In our relentless pursuit to identify and share with our community some of the unique and compelling startup stories from the ecosystem, we spoke to Team PurpleDocs this week to understand more about their vision and the way forward. PurpleDocs is one of the fastest growing start-up within their niche. It holds a vivid vision of making healthcare data secure, analysable and accessible round the clock. Let’s read their unique story and the way forward!
Excerpts from our conversation with Team PurpleDocs:
Tell us a little bit about your startup and the problems it is solving, please;
We hold a vivid vision of making healthcare data secure, analysable and accessible 24 x7 to all healthcare stakeholders, which helps in improving patient care. We started as a healthcare records management company but evolved into patient data analytics and patient engagement company. Our solutions help the hospital and doctors improve patient care and engagement as well as revenue. Our solutions also can trace the longitudinal patient history and that helps doctors in clinical decision making as well.
PurpleDocs is one of the fastest-growing start-ups in Gujarat and has been ranked among the top 50 startups at the Gujarat Summit 2016.
Our solutions are unique as they are customizable to cater to the needs of every size and type of hospital including single-speciality clinics, super-speciality hospitals, trust hospitals, corporate hospitals and academic research institutes.
To be able to utilize any of our products or services, the hospital does not need to change the way they have been working or hire trained staff. The learning curve is almost zero to switch to our solutions. There is no investment in IT infrastructure.
Our solutions act as a bridge between hospitals and clinics, diagnostic labs, pharmacies and patients and ease the flow of relevant data between them over a digital medium.
There is no other comprehensive offering in the country which caters to paper-based indoor patient records, OPD prescriptions and diagnostics.
Our services have benefitted over 140 hospitals across 14 cities and we have processed more than 6M health records until now.
Find some of the testimonials that we have received from our esteemed customers that speak volumes about the quality of our product:
Where did the unique idea to start something like this come from?
Both the co-founders of PurpleDocs, Deepak and Pooja are software professionals and have worked for more than 8 years in the software industry in India and abroad. A job does assure a stable income and a lavish lifestyle, but it does not give one creative satisfaction.
Deepak and Pooja were both working in the USA when Deepak’s mom was being treated for cancer back home in Vadodara. They took the leap and moved back to be with her and faced the problem real hand.
During the treatment process, they realised that the patient records that play a vital role in defining the further course of treatment at hospitals are mostly in un-analysable paper form. There was no way for the Doctor to study the impact of the treatment overtime on the patient vitals. Taking a second opinion is also a herculean task because the data was scattered across distributed systems. This made them do some ground research into the prevalent systems and their abilities. The duo spotted a gap in the systems and got passionate to jump into entrepreneurship, determined to solve the problem.
How do you find the industry/niche that you’re in?
The Healthcare industry in India is shaping up to comply with the Digital India movement. But it is still in a very nascent stage. The opportunity is huge but the system has to adapt to the needs of the Doctor. The big players lack the ability to customize the solution in an economical offering. PurpleDocs’ products are highly customizable and adaptable.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives the team?
The beauty of developing solutions for the Indian healthcare industry is that we get to see them deployed and being used immediately. The sparkle that we see in the eyes of our clients when it solves their pain points and increases their efficiency is quite motivating. It encourages us to keep our technology simple yet effective
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
We started PurpleDocs in a pre-WhatsApp era where many of the Doctors we catered to were not tech-savvy. We spent a considerable amount of time educating them on the importance of securing their electronic records. We offered our services for free, provided them with on-demand service to make them use our services.
Developing a tech product is very easy in hi-tech cities like Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad. But we wanted to give something back the city where we belonged to – Vadodara. Access to the experienced tech resources in Vadodara is still a big issue. Unfortunately, there is a huge brain drain.
How do you guys handle the pressure and manage stress?
Deepak is into sports such as Badminton and Running. The physical workout takes away the stress from him. It helps him unwind and get a fresh perspective.
Pooja is into music and is a mompreneur as well. Wearing multiple hats means a lot of work but it does help her unwind from one.
What is one strategy that you guys believe has helped you grow as a team/startup?
Developing things that people are ready to pay for should be the key when trying to innovate a solution. Try to keep the customer’s needs in mind while designing. Keep the interfaces simple, learning curves small.
What advice would you give to someone starting out particularly women?
This journey isn’t easy for anyone. One needs a lot of passion, patience and hard work to survive. Having a good team plays a very important role in this journey, whether its men or women. For working mothers, it’s advisable to create a support system in the form of in-laws, baby sitters since the role can be quite overwhelming.
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.
