This video features a speaker, Fadli, a UGM medical school graduate, sharing his journey from struggling to get into medical school to founding a health-tech startup focusing on patient support. Drawing from his own experiences facing discomfort (growing up with limited internet access, repeated university application rejections) and observing the struggles of chronic patients (like feeling isolated despite support systems), Fadli identified a critical problem: patients with chronic illnesses lacked a dedicated, reliable platform to connect with and support each other. He details how he learned to code independently and launched an early Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of a mobile application aimed at connecting patients with similar conditions. Despite initial limitations and negative feedback, continuous improvement based on user input led to growth and validation. The video highlights the importance of embracing discomfort, multidisciplinary thinking, and rapidly releasing imperfect solutions to address real-world problems, particularly in the healthcare sector where regulatory challenges exist. The startup's evolution now includes B2B partnerships and expanded services beyond patient-to-patient support.
Summarizing the Journey of Innovating in Healthcare
0:28 Background & Struggles: The speaker, Fadli, shares his personal background, including his two-year struggle to get into UGM medical school despite multiple attempts (12 state university entrance tests), highlighting resilience developed from this experience.
1:19 Perspective on Innovation: Fadli aims to discuss innovation from the perspective of a medical student identifying problems and developing solutions, contrasting with a purely business perspective.
4:44 Hope for Medical Innovation: He shows a video clip of drones delivering blood in Rwanda as an example of technology solving healthcare problems in remote areas, emphasizing the potential for medical students to identify unique problems.
6:11 Speaker's Roles: After medical school, Fadli was involved in various initiatives including the national "1000 Digital Startups" movement (6:21), Google Business Group (6:39), and serving as Secretary of the Altaitech.id association (6:49), which advocates for technology-friendly healthcare regulations.
7:31 Embrace Discomfort: Fadli stresses that innovation often arises from discomfort, sharing his challenging upbringing with limited and expensive internet access (4 kg of rice per hour of internet at 8:53) in a remote area, which fostered a greater appreciation for technology.
10:02 DIY Signal Boosting: He recounts learning to build a "pancibolic" (frying pan antenna) to boost Wi-Fi signals over several kilometers in his hometown (10:10), illustrating resourceful problem-solving driven by discomfort.
11:00 Multidisciplinary Approach: He emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary thinking in medical education and innovation, combining perspectives from different fields.
13:43 Learning from Failure: Reflecting on his 12 failed university applications, Fadli connects this experience to Steve Jobs' "connecting the dots" philosophy (14:03), realizing these setbacks built resilience and perseverance crucial for his later endeavors.
15:40 Impact of Diverse Skills: He uses Steve Jobs' college dropout story and his choice to study typography (14:56) as an example of seemingly unrelated skills becoming valuable assets later on, encouraging learning broadly.
15:52 Problem Sensing: Innovators must increase their "sensing" towards problems around them, being aware of the needs and issues others might miss (15:52).
17:23 Identifying a Core Problem: Through meeting a cancer patient (17:27) who felt isolated despite support, Fadli identified the critical need for chronic patients to connect with peers who understand their specific experiences, finding that support from fellow patients is uniquely impactful (18:41).
19:11 Analyzing Existing Solutions: Before building his solution, he researched existing digital health platforms in Indonesia (19:16), finding they focused mainly on doctor-patient interactions, leaving a gap for patient-to-patient support.
19:39 Problem with Informal Groups: While patients used WhatsApp or Facebook groups (19:39), these lacked verification, leading to unreliable information.
19:51 Developing a Mobile App: Recognizing the need for accessibility, especially in waiting rooms (20:01), he decided to build a mobile application on Android (20:12) due to its wide market reach.
20:19 Learning to Code: Fadli learned Android development through online courses (Indonesia Android Academy, Udacity) and YouTube, highlighting that tools are not obstacles even with minimal resources (slow laptop, 2GB RAM at 20:41).
21:44 Launching an MVP: He launched a very simple version of the app (f1) with minimal features (posting stories, commenting, supporting, registration, feedback - 21:49), deliberately releasing it despite imperfections based on the principle: "if you are still embarrassed about your product, then release it" (22:20).
22:54 Handling Feedback: The initial release received negative feedback (23:00), but constructive comments, like the request to support interactions between patients with different diseases (23:05), guided continuous improvement (23:34).
23:45 Usable vs. Perfect: He distinguishes between releasing an unusable product (e.g., cannot download or register) and releasing a minimal but functional one (23:48).
24:04 Support from Google: The app received support from Google, leading to increased visibility and user growth.
24:47 "Patient" App: The app, named "Pasien" (Patient), connects patients with the same disease for mutual support (24:47).
25:23 Most Valuable Factor: The most critical element of the app's success is the interaction between patients themselves (25:25).
27:15 Personal Validation: A video produced by Google showcasing the app helped convince his parents (27:17), validating his chosen path outside traditional clinical medicine.
27:55 User Base: As of a recent date (implied around the time of recording, possibly 2017-2018 based on context), the app had nearly 9,000 users, with 40% in Jakarta (27:54).
28:10 Impact Story: He shares a powerful story of a user with heart disease (28:19) who initially only confided in her boyfriend, but through the app, connected with peers, gained confidence, and eventually opened up to her family and the public, finding purpose in her illness (28:49).
29:45 Feeling Not Alone: The user's feedback, "I feel like I'm not alone anymore," validated Fadli's decision to pursue this path (29:47).
30:01 Different Path: Fadli's path is distinct from the majority of medical graduates (90%) who pursue clinical careers (30:01).
30:10 Evolution of the Platform: The platform evolved from patient-to-patient support to include partnerships with the healthcare industry (30:14), including pharmaceutical companies like Novartis (30:27) for content and patient recruitment for research.
30:55 Business Model: The current business model is B2B (30:56), connecting industry partners with patients, and also includes e-commerce/home services in Jakarta (30:59).
31:05 Hospital Integration: The platform also connects with hospitals (JIH Jogja, UGM Academic Hospital, etc. - 31:05) via integration software.
31:26 Why Innovate: Innovation is a necessity ("must") to stay ahead of the wave of technological change (31:33), citing Blockbuster's failure to adapt to Netflix as a cautionary tale (32:13). Ignoring technological change ("importing technology") is a mistake (32:20).