Shashi Triphati: Design Driven Life

On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda speaks with Shashi Triphati. They speak about the purposeful "design driven life", Shashi's personal struggles as an immigrant to the US, the growth and recognition as CIO and as entrepreneur. Learn more about his fund nurture.ventures and their work at TIE SoCal. 

Shashi is a serial entrepreneur, investor, board member and advisor to several companies. His focus areas have been in technology, and healthcare. He has deep experience in healthcare working across hospital, clinics, health plans and life-sciences. He has been awarded CIO 100 by CIO Magazine, Best Patient Engagement Strategy and Medical Design Excellence awards. He is a founder of  nuture.ventures an early stage venture fund which focuses on a broad range of areas including health technology, cyber security, applied artificial intelligence & customer experience.

 

You can find out more about Shashi at:

Linked IN Shashi Tripathi

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nurtureventures/

 

Other resources on this episode include:

TiE SoCal https://tiesocal.org/

February 12 Join TiE SoCal’s event Venture Investment: Strategy and Tactics 

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem

 

Show transcription

00:04

Welcome back to the Founders Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe, your host. The Founders Sandbox is now in its second season. It's a monthly podcast that reaches entrepreneurs and business owners who learn about

 

00:31

building resilient, scalable, and sustainable businesses with great corporate governance. My mission with the Founder Sandbox is to assist entrepreneurs and some entrepreneurs in building those scalable, well-governed, and resilient businesses. And guests that come to the podcast are either founders, business owners, corporate directors, VCs, professional service providers, who like me want to use the power of the enterprise.

 

01:01

be it small, medium or large, to create change for a better world. Through storytelling with each one of my guests on topics that while discovering their own journey, we're gonna touch upon resilience, on purpose driven enterprises and sustainable growth. My goal is to provide a fun sandbox environment where we can equip one startup founder at a time to build that better world through great corporate governance.

 

01:30

Today I'm absolutely delighted to have as my guest, Shashi Tripathi. Thank you Shashi for joining me today. Thank you, Brenda. Good morning. We were just saying that we're not morning people, but we'll do anything to help founders. Yes. Yes, so Shashi's joining the podcast today as founder of Nurture Ventures and board member of the chapter of the TIE SoCal organization.

 

01:59

He could speak to many, many things, but today we're going to hone in on actually purpose-driven design of life. Sashi has an incredible background. He's a serial entrepreneur. He's an investor, board member, and advisor to several companies. His focus areas have been in technology, healthcare. He has deep experience in healthcare.

 

02:27

working across the entire spectrum just blew me away, starting with actually med tech, then to move to hospitals, health plans. And he has been awarded CIO 100 by CIO magazine, best patient engagement strategy, and medical design excellence awards. So it's truly an honor

 

02:56

and incredible breadth as well as depth within the healthcare industry. So again, thank you. Thank you, Brenda. I appreciate it. You know, our paths crossed recently, we joined the SoCal, the TiE SoCals board, and we're in for a fun two years. You possess again, a unique broad and

 

03:22

deep understanding of the healthcare system in the United States. You worked primarily at, or when you first came to the United States in supply chain management, really addressing the large waste issue in the medical sector. You then went on to the hospital side, the payer side, and finally you ventured out and became an entrepreneur and founder where you built and sold

 

03:51

Follow My Health, which was a mobile enterprise patient engagement platform that connects millions of patients to their doctor in a whole new way. I think you said at one time you're touching over 20 million lives. Wow. Well, it's challenging to do you justice in this 40 minute podcast. Let me begin by thanking you again. And then again, I was blown away by your breadth and depth. And I am an avid reader. I Love

 

04:19

Ralph Waldo Emerson. And I thought of this quote that to describe your background, and you're going to share here with my guests today.  "To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch,

 

04:49

or a redeemed social condition, (I get all teared up) to know even when life has breathed easier because you live, this is to have succeeded. " So thank you again for joining me. How would you like, would you like to share your arrival to the US in 1999? As an immigrant, how did that inform your entrepreneurship journey? So first of all, Brenda, thank you. What an honor to be here with you, Brenda. You yourself.

