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Growing Lean
Revolutionising Healthcare through Technology: A Conversation with Umer Khan
Imagine a world where healthcare isn't just about treating symptoms but about leveraging technology to make people's lives better. Meet Umer Khan - a medical practitioner turned tech entrepreneur who's doing exactly that. Founder and CEO of True TalentOnline, Umer has revolutionized the healthcare industry by bridging the gap between conventional healthcare and technology. From his initial days in a large hospital to creating a medication list reminder app, a YouTube channel for health information, and even a COVID-19 monitoring system, Umer's journey is nothing short of inspiring. His vision to reduce suffering and infuse his wisdom into healthcare projects is something you wouldn't want to miss.
But the conversation doesn't stop there. Umer takes us further into the realm of the future of business - where AI and automation play critical roles. He emphasizes on investing in systems and processes as the key to thriving in the tech industry. Get a peek into the strategies that have shaped the success of True TalentOnline and how they're helping non-tech individuals find the right developers for their projects. As a cherry on top, Umer's offering a two-month free trial experience and a two-month money-back guarantee. And did we mention he's encouraging listeners to take action and kick-start their projects quickly? So, what are you waiting for? Join us in this invigorating conversation with Umer and get ready to be inspired.
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Welcome back to the growing Lean podcast sponsored by Lean Discovery Group. This is your host, dylan Burke, also known as Deej. I'm very happy to be here with Uma Khan, founder and CEO of True Talentonline. Welcome, uma.
Speaker 2:Hi Dylan, how are you doing today?
Speaker 1:All good, all good. Thanks for being here. How are?
Speaker 2:you. I'm well. I'm actually recovering from my cold, but I think I'm okay. I cough and everything else in my sinuses have opened up by now, so we should be good. Thank you.
Speaker 1:That's good to hear. That's good to hear. So, uma, to get us started, can you give us a bit about your history and your background and how you ended up in the business you're in today?
Speaker 2:Sure, dylan. So yeah, that's sort of a long story, but I'll try to concise it as much as possible, All right? So yeah, I started my medical practice a large-year hospital based, and I used to work mainly in the hospital, and I noticed that the common problem that patients don't know their medical problems they may have diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic diseases, and they're not really managing it well. Second, so a lot of people, when you're out of a certain stage, you need medication to take care of your health problems, to assist with your lifestyle modification and holistic care. And I saw the patients who were missing their medication. They were coming to the hospital with chest pains, blood pressure through the roof or your diabetes not being controlled, and one of the most common reasons was that I just forgot, I just don't know why I'm taking those medications. So a lot of barriers for understanding and, of course, forgetfulness was one. So I embarked on a journey to develop a medication list and reminder application, get patients alerts, keep track of their refills so that they don't forget to get the medications from the pharmacy. I also started a YouTube channel that you see some evidence of back there with my YouTube plaque that provided information regarding health issues and how you can holistically or naturally look to manage your diabetes or blood pressure and disease of that nature. And so from then on I really got into the tech field. I went on developing, getting into telemedicine, launching at certain locations and working with different people around the world to set up telemedicine systems and, in a way, my feel for helping the patients out in a really authentic and a manner where they actually need to be helped out and giving them the additional push and help. So that led me to get into health tech. As we were talking today, I also run into COVID-19 monitoring, setting up, monitoring for COVID-19 patients and a few projects down the line and I sort of realized through this journey, along with my helping patients throughout my this journey, that we had.
Speaker 2:I realized one issue that I faced and working with and dealing with so many people around the world, I realized that finding if you have a tech idea in your mind, if you have a tech product or a healthcare product, and somebody is non-technical, they don't know coding, they don't know anything it's life gets very tough and difficult for people to actually think of it properly and get things developed properly and get the outcomes that they actually deserve and the motivation that they have initially to get things going and have a product without much flaws, without failing and crashing and burning and costing you loads of money.
Speaker 2:So I definitely felt that as a huge need that needs to be fulfilled. And there are companies and people providing services. But I always felt my own experience and what we had people coming over to us that, okay, hey, we spent an year, we spent about $100,000 and we're still at point zero right now. So this led me to open up true talent, as you have heard at the beginning, and true talent online that I said we need to provide a service where people are 100% sure that, okay, this developer or this developer team is really fit to do the job. And the other thing that comes from it which I felt is that it is a remote first world or a hybrid world, right?
