Are you offering an experience or a commodity?

by ashwin in strategy with No comments

A commodity can be copied. An experience cannot.

If you are a pharmacist just dispensing medicine and not talking to your patients, you are offering a commodity. A robot can do it cheaper and faster. And guess what? Robots already are.

If you are an internist just offering a flu shot or providing routine exams, without investing in a relationship with your patients, you are offering a commodity. A non-internist can do it cheaper and faster. Nurse practitioners already are.

If you are a hospital that’s just a space for doctors to come and treat their patients, instead of a facility that coordinates and optimizes care across the gamut of healthcare professionals to provide the best experience for your patients, then guess what? You are also just offering a commodity. A non-hospital can do it cheaper and faster. Specialty surgery centers already are.

With increasing cost pressures, the threat of health reform, disruptive startups, and a common acknowledgement that healthcare is ready for change, there is a greater need than ever before to adapt forward. For doctors, pharmacists, care providers, clinics, hospitals, and health systems:

Don’t offer a commodity. Share an experience.

Story of a Serial Entrepreneur with 30+ Health Tech Patents: Dr. David Albert, MD

by ashwin in career, interview, life with 1 Comment

David Albert MD
- How do you go from being a non-technical, government major in undergrad to having 30+ ultra-technical patents?
- How do you go from being a medical student to licensing inventions and starting your own company right out of medical school?

Join me in this interview with Dr. David E. Albert MD, a physician, a successful inventor, and a serial entrepreneur. He has sold 2 of his companies, one to GE, and licensed his patents to many others like TIMEX and HP. The YouTube video of his most recent product, the iPhone ECG, has gone viral!

In this interview:

- Learn how his father’s heart attack motivated his first invention.
- Learn how he survived a patent infringement law suit with his first company.
- See the prototype of his first patent.
- See the newest version of the iPhone ECG, which is smaller than even a business card!
- Learn about the ‘entrepreneur’s prayer’
- But most importantly, hear gems of wisdom gained from his 30+ year adventure.

More About Dr. David E. Albert, MD:

David E. Albert, MD is an Oklahoma native. He is a physician, inventor and serial entrepreneur who has developed medical and other life-saving technologies and products over the last 30 years, turning a number of those innovations into tech startups. Today, he is a founder of three tech companies, InnovAlarm, Lifetone Technology and AliveCor. His previous startups include Corazonix Corp (sold to Arrhythmia Research Technology and Data Critical (sold to GE). Dr. Albert left GE in 2004 as Chief Scientist of GE Cardiology to disrupt several new markets. His latest invention, the iPhone ECG, became a global sensation via a 4-minute YouTube Video in January around the Consumer Electronics Show and was featured on local media, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox News among many other media outlets. Dr Albert has 32 issued US patents, a large number pending and several new “secret inventions” in development. He has authored or co-authored over 50 scientific abstracts and publications principally in the Cardiology literature. Also, Dr Albert has lectured at the Entrepreneurship programs at the MIT Sloan School and the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Albert graduated with Honors from Harvard College and from Duke University Medical School. Dr. Albert lives in Oklahoma City with his wife and his two “young kids”. The Albert’s two other children are a junior at Duke and a recent Harvard graduate working at the NIH, respectively.

Connect with Dr. Davide E. Albert:

- Follow him on Twitter
- Check out his company websites: AliveCor & LifeToneSafety
- Watch the video of the revolutionary iPhone ECG

Learn from the Non-Linear

by ashwin in career with 1 Comment

When we look at the end product, we assume a linear process of production. My belief is that this is wrong for most people, most of the time.

Take Sanjay Gupta, a star reporter on CNN. Many have looked at him and thought, “How amazing! How lucky! I wonder how CNN found such a gem? He’s so good, it must have been so natural for him to be on CNN.”

I do not know him, but I do know that he is a practicing neurosurgeon. Did he write about practicing part-time and taking trips halfway across the world to report on natural disasters on his medical school application? On his residency application?

Sidenote: A neurosurgery residency is NO joke. After college and medical school, this is a 7+ year, highly-competitive, surgical residency. Grueling and long, to say the least. To pivot from that to doing reporting on CNN, can it be a straight path?

My guess is that the most interesting paths in life are not linear, including the path of Dr. Gupta. As I’m pondering and thinking about my next steps in life, I am looking to learn from people that have taken the unpaved, uncut path. Those that have dared to color outside of the dark black lines (then gotten away with it and never looked back). Their experience and advice will be invaluable. Not just for me. But for anyone also looking to travel an uncut and unpaved path in their life.

“Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won’t have time to make them all yourself.” -Alfred Sheinwold

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”
-Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

This blog is the vehicle to explore these paths and trajectories — to learn from those that have gone beyond the pathway of traditional, clinical medicine. And in the process, understand how they are molding the shape of medicine going forward.

It’s all about the hustle.

by ashwin in life with 4 Comments

Hustle.

I like the word. It’s a word that has recently become even more popular, especially in the tech and startup world. I have caught on to the lingo. Hustle embodies working hard, rushing, focusing, and relentless pushing. The beauty of the word lies in the fact that it is agnostic to the outcome. It itself is the outcome, it derives from a deep desire from within to do something. It’s not the end product that pulls out the hustle, but it’s the desire that pushes out the hustle.

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle” - Abraham Lincoln

It’s all about the hustle.

Welcome to My WhiteBoard.

by ashwin in life with Comments Off

I have for many years focused on independent reading, thinking, and writing. I thought that getting a PhD and writing academic papers would allow me to grow in my ability to read, think, and write. Thankfully, it has. But the process is slow and only partially collaborative. I prefer more. I’m someone who has my best ideas and insights when I’m talking with someone. The other person may perhaps think that I’m delivering content previously deliberated on. Often not true. The conversation may last minutes, but the value generated for me is huge. I’ve luckily experienced this many times in my life.

Unfortunately, there isn’t always a person on the other side of such a conversation. Many a times it’s just a white pad or text editor on my laptop.

A blog bridges the gap between the writing and the interaction. It provides the white board for clarifying thoughts and then allows collaboration for taking the thoughts and ideas to the next level. This is a process I enjoy, thus the motivation for investing time and energy into this endeavor.

Welcome to my whiteboard.