tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156216902024-03-13T09:11:53.420-04:00Deep into SleepSome thoughts straight from the heart...Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.comBlogger228125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-76112082872393248442023-02-03T21:13:00.004-05:002023-02-11T11:34:57.138-05:00Life on Earth for those still making another trip around the SunHow does one process loss of a loved one? Each person processes feelings in their own way, has memories that are unique and experiences with loved ones that are precious. It is never ever easy losing someone and unfortunately all of us at some point will be at the crossroads in our life contemplating how can I possibly move forward from here? <br /><br />I can’t even fathom the energy to think what it would take for me personally but unfortunately have had to navigate through some of the below recently. Sharing what I believe and have learned from others, in the event it helps anyone. <br /><br /><b><i>Grieve<br /></i></b>Let the emotions guide you. Cry, laugh, get angry and express / experience whatever comes naturally. Let people in, communicate with your close friends and family.<br /><br /><i><b>Reflect</b><br /></i>You will do this in many shared settings but take time to do this alone as well. It could be about the reverberating last conversation with whom you lost, your shared experiences, their goals, successes, your priorities in life - let the mind wander to process everything that comes to you.<br /><br /><b><i>Celebrate life<br /></i></b>This may sound a bit cliche and you have read or come across this many times. Life is short, live in the moment. The only way ahead is to continue breathing and take one day at a time. Do you daily chores. Celebrate the happy moments.<br /><br /><b><i>Take time<br /></i></b>You may take a day, a week, a year or more. It is completely fine. You’re not out there to prove anything to anyone, one has to navigate (with help from others) through this oneself.<br /><br /><b><i>Create<br /></i></b>Do something in memory of the person - could be something they cherished, would have dedicated time towards, taken pride in particular achievements of yours and many such things. This way you’re honoring how they lived their life and would have wished for you. Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-3099351626426213862017-12-08T22:09:00.000-05:002017-12-08T22:09:04.287-05:00Indian Jugaad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Traveling by 'local', the public transport system - (similar to a subway) within Mumbai is an adventure. However the journey is more interesting due to the people and conversation during the commute. During my last visit, came across an amazing exchange of content facilitated by technology and innovation.<br />
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The person standing next to me was holding the rails to steady himself in the train with one hand while holding his phone in the other. I noticed that he was watching a Bollywood movie with headphones in his ear. The person standing next to him looked at his phone screen, tapped on the shoulder to confirm if this was the latest movie that he was watching. Happy with the affirmative reply, the second person immediately asked the first person to share the movie to which the first person readily obliged. Over the next couple of minutes, the second person helped navigate the options on the first person's phone, showed him the settings, file manager, etc. and ultimately got to the screen for sharing the movie. The movie was shared and both persons were now individually watching the movie on their phones.</div>
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I had witnessed was an everyday example of Indian jugaad or rather the way of life in India. Also to think of the rate of proliferation of media content as a result of smartphone penetration in India is quite amazing. For 2017, estimated number of smartphone users in India is expected to be 300 million. Quite an opportunity for a lot of entrepreneurs to play in this space!</div>
Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-61186860703315406272015-05-31T09:56:00.002-04:002015-06-07T21:30:01.379-04:00Entrepreneurs: Building Businesses, Driving Prosperity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Entrepreneurs have always propelled this economy. It all begins with the drive to create change. The unique breed of people ride the roller-coaster of building a business and have fun doing it.</div>
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The inspiration for the this post is from a talk I heard at TiE Boston by <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6523" target="_blank">Nitin Nohria</a>, Dean of Harvard Business School. He spoke about the trend where currently all businesses are SMAC. SMAC = Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud. Nitin Nohria identified healthcare and robotics as the two fields that will emerge besides the SMAC businesses. I believe moving forward the value creation and innovation will happen when this current trend of technology applications interacts with other fields. For example, using mobile devices for delivering healthcare - think telehealth; using cloud computing capability of the business for agriculture - think quickly responding to changing environmental conditions based on multiple data points, etc.</div>
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For entrepreneurs, we always hear about aspects of having a good team, great opportunity, funding, network of family/friends or ideally business prospects, etc. I will elaborate my thoughts on some of these topics below.</div>
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You can't build a great venture without a great team. The goal is to have simple functional teams that can perform the work. Also critical is to understand that building a great team is not necessarily having a group of your best friends, although it might be good fit if there are complementary roles.</div>
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We always hear cash is king. For entrepreneurs this translates to why sales is king. We think about the market price at which cash is available. Ventures fail because they fail in customer acquisition. People underestimate sales cycle. Don't run out of customers or cash.</div>
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Entrepreneurs need strong beliefs. Entrepreneurs need exaggerated convictions. Entrepreneurs also need truth tellers. This is why trust is key between entrepreneurs and mentors / advisors. As one goes through the highs and lows of entrepreneurial journey, this group of people show us the compass, to point us in the right direction and keep us oriented towards the end-goal.</div>
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All businesses need to have a business plan. From an investors point of view the important thing to evaluate is whether the business looks like the business plan? Everybody invests in a business plan but plans mean nothing. Planning is everything. The imperative thing for entrepreneurs is to be permanently adaptive. One should have belief in the plan but continue to evolve. This is where the business should have the capacity to pivot in case things don't work according to your plan.</div>
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Yet, when we look at the sky-high valuations for many of the SMAC businesses, I wonder if we are in a bubble. The only comparison point I have is the Dotcom bubble, and believe that the current situation is quite different as the startups have an underlying infrastructure this time. This results in the potential for value creation.</div>
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I remember attending another event where Vivek Randive, former CEO of <a href="http://www.tibco.com/">TIBCO</a> quite nicely summarized the keys to success:</div>
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1. Anything that is already done can be done better</div>
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2. Surround yourself with really smart people</div>
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3. Once you go down the entrepreneurial path, never ever give up and you will succeed.</div>
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Entrepreneurs are the true rocks stars and especially in today's economy entrepreneurship is the platform for success while keeping the curiosity and hope alive.</div>
