At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the unique and compelling stories from the start-up ecosystem. As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur – Pratap Chandra for an exclusive interview with us. Pratap is the Co-founder and CEO At 5th Vital. He has spent over a decade in various leadership roles across sales and marketing domain for major corporates. His startup aims at providing affordable and accessible healthcare solutions. Let’s learn more about his exciting journey as an entrepreneur, his background and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I come from a small town in Jharkhand. I worked with companies like IFB, Asian Paints & Kohler in Sales & Marketing functions before pursuing MBA from IIM Calcutta.
I am a first-generation entrepreneur, driven primarily by my passion to create a sustainable positive impact in society.”
In 2017, I started 5th Vital with my Co-founders Harjot Sidhu & Dr Waseem Afsar. Both of them are well-established professionals in their domains. Harjot was my batchmate in IIM Calcutta, comes from a technology background and worked with the Delloittes & Satyams of the world. Dr Waseem is a qualified doctor and comes with a stellar background of Ministry of Health Saudi Arabia, Tata Hospitals to name a few. He also completed his MBA from IIM Indore.
5th Vital is a Healthcare services company leveraging digital & cloud technologies. We currently operate in-home diagnostics & home healthcare space. We have to build a good business with strong fundamentals. Our unit economics are favourable and we have already achieved operational breakeven. We operate in B2C, B2B & B2B2C verticals.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
For me, it never was a choice. I loved my job in the past and now I enjoy my business. As I mentioned earlier, it’s about adding value to the society and creating impact, which one can achieve by any of the paths.
In my opinion, in a job or in business, one can add value to the society provided there is clarity of purpose and the thought process.”
These days a lot of companies encourage an entrepreneurial mindset and work culture. So, it wasn’t a choice of one over another. Since my idea of change was unconventional and it was difficult to implement in a traditional organization with different mission & vision, I opted to venture out on my own.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Entrepreneurship is difficult and most of the challenges faced by startups are well known, i.e., access to capital, attracting quality talent, growth vs profitability etc. In our industry, there are some unique challenges like fragmented market, customer awareness etc. Creating awareness among customers about quality is another challenge. In our society, price is taken as a proxy of better quality for healthcare. If some therapy, tests, surgery or equipment is not expensive, it is seen as an inferior product or service. This might be true for some very specific cases, and should not be generalised. What this mindset has done to the society is, basic primary healthcare has gone out of reach for the masses. People have to make out of pocket expenses for primary care and they avoid seeing a doctor/tests unless this is absolutely necessary. This leads to poor health management and a vicious cycle of the high cost of service for healthcare needs.
Post-Covid 19, how do you see the healthcare industry & the startup ecosystem to evolve?
This is a good question and unfortunately one can hardly be sure of his/her take on the final scenario. IMHO, Things are fluid and this pandemic can change the very fundamentals of human behaviour in the foreseeable future. Digital transformation would be accelerated across organizations, work from home can be the new norm, office rentals can go down, corporate travel would be avoided and virtual meetings would be preferred.
Startups are expected to be adversely impacted in the short to mid-term. Already there are the news of investors walking out of signed term sheets and even if there are discussions going on, the valuations are flat if not down. The sharing economy, where multiple users share physical products or spaces, might be impacted. It depends on how the government interventions work out for the industries and startups.”
In Healthtech & healthcare infra space, we expect some renewed interest, specifically for economies with poor doctor-patient/patient to bed ratio. Society can be expected to be more hygiene and health-conscious. Social distancing, avoiding handshakes, wearing masks in public spaces might become more common.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
There is hardly any cookie-cutter model/strategy applicable to startups. It depends on the circumstances the entrepreneur or promoter is facing. What works in one scenario might not in a different one. Having said that, some core strengths would always come handy in a start-up environment likeability to deal with ambiguity, risk assessment and quick decision making. As said by many established entrepreneurs, the ability to execute is of prime importance than creative ideas.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Advice should be sought from someone who is really established in his/her chosen field. I still have a long way to go before I reach a position to guide. As a fellow entrepreneur, I can only say that it’s going to be a difficult journey and before convincing the world, convince yourself that this is really what you want to do. Clarity of purpose and what problem one is solving would help a lot on the road ahead. Have faith and keep working !!!
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