 

05:19

are amazingly talented. And I was getting goosebumps by the way, when you were sharing that poem from Ralph, making the world or society a bit better. What a world that is, a bit better. So, coming back to your question, I grew up in India. I did my masters from IIT Bombay.

 

05:48

Immediately after that, I got a job through a company called I2 Technologies and I got to headquarters in Dallas. And I always had dreamed to come to US by the way. Here I am, my dream is getting fulfilled. I get a flight, land in Dallas Fort Worth airport and my manager then was supposed to pick me up and he forgot.

 

06:16

And I'm a 23 year old boy, afraid, nervous, excited internally, but now I'm nervous. What do I do? I had no choice, but just to wait at the airport. And after two and a half hours, he came and he took me to the apartment. Dallas, as we all know, is a big city and it's hard to walk.

 

06:46

I didn't have car, didn't have credit card. Many nights, Brenda, I had only bread and milk as my dinner. And so my company gave a month for this apartment and then after I have to find an apartment, no one will give me apartment. Because I have no credit history. So I went to a bank.

 

07:15

I gave the bank $500 as a restricted deposit, meaning I cannot spend more than $500 to build my history. Right. Slowly, I built my history. I didn't have cell phone. And I did not even know the proper English in the US. So I took a course on accent reduction.

 

07:42

I remember sitting in front of CNN and Fox. And in those days, we didn't have all this gadgets we have today. So I had a thick accent and I will pause and see the word. Wow. So to learn in a hard way about adjusting in US culture and US society. But in some ways, I'm glad it happened to me. Because that made me resilient.

 

08:12

and a strong person. And where I am today, I'm not afraid. And because I've seen the low, what is the lowest I can go, I didn't have a home. I didn't have food. And so it always has instilled in me to fight for it. And things are only going to look upwards. And I think you use the word perseverance and resilience, just one.

 

08:42

step at a time and in a very intentional way, Shashi. I mean, just going in, you know, when I came back, there was, I didn't have credit history. I was living in Europe. So it is the way, it's a difficult market to crack. And so that was 25 years ago. So what made you, what you have a huge passion for healthcare as I've shared with my listeners, starting with life science/med tech and 

 

09:10

going into the hospitals and actually into the payers. It's quite extraordinary. What underlies this passion for healthcare? Thank you, Brenda. I mean, if I look back my childhood, my mom, my dad, and even at the childhood, Brenda, I always had passion to create things. Okay. And I would get immense pleasure if what I have created is used by someone.

 

09:40

And that someone can be a small group, it doesn't need to be big. So that at the childhood level. So when I came here to do my supply chain projects, I got into a company called Medtronic, it's a large medical device company. And then I got a really big exposure to healthcare, learned a lot, found that in US, we spend $2.3 trillion total per year. Out of that,

 

10:10

approximately $800 billion is waste. B. B, not M, is B. And this is per year, this is not one time. And in a very small way, I felt the products or solutions we are creating or designing, if we can make even a small difference in reducing that waste while making an impact to the human life.

 

10:40

why not? And that really solidified my career, my passion to remain in healthcare. And if I wanted to be in healthcare, I wanted to know the details of it and all the angles of healthcare. Right. So while working for Medtronic, I got a lot of exposure to hospitals and clinics.

 

11:04

So I felt if we are selling our product and services to hospital and clinic, I wanna work inside the hospital and clinic. And how did that go? So it went really well. So I joined a group called Facey Medical, which is part of Providence Health and Services and learned a lot by the way, how a patient operates, what's really important to the patient, what is really important to hospital. And

 

11:33

That gave me a lot of exposure and also the appreciation for patient care, by the way. Okay. Because at the end of day, anything we do in healthcare is really important to how it's impacting to the patient's care. Absolutely. Healthcare is the only industry Brenda, where if you improve the quality, you reduce the cost, that's the only industry. If you go in that again, say that again. That's very important.