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Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-22131805298790844472015-01-14T07:28:00.001-05:002015-01-14T07:36:27.310-05:00The benefits of a good night's sleep<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sleep to Remember; Remember to Sleep.<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gedoSfZvBgE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-84961462659234019002014-11-15T21:44:00.000-05:002015-02-05T20:18:04.879-05:00Sleepless in America<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sleepless in America by National Geographic Channel exposes the crucial need for sleep and the shocking life-threatening consequences of its absence. <br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1qlxKFEE7Ec" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-28360071641077972182014-10-17T21:39:00.000-04:002014-11-09T07:31:20.491-05:00Managers, Leaders and Entrepreneurs: Employee Perspective<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Over the past few years, I have worked in different places where the behavior and personalities of certain people have shaped my experiences at the organizations. </div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You will hear this phrase many times uttered by CEOs: "Human capital is the greatest asset at our companies." After all, the work is done by the employees. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the reasons that triggered this post is that nowadays always some pair </span>combination<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of managers, leaders and entrepreneurs is used to define business people. </span>The below descriptions dig deeper to explore these three types of personalities, an employee often encounters in an organization. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6IAyK6PlIq0/VF7c6w7N1wI/AAAAAAAAb5M/v1GSTzX8ZV0/s1600/Bubbles%2B130802_2.jpg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6IAyK6PlIq0/VF7c6w7N1wI/AAAAAAAAb5M/v1GSTzX8ZV0/s1600/Bubbles%2B130802_2.jpg.png" height="215" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: left;"><br /><br />[Image source - </span><a href="http://mel-institute.com/conceptural-framework/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">MEL Institute</a><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: left;">]</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><u>Manager</u>:</b> Typically, I find managers results driven (in a good way) with an understanding of the capabilities of the system. Managers accordingly plan, execute things. The expectations from employees and result mean everything and often, and there is a structure or process driven aspect to working for a manager. <span style="font-family: inherit;">I have had managers who tend to oversee every little detail and it was essential to set appropriate plans, priorities and milestones to effectively work in such a situation. As there are defined metrics on evaluation of your work, these set the ground-rules and boundaries for an employee to work towards meeting the key performance indicators. People at consulting companies are typically great at management </span>in a<span style="font-family: inherit;"> corporate setting, however as we know, you should manage to lead and not lead to manage. I believe the relationship with the employee makes the difference, as an employee is either working for someone to complete a task or ideally working with someone on a task.</span></div>
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<u><b>Leader</b></u><b>:</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Yes, you guessed it right. These are people who inspire the group towards a common goal and are usually running the department or the organization in most instances. The couple of things that have </span>stood<span style="font-family: inherit;"> out for me that a leader has are: a great grasp on </span>clarity<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of thought and creating the environment to achieve success. The metrics for accountability actually help the employee to be rewarded for the hard work and motivates one to aspire and contribute to the goals. You are part of the team. Successful leaders are genuinely interested in developing skills of the employees and actively empowering the group, encouraging to even step outside the </span>comfort<span style="font-family: inherit;"> zone. While working with leaders, I have often found myself acknowledging failures, yet focusing on the learning component to continue working towards the project goal. The e</span>xpectations to meet deadlines is always here, but the employee has the belief to accomplish and do great things for their team / department / company.</div>
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<b><u>Entrepreneur</u>:</b> I wish I knew all the traits that define an entrepreneur. At the core, the passion and focus to create something using the available resources, drives an entrepreneur. The end goal always evolves, hence the approach is flexible. The<span style="font-family: inherit;"> advisors and mentors do a great job to give unbiased feedback to maintain objectivity in pursuing the product goals. The employee in a startup typically wears many hats, doing a multitude of functions, and</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> is caught in the exciting journey while working in a dynamic environment. I feel one needs to understand the strengths of the team and each individual to be the most productive, as the team has the capacity to be nimble, task driven and innovative at the same time. As the team grows the organization needs to bring in people with management skills to ensure smooth running of the projects. This many times affects the working structure as more processes are established to scale the organization. The employee needs to understand the short term goals but be cognizant of the product vision. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hiring employees is one of the most critical jobs for an entrepreneur to build the right team for the product / company. Amongst the many things, a can do attitude and ability to execute are the attributes an entrepreneur cherishes in his/her employees.</span></div>
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There is definitely an overlap among the three categories and it is hard to find people fitting these archetype of roles. I believe, greater overlap between these personalities leads to a better outcome in most instances. </div>
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To oversimplify things, entrepreneurs imagine products, managers build these to scale and leaders create organizations.
Productivity in the work setting is affected by many factors, however from an employee standpoint, the one thing that defines the working relationship is trust. Within the organization, other factors like culture, talent development strategies, appreciation and appraisal are some of the important aspects for employees to be productive. </div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There are plenty of articles written on this subject, including a book that provides insights from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Entrepreneurs-Managers-Leaders-Industry-Leadership/dp/0230615678" target="_blank">U.S. airline industry</a>. If you feel academically inclined to further peruse this topic, do check </span><a href="http://mel-institute.com/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">MEL Institute</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. Here, Prof. Dover and Prof. Dierk have tried to quantify the competencies and highlight the challenges within organizations. </span>
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Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-79799566254376392272014-02-25T09:13:00.002-05:002014-11-04T14:17:06.534-05:00Healthcare trends: next couple of years<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I believe most of this is already happening and will accelerate further given how rapidly the healthcare ecosystem is changing. These are just few of the entrepreneurial opportunities within healthcare.<br />
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<li>More connected devices in the hospital and home will provide the data for patient analytics – access to data will be streamlined. </li>
<li>Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) results will prove the value in coordinating care of patients.</li>
<li>Policy discussions will shift towards ideal regulatory oversight of mobile medical apps and stand-alone software. </li>
<li>Medical device manufacturers and providers will embrace monitoring devices (including wearables and sensors) to care for the patient. </li>
<li>Telehealth or telemedicine will gain more traction in 2014. </li>
<li>Mobile apps with simple UI/UX to manage patient health data will proliferate and doctors will prescribe these apps to get patients engaged. </li>
<li>Healthcare exchanges problems will get resolved bringing more patients into the healthcare system. Also interoperability standards and emerging frameworks will increase connectivity between networks.</li>
<li>Digital health technologies – more wearable and sensor based devices for wellness, EHR adoption and tech-enabled tools for management of elderly + chronic care.</li>
<li>The field of big knowledge will emerge where decision making and insights will have more importance than data analytics. </li>
<li>Alternative sources of funding startups will increase – govt. grants, crowdfunding, incubators, non-traditional partnerships.</li>
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Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-6327203448536553222013-11-29T12:04:00.001-05:002013-11-29T12:05:55.687-05:00Hitting the snooze button<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Tzm6TEManmQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-83579874745487014062013-08-23T11:30:00.002-04:002013-08-23T11:30:15.589-04:00Why do we sleep?<iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/51e2NEmuI7I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-33363245012319482842013-08-14T14:02:00.002-04:002013-08-14T14:02:16.512-04:00Entrepreneurs = Rock Stars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Everyone is an entrepreneur in his own right. Let me
