Author Archives: Hari

Investor Equity

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Not all investors are interested in just making money through your venture. Few look for being part of the venture, few want decision making, few invest in kind, wish to make a difference etc.

Equity is what we expect in return for the investment we make.

When you go to gym for a workout, your equity is a healthy body and mind. When you spend time with family, your equity is happiness and piece of mind.

Before you start exploring opportunities for Investment, first you need to identify what kind of Investments are you looking for – Money, Time, Mentorship or Value addition.

The next step is to identify who are the people you wish to identify in each category. For each category of Investors, design and define your pitch so that the Objectives and Outcomes are clearly defined.

Key aspects which you need to consider:

  • Ensure you identify the key aspect in your potential investor and structure your conversation in that way.
  • Clearly articulate the Values what you would like your Investor brings to your team and your Incentive for their effort.
  • Emotions are very important and gaining access to emotional commitment is what you need to look for.
  • Keep your requirements flexible. They welcome them.

Once you have the approval for the required Investment, spearhead your venture.

Ask

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Ask is the one important factor and the first step towards success.

  • What would have happened if Newton never asked himself “Why did the apple fall down?”
  • What would have happened if Henry Ford asked his potential customers “What do you want?”
  • What would have happened if Richard Branson never asked himself why should he get into airline business?
  • What would happen if no politician ever goes and asks for Votes?
This is not different in Entrepreneurship.

All that we need to do is Ask. Not everyone is interested in Equity for Investment. Few Investors come to you because of their passion. Few investors adore your idea, but might not be able to invest money, but they are ready to mentor you, write a business plan, make a connection etc. Few other investors might just want their name to be associated with your Idea. The list goes on.

When was the last time you asked anyone for Investment in your idea other than Money? 

Monetary investment surely helps’s, but there are other investments which are more precious and help you build your idea.

Next time, ask for Investment from family/friends and strangers other than Money and see how it changes everything.

Health Apps in India

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Over the last few months, I have been working on curating information on Startup’s in HealthCare.

There are many applications/app’s which are being worked on to bring HealthCare to fingertips of consumers. With my observations on around 100 Startups in HealthCare IT, I started to categorise them into three sections.

Lifestyle Apps
These apps focus on monitoring your Steps, Calories burnt, Floors walked, Heart Beat Rate, Sleep Quality, Food in-take, Weight monitoring etc.

The benefits of these apps is that they show you what your lifestyle has been. Using lifestyle apps in India is completely based on self-motivation. Few organisations are motivating their workforce to use these apps and providing small benefits for reaching their goals.

The absolute connection between living a healthy lifestyle and being healthy are yet to be established. In the US, for example, employers motivate their workforce to use Fitbit or Garmin step counter devices for themselves and their family. Based on the activity employees are given discount on their Insurance payments. In India, this might take time to come, but with the speed at which things are changing, I foresee this happening in the next 2-3 years.

Why use these services?
Using these services and tracking Food in-take, steps taken each day at least provides information on how your lifestyle has been. According to the walking site, a sedentary person walks about 3,000 steps a day. In the 1960’s, in Japan, they had a 10,000 steps counter. Why 10,000? Well, at least we know it is an activity which takes effort and walking definitely helps you be more healthier. Probably, this 10,000 steps came from the 10,000 Hour Rule.

Care Apps – Apps Providing Care
Look at apps like myLabYogi, DoctorC, CyberLiver, Achiralabs etc. These are focusing on providing care at home like Blood Collections, Monitoring Liver Health, Medical Diagnostics at Home etc.

Why use these services?
Predominantly, these services are for elders at home and others who are busy and cannot afford to go to a Diagnostic lab just to give the sample and collect reports. Also, instead of going to a Hospital/Clinic, today you can book an appointment with the Doctor and go at your specific time-slot which saves you time too.

Service Apps – e-Commerce, Booking appointments etc.
Practo, Zipnosis, Surgical are few of the best examples of Service oriented Apps. You can book doctor appointments, consult with other Doctors etc.

Why use these services?
There is a surge in requests for Doctor Appointments, collecting samples from home, second Doctor reference etc. Apps/Services in this category are beginning to streamline Health service requests. Even though these services are currently being used in select cities, they are fast penetrating into the complete country. Over a period of time, we see that if not all, most of the Doctor community will be online and services will start to get better. Since we do not have a central medical system (like the NHS in UK), these apps can bring about the change in reaching out to Doctors and how we start looking at improving care.

PS: I might change the categorisations if required and would go deeper into each categorisation over the next few weeks. If you are interested in getting a complete report on Companies working on various Health related applications, subscribe to my HealthCare Technology Report.

You don’t need Money to Startup

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Traditional approach to investments for Startup is Friends, Family, VC’s and Angel’s. But, when you are pondering on idea’s to startup, before you pool in money to either start or make it big, you will need lot of other services/resources for which you need not have cash.

