Polio struck V.K. Vinod Nair’s right leg when he was a few months old, making the neuromuscular condition a lifelong companion. He moves around with the help of a German-engineered device, but his true allies have been his perseverance and an indomitable spirit. These qualities helped him overcome the challenges and carve a name for himself in the American med-tech space.
PracticeSuite is one of the top five cloud-based platforms for ambulatory care in the US. Over three decades, Nair, 54, has developed a comprehensive set of applications that power medical practices. PracticeSuite operates in all 50 states in the US and has remained profitable and debt-free. He is now turning his focus to India, aiming to support young innovators in med-tech to create humane solutions that truly impact lives. He believes that the ideal approach to building health solutions is to blend “the pace of the west with the grace of the east”.
Even though the US has been a leader in technological solutions, its inefficiencies in medical management drove Nair to become a medpreneur. “In the early 2000s, my neuromuscular condition started worsening. I was navigating various hospital systems,” he recalls. “At that time, insurance companies covered these expenses, so there was little concern about duplicating costs. But for patients, it was a frustrating experience―enduring pain, managing paperwork, and dealing with bureaucratic inefficiencies.”
Nair was working at Oracle at that time on a critical project overseen by CEO Larry Ellison. The project addressed inefficiencies, duplications, and errors in the company’s sales compensation system. “My role was to apply business process re-engineering―analysing workflows to eliminate waste, reduce redundancy and improve efficiency,” he says. “While tackling that corporate challenge, I couldn’t ignore my own health care experience. So I started researching available solutions―who was working on this and what systems existed. At the time, the market was in its infancy, with no major players in the space.”
After leaving Oracle, Nair worked at Juniper Networks for a brief while before launching his own venture.
“The desire to succeed― financially or simply to do well in life―has been with me for as long as I can remember,” he says. “At 13, I wanted to do something meaningful and was always engaged in some activity, either finding work or trying to start a business. Throughout my life, I pursued various ventures, driven primarily by the hardships I experienced growing up.”
Nair believes in investing in people. “If my employees interact with customers and say something wrong, the company itself is perceived as being wrong. That’s why it’s crucial to ensure that frontline employees are treated well, respected, and given a voice in the company’s processes. When employees feel valued, they radiate that positivity in their interactions with customers,” he says.
His fascination extends beyond psychology to philosophy, and he applies them to med-tech. “We’ve been conditioned to believe that life is about the pursuit of happiness―working hard today in the hope of a better tomorrow,” he says. “But the reality is, happiness doesn’t have to be a distant goal. Indian philosophy offers a radically different perspective: happiness is innate. You don’t have to chase it―you already are happy, here and now. This is the missing piece, and our failure to recognise it is the reason we suffer. Just as human beings are innately happy, they are also innately healthy. We make ourselves unhealthy.”
What exists today, Nair believes, is not health care but disease care. “When do people visit a doctor? When they’re sick. No one goes to a doctor when they feel perfectly fine. So why do we call it health care? Because we’ve been conditioned to see health as merely the absence of disease. But true health is much more than that,” he says.
Though a techpreneur, Nair does not see technology as the ultimate solution to human health―it is merely a tool to facilitate wellbeing. This belief led him to acquire an application called Hello Health, which focuses on preventing chronic diseases and improving overall wellness.
“The health care ecosystem consists of three main parties: patients, doctors, and insurance companies,” he explains. “However, their interests often conflict―patients want affordable care, doctors seek more patients and higher earnings, and insurance companies aim to collect more while paying less. Traditionally, health care has been dominated by insurance companies, with doctors operating within that system. With Hello Health, my goal is to shift the focus back to the patient. Instead of relying solely on insurance companies, doctors, and the health care system to dictate their wellbeing, individuals should take charge of their own health. This requires embracing a holistic perspective―learning from traditional medical systems like Ayurveda while integrating modern advancements.”
The holistic health care approach has personally benefited Nair. “At its core, Ayurveda is about maintaining the equilibrium of vata, pitta, and kapha doshas. When this balance is lost, disease takes hold,” he says.
He hopes to apply this principle of equilibrium not just to individual health but to society as a whole. “In any society, an economic hierarchy exists. The key to a healthy society is ensuring that those at the bottom, like I once was, have both the hope and the resources to climb the ladder and succeed. But today, upward mobility is disappearing,” he says. “For the average person, starting a business and building a better future has become increasingly difficult. I could have chosen to invest my knowledge and financial resources into well-established companies with minimal risk. However, a significant portion of society―the bottom of the pyramid―remains excluded from economic opportunities. That’s why I am developing a concept called equilibrium. The investment firm I am launching will be named Equilibrium Capital.”
Equilibrium Capital aims to identify and support ambitious individuals at the bottom of the pyramid―those who are willing to work hard and seize opportunities if given guidance and support.