explain.<br />
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Pharmaceutical sales reps are a great example. They pursue relentlessly into selling the drugs. The company gives them the freedom to determine the process
and shows them a general direction based on prior best practices gathered from the field. The self belief and target sales goal are the drivers for achieving success. The
elevator pitch has to be mastered and delivered to the audience at every
opportunity available. You tailor the value proposition based on the relevant decision maker. For example, if you are selling a drug in the hospital marketplace
your pitch changes based on whether you are talking to a pharmacist or a
specialist. <o:p></o:p><br />
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Schools are another example where the
entrepreneurial ecosystem prospers. The professors’ act as mentors/VCs/Angel
Investors, the school acts as an incubator and we have the ever-popular
entrepreneurial student. Students continue to take advantage of the available resources, pivot based on the interests and achieve results. I think PhD students are phenomenal since once they
graduate they join the workforce, continue giving back and move the field ahead.<o:p></o:p><br />
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LinkedIn CEO wrote the book, "The StartUp of You" where he talked about navigating your career as an entrepreneur.<br />
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During my MBA at Babson College, a lot of the focus was on understanding the
entrepreneurial thought and action method. The conversations very quickly moved from starting a new venture to the
intrapreneur in the corporation. Such discussions and learning forced us to take the small steps, measure the outcomes, re-calibrate and proceed. In fact, all my colleagues are doing great in their respective fields and I believe one of the underlying reasons is that the entrepreneurial mindset helps you to be action
oriented and teaches you to deal with ambiguity in the workplace. Why not? What if? Maybe? All such type of
questions eventually lead to something successful only if you act on the curiosity. And it's not where you start, it's where you finish.</div>
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Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-49839922684405892032013-07-02T07:26:00.002-04:002013-07-02T16:36:10.888-04:00TEDxBoston wisdom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Revolutionary ideas and remarkable people indeed. I think that is the common thread for most TEDx conferences. Instead of capturing the highlights, I am listing some of my favorite quotes from the speakers at <a href="http://tedxboston.org/" target="_blank">TEDxBoston </a>2013 with a link to their work.<br />
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<li>Farah Pandith: How can teens be empowered to reject extremism? <br />- The best way to disrupt the ideology of extremists is to provide a counter narrative...Let's unleash the power of this youthquake. I believe in them. Do you? </li>
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<li>Nikita Bier: How can visualizing information change the way we vote? <br />- What unites Americans is their shared ignorance over public policy. We consistently vote against our financial self interest. </li>
<a href="http://www.outline.com/">outline.com</a>
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<li>Matthew DuPlessie: How can transposing your surroundings change the way you perceive the world? <br />- There is a false dichotomy between educational and entertaining experiences. We can do things in real time and in real space that you can't do on a screen. There is a real world outside our glowing rectangles. </li>
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<li>Geraldine Hamilton: How can tissue engineering transform the way drugs are designed?<br /> - Academics are great at innovating but fail at translating into the real world. </li>
<a href="http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpage/our-work/our-work">wyss.harvard.edu</a>
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<li>Josh Trautwein and Dan Clarke: How can making fresh produce accessible and affordable change our outlook on health?<br /> - There is a direct correlation between food access and health disparity. </li>
<a href="http://thefreshtruck.org/">thefreshtruck.org</a><br /><br />
<li>Helen Greiner: How can robots help save lives?<br /> - In the future flying robots could bring you that cool refreshing water while you are climbing a mountain. </li>
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<li>Peter Dilworth: How can taking your pen off the paper let you to draw things exactly as you imagine? <br />- Even though it may seem small, take pride in everything you do. You never know what the universe will pick to represent you!</li>
<a href="http://www.the3doodler.com/">the3doodler.com</a><br /><br />
<li>Xiao Xiao: How can infusing technology into music change the way we play? <br />- Music is about the interplay between abstract ideas, performance and the inner worlds of the player + the audience. </li>
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<li>Paul Sellew: How can trash fuel our world? <br />- Germany recycles 75% of their organic waste, in the US we send 95% of ours to the landfill...Cows fart out the biogas and we capture it. </li>
<a href="http://www.harvestpower.com/">harvestpower.com</a>
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<li>Brian Healy: How can homes embrace the new reality of coastal living?<br /> - 37% of Boston expected to be flooded in 100 years. </li>
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<li>Vanessa Kerry: How can training new doctors and nurses in resource-limited countries cure more than people? <br /> - In a dorkier, medical version of online dating, we match doctor volunteers to countries in need of education. </li>
<a href="http://seedglobalhealth.org/">seedglobalhealth.org</a><br /><br />
<li>Sam White: How can off-grid refrigeration change the economics of rural villages?<br />- It's easy to dream big. What's hard is when the physics of the real world kick in! </li>
<a href="http://www.coolectrica.com/impact/">coolectrica.com</a><br /><br />
<li>Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu: How can light shape our minds? <br />- We see a world where we can erase memories or edit any memories we like. </li>
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<li>Eliot Fisk: How can classical music deviate from the expected?<br /> - Music is the great common language of our species. </li>
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<li>Sam Aquillano: What can we learn about design by encountering exhibits in unexpected places? <br />- Design is everywhere. Everything around you is designed in one way or another. </li>
<a href="http://designmuseumboston.org/">designmuseumboston.org</a>
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<li>Nataly Kogan: How can we be happier? <br />- Stop saying I'll be happy when ___, start saying I'm happier now because___. Life is made of moments. Choose to create and collect the happy ones.</li>
<a href="http://www.happier.com/">happier.com</a>
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Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-18871603726606973242013-04-22T16:49:00.000-04:002013-04-22T16:49:02.772-04:00Startup Revenue Models<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
How do early stage companies make money? Even if you have a disruptive technology somebody needs to pay for the product/services or you might have to find other ways to make money. For example, online technology companies that don't sell a product directly to the consumers cannot only depend on ad revenues. The reason is simple - at an early stage the SEO mechanics + traffic volumes do not work in your favor or rather do not give you enough traction to monetize. Many companies build the platform first and then figure how to make money (Facebook). All conventional revenue models have two basic tenets:<br />
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<li>You need customers. </li>
<li>Somebody needs to pay for your product/services. </li>
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Basically, you need to earn more than the cost of acquiring your customer. One needs to find ways to monetize the value your product brings to the customers. Besides the central question of who pays?, you need to think about value proposition, customer need, product/market fit and the scalability nature of the opportunity. I looked at a few successful companies who are doing it differently. Most of the below information is from public sources like Twitter, Quora, company websites.<br />
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<a href="https://www.thelevelup.com/" target="_blank">LevelUp</a> - mobile payments<br />
LevelUp provides the hardware to run the payments free of charge and have 0% processing fees for payment processing (upside for clients/businesses). LevelUp calls this <a href="https://www.thelevelup.com/interchange-zero" target="_blank">Interchange Zero</a>. Generally, credit card companies charge merchants between 1-3% fees. LevelUp makes money by charging for customer acquisition campaigns or for rewards to existing customers. Running a campaign costs $0.40 for $1 of credit redeemed by a customer.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.patientslikeme.com/" target="_blank">PatientsLikeMe</a> - health sharing website for patients<br />