You have an idea and you have validated it. Now, it is the time you start investing to make your dream come true. The biggest investment you make is time and the rest follows.

First, make a list of things which you would require. Let us say you are starting a website to offer online Piano lessons. The first expense is the Domain name and the Web site. The second expense is building the website. Next comes marketing and signing up for the first client.

Domain name and Web hosting space cost very less (~Rs.2,500) and you can self fund it or alternatively request someone to invest and you pay back when you have signup’s. Designing the web site and getting it live is the biggest expense. Try reaching to your friends and networks if someone can help you part time to design the website. You may offer something in return – Probably, 50% of the money from the first month revenue etc. The intention here is to have the web site designed and taken live.

What happened here is that even though you did not have money, you have got your website done. Technically, you don’t need money, but you need what money can buy for you.

Today’s world, there are lot of people who want to do something, but unable to take the next step for some reason or the other. Reach out to people and am very confident someone will step up to help you. In return, you can also provide a helping hand to someone who needs something which you can offer.

When starting up, stop focusing on money, and start focusing on what money can buy.

As a first step, I can help with Market Evaluation for your startup. Reach out to me at hnpv at harinathpv dot com if you need help. I will give my best.

Why should you Bootstrap?

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From the time we are born and till we complete schooling, parents bootstrap. When we get to college, we do not have Credit Cards (Funding), but we do odd jobs to support ourselves. When the biggest and the most important aspects of life are arising out of bootstrapping, then why not our Ideas? Why do we look for funding?

Bootstrapping is often misunderstood word. Bootstrapping is just not our own money. Bootstrapping also covers money we borrow from family and friends. This money is very crucial for us to do what we need to and we have timelines when we return the money. This money comes because people around us trust in what we are doing.

Even when we startup, going to family and friends first to raise some equity to build what we want is very important in many aspects.

First, we have the confidence we have our first customers.
Second, getting support from people we know gives us the confidence and required motivation that we are on the right path.
Third, we will also develop a social commitment and work towards making the idea successful because we need to return the money.

Bootstrapping is not only associated with the Money, but also associated with our credibility. What happens when you have a new idea and share that with your Manager? Your Manager evaluates and after he invests and buys into your idea, he takes it to the Senior Leadership. Your Senior Leadership trusts you because your immediate Manager also thinks that your idea is worth while. They allow you to work on your idea. It becomes your moral responsibility to not let your Leadership down because you might not get another chance.

So, next time you have an idea give it your best shot to BootStrap rather than looking for funding or passing it on to someone else in the team to do the execution.

Intention

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What is your intention?

All of us make New Year resolutions, but over the period of time, they fade away and we loose the energy to accomplish them.

I found a way to work around that.

First, Identify the intention of the Goal. For example, you wish to accomplish something noteworthy which can add to your accomplishments in life. Identify as to how it will add to your Skills/Experience. Spend time on having a complete clarity of the Intention.

Second, break the Goal down into as many smaller tasks as possible.

Third, set a timeline to achieve the smaller tasks. Monitor how you are doing on the smaller tasks each day. If you feel that the size of the task is more than you can accomplish, fine-tune the task even more.

Fourth, each day read your Intention and see how closer you are getting to achieve it.

When all the tasks are completed, you not only achieve your Goal, but you would have attained your Intention.

Intentions are powerful, where as Goals are adjustable and have a risk of getting faded.
Good luck with your Intention for the New Year.

How do you work on Feedback’s? 

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We receive feedback, be it at work, home or from friends. The first reaction to any kind of feedback is usually to defend.

Depending on the person, the resistance varies. If it is from family (Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Spouse or Cousin) we tend to be a little lighter, but when it comes from colleagues or boss, we tend to hold it stronger.

Yes. Listening to feedback is tough and it does give you the feeling of insecurity.

How do you react to feedback?

Listen with an Open Mind – Empty your mind of any thoughts you might have at that moment and listen to what the other person is saying. You need not react / say anything, but just listen and register the feedback to work/think of it later. Do not start thinking of it Immediately. You mind will pull you towards thinking, but distract it.

Be in the Present – Being in Present means having your thoughts, feelings and physical being at the place you are. For example, if you are receiving a feedback from your parent/family at the dinner table, just listen to what is being said without any presumptuous thoughts. Be at the dining table and let not the mind wander.

Draw a Mind Map – Before you retire for the day, put the feedback on paper. Evaluate all the situations because of which you are receiving the feedback. If you cannot recollect, go back and check with the person the context or situation where he/she felt that way.

Come back and complete your mind map (or a flow chart).

Accept/Reject – Do the due diligence. Accept / Reject based on your personal evaluation. Note: If you receive the same feedback from different people in different occasions, that means you might be doing that unknowingly. So, accept.

