Making the hardest decision of my life

http://karankurani.com/post/92907105498/making-the-hardest-decision

by BIackSwan • 12 years ago

50 15 12 years ago

hpagey2• 12 years ago

I looked at your product, very interesting indeed. I think you made the correct decision. Is it possible to negotiate a bulk discount for patients with chronic illness. These people need to repeat these tests almost weekly.

BIackSwan3• 12 years ago

Thanks! We already have a growing userbase of chronic patients who love our service and use it for all their tests.

hpagey2• 12 years ago

Are you also planning on adding dialysis cost comparisons?

anupshinde• 12 years ago

All the best and hope this product works. I am still wondering how you manage to give those discounts in a place where people don't really understand what are the tests recommended by doctors. And doctors referring to certain labs and with their hand-writing that is hard to read (many do it for commission - some don't). And how would you manage the scenario where (few) doctors "reject" the reports from the labs that are not the ones they referred.

Scarily, NABL website has a meta description set to "Joomla! blah blah blah..." that shows up on Google search results.

BIackSwan3• 12 years ago

Hi anupshinde. We already have processes which deal with these issues. And if we get any complaints about report quality, we give a 100% refund.

sumietagg• 12 years ago

good luck man! I am sure it will work out for you :)

read2• 12 years ago

Don't be quick to follow this part of the advice: Don’t let immigration issues ever be a major factor in your long term career decisions.

Maybe it wasn't an irreversible decision for the blog author personally. But it can be an irreversible decision. I've seen it.

And a question: is the incredible laywer who gave you this advice an immigrant?

steven2012• 12 years ago

Yup I came in to say the same thing. I think this is terrible advice. If your goal is to come back to the US then going back to India for a startup is a terrible idea. If you don't care if you never return back to the US, then it's fine but if you do want to return, you have no idea what the immigration laws will be or how hard it is to return.

BIackSwan3• 12 years ago

Thats the whole point of risk. I risk not coming back because i wont have any idea what the immigration laws will be or how hard it is to return. I am ok with taking that risk, many are not.

But so far in my experience I have always found that there is always an option/a way to your goal. It might be shitty, long (as in multiple years long) and tons of headache and hassle, but there is always a way.

themonk• 12 years ago

Your are doing good job, helping patients to find cheap services, you are the first one to do it here in India. Thanks.

dd367• 12 years ago

As a Cornell Computer Science undergraduate from India myself, I find this post very thought provoking. Other factors that I personally would probably take into account is gaining some industry experience before one jumps into entrepreneurship in India and simply acquiring some capital from a few years of employment in the US which can you lean back on during your difficult startup days back in India. Just a thought.

xiaoma• 12 years ago

3. It will be not that hard to get back up if I fail completely and utterly

Most people are too risk-adverse. As long as you can keep playing after a loss, there's little reason to be risk-adverse. The exception is when the risk is so extreme—death, imprisonment, etc..—that losing means you couldn't play again.

comrade1• 12 years ago

I spend at least once a year in Delhi and/or Hyderbad. I have friends in both places and have met multiple times with many movers and shakers in the tech and other communities, including the former ceo of microsoft india, the defense minister, and many below that level.

My trip two or three years ago let me observe something amazing - the start of many Indians that were born and raised outside of India are moving to India to start up companies - tech, biotech, etc. The parties I went to... hanging out with brits, french, americans, but all Indian ancestry but not Indian.

Many, but not all, were doing quite well with their companies. The ones that had left the West at the highest level of their jobs possible (e.g., cto of louis vuitton, head scientist of a pharma company, etc) were doing the best. The others were struggling.

But, given all of that, I couldn't help but think that they may be dooming their children and future generations. It's much easier to move to India with money and success than to move to the West, and I don't think India is there yet to support a successful business/tech class.

I do think overall the move back to India is going to be good for India. There's a conflict between the tech and the political class and the political class needs to be taken down a few notches. Can you imagine your outrage when a government official demands a bribe in order for your business to move forward? The Western-originated Indians won't stand for it - one of my trips to Hyderabad a house sale made the news because there was no black money involved...

sumanthvepa• 12 years ago

Welcome home to India! I'm another Cornell alum here who did the same. You're certainly not alone. I moved to the US after my undergrad and studied and worked there before returning home to eventually become an entrepreneur. One of the driving factors in my decision to return to India, was that it is a lot easier for an Indian (citizen) to be an entrepreneur in India, than it was for a H1B visa holder to be an entrepreneur in the US. That visa is not designed for that purpose. For me the decision was straight forward. And I was surprised to find how many folks with similar backgrounds had come to the same conclusion. And fortunately, India as a startup destination has only become more attractive in the years since I've returned.

Making the hardest decision of my life

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