They sell/share all patient data to companies (primarily pharma) other than identifiable information. They explain on the website <a href="http://www.patientslikeme.com/help/faq/Corporate#m_money" target="_blank">how they make money</a>? Essentially, it is projects involving market research and health economics and outcomes research since PatientsLikeMe has the platform + ability to record data and outcomes from patients for particular diseases/drugs/treatments in real world settings.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kinvey.com/" target="_blank">Kinvey </a>- backend as a service<br />
Kinvey <a href="http://www.kinvey.com/pricing" target="_blank">charges </a>users per API request. Clients pay for the app backend services when they get active users, actual usage, or data for the app.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.backupify.com/" target="_blank">Backupify </a>- backup and recovery for online apps<br />
Pricing segmentation where the levels are based number of users, number of domains, per month etc. The free tools aren't that useful.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://runkeeper.com/" target="_blank">Runkeeper </a>- running app<br />
The fitness training app operates on a freemium model with the Elite version allowing live broadcasting and advanced reporting. The company is moving towards a consumer health platform with the Health Graph API to bring multiple health apps, medical devices and sensors under one roof. This could trigger a lot of opportunities on the data analytics side to provide value to consumers.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wayfair.com/" target="_blank">Wayfair </a>- diversified e-commerce<br />
It operates like any other e-commerce company. From a content/ ad perspective, the company tries to personalize the experience for the brand while optimizing the traffic to conversion rate. They have a dedicated social media team which works with advertising. Also since the company was bootstrapped for the most part initially, the pressure to take risks and decisions was different.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nanigans.com/ad-engine/">Nanigans</a> - facebook performance advertising<br />
They license the Ad Engine on a self-service basis or the company manages your campaigns. The tiered pricing is based on the volume of Facebook ad spend ($30K/month minimum). The website says that the company provides access to all the data at audience, creative and campaign levels.<br />
<br />
The revenue part is one of the most important elements of the business model. For emerging companies, a good and differentiated customer value proposition improves the likelihood of success and the clarity in the business model needs to be defined. As <a href="http://www.hcp.com/bob_higgins" target="_blank">Bob Higgins </a>(Highland Capital Partners) said: <i>"I think historically where we [venture capitalists] fail is when we back technology. Where we succeed is when we back new business models."</i></div>
Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-19341725538721447372013-02-25T11:06:00.001-05:002013-02-25T13:50:42.883-05:00Innovation in Therapeutics: Drugs of the Future<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
At the recently concluded <a href="http://web.mit.edu/sloanhcc/bioinnovations/2013/index.html" target="_blank">MIT Sloan BioInnovations 2013</a> conference, one of the panels identified the top innovations in the past five years in life sciences and predicted the innovations within the next five years. The panel discussed the challenges for the future of drugs and how the advances in genetic modification, nanotechnology and biochemistry will shape the scientific breakthroughs.<br />
<br />
Panelists:<br />
Navjot Singh, Ph.D., Partner, McKinsey & Company<br />
Tim Harris, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Translational Medicine and Biochemistry, Biogen Idec<br />
Anne De Groot, M.D., CEO, Professor & Director, Epivax<br />
Prof. Ehud Gazit, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Science and Technology Ministry, Israel<br />
Eric Perakslis, Ph.D., Chief Information Officer and Chief Scientist (Informatics), U.S. Food and Drug Administration<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Here is the list of innovations that the panelists identified.</div>
<br />
<b>Past five years:</b><br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="http://www.xalkori.com/" target="_blank">Xalkori </a>(Crizotinib) for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer by Pfizer</li>
<li>Adeno associated virus for gene transfer therapies</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_interfering_RNA" target="_blank">Small interfering RNA</a> for modulation of gene expression</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120412/srep00357/full/srep00357.html" target="_blank">Vaccine delivery patch</a> based on microneedles</li>
<li>Democratization of data - genesis for big data</li>
<li><a href="http://www.selzentry.com/" target="_blank">Selzentry </a>(maraviroc) for HIV treatment by Pfizer</li>
<li>Weight loss drugs</li>
<li>Therapeutic vaccines</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cff.org/treatments/Therapies/Kalydeco/" target="_blank">Drugs </a>for treating cystic fibrosis</li>
<li><a href="http://www.tysabri.com/" target="_blank">Tysabri </a>for the treatment of multiple sclerosis by Biogen Idec</li>
<li>Use of bioinformatics and cheminformatics for drug discovery and development</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
<b>Next five years:</b><br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Drugs that lead to increased life expectancy</li>
<li>Gene therapy to get proteins inside the body</li>
<li>Fully controlled formation of amyloid assembly</li>
<li>In-depth understanding of cardiovascular diseases</li>
<li>Genetic markers</li>
<li>Drugs to treat psychiatric and neurological disorders</li>
<li>Using induced pluripotent stem cells for testing treatments / drugs</li>
<li>Antibody and small-molecule therapies for cancer treatment</li>
</ol>
</div>
Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-55739478325946829722012-12-21T15:28:00.000-05:002012-12-21T15:28:48.229-05:002012 snapshot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Events in 2012 (in no particular order) that captured my attention for sustained period of time:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>US 2012 Elections</li>
<li>Summer Olympics</li>
<li>Storm Sandy</li>
<li>Higgs boson discovery </li>
<li>Curiosity rover landing on Mars</li>
<li>Supreme Court ruling on Healthcare Reform</li>
<li>Stop Online Piracy Act</li>
<li>Mergers and Acquisitions in the tech + medtech industry</li>
<li>Unfortunate gun violence in US</li>
<li>Horrifying incident - Delhi rape</li>
<li>Apple product launches</li>
<li>Facebook IPO</li>
<li>Gaza Israel conflict</li>
<li>Iphone vs. Samsung</li>
<li>Awesome sporting events</li>
<li>WikiLeaks</li>
<li>International current affairs</li>
</ul>
</div>
Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-34572432067448300952012-07-25T10:56:00.000-04:002012-09-23T10:57:43.411-04:00Indian Passport Renewal in USA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This should be helpful for people renewing Indian passports in the US. The process is straightforward, perhaps even quicker if you do it in person at the consulate. I had mailed all the required documents and received the new passport via express mail in approximately 8-10 days.<br />
<br />
Documents that I had included as part of the package:<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Original current passport </li>
<li>Completed online application form with 3 photographs</li>
<li>Nationality Verification Form </li>
<li>Copy of the first 5 pages and last two pages of the passport </li>
<li>Copy of valid visa on passport/ Green card/ Permanent residency card/ Employee Authorization Card/ I-797 approval notice</li>
<li>Copy of proof of residence (bank statement or rental lease agreement)</li>
<li>Copy of degree certificates ( for ECNR) </li>
<li>(Optional) Copy of marriage certificate (needed for wife’s name inclusion) </li>
<li>(Optional) Copy of first and last pages of the passport for wife </li>
<li>Applicable fee - money order of 46$ </li>
<li>Prepaid self-addressed envelope with postage of $18.95</li>
</ol>
<div>
Make sure that you notarize all copies for the documents included.<br />
<br />
Helpful links:<br />
<a href="http://www.vfsglobal.com/india/usa/" target="_blank">VFS Global</a> (official page to apply for a new passport)<br />
<a href="http://www.vfsglobal.com/india/usa/passport_after_10_years.html" target="_blank">Application for re-issue of passport</a> (this link has tabs on the top for further information on fees, documents required and the application form.<br />
<a href="http://supradeepnarayana.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/renewal-of-indian-passport-in-us/" target="_blank">Another useful example of passport renewal</a><br />
