Dr. Shaun Kuan always knew he had a knack for business to the extent that while he was in medical school he started a company! So, it’s not surprising that this doctor has become a startup aficionado. His Savor of Life healthy food business is his third startup and has been doing well. He’s moving on to better things but he shares why this business began, what it has taken him to succeed, and the realities of getting into a startup business. According to Dr Kuan, doctors would do well in the healthy food industry because of their education and training.
For Dr. Kuan, transitioning from clinical medicine to a startup business was a natural progression. “It was about choosing between the two things which I love. I just love startups more”, he said with a smile. Dr. Kuan started Savor of Life in 2017 as a part-time venture. It was officially incorporated at the end of 2018. His company prepares and delivers therapeutic meals to patients diagnosed with lifestyle diseases as well as catering to a health-conscious public.
How It All Began for Dr. Kuan
While he was a doctor in the civil service, Dr.Kuan noticed that rather than taking a targeted approach, doctors were treating the symptoms of chronic diseases. In the long run, this method was making little difference in patients’ lives.
His mind began churning as he sought a solution to make a real difference in the lives of patients particularly those diagnosed with chronic diseases. His journey on this pathway began when he and a colleague made a home visit to see a patient. Traditionally, doctors are not trained to prescribe lifestyle behavioral changes but Dr. Kuan was already a believer in the power of lifestyle in reversing chronic diseases in patients.
So, he experimented with this patient urging him to make dietary changes and begin exercising. He and his colleague observed how the patient’s wife cooked the meals, how the patient exercised, and how the man worked.
Within a year, they were able to reverse the extremely high blood pressure condition of the patient. Dr Kuan was pleased with the outcome and began networking with a community of like-minded international doctors who were well versed with lifestyle medicine in aiding patients’ recovery.
An Eye for Opportunity
Sensing the need to gather more evidence regarding the value of lifestyle changes in a patient’s recovery process, Dr. Kuan and his colleague gathered 50 voluntary patients for a pilot study. They began coaching them on dietary changes and exercises. As a big fan of technology, Dr Kuan had an app that was in its testing stage which was user-accessible. All 50 patients were added to the app and the mobile coaching program began.
Patients would log in their food and exercise data, the doctors would do calls with them and notes would be placed in the app for the patients. They were able to help about 85% of their patients to reverse their existing conditions to one scale down!
But a crucial finding of their “study” revealed that two months into the dietary and exercise regime, when the law of diminishing returns kicked in, patients reverted to their old habits. The first thing his patients compromised on was food. This was followed by tobacco.
He realized that healthy meals needed to be added to the health coaching component to get patients to stay on the plan. “We realized that food is a pivotal point which many Malaysians can relate to. That’s why today we have a full blown food and beverage delivery business. We use that as our key differentiator among the many companies engaged in health and behavioral changes” he said.
His company provides whole-food plant based meals. The introduction of the food component saw that module being added to their health app. A website was also launched for food orders.
His company is focused on an end to end solution for patients from a dietary perspective. For example, once a patient has seen the doctor and realized the importance of dietary changes, they are able to connect Savor of Life and have a food delivery program set up for them. This is to facilitate the reversal of a patient’s condition to an acceptable level which the patient is satisfied with.
Expansion of the Business
The business began with food preparation for patients through partnerships with GP clinics, hospitals and a heart institute. Later, they expanded their business to include the corporate world by doing free health screenings. These screenings provided more patients for their enterprise.
When the pandemic hit however, patient referrals and health screenings ceased. Savor of Life had to think of a way to survive and started shifting their appeal to the mass market. Rather than going through clinics, hospitals, and the corporate sector, they went directly to customers. The appeal to the mass market is working out well but patients could still obtain coaching and food packages through the company’s partnerships with the corporate sector, the GP clinics, and the hospitals.
What it Takes for a Startup to Succeed
Startups require a lot of time. In the first two years of a startup, an entrepreneur will need to work for about 20 hours a day. Startups also require a great deal of learning. When Dr. Kuan became serious about startups, he traveled daily to MAGIC (Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre) at Cyberjaya, parked himself at the cafeteria and spent a great deal of time with nonclinical folks.
A lot of organic learning took place at this venue. He learned about fundraising, building startups, marketing, operations and so forth. He also realized the value of mentors in the learning process as they cut short his learning time. He read books on startups with his favorite one being The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. “Learning was key and I had to fully master the knowledge of startups before I could get out and work on my company.”
He attended every single free meeting he could find at MAGIC and shook hands with everyone who walked by his line of sight. “ For me, personally, it was a journey of networking from beginning until now.” So, even during the pandemic, Dr. Kuan was networking heavily on LinkedIn. “I had a personal goal of meeting one new individual a week,” he said.
The Benefits of Mentoring and Networking
The networking and the mentoring paid off as he found friends and supporters who were skillful in their fields. If he had an issue with marketing or fundraising for example, there was always an “expert” he could ask. The networking also brought in the funds he needed for his startup. Networking helped to accelerate the growth of his business. “Of course I could have succeeded without mentors but it would have taken more time, blood, and sweat. With mentors I was able to learn within one or two months. With a startup, you need the right mentors onboard to help you,” Dr. Kuan said.
There’s more from Dr. Shaun Kuan on Thursday, so stay tuned.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the doctors Disruptive Doctors has interviewed and are based entirely upon the information provided to us by them. Disruptive Doctors is not responsible for any inaccuracy of the information conveyed to us.