 

12:01

If you go in hotel, for example, if you buy a five star, you pay more. Am I right? That's right. But in healthcare, you improve the quality. The cost goes down. That's the only industry by the way. It's very fascinating. So learn a lot about the wider side, which is the hospital clinic. And then I said, for all this, that someone is paying and yes, patients pay the portion in The US.

 

12:28

but the health plans are the one which are paying majority of our US healthcare cost. So I said, I need to go to the work for the health plan. And crack the code for CPT codes and all that. Exactly, ICD and CPT and claims. So I went to work for a company called New Century Health and there I learned a lot about risk contracts and how we manage the provider, what is really important to the claims.

 

12:58

how we do the utilization management. So I learned a lot about how the payment system in US healthcare works. So, and then of course the company Follow My Health, I got a lot of exposure about patient side. Right. Because at the end, whatever we are doing, either from life sciences or hospital clinic or health plan.

 

13:28

It's really impacting the patient in the end. So I feel privileged and somewhat lucky, to work in all the facets of health care systems. Affecting patients' lives one by one. Perhaps the most far removed is that of payers. And that was your last venture. And by creating Follow My Health, you create a new life.

 

13:55

removed a bit of that friction, I imagine, for patients and their providers. Right. Yep. Excellent. So when did you have time to do Follow My Health? If you're busy working in these large companies, cracking the code, what changed in your life, if anything, to abandon the helm?

 

14:21

of, you know, working in enterprises to create companies to then become a founder of a venture fund. So walk us through those purposeful decisions that help you design your life. Yeah. So as we look, as I shared with you that I love creating product. Okay. And I love

 

14:47

the product which we are creating is making a difference in human lives. So when I was the CIO at Springfield Clinic, working with Jim Hewitt, we created this platform back in 2011. And the idea was to make it simple to every stakeholder, to the physicians who are using it, to the patients who are going to be using it.

 

15:17 

 and if you make it simple and useful to the stakeholder, money will come. Um, and I remember a story, uh, when I was CIO at a Springfield clinic, uh, I used to walk around and, um, I would sometimes talk to the patient and I talked to a patient who was elderly, probably early seventies or maybe even late eighties, uh, uh, late seventies. Um,

 

15:46

And I asked him, what do you like about us? And he said, oh, I love this new product you guys have launched, Patient Portal. I said, what do you like about it? And he said, when I didn't have this, I go home and my wife will ask me what happened to you at the doctor's office. And I didn't remember all that and she would get mad. Now I've given my user ID and password to her and she knows everything about what happened. So I don't have to memorize it. So that probably gave you goosebumps as well.

 

16:15

Right. So these are the stories which give me extra energy to move forward. Same concept in merlin.net and the patient who has pacemaker or ICD is implanted. Okay. In those days they had to go see their cardiologist every quarter. Okay. So we felt was why don't we create external device.

 

16:44

which can communicate to the implanted device, takes the data, and then over the internet has that data and we build the whole web application for cardiologists and electrophysiologists to monitor the patient. So now patient can be anywhere in the world and they can be monitored. My sister-in-law, by the way, has that product and she often appreciate how beneficial

 

17:13

Merlin.net is because she can go travel anywhere in the world, not worry about her appointment with cardiologists and she is being followed. So these are the moments which makes me propel, gives me extra energy to keep pursuing and creating the products and services which makes a difference in human lives. And what was the, I guess,

 

17:41

point in which you decided to abandon those 16 and 17 hour days and, and you'd exited a few companies. You know, what led you to create nurture ventures and can you walk us through the thesis and does it go back to your passion? Right? Yep. So it always goes back to my passion, which is creating product and helping society and balancing life.

 

18:10

in the process. So I got married. I have two kids, my daughter is 13. My son,, he just turned seven actually on the weekend. We had a party. And we all know, by the way, entrepreneurship life is very hard. Yes. People see the success, they don't see what has happened behind the scene. Yes.