<a href="http://www.path2usa.com/indian-passport-renewal" target="_blank">Path2USA instructions</a><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-89661251516279657942012-05-08T15:29:00.006-04:002013-07-02T11:05:38.364-04:00Path to Patient<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://piperreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/Patient-Centered-Care.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://piperreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/Patient-Centered-Care.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Patient-centered medicine! This phrase gets mentioned a lot nowadays. What does it exactly mean and while thinking about improved patient care what do the stakeholders need to be cognizant about? Here is a an excerpt from the Maizes et. al. (2009) article on integrative medicine and patient-centered care (Commissioned for the IOM Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public). "Patient-centered care is defined as care that informs and involves patients in medical decision making and self-management; coordinates and integrates medical care; provides physical comfort and emotional support; understands the patients’ concept of illness and their cultural beliefs; and understands and applies principles of disease prevention and behavioral change appropriate to diverse populations."<br />
<br />
A number of articles talking about patient-centered hospital design, new business models (the shift from product-centric culture to a more integrated patient centered company) and other ways to differentiate the drugs/devices with surrogate + value driven outcomes keeps the conversation active. Charles L. Bardes, M.D. gives his perspective on defining patient-centered medicine through this article in <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1200070">NEJM</a>. He mentions an important aspect of patient and doctor working together without any inhibitions. I like the way Dr. Bardes puts it across: <i>'The patient and the doctor must coexist in a therapeutic, social, and economic relation of mutual and highly interwoven prerogatives.</i>' <br />
<br />
The number of smartphone apps are on the rise targeting patient monitoring, health education, data aggregation, and other aspects of the care cycle. <a href="http://www.quora.com/Mobile-Phone-Cameras/What-startups-focus-on-leveraging-the-mobile-phone-camera-for-medicine-or-medical-imaging" target="_blank">New innovative companies</a> are using next generation technologies and leveraging the mobile phones for diagnostic medicine especially targeting developing countries. The number of business opportunities for all emerging entrepreneurs and the life sciences industry are abundant. In the medical device industry, typically 3-5 companies control almost 70-80% of the respective markets and the other 20-30% smaller companies is where <i>disruptive innovation</i> happens. Of course, most of these companies get snapped up by bigger players sooner or later. M&A has been the strategy for many of the big players in the industry. Covidien is an excellent example which has grown significantly due to acquisitions has been very active in buying companies (Barrx Medical, Oridion Systems, Newport Medical Instruments, Reverse Medical, superDimension) within the last year spread across different business units. This again brings back the topic to niche focus and helping patients, in effect, answering the questions - where is the unmet need and how can we solve it? <br />
<br />
The strategic focus on keeping the patient at the center affects your marketing and business planning, R&D innovation, decision making and the most important thing - execution. From medical device and pharmaceutical perspective two emerging themes which address the patient aspects are <a href="http://www.gereports.com/reverse-innovation-how-ge-is-disrupting-itself/" target="_blank">reverse innovation</a> and <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/mar2010/pi2010032_007178.htm" target="_blank">personalized medicine</a>. A couple of months back Babson College organized the Healthcare and Life Sciences <a href="http://www.babsonhealth.com/" target="_blank">forum</a> which was based on the theme: <i>Path to Patient. </i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ideo.com/people/rodrigo-martinez" target="_blank">Rodrigo Martinez</a> of IDEO brought up an interesting point during this panel - why do we keep discussing about patient experience in healthcare? Some of his thoughts are captured here:<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Connect with people – stop thinking about only treating patients </li>
<li>Health information usually serves a transactional goal – needs to be engagement platform </li>
<li>Healthcare isn’t a system, it is an emergent network – we should collectively fail, learn and improve </li>
<li>Market research often confirms the past – needs to open creative doors </li>
<li>Business goals keep trumping patient experience </li>
</ol>
Patient participation is imperative as payers and providers address the cost effectiveness of adherence. The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (<a href="http://www.pcori.org/" target="_blank">PCORI</a>) was created to measure and establish the best practices to deliver more effective care to the patient (compare the effectiveness of health treatments and strategies through research to make informed decisions). Medtronic's Omar Ishrakh had recently brought up the important aspect of delivery model in emerging markets which also relates a lot to the topic of this article. He emphasized the new patient-centered approach due to lack of medical infrastructure and awareness. The growing fields of HEOR and market access continue to capture the patient perspective focusing on clinical, economic and patient-reported outcomes. The new entities formed as part of the recent reforms can provide the platform to the changing doctor patient relationship. Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH) and Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) are bringing the care provider especially the primary care physician in focus for the entire care delivery process. It will be interesting to see over the next couple of years how these aspects affect the changing dynamics and how <a href="http://participatorymedicine.org/" target="_blank">participatory medicine</a> integrates with the current system. </div>
Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-39943098682190437362012-03-29T14:17:00.001-04:002013-07-02T11:05:47.971-04:00Succeed by Thinking Like an Entrepreneur<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In a world where you can no longer plan or predict your way to success, how do you reach your most important goals? HBRChat with Len Schlesinger discusses why it is important to act like an entrepreneur — take action, learn from what you find, and act again.</div>
<br />
<script src="http://storify.com/ninad70/succeed-by-thinking-like-an-entrepreneur.js?header=false&sharing=false"></script><noscript>[<a href="http://storify.com/ninad70/succeed-by-thinking-like-an-entrepreneur" target="_blank">View the story "Succeed by Thinking Like an Entrepreneur" on Storify</a>]<h1>
Succeed by Thinking Like an Entrepreneur</h1>
<h2>
In a world where you can no longer plan or predict your way to success, how do you reach your most important goals? HBRChat with Len Schlesinger discusses why it is important to act like an entrepreneur — take action, learn from what you find, and act again.</h2>
<p>
Storified by Ninad Gujar · Thu, Mar 29 2012 14:12:29</p>
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Q1. What usually keeps you from successfully launching projects & initiatives in your organization? Why? </span><br></div>
<div>
A1: Process-oriented thinking--the drive to get it "perfect" the first time. #HBRchatShelly Lucas</div>
<div>
A1: "Resistance" lack of vision, lack of alignment to vision, daily distractions that "seem" important. #hbrchatPerry Puccetti</div>
<div>
Project scoping is key to ensuring a successful launch – feature, function, benefit, cost, complexity, etc. #hbrchatVala Afshar</div>
<div>
actually believe we should focus on what we can start with instead of obsessing about what we can't do #hbrchatLen Schlesinger</div>
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Even Fail fast, cheap and often! RT @RonAlvesteffer: Think Big, Start Small, Scale Quickly #hbrchatNinad Gujar</div>
<div>
A1. Often times the idea is too big and we don't know where to start - we work to try to break it out into manageable tasks. #HBRchatCaitlin Krumdieck</div>
<div>
A1: Unwillingness to shift attention from the cost side to the value side. #HBRchatShelly Lucas</div>
<div>
we must clearly define mission, vision, and values or behaviors to accomplish the mission prior to execution. #HBRchatEric Hargraves</div>
<div>
For stakeholders to be committed to project we must focus on ROR (return on relationship) and also ROI. #hbrchatVala Afshar</div>
<div>
@HBRexchange A1 Lack of buy-in to the why and how of projects. Give people a good reason to invest in the cause & chosen strategy #HBRchatJoan Bunashe</div>
<div>
<p>
<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Q2. What small steps could you take to help to get projects off the ground? </span><br></p>
</div>
<div>
Having strong leadership is key to start… Constantly reinventing project is key to sustainability. #hbrchatPivot Learning</div>
<div>
