The failure to get correct send timely treatment can prove fatal to the life of an individual. Dealing with emergencies requires real time monitoring. The gravity of this issue was understood by the founder of Paripal, P. Sreekaanth. This name is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘PariPalan’ which means to look after or Guard or administer well. The company behind this venture is Ontyme Medical Software Solutions Private Limited (OMSS). Mr. Sreekaanth is the CEO of this startup with over 32 years of experience in IT with more than 20 years of experience in successful product development. Coming from tamilian middle class family, Sreekaanth completed his bachelor’s in commerce in 1982. He is an alumnus of prestigious business school, IIM-A, 1984 batch. He added feathers to his professional cap by becoming a Chartered Accountant, Cost and Works Accountant, and a Company Secretary. He gives a valuable advice to the other passionate entrepreneurs of believing in what they do and to not get disheartened. He staunchly follows showing ownership and responsibility. He says that the entrepreneurs are like the captain of a ship in the voyages made centuries earlier where the captain has a profit share. The other two cofounders are Raghav Devanathan and N.V Satish (CTO). With 20 years and more of experience in research, analytics, IT and consulting markets; Mr. Raghav has stood up as the Chief Marketing officer in Paripal. Mr. Satish follows as the chief technology officer offering his expertise in leading huge teams and valuable experience in managing operations and optimizing delivery costs. Paripal was formed after having series of personal experiences of being parents who deal their children’s emergencies and other health issues. The lack of system to take care of health issues made them work upon this. Services through Paripal include the ability to call ambulances, register online with hospitals, share the details of the issue and get advice online through the software in emergencies. They keep a digital health record online and monitor various parameters that the user may be interested in. part from being the creator of this venture; the founder Mr. P. Sreekaanth is a father to 3 kids who loves to spend time with the younger children, read fiction and history, is an old English movie lover. Considering himself to be one of the top product designers for designing software business applications in India and the world too, Sreekaanth idealizes Mahatma Gandhi and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. With the desire to serve his country by investing his valuable time to this venture, he remains unfettered by the fact that he is devoting less time to friends and family. Now without wasting ounce of seconds let us take a deep look on his journey to create PARIPAL in this exclusive interview.
1.What is the Name of Your Venture? Any specific reason for this name?
Our health care platform is called PariPal. This is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘PariPalan’ which means to look after or Guard or administer well.
Our company is Ontyme Medical Software Solutions Private Limited (OMSS)
2.Who is your target Audience/clients?
Individuals looking for any health care / wellness related need (Appointments with Doctors of any type, Emergencies, Discussion Forums to share experiences with others and learn, home health care, online consulting, counseling of any type, NGOs in health care, storage of health records in electronic form)
Health and Wellness service providers (Hospitals, Clinics of all types, fitness centers, salons, counselors, therapists, labs, pharmacies, NGOs)
Schools, Colleges, Old Age Homes, Child welfare centers, Companies, Gated Communities to cover the health of their stakeholders
3.Where is your venture based (city, state, country) & What are your geographical target areas?
India, Bangalore and Chennai are our target areas for the next 1 year after which we wish to offer the system in at least 50 cities and towns in India in Year 2 as well as look for partnership opportunities in developing countries
4.What problems does your venture resolve? What are your products or services?
Our services cover
a) ability to call ambulances, register online with hospitals, share the details of the issue and get advice online through our software in emergencies
b) Keep a digital health record online and monitor various parameters that the user may be interested in be it thyroid levels, blood pressure , blood sugar levels, calories consumed etc and share the health data online with others directly or through people you authorize in an emergency
c) Access knowledge on health conditions through content and forums
d) Have a single platform where any health care need can be met
e) Protect stakeholders liked loved ones, employees, clients, students etc
5.Share the idea or story behind the venture. How did it come into existence? What motivated you to start your own venture?
This product was conceptualized as a result of personal experiences we went through as parents dealing with emergencies as well as other issues for our children. WE felt that there was no system which took care of these issues when we started the company. Even now after two years, there are very few solutions that can offer the spread of services we provide.
6.Who are your biggest competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?
Practo, Lybrate, Portea are some of our biggest competitors as well as other web & mobile based solutions in health care. However, we believe that the width offering a single view of the entire healthcare needs is unique to us. Our pricing models are also different from competitors.
7.How did you identify your co-founder? Tell us some thing about your co-founder/s
I have worked with the CTO Mr. N.V. Satish for many years and we know each others’ strengths and weaknesses well. I know Ragav also for many years and know that he is extremely good in client management
8.How did you hired your first team members? What skills Do you want in your employees/team?
We hired them as outsourced resources rather than as full time employees. What we want is ability to pull together, belief in the product value proposition, good client management skills, willingness to admit product weaknesses and listen to client feedback.
