The food you eat makes you unwell.
This fundamental truth not only made everyone in our office feel uncomfortable during Monday morning pitches, but lead to the creation of GorMonjee. GorMonjee provides users with customized nutrition advice to help them determine the healthiest foods to eat for each meal that will give them a balanced diet. The startup was founded by physician and healthcare expert Dr. Vivek Narayan, who shared what he’s learned this summer about entrepreneurship and himself.
What attracted you to the Flashstarts accelerator?
We were impressed with the nature of diligence while being screened to be accepted. Of course the fact that Flashstarts is a software-based accelerator was the initial hook, but really it was only after meeting and conversing with both Jennifer and Charles that we decided that Flashstarts would be a great home for GorMonjee.
Tell us about your company
Preventative health is something that is extremely important to us, as is the ability to empower individuals to manage their own health and well-being. There is a crisis in the world around food and food production. While technology had made it easier to preserve, package and transport food, its quality and nourishment value has steadily declined. Add to the mix changing lifestyles and one begins to realize that modern food is slowly making us sick.
The solution is to fundamentally change the way we as a society look at food. If we believe that food leads to nourishment and prevents ill-health, then we have to provide users with decision-making information that allows them to choose the best foods for their health goals.
What has been the biggest challenge?
There is a convergence in healthcare that has caused the lines between consumer and clinical services to be separated by regulation and artificial business models. There’s a lot of uncertainty around the next generation of business models that will likely be created by the Affordable Care Act–it can get difficult to understand markets that have yet to be established.
Another challenge is to convince people that the old way of doing things, something they are so familiar with, is fundamentally wrong and that newer science and understanding of the way we metabolize food requires us to totally rethink how we evaluate the quality of food. It can take some convincing to change minds and habits.
Tell us about working and living in Cleveland
The Playhouse Square area is a great place to work, especially in the summer. There is a vibe that is infectious and ideas and new ways of thinking about problems simply seem to bubble up when you are stuck. The surrounding Cleveland Metroparks provide you with great ways to get your fill of outdoor activities. There are many hiking trails that are great for trail running too.
How do you like working with interns?
Young professionals are the future of our work force. I particularly like interacting with interns when there is a challenging task at hand. We fundamentally believe that students and young professionals need real world situations so that they not only are engaged and inspired but are also able to learn what being entrepreneurial is all about. Watching young professionals grow, apply critical thinking and enjoy their work is something that we find very rewarding.
What is some advice for future interns?
While it’s great to be task-oriented, understanding and internalizing the vision of a company will allow a sense of autonomy in decision-making. We believe in empowering young professionals to apply critical thinking, and understanding a company vision is key to ensuring that more often than not decisions are made for the right reasons.
What surprised you about your experience at Flashstarts?
We were pleasantly surprised by what Jennifer and Charles referred to as the Market Place for interns… i.e., anyone can work with anyone and everyone is allowed to attract the talent they want to leverage for the best outcomes for their companies. This is a particularly refreshing view of managing human capital and forces both founders and interns to engage with each other in a more meaningful way.
What are some things you’ve learned this summer, so far?
My personal focus has been on defining the vision for GorMonjee and transitioning from a professional career to one focused on leading a team towards the collective goals we have for GorMonjee. I have always gravitated towards leadership roles, but I’m enjoying the scope and latitude of being able to set a strategic direction for technology that we believe can truly transform the way individuals manage their nutrition.
I’ve also started believing more in GorMonjee as we receive more and more external validation from the ecosystem. Also, I’ve become comfortable with my style of communicating disagreement. It’s rather simple. Before we attempt a task we decide on what success looks like and until we reach that point, everything on route is an iteration that requires improvement.
Learn more about GorMonjee by visiting their website, checking them out on Facebook, and following them on Twitter at @GorMonjee.