A2: In large corporations, I find prototyping to be an extremely valuable way to get projects off the ground #HBRchat @HBRExchangeAmit Jethani</div>
<div>
Sometimes the goals are not clear and you still have to get started..Only through action will you learn what you need to know #hbrchatLen Schlesinger</div>
<div>
A2: Break into defined pieces & deliverables - over communicate progress & status #HBRChatStacy Leidwinger</div>
<div>
A2: prepare, research, due diligence....know what you are up against. #HBRchatmichael weiss</div>
<div>
#hbrchat Ideas are often foggy. The first small step to success is clarity.Brian Mayer</div>
<div>
ROI presumes a reasonably understood environment...many projects don't start with that but still must happen #hbrchatLen Schlesinger</div>
<div>
A2 Try to understand the likely paths and update as you pass key forks in the road. What are the options! #hbrchatSteve Cassady</div>
<div>
A2 Time management, engage key stakeholders, prototype/try few things, communicate project progress #hbrchatNinad Gujar</div>
<div>
A2: Find champions at different levels - executives, engineers, marketing, etc. #HBRChatStacy Leidwinger</div>
<div>
A2: Find an evangelist. Someone who is passionate about the project & won't let it fail. #hbrchatRon Alvesteffer</div>
<div>
Spot On! Mindset:"prepare to act w/dexterity, creativity & adaptability". Ride the racing current of demand into the unknown #HBRchatConor Cusack</div>
<div>
Mdjensen</div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Q3. How can you encourage entrepreneurial thinking in your workplace?</span><br></div>
<div>
.@HBRexchange Listen for new ideas & approaches between the cracks—between disciplines, departments, across silos. #HBRchatCathryn Hrudicka</div>
<div>
A3: Teach folks to take constant measures & calculated risks, understanding that nothing is completely under their control. #HBRchatShelly Lucas</div>
<div>
A3. Look beyond your industry. There is a trove of information out there that you may be missing out on! #HBRChatLuis Flores</div>
<div>
Develop entrepreneurial workplace thinking by celebrating the questions as much as the answers. #hbrchatVala Afshar</div>
<div>
RT @ValaAfshar: Invite diversity. It is our differences that strengths are capabilities. #hbrchatSasha Taylor</div>
<div>
You cannot pay the wrong people to get the right behavior. Start with getting the right people and then let them fly! #hbrchatRon Alvesteffer</div>
<div>
.@HBRexchange Encourage questions & original thinking + action. Form innovation teams & encourage intrapreneurs. Mentor mgmt. #HBRchatCathryn Hrudicka</div>
<div>
A3: What gets measured gets done. Encourage employees to measure progress as a way of prioritizing. #hbrchatRon Alvesteffer</div>
<div>
@hbrexchange A3: definitely a part of company culture. Must reward those who come up with more sustainable, efficient practices #hbrchatKevin Gottlieb</div>
<div>
luv this. RT @lefloresg80: Look at new projects like a story. It has a past, a present and a future, there are many characters. #HBRChatJudy Martin</div>
</noscript></div>
Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-43009696938979187912012-02-21T00:04:00.000-05:002012-02-21T00:04:55.575-05:00Inbound Marketing Explained<div style="width:600px; background-color:#fff;padding:10px 20px 20px;font: 14px/21px HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><h3 style="color:#565656; clear:both;">The Inbound Marketing Process Infographic</h3><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31271/Inbound-Marketing-From-Start-to-Finish-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx/"><img src="http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/images/inbound-marketing-process-hubspot-resized-600.png" width="600" alt="The Inbound Marketing Process Infographic" /></a><div style="width:100%; text-align:center; margin-top:5px;">From: <a href="http://www.impactbnd.com/" style="text-decoration:none; color:#565656;">IMPACT Branding & Design</a></div></div>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-48547191103454746252011-12-23T20:43:00.001-05:002013-07-02T11:05:59.922-04:00The Good Life Parable<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Came across this inspirational story my <a href="http://www.makingalife.com/bio.html">Mark Albion</a>, social entrepreneur, former Harvard Business School professor and co-founder of six organizations, including <a href="http://netimpact.org/">Net Impact</a>.<br />
<br />
What are you going to do with your lucky lottery ticket? That's a question every MBA faces. A lot of time and money has been invested in you, and once you graduate you're supposed to cash that ticket in for as much money and status as you can. Your parents and peers expect it. And you may feel that there's really no other choice. You can't risk wasting that expensive education. It's the safe thing to do. Isn't it? Mark Albion doesn't think so. In "The Good Life", a movie by FreeRange Graphics, Mark takes you to a chance meeting between an MBA and a fisherman on a small island. As the MBA tries to teach the fisherman about business, the fisherman teaches him about life.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="437" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TbD6j_1-kSk" width="600"></iframe>
</div>
Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-27378558290086726162011-12-06T22:34:00.001-05:002011-12-10T18:44:24.200-05:00Role of Patient Education and Monitoring of their Medical Compliance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here are some notes from a very interesting panel as part of the ongoing the <a href="http://mhealthsummit.org/index.php" target="_blank">Mobile Health Summit</a>. With the proliferation of mobile health apps and remote monitoring technologies it has become particularly important for compliance, patient data and education. Some of the innovators in the field shared their views on this topic.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.quantiamd.com/home/corporate_leadership_team" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Eric Schultz</a> talked about the importance of 'practical ambition' for mobile health services companies which has been a focus for <a href="http://www.quantiamd.com/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">QuantiaMD.</a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://adrenaline.russellherder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Mobile-Health-Information-Seekers-Exhibit-Heightened-Urgency-Emotion.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mobile Health Information Seekers Exhibit Heightened Urgency, Emotion" border="0" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2589" height="200" src="http://adrenaline.russellherder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Mobile-Health-Information-Seekers-Exhibit-Heightened-Urgency-Emotion.png" title="Mobile Health Information Seekers Exhibit Heightened Urgency, Emotion" width="167" /></a></div>
Distractions is one of the main reasons for lack of patient adherence. Apparently, only 6% continue to use an app 4 weeks after they have downloaded them. Now, imagine the patient engagement if your doctor <u>prescribes</u> you a mobile health app! (in addition to the credibility factor) I guess this brings the whole gamification aspect into a new perspective. Everyone knows why referrals are more effective in general and mobile health apps/services could define a new aspect to the doctor patient relationship.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://samaanguru.org/" target="_blank">Logistimo</a> uses the cloud through mobile phone technology to address supply chain issues. They have a very impressive <a href="http://samaanguru.org/howitworks.html" target="_blank">supply chain model</a> applied to the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) and would be interesting to learn about the applicability for patient data.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.medhelp.org/management.htm" target="_blank">John de Souza</a> talked about <a href="http://www.medhelp.org/" target="_blank">MedHelp</a> which is one of the largest online health community helping patients manage their health. It is amazing to see the data been collected my such sites and at an aggregate level these could provide valuable insights about our health.<br />
<br />
The stats shared on nationwide exercise data were interesting, like on an average people exercise 44 minutes/week. Better tools are needed to communicate with patients and the condition specific health applications are very relevant. Critical thing is integration of different devices that gives everyone the capability to interact with data whenever you want at your convenience.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Who pays for the mobile health business models?</b></i><br />
<ul>
<li>You have to be around to make an impact and deliver real value. </li>
<li>If you have a bad solution & make it mobile then all you have is a bad mobile solution. </li>
<li>Tactful compliant ways to engage sponsors, third party organizations and insurers. </li>
<li>Economies of scale do play a big part when you think about customers paying for mobile health. (volume of consumer base will make it sustainable) <b></b> </li>
