How a quick product and market expansion can keep the momentum going w/ Varun Goyal

When momentum is interrupted by a global crisis, it can take the wind out of even a big corporation’s sails, never mind a startup’s. Sometimes, the trick to keeping momentum going, or at the very least moving in the right direction, could be as simple as a shift in focus.  Staying open to opportunities that build on a process or product you’ve already developed can be key to unlocking doors that might be closing to other innovators. In this episode, Varun Goyal talks about his company’s pre-pandemic momentum and changes in focus and target markets that helped see Illuminate Health through the pandemic crisis. Varun gives our listeners a glimpse into his startup’s strategies and challenges as they actively avoided pilot purgatory in an unpredictable market.    Here are the show highlights: How a formal pilot and patient information can help you expand your solution (3:12) Why shifting use case focus can help keep momentum going during market disruptions (9:53) One of the most challenging pieces to the commercialization process (13:05) Ways to avoid pilot purgatory (14:52) When a crisis can both slow down momentum - or speed things up (21:27) Add-on solutions - can this be a way in the door when the door is closing? (29:09) What’s important when looking for an advisor (32:13)  Guest Bio Varun Goyal is CEO and Co-Founder of Illuminate Health, a digital care assistant for individuals and families that helps simplify healthcare management. An engineer by background, Varun spent a lot of his career at Oracle in various consulting roles before getting passionate about consumer health. Varun earned his BS in computer engineering from Illinois State University, MS in computer science from University of Chicago, and his MBA in marketing, management and strategy, and healthcare from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management. If you’d like to reach out to Varun or are looking for additional information on Illuminate Health, you can find him on  LinkedIn at Varun Goyal, email at vg@illuminate.health, at his company’s website Illuminate.Health.