Hi!👋 I’m Ishan

I'm an ex-Medical Doctor, Healthcare Management Consultant, and Startup enthusiast. The sole purpose of this newsletter is to help me discover the best health tech startups from around the world. 🚀

A few things about me

🩺 I used to be a Medical Doctor

I began my career as a Medical Doctor and Scientist, qualifying with an MBBS and BSc Hons in Biochemistry and Immunology from St. George’s Hospital Medical School, in 2014. During this time, I contributed to peer-reviewed research, presented at scientific conferences and won a few academic awards.

Looking back, I had an amazing time and it was such a privilege to be working in the NHS. However, over time I became more interested in understanding how health systems worked at a higher level, how decisions were made, and how organizations could be transformed.

📊 I then became a Management Consultant

So, I transitioned into healthcare management consulting, where from 2015 to 2018, I advised executive leadership at national health systems and providers across the UK. My focus was on improving their operating performance and, ultimately how they cared for their patients, by leading large scale transformation programmes.

🚀 I built and scaled multiple Consumer Tech Startups

In 2018, drawing on my new business skillset I jumped into my first consumer tech experience, starting as an intern at Clinova, which focused on consumer health and pharma.

Clinova had created an oral rehydration tablet, that was honestly the best thing I had ever tasted. They were one of the earliest startups to deliver this product to athletes all across the UK.

My next venture was Kokoon Technology, an innovative sleep tech start-up combining sensors and machine learning to help people fall asleep more easily. Our most popular product was a pair of sleep headphones that we shipped all across the world to struggling sleepers from our own site.

At Kokoon, I led direct-to-consumer (DTC) growth, driving customer acquisition and revenue expansion. I scaled the business to millions in revenue, leveraging a mix of DTC strategies, partnerships, and data-driven marketing.

Along the way, Kokoon raised close to $10 million in venture funding from investors like Blackfinch and successfully secured a commercial partnership with Philips in 2022, a huge milestone in our journey.

Next, I started Bakkali (a passion project of mine!), a marketplace delivering authentic cultural and halal groceries across the UK helping ethnic communities have access to foods from back home.

Once again leading on growth, I took Bakkali from an idea to one of the fastest growing consumer brands in the UK.

Building the marketplace and getting traction was the easy bit, we scaled to thousands of customers through a focus on organic search and innovative customer retention. But the biggest challenge by far was creating and managing the end to end operation. Every order needed to be sourced, stored, quality controlled, picked, packed and delivered to each and every customer across the UK. So many cogs in the wheel and so many things that can go wrong.

Nevertheless, Bakkali was backed by Silicon Valley investors such as Hustle Fund, and reached an eight figure valuation within 12 months of launch.

✍️ So why am I writing about health startups 🚀?

It might sound bold, but I believe the world’s biggest company will one day be a health tech giant.

And I’m on a mission to find it.

I’ve built startups and had my fair share of failures, so I know what doesn’t work. But what does it take for an idea to break through and reach that level? That’s the question I’m still exploring. I don’t have the answer yet, but I’m determined to uncover it along the way.

Each week, I’ll analyze a promising health tech startup, breaking down:

📈 The Market – Is it big enough? Is it growing fast?
🔥 The Problem – Is it urgent, painful, and worth solving?
💡 The Solution – Is it differentiated, defensible, and scalable?
💰 The Business Model – Can it make money, and how sustainable is it?
⚠️ The Challenges – What could go wrong, and what might stop this startup from succeeding?

Why these areas? Because I believe every great health tech startup needs to excel in them from day one.

At the end, I’ll give my verdict ✅. Does this startup have the potential to become a health tech giant? Think of Devoted Health, Biosplice Therapeutics, and Tempus. companies that redefined their sectors.

I don’t have access to deal rooms, revenue numbers, or internal documents, I’ll leave that to the VCs. I’m analyzing startups from an outsider’s perspective, through my own lens. And to be clear, this isn’t a critique of the founders, entrepreneurs are some of the most brilliant, determined people out there.

My goal isn’t just to predict winners but to sharpen my thinking on what makes a great startup.

And if I’m wrong? Even better. That means I’m learning.

So, join me on this journey, and let’s uncover the future giants of health tech 🚀.