 

18:39

And for any entrepreneur, I mean, yes, there are some exceptions, but I would say majority of the entrepreneur, they work very hard. Um, I would say 16, 17 hours, um, per day is this hard. And so I have kids now and I have to balance my life. Um, but yet I still wanted to achieve my dreams and be associated with the entrepreneurs.

 

19:06

why don't I start investing? And I started very small by the way Brenda. My goal was not to go big really. But again, it goes back to simplicity and not with the goal of making money. So I designed my investment very, very LP friendly. LP is a partner who are investing with me into the companies. And because of that simplicity,

 

19:35

And also just happened to be, I would call it luck. Okay. I got lucky and we got an exit, um, carbon card, which gave us, uh, seven times return in 11 months, but it did happen to us and, uh, some of my LP got money back in their bank, um, so it put our name on pitch book and crunch base and

 

20:04

So we started growing. So we have now 45 limited partners. We have invested in total 31 companies now. We have a fund, we have an SPV. So it has been grown more than I expected. And I'm really happy because now again, I go back, I follow my passion about creating products and services.

 

20:34

which are helping society grow. And I'm doing not directly but indirectly because when we are supporting the founders and they are growing and their product and services are being used in society to make a difference, I feel privileged. Many of our portfolio companies, by the way, started small, $40,000 ARR per year. Now, they are six million ARR just in two years.

 

21:03

Wow. Happiness that we were a small part in making a difference in growing that company and in return, they are making a difference into the society. So that's how I got into this world. I love it, actually. And is the thesis only around healthcare technology companies or is it broader than healthcare? Your passion. So we started healthcare. But in order to make a difference.

 

21:31

You have to also see what is other things which are impacting and growing. And part of our early thesis was artificial intelligence, software as a service, and financial technologies in addition to healthcare are growing very rapidly and much needed into society and making a difference in human lives. So those are part of our thesis to invest in those four areas.

 

22:01

artificial intelligence, software as a service, healthcare, and fintech. Excellent. Now, you are also a member of the Angel Capital Association, ACA, and we recruited you from TIE SoCal to join our chapter in SoCal. You also have become a board member for the 2024-2025.

 

22:29

period, we both have joined the board after the effusive leadership of Gaurav Kumar.

 

22:38

What would you, I'm going to describe a little bit, TIE, as a nonprofit organization for my listeners. And then I'll get to the question of what your contributions are going to be and how it goes back to your passion. So the Indus Entrepreneurs, TIE T-I-E, was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs with roots in the Indus region with a mission to foster entrepreneurship.

 

23:07

globally through funding, mentoring, networking, and education. Today, the TIE ecosystem comprises over 25,000 startups and 15,000 members across 58 chapters in 12 countries. Within TIE, there is an angels organization for profit. It started in 2010, also in Silicon Valley, and has moved into another eight to 10 chapters.

 

23:36

representing groups of angel investors. And they're in actually 12 cities with over 3,000 accredited investors. Last year in PitchBook, actually TIE SoCal was among the top 10 in the number of companies that we had invested in. So what's it gonna be like with your presence on the board? And what have you been tasked to do, Shashi?

 

24:05

My God, what an incredible honor to join this group as you described how powerful the TIE is, but more than power, the impact it continues to make in society across those 50 chapters. As you pointed out, Gaurav Kumar, such a strong leader, and I'm beyond privileged to work with you and others

 

24:35

to take TIE SoCal to the new heights. Part of TIE SoCal, I have been tasked to lead what we call it TIE Angel Program. Okay. And it basically has three areas within the Angel side. Bring the companies to our members. Okay.

 

25:06

So they can choose to invest into those companies. The second vertical is we do events very focused on investment, venture capital, or angel investing. And third is having a fund which relates to the first one and take the fund and go invest into the companies.

