Interview with Dr Saroj Gupta, Founder & CEO of MyDigiRecords
Dr. Saroj Gupta is the Founder and CEO of MyDigiRecords, a app that enables people to take control of managing and organizing their health information, including immunizations and medications, to make better healthcare decisions.
Dr. Saroj comes with a prolific academic background. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Dental Surgery from SDM, India, and has completed her General Practice Residency at University Health, Kansas City.
Dr. Saroj has also done a fellowship as a Geriatric Dentist at the esteemed Harvard University and holds an Executive MBA from Rockhurst University. Her 25+-year professional journey is just as illustrious as her academic one.
Having worked as an academic researcher, in private practice, and as an entrepreneur in the health-tech segment, Dr. Saroj has rich experience in the medical and healthcare sectors.
For one, she ran her private practice in India for nearly 24 years. Besides this, she has been a General Practice Resident at the Truman Medical Center, a Geriatric Fellow, and Faculty at the Harvard Dental School, a Faculty at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and a Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Dr. Saroj also founded Interacshn, an IT platform that leverages AI and ML-powered software to bring digital equity, before founding MyDigiRecords in February 2022.
A seasoned medical professional and serial entrepreneur, Dr. Saroj has won a pre-seed grant award from the Comeback KC Ventures in the USA for MyDigiRecords.
She is currently focused on scaling the platform to expand its presence in India and the US, making it more accessible for people to have control over their health data in a proactive and digitized manner.
She envisions MyDigiRecords to have incredible reach – to the extent that nearly every individual is acquainted with the app and has access to their health information.
A firm believer that employees are a company’s assets, Dr. Saroj ensures the team at MyDigiRecords is inspired and inspires her to think creatively and innovate to improve users’ quality of life. She wishes to enact real-world change and make it a better place for people.
In her downtime, Dr. Saroj enjoys spending time with her family and believes that it’s an important aspect of life.
A philanthropist, she is actively involved in building bathrooms in schools in remote villages for girls. Further, she is an Advisory Board Member at Goodwill, a Board Director at Lions Club International, and an Advisory Board Member at the Center for Practical Bioethics.
Tell us a little about yourself
Dr Saroj Gupta: I, Dr. Saroj Gupta, am the Founder and CEO of MyDigiRecords. I received my fellowship as a Geriatric Dentist from Harvard University and hold an Executive MBA from Rockhurst University.
Coming from a family deeply involved in healthcare, I’ve worked both as an academic researcher and a health-tech entrepreneur.
Please tell us a little about your entrepreneurial journey
Dr Saroj Gupta: My journey started with a keen interest in healthcare and a drive to make it more accessible and efficient for everyone.
After years of experience in academia and the medical field, I recognized a gap in health record management.
This realization led to the inception of MyDigiRecords, a platform designed to empower individuals with their health data.
What service(s) or product(s) do you offer?
Dr Saroj Gupta: MyDigiRecords – a healthcare technology company focused on enabling and empowering people to have more control over their health.
This starts with a platform for individuals to manage, organize, and control their health data, including immunizations, medications, and other health records.
This also means helping 1.4B people in India to become digitized in their health records. We plan to continuously launch new features within the MyDigiRecords platform to give individuals more ways to proactively manage their health.
What is unique about your label brand?
Dr Saroj Gupta: MyDigiRecords is unique because it prioritizes patient empowerment. We believe that by putting the control of health information in the hands of the consumers, we can educate people and facilitate better and more informed healthcare decisions.
What made you choose this type of business?
Dr Saroj Gupta: Having worked in the healthcare sector, I witnessed firsthand the difficulties faced by individuals in accessing their own health data.
This inspired me to create a solution that could make health data management more accessible and efficient.
What was your mission and vision at the outset?
Dr Saroj Gupta: Our mission from the outset was to create a platform that would enable individuals to have full control of their health records.
Our vision was, and remains, a future where every individual can make informed healthcare decisions based on their own comprehensive, accessible health data.
How many employees in your organization?
Dr Saroj Gupta: Currently, we have a team of 20 passionate professionals.
What are your company’s goals?
Dr Saroj Gupta: Our primary goal is to revolutionize personal health management by providing an easy-to-use platform for health data management.
In the long run, we aim to support global healthcare systems in achieving complete digitization of health records.
What was the inspiration behind turning an entrepreneur?
Dr Saroj Gupta: The inspiration came from the desire to make a real difference in people’s lives and to solve a critical problem in the healthcare sector.
What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?
Dr Saroj Gupta: At this stage of the company, I wouldn’t label any of our experiences failures yet. There have been some sales opportunities that didn’t work out, but every one of those experiences and interactions is an opportunity for us to continue to hone in on and continue to evolve our story to focus in on what our prospective customers care about and how MyDigiRecords can meet their needs.
Key things to consider before starting a startup
Dr Saroj Gupta: Market need, sustainable business model, team composition, and scalability are key factors to consider before starting a startup.
What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Dr Saroj Gupta: While we’re still a young company and are constantly learning, we have certainly had our share of valuable lessons.
One of the challenges we encountered early on, which is common for a lot of early stage companies, was related to team composition.
In our eagerness to scale quickly, we onboarded some team members who were not the right fit for our culture and vision. This ended up costing us time and resources, highlighting the importance of careful and thoughtful hiring.
We learned early on that moving fast does not always mean moving efficiently or effectively. Hence, we always try to discuss issues as a team, involving different perspectives before making significant decisions.
These experiences were not mistakes in the traditional sense, but learning opportunities that have shaped our journey and have guided us to better practices and strategies for growth and development.
They reminded us that building a successful enterprise involves consistent learning, adjustment, and resilience.
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