Here’s the inspiring tale of Dr Soumyakant Das who has brought together medicine and technology through his startup.
Formal Education and Career
Dr Soumyakant is the co-founder of MedTel, a population health screening and smart remote patient monitoring company, which is based out of Bangalore. Dr Soumyakant did his schooling in Odisha and graduated from VSS Medical College with a degree in Medicine. He was an average student; however, he had outside-the-box thinking and focused more on extracurricular activities.
During his fourth year in MBBS, he got interested in reading, especially articles about health and digital health. His interest grew more in the business side. Therefore in the fourth year, he decided that he should try and take up a management degree. Making that decision wasn't very easy, it was very hard to convince his parents and family and also to push himself. He worked with the Apollo hospitals and tried a few startups and then he joined IIM Lucknow for MBA.
Dr Soumyakant continued working at US healthcare consulting companies. Later on, his medical seniors and he became the co-founders of MedTel Health Care. The company is scaling incredibly and works on healthcare and remote patient monitoring. Firstly, MedTel makes lifestyle changes in people suffering from chronic diseases; and secondly, it makes population screening, patient care and clinical insights to ensure that Healthcare awareness reaches every single citizen of the country. Dr Soumyakant looks forward to healthy growth and entrepreneurial success in the future.
A Brief on MedTel
MedTel health care created a connected care ecosystem leveraging cutting-edge IoT technology and a smartphone app for remote chronic disease management. This platform allows healthcare professionals to take patients’ data from medical devices, run analytics, monitor their conditions and provide cure and solutions. The decisions are made by real-time interventions, and it helps in completing the loop of tele diagnostics.
Unique and Future Moves:
The leading comprehensive and new connected devices in the platform are its biggest flex. It is an open platform where devices from various other companies can connect. One can perform it by opening the platform. It is an organizational business component where its scaling is another unique feature. The interesting and biggest strength is that out of the four founders, three founders are doctors with management and public health degrees. They wish and have a motive of becoming one of the top healthcare companies in India and South Asia in the next four to five years
Challenges Confronted
'The most challenging part for Dr Soumyakant is ‘picking up the right people for the startup’. People are the real strength starting from the middle management and to the fresher. Bringing hidden talent and matching it with the goals of the company are challenging.
The next challenge is the bond between the founders and the employee. There were also other challenges such as product-market fit, getting the consumer, and learning what is essential in managing cash flows during the initial stages of the startup.
'A startup founder should be resolute to survive during the initial stages of his business. He should know how to overcome the challenges during the hard times,' says Dr Soumyakant. Over 60% to 70% of people in India don't have a mechanism to diagnose the disease, especially with the database technology and result oriented. Since his startup address this very problem, it exhibits high potential for being a great success and grows continually.
Source of Inspiration
Dr Soumyakant learns from the industry leaders and their ways of doing things. He also admires the way his parents have brought him up despite a lot of social and economic interventions in Odisha. He feels that there are many lessons around us and we will have to be capable enough to observe and take them within us. His friends have also inspired him with their many good qualities.
Four Mantras for the Entrepreneur
Dr Soumyakant shares four mantras for entrepreneurs. First thing is to be fearless. "Fear will come and things might not work and people will break, but being fearless helps in almost every situation in life,” says Dr Souymakant.
Secondly, the element of survival is inevitable. Thirdly, people skills are more important than technology part. Finally, objective decision-making is an indispensable skill to grow a startup.
Individual Achievements
Dr Soumyakant considers his ability to accept things as they come and overcome every obstacle with a calm mind as his biggest achievement.
MedTel is growing fast with the support of Singapore institutional investors, and they are raising serious investments.
Additionally, MedTel has very good support from the VC environment. They have saved around 1000 people in their course with technical interventions.
Milestones in the Organization
MedTel has reached an amazing milestone by achieving more than one million USD revenue this year. Around one million people have been benefited this year. They also have 20 lakh parameters already tested and have been serving in five countries.
For the next year's pipeline, they have a 50 CR revenue projection. They are already a 30-member team and they are hiring 70 to 80 people more in the next 12 months. They would be one of the top health tech companies, especially in population screening and remote patient monitoring.
MedTel has been awarded as one of the top startups in the Health Tech space in Southeast Asia. They also have been working with a US health insurance company, one of the biggest, to make products and solutions for US markets. That's the organization's synopsis of growth. More than achievement, it paves the way for the nation's healthcare industry's growth and creates the best leaders for a better tomorrow.