Speaker 2:So a lot of people most of your team may not be in house, and it may be. The person may be in a different town or on the other side of the world perhaps, and that causes its own issues, whether the person is working in the same town but from home, or the person is in the other half of the world. Then you need to have an effective system that monitors the person and there's adequate project management the same issues that I felt early on, and, of course, I have to learn this very, very quickly how to find the right developers, find the right teams, how to project management and how to keep track of any project. It could be a small website to a huge telemedicine setup or AI or anything else that needs to be done. That's sort of how I progressed over the years, and I do still practice, and so just I sort of bridge the gap between healthcare and tech. That's what I would like to think of this.
Speaker 1:Okay, amazing. So do you connect people with healthcare ideas, with development teams, or do you have a development team that executes these ideas?
Speaker 2:So healthcare has been our forte, although we've done numerous different types of projects. But I like to be involved in the healthcare projects and we have a team. We have 150 plus team in house but we have numerous connections all over the place that we are able to get people, the right developer, possibly with the right, with the same industry, possibly the same experience, and that's what I look to say hey, you don't want to be wasting time and spending money and having to fire your team in two months down the line. So that is sort of my as a physician. You always the first instinct is to help and mitigate suffering and despair that people end up having, whether it's, you know, physical, emotional or financial. So that sort of I think has driven me through this process. And yeah, we have a team and a team and yeah, we and I look to provide my own input into any project that's or any team that we work with, and I think that ends up to be fairly valuable. At least that's what I think.
Speaker 1:Okay, great. And what is the scale of the, or the size of, the projects that you work on or that you are working on?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we work with startups pre pre funding, pre seed up to venture funded companies. Also worked with the numerous global telehealth companies all over the world actually in England, as well as Rantox that we worked with. So, yeah, it's basically depends on. Depends on whatever it is we can probably work on. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, amazing. And what is the biggest problem you've consistently faced in scaling your business?
Speaker 2:I don't. Yeah, the biggest problem that we've faced. Well, initially, when I was starting off with, was again these same problems that I've had to my first application, the medication reminder application, I spent a whole year and I had to redo that twice, and so exactly the same situation that I had, which I look to now help others out with, was that you don't have to face these situations. These situations early on were the biggest problem, and this goes hand in hand if you're not able to properly manage or monitor your product or project, whether it's a MVP or an ongoing process and I sense I've been in the industry. I saw so many different companies and people unfortunately taking advantage of a client per se and now with the most honest business practices. So that really hit me as well as I mentioned that, so many people that came to us to help out with their products.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think that's probably the biggest thing that anybody who wants to go into the startup world and make a name for themselves, I want to make sure that that's not the case with them, and that's basically what the thought comes to mind that, okay, it's the value that I provide.
Speaker 2:It's the value that I'm providing is basically the screen, vetted carefully, carefully looked at individuals and giving people the peace of mind that, yes, our team is not working any less hours. They're actually probably working more hours. And not only that doesn't matter about the hours, but the work is being done properly. And this is a problem not with smaller companies, that's a problem with bigger companies Microsoft, apple, everyone who have been trying to get people back into the office. That's sort of the biggest urge with them is to have adequate supervision, and so that's what we provide in a way, remotely with our system. That I see you, I hear you and I've been through this and that's what I realized as a huge issue in this industry that needs to be dealt with properly. So that's sort of, I think, one of the biggest hurdles. Otherwise, I don't see there's a huge hurdle because the demand is there, the need is there and the value needs to be there, and otherwise there's probably no issue.
Speaker 1:Okay, I appreciate that. Thank you, and are you making use of any specific tactics or tools that have been particularly effective to help you, to help you grow the business?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So social media is one I think you definitely need to be out there, you definitely need to show people, you definitely need to provide value for free, so that people realize, yes, these are people to trust, and that's, I think, the name of the game. Trust compassion both ways and be able to walk the talk, that's it. And you talk to people and make friends, engage people. I think that that's basically it's about building connections and building a network and just providing value. I think that's what has been working. I believe.
Speaker 1:Okay, 100% Thank you. And do you have any specific metrics or KPIs that you use to measure the success of your business?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, definitely, yes, we definitely look to. It depends. Kpis range from startups, pre-seeds to people to establish businesses and we, if we look at because mostly we do get a lot of people who are early stage and our goal, our goal is what we look to do is we look at the tasks and the specs sheet list and how quickly the developers that we do hand provide to the team, to the client or startup or company is how soon are they able to complete their tasks. So we sort of have a different way of measuring the success that we're providing and the value that we're providing. Is that how soon and how efficiently and, of course, without complaints. So we sort of have a measurement to how we judge and internally assess our teams and our developers.
Speaker 1:Okay, great, and are your developers within the United States or are they abroad?
Speaker 2:No, they are largely in Pakistan and the Philippines.
