Shashank N.D. dropped out of college to build Practo, back when dropping out just meant you couldn’t get a job.
No business family. Both parents in government service. When everyone around him said “do an MBA first, you can always start a company later,” he flipped the logic: you can always get a job later, but right now I have the least baggage I’ll ever have. So he stayed in, bootstrapped Practo, and sold software to doctors one month at a time, often unable to afford even an ice cream.
In this episode of Unstarted, Shashank sits down with Avneesh, who has known him for 13 years and backed Practo through its highs and near-death lows. They talk about the story behind the story. Building Practo for his father, who had been through 7-8 surgeries. Finding product-market fit purely through doctor referrals. The frameworks that held the team together for 18 years. The brutal years when doctors burned his billboards and FIRs were filed for the crime of rating doctors. Why COVID turned Practo from a pariava into the industry. And the mindset that kept him going: fall in love with the problem, and measure impact, not valuation.
If you’re building, or still unstarted, this one is full of hard-won lessons on conviction, co-founders, culture, surviving crises, and playing a decades-long game.
Chapters
0:00 Intro: the oldest, youngest founder
0:52 Bangalore roots and a government-service family
1:58 Discovering entrepreneurship at the E-Cell
5:50 Bootstrapping and the ice cream he couldn't afford
6:49 Co-founders, trust, and 18 years together
8:44 From stocks to legal to healthcare: finding the idea
10:00 Two business cards: CEO for VCs, sales exec for doctors
11:30 Why "Practo", and the $6 domain name
11:51 Market timing: fall in love with the problem, not the timing
15:43 The only two metrics that mattered for survival
17:35 Missionary vs mercenary founders
25:50 Culture: the WHOOPIM framework
28:57 "Do Great" and leading by example
30:47 His mother's advice that changed how he manages
35:51 Death by capital: the 2015 funding mistake
38:27 COVID: the pariah becomes the industry
40:11 Profitability, the US launch, and AI in healthcare
42:50 A note on the Matrix partnership
43:54 Advice to the unstarted: measure impact, not valuation