Move carefully, and whatever you do don’t break anything

Building a healthcare start-up is about people, the usual rules of start-up world don’t apply.

18 months ago I decided that I wanted to change the world of medicine by building a start-up that was going to solve many of the issues we see with health inequality today. I wanted to build something big that could revolutionize the way people approached healthcare, but I had no cash and just an idea. And although I had been a doctor for over a decade, and published widely in the academic sense, I had never built a healthcare company. I was naive.

Turns out, building a company is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. If I were coaching my future self I would say, “Zeeshan this is going to be hard, building a company is hard, building something in healthcare that matters is even harder, get ready to give up a bit of your soul.” Most of you will know why its hard - I don’t need to tell you about that. But I wanted to share my experiences so those of you who are doing the important work of defining the future of healthcare don’t make the same mistakes as me. Here are my thoughts:

1. Build your team with people who are are better than you. I wouldn't describe our lead data scientist as an objectively beautiful man, but he is probably the smartest person I know and every day I see myself falling for him a little bit more (I’m totally straight, but in awe of him). I actually feel like that about our entire team. Bringing together bright people is the best offensive strategy to prevent your start-up from failing.
2. Iterative product design takes time, plan for it. Estimate your budget for research and development and then apply a multiplier of 1.5 to 2. R&D takes time. Building a product requires time. You are unlikely to get it right first or even second time. Plan for it in your strategy and budget.
3. Factor in spending a lot of time getting to grips with compliance and regulation. Not sexy I know, but having a grasp of this topic can mean that you don’t put yourself into a sticky situation and kill your start up early. Getting advice from someone who has done it before can be invaluable.
4. Never underestimate the importance of of spending time with your users/patients. It will be the most valuable thing you will do. I must have spent days, possibly even weeks (cumulatively) with our users/patients, understanding how to position our product with them.
5. Show traction before planning to jump for growth. Okay, this I learnt the hard way. Things will always take longer and cost more than you plan for (see point 2). We built a technology stack that we have had to rebuild several times over to get right. This took much longer (and therefore cost much more) than I ever anticipated.
6. Read a ton of books, watch a load of movies, exercise lots and spend time with loved ones. This is going to be a tough journey and you will need the solace of literature, your imagination, and the love of your friends and family to do this.
7. Get mentors! I was skeptical that I would need a mentor, how wrong was I. Mentors are there to provide guidance and support, and believe you me, if your start up is going to survive you will go through hard times. So find a voice or voices of people you like, love and maybe want to emulate. They will help you.
8. Don’t be afraid to put safety and security before progress. Always be safe when designing and deploying an idea. If it’s not ready, you can’t release it, at least not in the healthcare space.
9. Set milestones that are realistic and temper your own expectations. I have to constantly temper my own expectations to avoid frustration and disappointment. It has been one of the biggest challenges I have faced given my background as an impatient surgeon.
10. Don’t lose sight of your long-term goal. The only way I have been able to deal with bumps in the road is by never losing sight of the long-term vision. Innovation is hard, but not impossible. Keep your gaze on the horizon and don't sweat the road-bumps.

Zeeshan Akhtar is CEO of Scout Health, a disease prevention platform. Find out more at www.scout-health.com.