Developers typically follow one of two paths: They rise through the ranks to principal engineer or pursue a software development or IT management path. Pravin Uttarwar, CTO at healthcare solution provider Mindbowser took the latter route, jumping directly from a developer role to CTO.
Uttarwar began his career with a Bachelor’s of Computer Science and a Master’s of Computer Applications before joining an IT consulting startup as the second employee.
“The job was not good in terms of pay, but I totally enjoyed the journey because I was doing so many things there like coding as a software engineer and handling client communications,” says Uttarwar. “The most important part was the ownership I was getting. The founders relied on me, so every night of late work was worth it.”
To Uttarwar, the freedom to do many types of jobs meant he had broader experiences than the average developer, which laid the groundwork for effective cross-functional communication and collaboration. After about five years at the company, he and his then-colleague, Ayush Jain, decided to start their own company, Mindbowser.
“I was bit hesitant about whether to start a company or not because there was no advisor, no playbook and no safety net. After talking with family members who encouraged me, I figured there was nothing to lose so no harm in trying,” says Uttarwar. “There’s the money aspect, which I believed would come, but more importantly, it’s a matter of making sure that what you’re doing today really helps others and you to become a better person. That continuous learning mindset set the tone for everything.”
For example, during its 12-year history, the company has grown from 10 to 200 employees. Not bad for someone who has never been in an IT leadership role before.
“Luckily we had a few good clients and good employees for the first few years, and they are still with us,” says Uttarwar. “Over time, we built credibility with customers who refer new customers and leads. We also transitioned from a service business to a service and solution provider after about seven years. A couple of our solutions failed, so we got some advisors to better align our services and solutions offerings.”
Becoming an Effective IT Leader
Today’s IT leaders need both hard and soft skills, but it can be difficult to find the time for upskilling. Uttarwar and Jain — both Mindbowser founders — came to the US to study technology leadership simultaneously a few years ago while the business continued, back in India.
“There was a turning point about four years ago when we were stuck, when we were trying to figure out what’s next. We knew we wanted to grow, but we felt we’d be more effective leaders if we took some executive-level classes. I chose the MIT Technology Leadership Program while my partner was at Berkeley. We were trying to figure out the market,” says Uttarwar. “At the time, Mindbowser had a mobile app, ecommerce solutions and we were focused on healthcare and retail. I think the toughest decision we had to make was to just focus on one thing. That’s how our healthcare journey started.”
Pravin Uttarwar
That singular focus involved hiring healthcare subject matter experts and enabled the company to expand into various healthcare subsectors, like dentistry and home care.
“Our mentors were pivotal, but we realized there were certain things we had to learn on our own. Luckily, we had hired solid leadership. They made it possible for us to study at MIT and Berkeley, respectively,” says Uttarwar. “My co-founder and I consciously decided to take different leadership programs. I wanted to make sure I was aligned with people and what they want. I was fortunate enough to be in the MIT Technology Leadership Program with seasoned IT leaders when I was the junior person. I learned a lot from them, too.”
For example, Mindbowser tries new things each year to retain people. Some of it has to do with innovation and some has to do with unlocking benefits based on tenure.
“If you spend three years, you get a nice gift. If you’re with us for five years you get money to buy a house. At 10 years, you receive an international tour with your family. These are small things, but they help us retain talent,” says Uttarwar. “Last year, we started an ESOP so they could earn stock options. As founders, it’s our way of giving back to these people who have spent a lot of time with us. We also try new things with customers to boost retention.”
Uttarwar constantly analyzes markets for what’s coming. Sometimes, he does a quick POC as an example of what Mindbowser should be doing. He also uses prototypes to customers who want to try new things.
The Biggest Challenges
Growth is what Uttarwar says is most challenging.
“It can be challenging to find new customers and delivering to customers sometimes. For example, at one point, we had multiple employees at a U.S. office, but that didn’t work out the way we hoped,” says Uttarwar. “So, this year, either I or my cofounder will focus on the US completely.”
In the meantime, most of the CIOs and chief medical officers (CMOs) Uttarwar talks to aren’t sure what to do with “new” technologies like GenAI.
“Stakeholders are putting pressure on CIOs and CMOs to do something with GenAI, so we’re trying to help them by bringing in new ideas, helping with change management, planning and execution,” says Uttarwar. “They’re focused on the AI aspect, but they need to do it in a responsible way. Worse, they have a lot of broken systems that are not speaking to each other, and that’s where they need to start first.”
Most healthcare CIOs have been tasked with building AI or building something on top of AI that will help make clinicians’ lives easier, but the fundamental issues, like data management and integration must be addressed.
“The foundational element of AI is data, which includes a lot of hidden biases. So, we first need to organize the data, then convert it into the required format of the models. Then we can figure out the AI side of things, which is not a big deal because LLMs let you solve that problem faster,” says Uttarwar. “In healthcare, there are certain protocols you must follow that change with time, so it’s not just changing the software. You have to change your mindset, then change the software. That’s why we invested so heavily in healthcare domain expertise. Whatever we are building must be validated by the clinicians for whom we’re building before we get to the UAT stage.”
At present, healthcare organizations want to improve business efficiency while minimizing burnout, but they should also be monitoring user trust and patient experience as part of their AI framework.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about AI, like everything should be as simple as pressing a button, but that’s not true. You also have to consider the human and organizational elements, like how to address bias and achieve stakeholder trust,” says Uttarwar. “The whole journey mapping must address pain points we’re going to solve, and that needs to be done by the subject matter experts.”
Servant Leadership Prevails
Mindbowser has experienced strong growth and high employee retention. Rather than taking credit himself, Uttarwar stresses how much he learns from others and credits Mindbowser employees and customers for the positive company momentum.
“From the very beginning, I’ve always believed I can learn something from everyone I meet, so whenever I engage people, I tend to spend more time listening than speaking,” says Uttarwar. “By empowering people to be their best, and supporting them in their efforts, everybody wins. Their careers grow along with the company. In the beginning, I believed I’d have more success if I was constantly learning. I still have the same mindset today and it has served me and Mindbowser well.”