 

25:35

catering the entrepreneurship journey and entrepreneurship society. Part of this, by the way, Brenda, we are hosting an event on February 12th, which is Monday, Hyatt at Long Beach, from 3.30 to 8.30. And it's a wonderful group of speakers which are coming and talking about venture capital

 

26:05

strategies and tactics. And then we have our flagship event, which is scheduled on Friday, April 26th, again in Hyatt Regency. It's a full day event, and will be roughly attended by 400 venture capital, angel investor, startup. If you are any one of those, this is not to miss the event.

 

26:34

And you do not have to be a member of the TIE SoCal organization. So anyone can attend either of those events, by the way. February 12, which is Monday, 3.30 to 8.30, and April 26, all day, big event, our flagship event, hosted by TIE, but anyone who belongs to those communities. So either investors, a startup, 

 

27:03

or you're supporting any one of those. So you can be service providers. Do not miss any of these two events. I'm very excited to be part of TiE SOCAL and continue to work with intelligent minds like you and others to make a difference in our society. It's going to be an exciting next two years. And I...

 

27:31

want to share with my listeners, there's a lot of nuggets in the podcast today with Shashi. And so there'll be more information in the show notes with respect to Nurture Ventures, Shashi himself, TIE SoCal, and the upcoming events on February 12th and April 26th. So thank you for leading the charge there. Thank you, Brenda.

 

27:56

You know, 1999, we're in 2024. It's going to be your 25th anniversary, Shashi, in the United States. I was doing the math yesterday. I went, wow, that's a major, what are you going to do? You've done everything. All right. Oh my God. I'm getting goosebumps right now. My gosh. I'm now thinking about my day when I arrived in Dallas Fort Worth airport. Right.

 

28:25

I'm nervous. I didn't know where my life will be, but Brenda, I'm so, I'm really in debt of this country. This country is so powerful. If you're willing to work, that's the key word. If you're willing to work, this country is powerful. And there's so many good people. I often hear that, oh, people don't support and help. That's not the experience I have had here.

 

28:54

Nor has it been mine. I met some incredible people who have helped me to grow my career, who have helped me when people were saying, don't do that. You are crazy. Don't start a company. But there were at the same time, there were many who were there to support me. My family, of course, they endured me so much. All my craziness and.

 

29:21

all my travel across US and beyond. My parents, I remember my dad, by the way, who I lost here. Sorry. Thank you. He did not want me to come here. Oh my. His goal was that in India, there's a government job, I should go and work into that area. And I end up not. But when I came here, he was the biggest supporter.

 

29:51

my mom, my wife here, my two kids, and all those who have supported me throughout my career in the last 25 years. I am in debt to so many people I cannot name all of them here on this podcast. Well, thank you. Those are really beautiful words. And you continue to be that young child that wanted to create.

 

30:20

products that affect people's lives. That's quite laudable. You know, I like to do a round of questions with each one of my guests. I go back to the cornerstones of the consulting work I do at Next Act Advisors. I work with scaling companies on resilience, on sustainable growth.

 

30:47

purpose-driven. And I ask my guests, you know, what are the meanings of those three words? And that one guest has a similar definition. There's no right or wrong. It's just fascinating. And with your broad and deep expertise in the ecosystem of healthcare and also early stage companies and large, what would you consider? What would you define? What would be your definition of resilience Shashi?

 

31:15

So in my view, don't give up if you have a passion for something. You will encounter the reality of the life is you will encounter challenges. You will encounter problems. Do not give up on it. There is going to be people.

 

31:39

who will tell you, you are crazy, don't do that, this is wrong, but at the same time, there will be people who will support you and will root for you. And even if you don't, by the way, believe in you. Believe in you if you wanna do something and go change the world. That's what resiliency to me means. I often do this Brenda and I don't share much when I start to do something new.

 

32:08

I always plan a worst case plan in my brain. Okay. I always think, I'm going to create a company, for example, how low I can go. I lose my phone, lose my car. That's fine. I'll manage it. We've all been there. Yeah, exactly. So if you in your mind, if you have planned the worst case scenario, I'm not suggesting go do it, but just plan it to give a feeling in your head that that's the lowest possibility that always helps you.