9.What expansion plans are you looking for the next 2 years, next 5 years?
in the next 2 years we hope to cover 50 cities and towns. In five years we hope to be used by every Indian for some health care need.
10.Where do you want to see yourself in next 10 years?
We see ourselves as providing an open platform where other software providers or health care providers can develop value added services which they can offer through us rather than developing multiple versions off similar systems and replicating the same client data multiple times. Instead the software providers / health care providers can focus on the critical value they offer to the clients and use us as the base platform on which such services are offered.
11.What are your goals over the next 1, 3, 6 and 12 months?
Add 100 health care providers each month
Add 25000 individuals to the user base each month
12.Have you raised any funding? Or have any plans for the funding?
We have raised initial angel funding and now are doing the seed round to cover our operations for the next 1 year.
13.What were the problems you faced during the starting days and how did you resolve them?
The problems faced during the starting days were
a) getting investors to fund to create the product and transform our idea into reality
b) getting credibility with prospects and investors as we are a startup
c) reluctance of large health care providers to trust us despite our showing them a product which they appreciated and felt was brilliant due to inertia , existing vendor relationships etc
14.What was the most challenging part of your journey till now? How did you overcome those challenges?
Our journey will continue to be challenging. Getting investors and getting large health care providers to accept us have been the most challenging aspects of our journey till now.
We expect our journey to continue to be challenging in terms of these points for the next two years.
We are still battling to overcome these challenges and will do so only over a period of time.
15.Are you married, single or in a relationship?
Married with 3 children
16.What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Reading fiction, watching old English movies, reading history, walking, spending time with my younger children.
17.Whats your favorite food & holiday destination?
Chocolates & Ice creams are my favorite food.
Favorite holiday destination is Wayanad in Kerala
18.Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
Mahatma Gandhi & Abdul Kalam
19.What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
As an entrepreneur you are faced with more responsibility than what you need to handle as an employee since every action by anyone be it customer, competitor, government or employee affects your business. Otherwise there is not much difference because you have to do your best as an employee or as an entrepreneur to keep customers happy and the company profitable.
20.If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
I would have focused on software product development and marketing from the start. I consider myself one of the top product designers in India in designing software business applications and probably in the world too and it would have better from a lifetime achievement perspective to have spent my entire career working on product development as I love this activity.
21.How has being an entrepreneur affected your family & Social life?
It does have an impact in terms of time available for my family and social life but I believe that what we are doing would help a lot of Indians certainly and so I perceive it as an investment in returning something to the country especially to the not so well off people.
22.Anything, you would like to say to our readers or upcoming entrepreneurs?
Believe in what you do and do not get disheartened.
Show ownership and responsibility. You are like the captain of a ship in the voyages made centuries earlier where the captain has a profit share. It is not important just to make a profit from the voyage for yourself. You have to keep your passengers (clients), crew (employees) and backers (investors) satisfied and make them enjoy the trip. You have to navigate the journey carefully as like the captain of a ship you can impact the lives of all these people positively or negatively depending on the commitment , smartness and care you show. The passengers, crew and backers should want to support your next voyage and be willing to return.
Listen to all advice whether you agree or disagree but do not get demotivated by others who think it is not possible. As long as you think it is possible, it will be possible.
23.Tell us something about your education & family background.
My father worked in P & T , a Government organization and I come from a tamilian middle class family background. I completed my B.Com in 1982. While doing my B.com. I completed intermediate CA and ICWA in 1982. Then I got a chance to study in IIM-Ahmedabad and left my articles in CA to complete my PGDM in 1984. I also completed by CA and ICWA and CS.
24.What is your USP which makes it unique & different from other start-ups in similar domains.
Currently, we are the only platform which covers every possible health need of an individual. We also are an open platform which means we allow other software vendors to build value add modules on top of our platform.
25. What do you think is the biggest threat to the success of small businesses & Start-ups today?
The lack of judgment in organizations meant to fund and encourage startups to really support genuine startups.
Bureaucracy and inertia and too many reporting formalities which startups cannot cater to
Nepotism where existing vendor relationships block the right decision being taken.
26. Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?
We measure our success by how many Indians use our software and like using it and how profitable we are. We have a long way to go to be successful.
27.Please share complete name, address, phone number, email id & website of Your Business & Contact Person
P.Sreekaanth , 8818854300, [email protected]
N.V.Satish , 9840147372, [email protected]
Ragav Devanathan , 9080642206, [email protected]
Our Pictures and Logos are shown in the PPT attached
Website www.paripal.com/paripal-web
Address : #28, I Floor, Anjuman Kay Arr Towers, Mission Road, Bengaluru – 560027