Follow up – Work on the feedback and set a timeline for working. After that go back and check with the person if they still feel the same way. Most probably, they would be taking their words back.

When we want to be successful in life, be remembered for what we bring value, Listening, Accepting, Registering and Working on feedback’s are very important.

As it goes, if you are not receiving any feedback, there there is something very seriously you are messing up.

#Confidence AND #Competence

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It is a very subtle difference between the two words. They sound almost similar and start with the same syllable.

One word describes your personality and the other describes how you operate. Confidence and Competence are the key attributes of our personality.

Confidence comes with experience and Competence comes with practice.

To be confident, one must adhere to the rules of the game and understand how to execute learnings, and to be competent, one must practice the execution.

Confidence is being self-aware; being aware of what you know and what you do not. Acceptance of the unknown and willingness to explore the uncharted path.

Competence is accepting the ability of coming together of forces which en-kindle the thought.

Confidence AND Competence will make you Impregnable, which is what will make you cogent.

The One Thing

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Having the passion, desire and ability is one aspect of building a meaningful life and its outcomes, but focusing on The One Thing is the most important.

The one Thing is the first action you take which will impact other facets of your life.

To build on the habit of winning and accomplishing it becomes extremely important to keep refocusing on what needs to be accomplished.

Each day, identify what needs to be accomplished by end of day. From the list, pick 1 task which will have an impact on the day and the remaining task’s. Execute on that first task and notice the impact it creates on the reminder of tasks and the day.

Motivation comes from our inner fire and the fire ignites and continues to burn when we keep focusing and refocusing on what we wish to accomplish.

Considerations for #healthtech Startup

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We see that on an average, there are at least 10 new startup’s every month across the country trying to address Health Care IT Problems. Are we really solving or are we complicating things?

According to IMS Institute for Health Care Informatics and Health Care IT News, there are more than 165,000 Health-related apps available and a mere 36 of them have 50% or more downloads. Just 10% can connect to a device or sensor and 2% can sync into providers systems (US App’s).

In the Indian Health Care app scenario; there are around 100 Apps and Websites which are addressing the Health Care segment (My personal research) and quite a few are coming up. Out of these 100, around 40% are catering to search (Doctor, Hospital, Diagnostic Center etc.), 22% are in the Wellness segment, 10% in e-Commerce (Medicine delivery), and the others are distributed in Nutrition, EMR/EHR, Medical Devices, Personal Health Management, Chronic Disease Management, Doctors Networking, Analytics etc.

If you look at the big picture and identify sectors in Healthcare which startup’s are trying to solve, majority of the solutions are coming out in Doctor Search, Booking online appointments, Home Tests and Medicine Home Delivery etc. One concern I personally see is that these solutions are being focused on particular region and this poses challenges for scalability. In India, where we have diversified Health Care models it is very important to understand the scalability, adaptability and acceptability for the solutions which we design.

The other vulnerable area specifically in Medicine delivery is that the control, distinction and distribution of duplicate / fake medications.

There are certain key contributing factors for Startup’s and large organisations alike to bare in mind while defining the problem and designing the solutions.

The Big Picture – It is very important for aspiring entrepreneurs who are attempting to solve Healthcare problems to understand the big picture as to how the system is structured and how can we take this solution to the maximum consumers. Also, one should understand if the solution which is being designed will scale up to address the problem at the Nation’s level and will it contribute to uplift Healthcare delivery. Why is this important? Because scattered solutions do not help.

Workflow oriented – When we design Technology solutions for addressing Health Care IT, the most important aspect we should understand is to create solutions based on the Health Care delivery workflows. Even though you design the best solution, if it is not following the delivery workflow, you are loosing consumers.

Scalability – The next important consideration. Why? Health Care IT is not a problem for a specific city / district / state. It is the Nation’s need. Diversifying solutions for each geographical location is not a viable solution. If not today, at a later stage we will need to codify and bring solutions to a common platform.

Adaptability – How are consumers adapting to the solution? India is a culture rich economy where we trust more from family, friends and acquaintances while attempting to utilise HealthCare services. How are we as Entrepreneurs attempting to address this scenario in the tools we build? Today, everyone is using technology to get suggestions and help for their requirements, but do not completely go with the solution they find, but definitely ask others around if it is a viable approach. We need to understand the adaptability of the solutions we design and this comes with additional research on what key areas are people likely to gain deeper understanding before attempting to utilise the services.

Contextual – (Will this solution help better the situation) – This goes next to understanding the big picture. The solution we design should be contextual and if required work in tandem with existing solutions to address the scalability and adaptability.

Data Security – Very important aspect of building Health apps. We need to builds systems/applications following he Data security rules because Health data is very vulnerable and it is the responsibility of the Entrepreneur to ensure security.

To quantify, Entrepreneurs wanting to address HealthCare IT, should begin with the end in mind, understand the System and help develop workflow solutions which contribute to the Macro level.