"Hi! And thanks.  I started out in product marketing, first for Baltimore and then with NewBay Software where I eventually became VP of Product. That period was hugely exciting as social mobile web applications completely revolutionised the mobile operator market. We launched five product lines, built the user base to over 10 million and deployed in four continents.  Product marketing is an iterative environment, where you’re always trying to achieve some sort of product market fit. It’s certainly fast paced, and it suits those who are comfortable with change. It was a breeding ground for a start-up mentality."

 

 

"I don’t remember making a conscious decision to become an entrepreneur. There was more a desire to do things differently. It was apparent to anyone that online would disrupt the world of healthcare.  Then while travelling in South East Asia I had a minor mishap and needed surgery. When trying to research my options there really was nothing out there.  That’s when I had the idea for WhatClinic.com. If you can recognise a common problem and if your solution can make a real difference, it’s almost impossible not to pursue it."

 

 

"Suffice to say the obstacles were many, varied and unpredictable. But we started out with a small number of highly committed people who always rose to the challenge. Certainly a sense of humour helped!  Today our problems are more commercial. Now our obstacles are around finding the right people and keeping that start up mentality as we move into the next stage of growth."

 

 

"Actually no, I haven’t wanted to quit yet. There’s still time! There have been tough days, sure. When we rebranded from RevaHealth to WhatClinic.com a few years ago traffic went through the floor. But then last year 15 million people visited WhatClinic.com to help find and compare clinics, our busiest year yet. Crises don’t really faze me anymore because I have learned that they are simply moments of accelerated change."

"Luckily for us, our initial offering and our timing were very much aligned. There have been a few adaptations of course. Initially we were a marketplace for medical tourism patients and clinics. Then we grew to meet the needs of patients everywhere, whether they needed a dentist down the road or further afield. Now the bulk of our growth is for consumers who are local – albeit local in over 200 countries and territories. 

We’re also changing and adapting in the day to day. We run in engineering cycles of two weeks, and there are hundreds of small iterations to the live site every cycle based on analytics and user feedback."

 

 

"I always believed the business would be successful. I wouldn't have started it if there was any doubt. In fact, we raised 600K before the company was even set up. That was with no product, no employees and no customers, in part because of the clear scalability of the product"

 

 

"My experience raising seed and angel funding came at such a radically different economic period for Ireland that any lessons learned are fundamentally useless in today's economic reality. Today's founders must prove their value from the outset. There are three things that can make a difference: The first is a track record that demonstrates capability. The second is proof of product. The third? Superhuman networking skills."

 

 

"We believe people can do extraordinary things. We hire for potential as well as skill. We work smarter, not longer. We encourage people to show up on time with a great attitude. We want them to work incredibly hard but get out on time. You can’t have a work life balance if you don’t have time to do the things you love. We also practice a family friendly working environment, with the senior team and their families paving the way for better work and life choices."

 

"Our mission is to help patients find the right clinic for the treatment they want, by giving them access to all the information they need to make an informed decision. Today we have over 1.2 million unique monthly visitors to site. We have over a thousand paying customers in more than 100 countries. More than 100,000 businesses are listed on WhatClinic.com with more joining every single day. Over the next three years, our goal is simple - to be the largest, most comprehensive source of clinic information in the world, with accurate, up to date information on pricing, quality and availability. "

 

 

"This question makes the assumption that I enjoy being an entrepreneur! What does it even mean? I don’t think my mindset has changed all that much. When I sit down at my desk I’m the CEO of a company. When the company is going well, then it’s great. When it’s not great – then it’s a pretty shit job. On a day to day level it comes down to the weight of responsibility you carry."

 

 

"Having to constantly say no. Everyone has great ideas and when you've got 55 employees that's a lot of great ideas - however as CEO you are in charge of the strategy and strategy is being clear on what you don't do so that you have enough resources to focus on what you do want to do."

 

 

"A key learning for me, and it’s a value we now communicate internally all the time, is to embrace failure. Many people find this strange at first. Really, failure is just a step on the path to success, and we are not afraid of it. We fail until we get it right. Fail up."

 

 

"For a tech start up - it can be very easy to get buried in the technology. Know your customer. If you want to understand your product and realise its true market potential – talk to the people who actually use it.  Don’t let the people developing your product get cut off from the day to day users. Get under the skin of the user."

 

 

1) Don’t be afraid of failure. 

2) Know your customer. 

3) Stay lean. 

4) Hire people better than you. 

5) Find a great accountant.  

 

I would ask the following:

1) Have you got product market fit?

2) Can you prove your business model?

3) Do you have a customer base that is willing and capable of paying?  

4) Is your business scalable?

5) Is your market big enough? (Seriously do the maths here, it’s not difficult - if you win 10% of the potential market does that give you company you want?)

6) And lastly, have you got the right people behind you – at home and at work?

 

 

"I'm deeply cynical of all methodologies and regard many of them as little more than dogma. Everything is so highly contextual that it can be very difficult to take specific learnings from one area and expect them to hold true elsewhere. Having said that, we have found elements of the lean startup framework to be very useful. With huge demands on our engineering resources, we must be judicious with the projects we commit to. Sometimes it’s too easy to fall into the trap of doing every good idea. What it boils down to is ‘will it move the needle?’"

 

 

• Questioning.

Pragmatic.

Driven.

 

 

Twitter: @caelen, @whatclinic. 

LinkedIn: ie.linkedin.com/in/caelenking

Website: www.whatclinic.com