He was a warrior, I never *ever* saw him cry. ...until the day he was in the hospital, I was wheeling him around as he was visiting friends. He whispered to me quietly, so I bent over to hear what he wanted to say... He said "Rahul, where's my arm?" ...and I said "What?!? are you kidding me??" --- he said "Please pick up my arm and put it on my lap..."
Then I knew, it was over... and it was only a matter of days. We had just finished watching half of the movie "Gladiator" -- and the next day he was non functional. It was a disaster. He never got to see Voodoo explode the way it did, but I'm pretty sure he's watching over us.
When my dad died I had only one way communication with the attending surgeon and doctor. I had no way of knowing if there were other people in the world with the same tumor, and whether they were able to treat it or not. Imagine if there was an instant way for doctors to share notes and collaborate on cases and let patients participate? Knowing what I know now, I'm sure we could have done some things to make my dads last days better.
They say the friends you meet later on in life are the ones you keep forever. I met some of the greatest friends in my late 20's. One of my best friends, Dr. Deepak Kaura, is a Radiologist. He's not just any Rad, mind you, he's an entrepreneur who happens to be a Radiologist. He's also one of the nicest people you'll ever meet in your life. He started a project in med school that allowed him to scan and share interesting cases with his colleagues. He used an old digital camera to take pictures of FILMS on a light box! Then he would upload those pictures, and put them in a database. He was/is a total geek. You rarely hear about doctors who share and collaborate. It's a tough industry full of strong personalities, rules, regulations, and silo's --- so when you meet a young Radiologist like him it's awesome.
He graduated from school, and instead of joining a big firm he found a small radiology group that he joined and acquired a partnership over a period of a few years. His wife not only supported him in school, but she allowed him to struggle with a fairly "low" income while he built his financial base.
The long story short is Deepak changed that company. He helped transform them from old school light box and film technology to the first fully digital, Open MRI clinics in Canada. They then sold the company to a major Health Care Income Trust (which I am an investor in) for well into the 8 digits.
Deepak is not your typical person. He's incredibly giving, honest, and appreciates everyday and every breath. Just knowing him made me into a better man.
Then there's Jeff Natland. You probably never heard of him, and if you have you probably haven't heard the real story. Jeff started a company, like me, when he was very young. He was working at a carwash, and co-founded Net Teller - which quickly became one of the largest payment providers on the internet. He built the infrastructure, and helped take the company public. When the market cap was around 2 billion dollars Jeff sold out, and started looking for new things to do. Jeff is one of the smartest guys I've ever met, and he's involved in some very cool startups.
The long story short is, Deepak had this incredible idea, and he was using it as a learning tool. We saw it as a "give back" business opportunity, so some time in 2005 we decided to bring Jeff in to help create a business plan around it.
I can't get too far into the details just yet..but the company is called BrightSquid, and we believe it could change the face of medicine. It's like no other software application out there - it's not your typical "online medical record company". The company has already made some serious headway with a number of medical, dental, and technology companies. BrightSquid will shortly be used by tens of thousands of doctors and dentists worldwide.
I am not involved in the day to day operations in any way shape or form, I'm simply a founding partner. I just found out the
website launched, so I decided to post a blog on it.
If you're interested in BrightSquid, drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with them. If you know of anyone who has an interest in affecting major change in healthcare, please put them in touch with me.
Ever since joining HP I've wanted to get involved with world changing ideas.
Brightsquid,
Bulls,
Voodoo, and the projects in HP's innovation program office are all amazing -- and I'm glad I can see them from junior to giant.
