This Malayali built a top ambulatory care platform in US; his next, support system for early businesses

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Growing up in a middle-class Malayali family in Mumbai in the 1990s, V K Vinod Nair always dreamt of starting a business venture, though he had no entrepreneurial background.
His parents -- father from Palakkad and mother from Kayamkulam -- had migrated to the then Bombay to make a living and the middle class’ everyday struggle was a reality for the young Vinod who grew up in the country’s commercial hub in the years leading up to the opening of the economy.
In college, he not only studied commerce but also tried his hands in some small ventures to support his family. After completing his M.Com, he also got some training in computers, finding his way to the fascinating world of software.
As luck favoured the ambitious, while working in a company in 1996, he was sent to the United States on a three-month project to do some airline maintenance work. When he returned to India, he was called back to the US. He flew back, worked on the project and eventually joined the US-based computer tech giant Oracle.
In the US, what used to be his Bombay business dream took the shape of the American Dream. In 2004, Vinod founded PracticeSuite, a health-tech company which has, in the past 20 years, emerged as a leading cloud-based platform for ambulatory care in the US.
Under Vinod's leadership, the company has grown from a modest start-up to a market leader, serving 5% of the US population, processing over $10 billion in claims annually, and employing 350 team members, with two office spaces in India in Kochi and Mumbai. Through strategic acquisitions such as Hello Health and Micro MD, Vinod has strengthened
PracticeSuite's market presence. Since taking over as CEO in 2010, Vinod has positioned PracticeSuite as one of the top five cloud ambulatory care platforms in the country. Ambulatory care is a type of medical care that is provided to patients who are not admitted to a hospital.
Looking back, Vinod believes all that success has come through years of struggle, and he regrets not having a support system in his initial years. Now, he is on a mission to support aspiring entrepreneurs in India and the US by launching an investment platform.
“Nobody wants to put money in the unorganised sector and the lower sector. So I think I'll go to work there. I will create an investment fund and the idea is both in the US and India, we will go and pick up individuals with the spirit to do something. We create a structure by giving them capital as well as the necessary knowledge, infrastructures and other elements required so that when they fail, they don't fail miserably. That there is a support system,” he told Onmanorama.
As for the entrepreneurial spirit of youth in Kerala, this is Vinod’s view: “They are just caught up in the circumstances. Where is the opportunity for an average young kid to go start a business? It is not there. And I don't think they're running away.
“They have no way. So if I create an infrastructure and support them, I think there will be a sense of support system and confidence building that can create entrepreneurship.” At a personal level, Vinod has a deep interest in Vedanta philosophy and dedicates his time to teaching Sanskrit to young learners.