Kindness and Empathy Wins in Most Situations: Interview with Dr. Raghav Murali-Ganesh, CEO of Osara Health
I recently went one-on-one with Dr. Raghav Murali-Ganesh, CEO of Osara Health.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Raghav: I am a medical doctor by background, specifically a Radiation Oncologist, which means I treat cancer patients using radiotherapy. Osara Health was founded based on my experiences in the clinic. Many patients with a new cancer diagnosis find themselves in a challenging position. They receive a serious diagnosis with a potentially life-limiting prognosis and are expected to become experts in managing their care, despite being new to this.
During my practice, I noticed a common factor contributing to the success of patients that was difficult to address in the 20-minute appointments allotted to each patient: patient engagement. Those who took active ownership of their healthcare, shared responsibility and sought ways to maintain holistic wellness consistently achieved better outcomes. Given the short appointment times and limited resources to support this aspect, this was a care method difficult to replicate across the population so I sought to develop a solution to address this gap.
I firmly believe we all have great potential, but we often don't know how to apply it to change our circumstances. This is especially true during cancer treatment. At Osara, we provide meaningful, empathetic, and structured support to help people take ownership of their healthcare and change their behaviors to improve their outcomes. It has been proven in multiple scientific studies that patients who exercise more, track symptoms, maintain a better diet, sleep well, and manage psychosocial distress do better and live longer. Our program unlocks that potential.
In terms of setbacks, I had a reasonably cushioned experience in my professional life until 2018 when I faced an existential crisis in my career and choices.
To contextualize that setback and how hard it was for me, I should share a bit of my professional background. I was always quite good at school and finished high school early, entering medical school at age 17 and becoming a fully-fledged practicing doctor by 23. I completed my specialist qualifications by 29, becoming a board-certified Radiation Oncologist. Medical school and residency were extensions of my academic success, and I always had an entrepreneurial streak, running small businesses during that time.
In 2018, two years after starting Osara Health, the business collapsed. I had a challenging falling out with my previous co-founder and faced zero revenue, almost no money in the bank, no business model, no customers, and high expectations from investors, many of whom were friends or family.
The inspiration for our pivot, which now supports over 50 enterprise customers across four countries and countless participants, was introspective. Reflecting on what works in the clinical setting and drives patients to adhere to clinicians' suggestions is a social contract and feedback loops. We applied this thinking to our product, using behavioral psychology, and have refined it ever since. We have come to realize the power of coaching, which allows us to unlock human potential through communication.
Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?
Raghav: Initially, I didn't know the idea was worth pursuing; it was a bit of a gamble. We approached our first customer (with whom we recently celebrated our 5th anniversary) with just a set of slides and an idea. We didn't have proof of concept, only theoretical evidence, so it was our initial customers and early adopters who took a chance on us.
Leading up to those initial meetings, we did a lot of desktop research, voice-of-customer work, and had access to thousands of cancer patients. Our offices were located in the largest dedicated cancer hospital in the southern hemisphere, allowing us to understand the issues patients faced. All these building blocks led to the formation of a product that resonates with patients.
Since then, we’ve launched a caregiver solution, addressing one of the biggest chronic disease verticals and recognizing the unsung heroes that are cancer caregivers. We approached this gap similarly, immersing ourselves in the challenges faced by our end users and developing a solution backed by clinical evidence, a key distinction of our core business. I believe that clinical evidence is the currency of digital health.
Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?
Raghav: The most important part, in my opinion, of building anything special, is having the right people around you. This is cliched but even at the risk of this, it is worth doubling down as it's so important. The early hires you make, even those who become co-founders, set the culture. They shape you and the subsequent culture of the organization you are building. I was very lucky to meet Tim, my co-founder early in our pivot, and reflecting on why our partnership has been successful to date is shared values around key parts like work ethic, how we treat people in our team, and respect for customers.
Building a business is not an overnight process, and it's essential to be prepared to work with your early team for a long time. Alignment of values is key to building any future success on.
Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?
Raghav: I love sales, it is really my job within Osara. I hadn't realized that there was such a cross over between being an Oncologist and being in sales. Essentially as an Oncologist, you have 20 minutes from meeting someone with a life-changing illness to getting their signature on a piece of paper to allow you to deliver fairly toxic therapy, yes there is usually a gain for the patient’s health status but sometimes that benefit is marginal and requires a nuanced explanation or rather a ‘sell’. You encounter people with varied health beliefs and socioeconomic and functional status. It requires you to be an excellent communicator and build trust quickly. This school of grounding I had has truly served me well in my current role which is really sales - either product, equity, or vision to various stakeholders. It helps that I truly believe in the difference our product makes, to the level that even setbacks to me are mere speedbumps, in my mind I know this is beneficial to patients so waking up every day to get that message across to prospective customers becomes a little easier.
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Raghav: I am an emerging leader, I have a lot more to learn and am grateful for the learning journey I am on. I am constantly looking for ways to improve either via formal mentorship, I have an executive coach who is a well-seasoned business leader with over 40 years of commercial experience. I listen & read a lot, I have a list of my favorite books, I am always looking for an excellent or recommended podcast, and also consume a lot of short format content in the form of blogs, articles, and thought leadership. I am surrounded by some great people within my team who I get to watch in close quarters and am inspired by. I have a belief that kindness and empathy wins in most situations, and I try to apply this broadly to challenging situations I encounter when there is no playbook or I don't have prior experience to rely upon.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?
Raghav:
Surround yourself with the best people you can.
Show up every day, even when it feels like it's not working.
Everyone has self-doubt; it's normal and part of the journey.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Raghav: Resilience is so important in this game, a good piece of advice I was given early in my entrepreneurial life was to “get a thicker skin”. That was something I hadn't faced before in my medical career, often you are the expert in the room and your advice is taken without too much pushback. So coming into a role which is mostly commercial and largely sales, required me to change. I took negative investor feedback and other setbacks to heart, this was something I am still somewhat learning to conquer but am in a better position than before.
Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.
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