<li>Physicians have an opinion which concludes this part really well. They need an effective patient solution which provides the right education, proper care and effective outcomes. It is important to have quick turnaround times for patients in doctors clinics without increasing the workload for the physicians since the<u> current clinician supply chain is overworked</u>. </li>
<li>Unbranded education by pharmaceutical companies or similar programs.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<i><b>Top criteria to develop the mobile health '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Birds" target="_blank">Angry Birds</a>' version</b></i><br />
<ul>
<li>Interoperability across platforms/devices</li>
<li>Simplicity in terms of communication with the users (think healthcare vocabulary)</li>
<li>Play on the psychology of the patient in a positive manner (gamification)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<i><b>Challenges</b></i><br />
<ul>
<li>FDA without doubt is a major impediment</li>
<li>HIPAA prevents collaboration (patients are ready to share the data if it makes us healthier)</li>
<li>Misalignment in incentives within the ecosystem</li>
</ul>
<br />
An interesting question from the audience was around cultural aspects for healthcare and mobile apps.<br />
<br />
Cultural disparities in care delivery are happening. Healthcare is going to be rationed and unfortunately the economic reality is that the same services won't be available everywhere. <a href="http://www.carefusion.com/healthcare-solutions/" target="_blank">CareFusion </a>is another organization providing insights on healthcare costs and focusing on medication errors and hospital-acquired infections.<br />
<br />
There is a difference between a business user and consumer (monetize the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom_of_the_pyramid" target="_blank">BoP </a>network).<br />
<br />
Here is a<a href="http://psav.mediasite.com/mediasite/Catalog/pages/catalog.aspx?catalogId=9360b969-90ca-462f-a7af-51c2d8f72a42" target="_blank"> link to watch other videos at the mHealth Summit.</a><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
</ul>
</div>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-18144276072451800732011-11-29T09:50:00.000-05:002011-12-10T18:44:44.787-05:00Misdiagnosis - Checklists, Policy and Safety<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is perhaps one of the things which both patient and physicians have an opinion about and surprisingly it does align! Where is the breakdown? Patient safety? Cognitive errors? Policy approaches? <br />
<br />
We keep reading a lot about medication errors/mistakes due to the malpractice suits. Surprisingly, the number of diagnostic errors is pretty high as well. A lot of these are attributed to the history of the patient, physician exams, assessment, the battery of tests, etc. The payment system and reimbursements add another layer of challenges. As a freshly minted MBA, I am inclined to think whether <a href="http://www.ge.com/en/company/companyinfo/quality/whatis.htm" target="_blank">Six Sigma</a> or similar variations of the tools/strategies used in business processes can be applied to healthcare practice settings. After all, it is about process excellence!<br />
<br />
Actually, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Berwick" target="_blank">Dr. Don Berwick</a> put this quite nicely: 'Genius diagnosticians make great stories, but they don't make great health care. The idea is to make accuracy reliable, not heroic.'<br />
<br />
Everyone has their personal stories about their last visit to a doctor and unfortunately a lot are not that positive. Why is it so? Complexity of care? Misdiagnosis? or just broken workflow processes at the hospital/clinic leading to the experience!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://quantiamd.com/" target="_blank">QuantiaMD </a>did a study with 6400 clinicians on this topic and the results were fascinating. Diagnostic error is defined as a diagnosis that is missed, wrong, or delayed, as detected by some subsequent definitive test or finding. The top diagnoses identified at greatest risk for diagnostic errors were:<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Pulmonary embolism</li>
<li>Bipolar disorder</li>
<li>Appendicitis </li>
<li>Breast cancer </li>
<li>Myocardial infarction </li>
<li>Infection </li>
<li>Lung cancer </li>
<li>Prostate cancer </li>
<li>Colorectal cancer </li>
<li>Heart failure</li>
</ol>
<div>
Here are some other stats that I think are interesting from the <a href="http://bit.ly/p3Boq0" target="_blank">study</a> and speak for themselves.</div>
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>47% of clinicians encounter misdiagnosis at their practice at least monthly (<a href="http://clicktotweet.com/y3_29" target="_blank">Tweet</a>)</li>
<li>64% of physicians say up to 10% of misdiagnoses they’ve seen have resulted in patient harm (<a href="http://clicktotweet.com/x1wcr" target="_blank">Tweet</a>)</li>
<li>83% of physicians believe efforts to change the way physicians think will help reduce misdiagnosis (<a href="http://clicktotweet.com/6u533" target="_blank">Tweet</a>)</li>
<li>75% of physicians believe computerized decision-support and artificial intelligence will help reduce misdiagnosis (<a href="http://clicktotweet.com/Gc4Dt" target="_blank">Tweet</a>) </li>
</ul>
<div>
<a href="http://livewellthy.org/" target="_blank">Dr. Stewart Segal</a> mentioned about the importance of the human factor and how the community is drifting towards the art of practicing template medicine. The financial 'pressures' and reporting requirements are pushing physicians even further in this direction. The top three reasons that are strong contributing factors to diagnostic errors:</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Societal "zero tolerance" attitude toward any mistake a physician makes it a strong contributing factor to diagnostic error </li>
<li>Over-testing in order to mitigate malpractice risk</li>
<li>Prescriptive, inflexible or inadequate care pathways or protocols</li>
</ol>
<ul style="text-align: left;"></ul>
Delays in proper care, re-admissions, etc. affect the healthcare system (patients included) in a major way. Patient safety is at the center of this and it is encouraging to see HHS considering the topic <a href="http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/" target="_blank">seriously</a>. Pay for Performance or linking the compensation/reimbursements to the work quality/patient outcomes has already shown improvements in efficiency as well. EHRs can help a lot to identify and prevent breakdowns in the diagnostic process of care and perhaps even create something like diagnostic decision aids to assist clinicians. Patient perspective - I have found that patient education handouts are very useful for understanding the diagnosis and even asking appropriate questions to the doctor. <br />
<br />
Neither am I an authority on this topic nor a practicing physician however as an patient I believe that an essential part for diagnosis boils down to listening and talking to the patients. I encourage everyone to listen to this passionate TED talk 'A Doctor's Touch' by Abraham Verghese.<br />
<br />
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<br />
I really like the simple and effective checklist approach by <a href="http://gawande.com/" target="_blank">Atul Gawande</a>. This is one step in the right direction and their are many success stories on why it works in the healthcare setting. The integration of technology and/or protocol approach will help minimize the misdiagnosis, yet the balance needs to be maintained. I can't help but think of hospital acquired infections while writing about this but I think it deserves a separate discussion post.<br />
<br />
Some of the interesting literature I came across, if you want to further read on this topic:<br />
Dr. Gordon Schiff and colleagues have done a <a href="http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/advances/vol2/Schiff.pdf" target="_blank">study</a> looking at diagnostic errors and recommend ideas for an error-free diagnosis. There is an interesting paper on 'Sleep Deprivation, Elective Surgical Procedures, and Informed Consent' in <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1007901" target="_blank">NEJM</a>. Also, a couple of years back the Journal of American Medical Association published the <a href="http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/301/10/1060.extract" target="_blank">commentary</a> by Dr. Pronovost & Dr. Newman-Toker on 'Diagnostic Errors — The Next Frontier for Patient Safety.'<br />
<br />
And if you really fancy the topic, pick up the book by Dr. Jerome Groopman on '<a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Doctors-Think-Jerome-Groopman/dp/0618610030" target="_blank">How Doctor's Think</a>' where he mentions the process many doctors follow for the likely diagnosis and the best treatment. Medical decision making is a combination of intuition (continuous improvement with experience) and rationalization (analytical mode of reasoning). <br />
<br />
