My First Year as Lumiata CEO

Today marks my one year anniversary as CEO at Lumiata. It also marks Lumiata’s reset as a company. Here are some thoughts on what this reset entailed, where we stand today, and where we are heading.

People First

People are central to an organization’s ability to deliver on its mission. When you strive to change an industry as complex as healthcare, your skills, character and grit as a leader can become the biggest contributing factor to the team’s ability to succeed. Our reset began with leaders first. As I complete my first year, Lumiata has an entire new leadership team across functions with folks steeped in technology and healthcare. They complement deep technical competence of our teams that built a strong data science muscle at Lumiata over the years.

These leaders are fearless in tackling and solving hard problems. One of the first things I would say to candidates in the interview process is that this job is not for the faint of heart. That productizing AI in healthcare and building a go-to-market engine for an industry slow to change would require a fundamental belief in the company’s mission –– and oneself as a leader. It would demand some serious energy, capacity and passion to build and execute with discipline.

I personally recruited most leaders (without employing search firms) as this was as much about building the soul of the company, as it was about filling a lead role (admittedly, it was hard as being new to healthcare I did not inherit a network to draw from). The transparency in the process allowed us to get commits and alignment at a far deeper level than a usual search process affords.

Aggressive Product Strategy

Healthcare is undergoing an historic shift in its model and delivery. Given the scale and complexity involved, product companies have to be pristine in defining and articulating the business problem they solve. We now have a clear value proposition for healthcare organizations to drive affordability in coverage with Lumiata cost and risk insights.

Recognizing that the scale of the challenge will not be solved by startups alone, we have embraced a Platform approach. We are building AI applications, as well as, arming data teams to harness the power of data by leveraging Lumiata tools our data scientists and engineers use everyday. We are opening up Lumiata’s platform as a service: customers can use Lumiata AI Business Applications, as well as, integrate datasets and models in their environments using the Lumiata AI Platform.

Execution of this roadmap has gone in parallel with a successful transition of Lumiata data center to the cloud. All done in year one.

Borrowing from the Enterprise Software Playbook

User experience is core to enterprise products and in nearly every industry, it has transformed the way work is done. Healthcare should be no different. In Q2, we are releasing the first batch of Lumiata AI Business Apps for business users–– actuaries, underwriters and account teams. This has the potential to change the way back offices in healthcare organizations operate and integrate with front office teams. These applications will be cloud-based and employ a SaaS business model.

Values Matter

Today we are engaging with healthcare companies across the country and on-boarding new customers on the Lumiata AI Platform. We’re seeing what impassioned teams can deliver in a short time. While I am proud of our renewed product focus and execution to date, what I am most gratified by is the culture we’re building (and nurturing everyday) at Lumiata. Earlier this year, we rolled out Lumiata’s new core values that centered on ownership, a strong bias for results, care and respect for each other, and crucially–– for an AI company–– scientific rigor and honesty in how we build our products. Our mission to make healthcare smarter is an expansive one. Delivering on this promise requires market-leading products as well as a committed, aligned and energized team.

My deepest thanks to our amazing people for their hard work and partners at Khosla Ventures, BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and Sandbox Industries for their terrific support. Year 1 on, Team Lumiata is more energized than it’s ever been to make healthcare smarter – and better.