How the circumstances made me an Entrepreneur?
My recruitment start-up was grounded during Covid-19, leaving me with two options: wait for uncertainty to pass or pivot to help the care home sector. I chose the latter and founded a new business with good traction but no substantial financial success.
Now, I’m working on an early prototype for my third venture — an opportunity to learn and grow, even if others see it as crazy.
How did it all start?
I decided to study nursing at 17 after seeing my friends pursue it. Although I wasn’t fully aware of the field’s expectations, I knew that it could provide an excellent job with decent income prospects abroad.
At 23, I left India to study nursing in the UK and took up a part-time job as a care assistant in a care home to cover my expenses. It was there that I discovered my fondness for caring for vulnerable older adults.
Discovering myself!
As a nurse in India, I had worked in several hospital environments. However, working in a UK care home was a new and unexpected challenge.
Despite hearing my colleagues’ complaints about hard work, low pay, and back pain, I never found the work to be difficult. But I always felt that things could be better if we managed things differently in the care sector.
I felt a calling to improve the quality of life for people in care homes.
My desire to own a care home
Disagreeing with the current methods of care delivery and staff management in care homes, my first thought was to buy my own nursing home and manage it to improve the morale and quality of life for residents.
However, lacking the necessary experience, I aimed to become a care home manager and even earned an online MBA from Anglia Ruskin University.
Despite four years of trying, I have yet to secure a management position. My frustration led me to try and convince friends to purchase the nursing home with me, but none shared my vision.
A question that changed my life forever
I got married in 2016, and at the time, my wife was completing her master’s in Computer Science.
As part of her final year project, she asked me if I had any ideas for creating web or mobile applications. This question ended up changing the trajectory of my life.
I shared my ideas for digitalising temporary staff profiles and connecting them with local nursing homes, similar to Uber.
The idea to launch to failure
After developing the idea for my wife’s final year project, I decided to turn it into an actual business without seeking advice or doing any market research.
I made every mistake in the book, losing money, energy, and an additional three years to complete the project.
In January 2020, I officially launched my first business by teaming up with another recruitment company. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and I lost the battle. Now, I had two options: wait for the pandemic to settle and resume business or develop another technology-based product for care homes.
Mistakes are a fact of life. It is one’s response to it that counts!
I didn’t want to lose momentum in my business during the pandemic, so I started looking for other opportunities to pursue while waiting it out.
As a nurse, I saw the opportunity to use technology to help care homes manage visits during the inhumane restrictions brought on by Covid-19.
By protecting my past three years of investment and keeping my team together, I have quickly developed a plan for a dedicated visitor management system that helps care homes balance the safety of their residents with meeting their emotional needs.
Thanks to the mistakes I made earlier, I was able to bring this innovative solution to the market sooner and save time.
To scale or not to scale?
Despite positive feedback and interest, my second startup’s financial results are not satisfying. Scaling the product without adequate resources, support, and investment is not feasible, and seeking funding is a long, uncertain process.
With only enough funds to provide on-demand support, I am currently not marketing the product, as I am not ready to scale it.
The beginning or the end
During my startup journey, I lacked experienced people in the startup ecosystem, including a CTO. While I had experienced staff, not having startup experience had a negative impact on my journey so far.
Towards the end of my second venture, I found a product designer with great potential and experience to join my founding team. He pushes me, spars ideas, and brings out the best in me. I am now working on a groundbreaking idea to positively change the care sector while seeking investment opportunities to grow my latest venture.
Sometimes I think I never wanted to pursue this journey of an entrepreneur, but the circumstances have made me do so. Despite the challenges, I’m eager to see where this journey will take me.
Am I at the beginning or the end? Only time will tell.
