Med Students Win HBS New Venture Comp

FINDING A ‘GO-TO-MARKET’ PLAN

There is an immediate ‘wow’ factor surrounding a technology that can help identify and diagnose lung cancer at an early stage. Still, even a potentially life-saving product isn’t an immediate market success. True to their physician and scientific form, the foursome took a very methodical and intentional approach to developing a go-to-market strategy. Kumar ticks off the questions they were deeply thinking through: “How complex is this? How much money will this require? What are the steps to carry this out?”

Kumar believes thoughtfully mapping out that “A-to-Z pathway” of product to market is incredibly important to communicate to business competition judges. “In these business competitions it quickly becomes apparent and obvious who has done their due diligence on this process and who has perhaps spent their time on other things,” believes Kumar, crediting the entrepreneurship program at the University of Oklahoma for teaching him those principles.

This strategy leads to another essential piece to the startup puzzle–finding the best team possible.

“The more you’ve thought about that process earlier, the better you’ll be,” insists Kumar. “Because it allows you to really identify what you lack, whether that’s a technical co-founder or a particular type of advisor or money or access to certain skill sets.”

COMPILING A ‘DIVERSE’ TEAM, BUT NOT THAT ‘DIVERSE’

And the team has to be right and specific, says Kumar. “There is a lot of talk about how you want diverse teams,” Kumar reasons. “And I think the word ‘diverse’ has lost some of its original magic.” Kumar says diverse was initially a word akin to ‘balanced’ or ‘comprehensive’ and “constituted a lot of elements.” No longer. “Now diverse has come to mean a bunch of different things,” Kumar believes. “And that definition of diverse is not the definition that makes for successful teams.”

For a team looking for ‘diversity’, Kumar says to focus on concrete elements like skill sets or ways of perceiving problems or even a diverse balance between risk-takers and risk-adverse team members. The caveat? “It really works nicely when the founders are personally similar as opposed to personally diverse,” says Kumar. “What I mean by that is that they get along well.”

And that can prove difficult for someone entering an MBA program hellbent on finding a perfect team, admits Kumar. For instance, most people are at least cordial with others. And in many cases, important friendships are forged through happy hours, study sessions and group projects. But that’s certainly not enough, Kumar insists.

“Going into a venture with someone applies a different kind of stress, because you are going into uncertain territory for most of you and you’re going to have to figure it out,” says Kumar. “And when you can get along with someone during coffee or dinner or in a classroom, that’s different from being able to work with someone and still get along with them while arguing with them.”

FINDING TEAMMATES TO GO INTO THE ‘TRENCHES’ WITH

For Kumar, a bond forged through the trials of his first clinical rotations proved fruitful. “You don’t know what you’re doing, you are the least educated person there, you are the least experienced person there by default, and so for you, this is a period of uncertainty,” Kumar says of his full year of medical rotations before enrolling in B-school. Good news was, Kumar went through the experience with Blair and Lieberman. “When I saw that Alex, Graham and I were able to work together well in that environment, it was a good clue that these were the people I’ve been to the trenches with and perhaps I could be in other trenches with,” says Kumar.

And they indeed have found themselves in the trenches again, figuring out how to earn FDA approval and take the L-CARD to clinical trials. Kumar says the team has already experienced plenty of heated arguments over strategy, marketing, development and other issues. But a genuine respect and humility has assisted in navigating those situations.

“There is a lot of respect for the individual,” Kumar says of his teammates. “Even if they passionately disagree with you, we know this is a smart person and caring person and they are going after the same goal as you. And if they disagree with you it’s not because they are trying to be a problem for you. They likely have a point that you are missing.”

With that humility and respect, Kumar and the team are looking at the next business plan competition and getting into clinical trials. No matter what, they join an elite line of startups to emerge victorious from an uber-competitive startup competition.

DON’T MISS: THE $3.9 TRILLION IMPACT OF A HARVARD DEGREE or INSIDE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL’S STARTUP MACHINE