Speaker 1:Okay, perfect, and where do you see your business heading, especially because we're at such a pivotal point in technological evolution? Where do you foresee the next few years? In terms of where you're at, sounds like we're in pretty similar businesses, to be honest, so I'm keen to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 2:So I think it's a fluctuating business. However, with the need for AI and automation is immense and I believe for the next five or 10 years, it's only going to increase. And so the industry is very, very healthy. You're able to provide a quality service, a quality service, product and value. I do believe this is fairly. I think it's only goes up from here. I believe AI will be assisting and helping teams such as us mine and yours actually finding the sweet spot on how to be more efficient, more effective and produce more results. I believe it's. I'm very positive about this. Moving forward, especially this year, has been pretty strong, amazing yes, I agree.
Speaker 1:There's been such an influx of people needing AI, integrations and automation and I only see that getting stronger until everyone's at that point or they've fallen behind, right? I kind of think if they don't like jump on the train now, they're going to be way behind in a couple of years. I think it's super necessary to firstly identify what it is that we're able to do for you and how necessary it is in this current climate.
Speaker 2:No, exactly, and there are a couple of low-hanging fruit which you're probably aware of getting there, looking at their website, seeing, analyzing their website, going beyond Google Analytics and seeing how exactly you can help them through AI and understanding of their people who are landing on their pages and providing them exactly what they need to be provided, improving chatbots. These are just low-hanging fruits that it just needs to be done. Just like websites were developed over the last 20 years. This is just a new phase of it and, for example, a website that does not have a chatbot eventually will not do too well. So it's just low-hanging fruit that you can snap up left and right and provide value and improve customer satisfaction and develop more leads for people at industries all over, and that's what's going to separate.
Speaker 2:More cash was only coming in to those companies who adopt these methodologies. Those who don't will definitely suffer. So, and then it's not that expensive. The value that you're getting from instituting some of these minor aspects is definitely not that expensive compared to the value that you will probably be getting, and not to say that people who don't do it won't succeed, but it's definitely something people need to be up with at times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I compare it to when humans just replace stones with tools. You could still get the same job done with stones, it would just take you a lot longer, right? So that's what we're doing here, is we're giving tools to businesses that otherwise wouldn't have them to make their processes faster.
Speaker 2:Exactly, for example. Yeah, exactly, and these are tools and they're not replacing humans, yet these are tools that you have to use. You can't use a stone to hammer things. You need to hammer. And nowadays, for example I think somebody was mentioning that if you started YouTube back in 2007, when it first came out, and up to 2015, anything you post online it would go I mean, not viral, but at least you would get some traction. Now you have to adopt newer and slicker techniques and methodologies to get the same results. So it's not that it's just making things difficult, it's that it's going to actually improve your outcomes. And, of course, the competition is there.
Speaker 1:You need to be at the cutting edge, apparently, yes, 100%, and have there been any partnerships or collaborations that have helped you form and grow your business? Or have you done it yourself is what I'm trying to ask.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we sort of bootstrapped from the beginning. So, as such, I mean, of course, we have so many partners and collaborators in the sense that we handle the tech aspects of different teams of companies. So we have a partnership in that sense, but, yes, such not in the sense of partnership as in collaboration or collapse, like you talk about online or on YouTube. No, but yeah, we do, we handle, we partner with companies. Sometimes we partner in a way that we have equity in the company and that sort of works. That works out very well, especially if it goes in line with our own philosophy and something we feel that, yes, we have additional value to provide this partner.
Speaker 1:Yes, OK, amazing. Thank you for that, and we are running out of time. But before we go, umar, if you had to give one piece of advice for other business owners looking to succeed in this industry, what would it be?
Speaker 2:There's just one, it's OK, I think. Get your systems in place. Get your systems in place, and if you have to pay money to get to the next level, do it. Don't try to figure everything out yourself. Get some help. Yeah, just don't waste time. Go through it quickly, find out what needs to be done and if you can't do it, get somebody else to do it. Build those systems out quickly, because it's a very fast, fast-paced world right now 100%.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that. Well, thank you again for being on the show, Umar. I've really enjoyed chatting to you. Before we sign off, what is the best way for people to reach out to Umar Khan If you have any offers for them or anything for them to take advantage of?
Speaker 2:Sure, it's Umar Khan U-M-E-R-K-H-A-N at truetalentonline, or you can simply do contact at truetalent-t-r-u-e-t-a-l-e-n-tonline, and we do offer a two-month free trial experience and anybody can avail that, and two months money back guarantee as well, but we never had a problem. So, yeah, definitely do reach out If you have anything. You need to get something done quickly and stop procrastinating. Get something off the ground quickly. We can do that, thank you.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Thanks so much, Umar.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much, Dylan, for having me. Thank you.