 

32:38

So coming into challenges and problems, other thing I often say is when you hit the wall, go deep. And we all hit the wall in our personal life, in professional life. Don't give up, go deep. Find it out what elements, what detail elements which are letting you hit the wall.

 

33:07

And once you figure those details, you, our brains are so powerful. We just have to access those elements of our brain to go deep, find the solution. And I can say it with very high confidence. If you believe in you and try to find a problem, you will find the solution to the problem. And that's what it means. Powerful. Hit the wall. Go deep. You heard it here on The Founders.

 

33:37

Sandbox. What about purpose-driven enterprise? You have a purpose-driven design to your life. What about purpose-driven enterprises? Yeah, so I often say this also. When you are designing a product, solution, or enterprise, don't make money as your primary objective. And I'm not saying don't be financially conscious, by the way. Your primary goal should not be making money.

 

34:08

If your primary goal is to make a difference in human lives, if your primary goal is to make a product and services, which people will buy and will help improve their life or their experience or their feelings, believe me, money will come. That's true. So when you're designing product or running a company, think from those aspects. Who is your customer?

 

34:38

and what is making them to delight your customer. And if you take customer or consumer or your end user, trying to design your product and solution and business processes also, by the way, money will follow to you. And that's purpose to me because if you have that in mind, you will sustain on a long-term basis. 

 

35:06

Which leads us to the definition for you of sustainable growth, right? Yeah, so to me, sustainable growth is how you are growing without adding the debt and liability in your company. So most people can go get a debt, get liability and not think too much about the long-term growth, not think too much about

 

35:34

improving the value into society, that will not be sustainable growth. Sustainable growth in my view is

 

35:44

the value you have created for society, the value you have created for your customers, for your end users, how they are driving you to grow. And if they are, money will come and there will be VCs and there will be investors who will give you money, but not just go acquire the money and start to grow, not other way around. Grow first. Take all those...

 

36:14

stakeholder into the mix first. Yes. And then go look for venture or money to grow the company. That's how sustainable you can be, in my view, Sinder. So self-funding until you do have product market fit and continue to innovate. And the money will come if you're addressing the needs. Correct. Yep. Excellent. Keep customer and end user in the mind. Society also sometimes.

 

36:43

enterprises think, oh, I'm spending this for the benefit of society and it's going into taking away from my Point of view. Not the case. I mean, if you add value to society, at the end of day, who is the user of your product and services society? Society. We all, we human beings, we are using your product and services. And if we see that

 

37:12

you care about me, believe me, I will spend money because I know that in return, you're going to care for me on a long-term basis. And if you can get into the hearts and parts of the people through your product and services, it's very hard to go back. You will grow. I will come to you asking, Hey, what is your next product? Because I believe in you.

 

37:41

Did you have fun in the sandbox today? I loved it. Brenda, thank you so much for having me here. It's just exciting and amazing. And what an incredible work you are doing, Brenda. Thank you. By inviting people to your show where we all can learn from each other. Yes. Seen some of your podcasts in the past, and I can learn. And hopefully, through this, someone can learn. And even if we can make a difference in

 

38:11

one human life. I think we have done our job. So thank you Brenda and the work you are doing is amazing. Any help I can do, I'll be happy to do so. I'll see you in the sandbox at the TIe Socals board soon. Busy year. Well, thank you. It's been an incredibly fun and insightful podcast. To my listeners. If you like this episode.

 

38:40

with Shashi Tripathi. Sign up for the monthly release where founders and business owners join me here in the sandbox to learn about how and share how to build strong governance in a resilient, scalable, and purpose-driven company to make profits for good. You can listen to this episode and more on any of the mainstream podcasts, platforms, and

 

39:10

I look forward to next month. Again, this is the monthly podcast. I'm signing off until next time. Thank you, Shashi.