Where do we go from here? Is EMR/PHR the answer? Should patients utilize technology to communicate and engage with doctors? How about metrics like customer satisfaction and high quality care? From a physician standpoint, the central question remains whether diagnosis is an art or a science? The balance of this process will continue to evolve and hopefully so will the probability for even getting it right in the wrong patient.</div>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-77089368758017987962011-10-25T11:19:00.000-04:002011-11-28T07:38:08.604-05:00Future of Healthcare: Social and Connected?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The genesis for this post was a very interesting topic of discussion during the healthcare social media chat. What makes medicine - social medicine? Is all social medicine good? And how does this differ from telemedicine for patients?<br />
<br />
Let's start with some basics:<br />
<br />
<b>Telemedicine:</b> It is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telemedicine">(Source: Wikipedia)</a><br />
<br />
<b>Social medicine: </b>The field of social medicine seeks to: 1) understand how social and economic conditions impact health, disease and 2) the practice of medicine and
foster conditions in which this understanding can lead to a healthier society.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_medicine">(Source: Wikipedia)</a><br />
<br />
There are plenty of opportunities waiting for entrepreneurs to develop end-to-end solutions that engage and empower patients benefiting the quality of care delivered by HCPs. Within the current landscape their are so many changes happening in the delivery of healthcare that every corner will have a new company.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/subatomicdoc">Matthew Katz</a> (Community based doctor) mentioned a very important aspect: 'Medicine is an inherently social endeavor, regardless of the tools we use.'<br />
<br />
There are many institutions which are working wonders when it comes to telemedicine. The <a href="http://www.connected-health.org/">Center for Connected Health</a> definitely is one I reckon looking at. The applications are spread across many domains like mobile health, remote monitoring, web-based clinical workflows, online consultations, etc. In contrast, when you think about social medicine, the term 'communication' instantly pops up in your mind. It is indeed very important to learn about the story behind every interaction whether it is patient-patient or doctor-patient (in which case it is even more important).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.healthrageous.com/What-We-Do.aspx">Healthrageous</a> uses data from biometric devices in an effort to achieve your health goals. You have the very popular <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/">MyFitnessPal </a>website/app enabling used to log your food + track activities. Such concepts are entirely based on the user engagement and participation. From a social medicine perspective, currently there is no dearth of networking websites/platforms and now we have numerous ones for specific purposes for both groups patients + physicians. <a href="http://www.patientslikeme.com/">Patientslikeme</a> is a great health information sharing website for patients. You get an instant glimpse into health information that is relevant to your condition/disease from people who have gone through similar episodes. Again, in such cases you have the important transformation of groups into communities happening effectively driving healthcare decisions at the patient level.<br />
<br />
I believe we shall see an array of companies emerging based on analysis of all the social interactions data available through your everyday activities. The smartphone is becoming an invaluable device where you have companies like <a href="http://www.ginger.io/">Ginger.IO</a> effectively data mining to understand and gain insights about your health. Amazon/Netflix do an amazing job at identifying 'segments of one' and deliver the best user experience possible based on that information. I wish healthcare was or rather will be on par with such experiences. Combine all the data from all electronic devices you interact with in any capacity and you start developing personas. Deliver quality healthcare using this information...this is what social medicine is about!<br />
<br />
I feel there is going to be a convergence of these different fields sooner than later. Example in point: The business model of <a href="http://www.americanwell.com/index.html">American Well</a> providing access to medical care through the web for patients while ensuring that physicians are compensated. It is amazing to see all three sectors: patients, providers and payers as part of this platform. I found this part pretty intriguing on their website which is another example for the things in store: 'Online Care has received the federal government's "meaningful use" stamp of approval by earning electronic health record (EHR) modular certification. Providers using telehealth can now qualify for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.'<br />
<br />
I guess the future of telemedicine is dependent on the physician adoption/acceptance which is similar to the engaged patient necessary for social medicine to work successfully. The most effective tools/platforms will creatively merge these so that the doctor-patient interaction improves in the continuum of care with a big focus on patient responsibility. Either way, the future of healthcare is improving drastically and we shall cross the 'chasm' sooner than later.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://jamescoops.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341e2daf53ef010535e385c5970c-800wi" /><br />
<br /></div>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-59696765078508389372011-10-09T22:09:00.000-04:002011-12-10T18:46:17.320-05:00Data, Technology & Healthcare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /></div>
<script src="http://storify.com/ninad70/does-increased-access-to-data-technology-challenge.js">
</script><noscript>[&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://storify.com/ninad70/does-increased-access-to-data-technology-challenge" target="blank"&amp;amp;gt;View the story "Does increased access to data &amp;amp;amp; technology challenge or help care at the bedside?" on Storify]&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;</noscript></div>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-13155319374687015272011-10-05T21:40:00.001-04:002011-12-10T18:45:48.848-05:00You will be missed!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The world is at a loss of words. Steve Jobs will continue to be an inspiration for many including me. Here are some of his best quotes.<br />
<br />
“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.” [NBC Nightly News, May 2006] <br />
<br />
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005] <br />
<br />
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005] <br />
<br />
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other
people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out
your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow
your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want
to become. Everything else is secondary." [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005] <br />
<br />
"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” Steve Jobs [The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1993]<br />
<br />
And a few more links worth reading:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/24/technology/steve-jobs-patents.html?ref=technology#patent/graphical-user-interface-for-a-display-screen-or-portion-thereof_D610160">Steve Job's Patents</a><br />
"He changed the way movies are made, the way music is sold, the way stories are told, the very way we interact with the world around us. He helped us work, and gave us new ways to play." ~ <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5838847/steve-jobs-is-dead">Article by Gizmodo</a><br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/business/steve-jobs-of-apple-dies-at-56.html?_r=1">Steve Jobs, Apple’s Visionary</a> <br />
<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304447804576410753210811910.html">WSJ</a><br />
<a href="http://www.inc.com/articles/201110/steve-jobs-dies-the-consummate-entrepreneur.html">Steve Jobs, 1955-2011</a><br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/business/steve-jobs-of-apple-dies-at-56.html?_r=1"></a><br />
<a href="http://allthingsd.com/20111005/steve-jobs-appearances-at-d-the-full-sessions/">Steve Jobs’s Appearances at All Things Digital conferences</a><br />
<br />
I have watched this video of the Stanford commencement speech where Steve Jobs urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in
life's setbacks - including death itself. I'm sure I will watch it many more times. "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UF8uR6Z6KLc" width="480"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
Thank you Steve for everything!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15621690.post-12348018356707895502011-09-04T00:54:00.002-04:002011-09-04T01:02:24.958-04:00Stand up, get moving!Thought of this as very relevant to me and a lot of my friends. Hence re-posting this from the Medical Billing and Coding website.
<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/sitting-kills"><img src="http://images.medicalbillingandcoding.org.s3.amazonaws.com/sitting-is-killing-you.jpg" alt="Sitting is Killing You" width="500" border="0" /></a><br />Via: <a href="http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org">Medical Billing And Coding</a>Ninad Gujarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05453863973631041437noreply@blogger.com0