality meetings etc.) will go a long way.

What has changed in Indian Healthcare landscape?

Leave a reply
According to the World Economic Form and Harvard Public School, the probability of during the most productive years – 30 Years to 70 Years is predominantly because of non-communicable diseases like Heart stroke, heart diseases, pulmonary diseases, and diabetes. This is accounting to 26% of death’s in India in this age group.
India struggled to bring down the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) which have been the key metrics. However, over the last two decades, this has significantly come down and it is on a positive note.
While we are improving on the metrics, due to the changes in lifestyle, there are non-communicable diseases which are increasing leading to disparities in the Healthcare in the country. The Government’s spending on Healthcare has also has been reducing.
Private Healthcare services is on the rise. This calls for out-of-pocket expenditure on Healthcare. Since India has a good number of people living below the Above Poverty Line, the affordability for quality Health services is also one of the primary reason for the rise in non-communicable disease not being addressed at the appropriate time. Most of the out-of-pocket expenses are for medicines.
With startup’s focusing on bringing Healthcare to all (even though the predominant acceptance is in Tire 1 and 2 Cities), I look at this as a possible approach to bridge the gap between Doctor and the Patient. Looking at the mobile penetration rate which has crossed over 800 Million today, I personally see that technology can help bridge the gap.
What we need at this time is the education of the consumer on how to use the services.

What can Big Data do for Healthcare?

Leave a reply
The population is increasing everywhere and this is driving every country in the world to focus on providing better Healthcare to its citizens and also Healthcare has become one of the top discussed agenda items in any International forum. Innovations in Healthcare are gaining much attention and Healthcare startup’s are on the rise in every part of the word.
Big Data has been playing a pivotal role in Healthcare since the beginning. With the increase in focus on Healthcare, Big Data and Predictive analysis are playing a crucial role in enhancing the quality of care.
Here are few areas where Big Data will continue to focus:
  • Personalized Medication – Big Data can help save patient’s previous data on the cloud which can be easily accessed anywhere and anytime required. This will allow Doctors to see the kind of medications which have been used by the patient and he can continue to do so with similar medicines. This helps in personalized care and better quality of care.
  • Diagnosis Patterns – When your medical history is stored in a central place, it becomes easier to access and also run patterns on the medical reports to have a better understanding of the patterns of care.
  • Faster turn around time for Medical Practitioners – New innovations in medicine can be easily deployed to Doctor’s offices using Big Data. Using Medicine Management tools Doctors can now not only consult with patient’s in their office but can also focus on delivering care remotely.
  • Predicting and fighting diseases – The most important aspect of Big Data. Having access to quite a lot of information, analysis can be performed to predict and fight diseases well in advance.

Where is our Creativity?

Leave a reply
Creativity is almost lost from our lives. We live in an era where everything is turning mechanical. Right from the alarm in the morning to tracking your sleep, everything is automated. Earlier, we need to set the alarm on the clock each night before we sleep (because we would have switched it off in the morning), but today, your phone can set the alarm for each day of the week at the same time or different times.
When you get up in the morning, some days you feel tired (because you might not have got a complete 8-hour sleep or you were disturbed. But, today, your phone will tell you what quality of sleep you had and how long have you slept and how many times you woke up.
What this is doing to us is killing our ability to think. Every aspect of life is taken care and in the coming decades we will also stop driving and let the automatic cars do the job.
Creativity is not a switch which you can switch on/off when you need. It is the ability to see, feel and communicate with the world around you. The next time you are doing something brings on the creativity by being present in the situation. Think differently about the same problem which you solved yesterday. Change the way you communicate and see which is the best way of communication you can build on.

Position

Leave a reply
In the army, the Commander of the force should and must understand his position in relation to the enemy. Else, he will not be able to make the most efficient use of his army and his efforts will go in vein.
In the similar way, when you are out to sell your idea, you should be equipped to understand where you stand in regards to your competition. Else, you will make the wrong efforts which will only give you heart burn and end up in no or less results.
In developing our thinking skills, we need to understand what position we are in, accept our competitors positioning and then derive a step-by-step strategy to address what we need to achieve.
This comes with a holistic view of what you have available for yourself and how you position your skills to gain the advantage. For this, the first skill you need to embrace is visibility. As the Commander has a map of his battle field and identifies his and his team’s positioning, in the similar way, you will need to draw out a map of your competition and where you are in the competition. Only then you can have a realistic approach to how to tackle the market.
As an entrepreneur, along with giving wings to your idea, have a visible and realistic preposition of the market. This effort will give you unprecedented advantage to make your first win.

The Perception Problem

Leave a reply
Let us accept that we do not have answers to all the questions. But, we do not want to accept the reality. It is generally more difficult to not know answers to questions. We try and avoid to say ‘I don’t know’.
What happens when you are thinking of bigger problems like the Economy in the country, or the Healthcare system or Politics? We will go with what the majority of people are saying about the issue and if it matches with our thinking, we go with them. We perceive that what the majority are saying is correct. But, we do not spend time to think if this is the truth or not. If the issue is supported with data, then there is a little support to the bias, but if it does not, then there is a bigger problem. Without understanding the actual facts, we also tend to solve the problem with everyone else.
Apply this to your startup. When you have an idea to solve a problem, doing a market research and evaluating the market potential might give you a certain way to address the problem. But, what really makes the cut is the ability for you to think and solve it the best way which seems possible.
Henry Ford once said “If I ask people what they want, they would ask for faster horses”, he identified the problem and solved it by building a car. He did not go with what the majority said.
When Apple brought out the iPad, there was no competition for them. They were the first. Steve Jobs identified the problem of bringing computers to your hand and the iPad rolled out which not only created history, but the entire pace of computing changed overnight. There is enough competition today and this competition is creating more innovative products.
So the next time you wish to solve a problem, do look at what the majority are thinking, but adapt to your ability to think and address the problem.