What's the Startup?!

Want to Build a Better Product? Get Closer to Your Customers: Insights from Smart MS3’s Akashdeep Randhawa

• Sprocket • Season 2 • Episode 9

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In this episode, we sit down with Akashdeep Randhawa, the visionary CEO and co-founder of Smart MS3, to uncover how his startup is revolutionizing physical therapy. Akash shares the personal inspiration behind his journey, the challenges of building a health-tech company, and how Smart MS3’s innovative medical devices are helping patients recover faster while empowering providers.

Listen as Akash dives into the power of gamification in physical therapy, the importance of building strong relationships with customers, and the grit it takes to succeed in the startup world. From stories of stroke patients walking again to lessons learned through Techstars and the Next50K pitch competition, this episode is packed with inspiration, actionable advice, and a glimpse into what’s next for Smart MS3.

Highlights Include:

  • How personal experiences shaped the vision for Smart MS3.
  • The role of gamification in boosting patient compliance and recovery.
  • Balancing patient care, provider needs, and operational efficiency.
  • Akash’s journey through Techstars and Next50K and the doors they’ve opened.
  • Building resilience and confidence as a founder.

If you’re looking to be inspired by innovation in healthcare and learn practical insights from a driven founder, this episode is for you.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Sprocket Podcast! If you’re ready to dive into the world of startups and innovation, visit us online at Sprocket WKY to learn more about our mission and how we support entrepreneurs like you.

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Kaylan:

Sh, thank you so much for joining us today. For those who aren't familiar with you or your company, give us a quick snapshot of what it is, who you are and why you're making waves in physical therapy.

Akash:

Yeah, so thank you. So my name is Akash. I'm the CEO and co founder of Smart MS3, and basically what our company does, it's developed medical devices for PT to help people exercise and recover much faster than they could otherwise. So the journey of Smart MST, the reason why we started initially was because of several personal reasons and just market trends that we've seen. Personally, my grandmother, she's gone through physical therapy on her own, mainly due to a stroke. So seeing her kind of go through that process of PT was difficult for me to see. So she would go into PT, she would think she's getting better, she'd quit, and then the whole process reset. And this would go on for several months at a time. So seeing that was difficult for me to do, and I thought there was a better way that we can help her out as a patient. And alongside that, from the PT's end, they're just as they're struggling just as much because they need tools like this in order to make sure patients remain compliant to the protocols of exercise and recovery. Because only, they only have so much power if they can show the patient they're getting better either. So these two trends lining up. At the same time of different insurance and Medicare cuts happening, we saw a good opportunity to build a product that can serve our patients and providers at the same time to make sure at the end of the day, people are recovering much faster than they could otherwise. So

Kaylan:

tell us more about your product and how it services or solves the problem that you're seeing in your industry.

Akash:

Yeah, let me show you it actually. So basically what we have it's our initial product was a muscle activity sensor that you can place on any part of your body. So this is how it looks. You can put this on any muscle group that you're exercising and what it does is it's automatically calibrated to that muscle and tells the patient how much they really have to activate it or how hard they have to exercise it to actually build strength over time. So as a patient, you can imagine going through therapy. They can put it directly onto the muscle group. So as you're exercising, it'll tell them that you have to hit this goal right here in order to actually get better. And if you're not hitting that goal, you're not really optimizing the recovery plan that therapist is providing. So it gamifies that entire experience. So a therapist and a physical patient knows that how much they really have to do to get better. And at the same time, it's covered by insurance.

Kaylan:

That's incredible. And what kind of results have you seen with with those patients who are utilizing it?

Akash:

Yeah, so we're seeing patients, I don't have the direct numbers at the top of my head, but what we're seeing on average, it's more compliancy to physical therapy in general. So a big fact is, Most patients that go into root therapy, 70 percent of them roughly quit after the first session. We're amping that number up so more patients are going up to like five, six visits now around those numbers. So obviously they're getting the better care, but at the same time they're seeing themselves get better at each set. So now there's like almost milestones built into place that I have to first be strong at my quad sets or my table based exercises, then I can get to squats. And as they see this progress occur step by step they're like saying, therapy's working. I'm getting better right now. And that's like the magical moment we want them all to see. And ultimately, as they do better, get faster, get more strength, that's the outcome we're seeing right now. Patients see themselves getting better. Providers feel more empowered with the clinical protocols that they're building to, for the patients.

Kaylan:

That's huge. What are some of the biggest challenges that you've faced either when you were just starting out or even now? How are you pushing through current challenges, especially in the healthcare tech industry? I'm sure there's obstacles everywhere.

Akash:

Yeah, so I think the main problem that I faced early on was understanding the Shareholders in place and what they all need and what we have to do as a company. So, you know Make sure all like shareholders are happy in the space we're working in. Initially, I thought it was just about the patients, making sure patients get better, and that's at the end of it. Ultimately what you have to do, it's make sure you take into business aspects of it, how can a clinic afford this and how much of a time commitment is it going to be for the therapist? So if you looked at our initial products, It was a clunky machine that it did the same stuff, helped the patient get better, but it wasn't helping the therapist, it took too long, and they couldn't ultimately provide therapy, or else they would not be able to provide therapy at all. So what we identified was, there's a business need that has to be fit into it, same thing with insurance, how we got coverage there. And the whole idea of operationally has to be effective in the clinic. And at that peak and most, most important still has to be clinically relevant for the patient. So once we identified those like three areas, that's what helped us really like fit into or find her, like our key customers, how we fit into them really well.

Kaylan:

What I see whenever I listen to your story and the stories of a lot of other startup founders is that there's like long stretches of just resilience and staying true to your mission and just staying gritty. What have been some really rewarding points where you've been able to step back and say, okay, this is all worth it, pushing through these moments.

Akash:

First thing that comes to mind, it's when I was initially building the product itself, I was basically living inside a therapy office. Like that was my job. I was like an assistant for a therapist and I would literally just be there and be like, I don't need money. I don't need anything from you guys. Just let me use the product on patients. I'll be the one administering the usage of it. I just need to see how it happens here. That was all I asked for. And I would do that like 12 hours a day for like three, four days a week. And I was happy therapists even said yes to it because I wasn't asking for anything, just use the product and what happened in those like period of time, it's, I would see these really, just patients chronic pain, they were disabled. And they had no idea what was going on in their process of care. And what would happen is I would see them, I developed relationships with them as like a patient, a provider relationship. And I'd see them slowly get better and better over the weeks that I would be using the technology on them. All of a sudden they'd be able to build strength in areas they didn't think they could. I'd see some of them overcome so many like big challenges that mentally that they thought they would never be able to do. Another one was, I saw a stroke patient that thought she would never be able to walk again. And she would use the technology, she would practice with it, and one day she was able to stand up. And I still remember this is like the moment of her like actually getting off the bed by herself. She was literally crying like tears, were coming down her face. And I was like, Oh my God, I'm going to start crying at the same time. And that image just keeps replaying in my head. So when something does tough happens, something doesn't go right, the client doesn't want to use it. That's the image that kind of like replays through my head of, we've created an experience where people have a belief in themselves to get better again, in a long term aspect of it. And if I can just replicate that a couple more times for anyone else in their lives. That's something just they just won't ever forget her going through the entire process of stroke. Being bedridden for like eight, nine months, and then all of a sudden be able to stand again, and another after six months. It's it was, lovely. I find it an honor to be a part of that journey for her. So that's the image I replaced in my head all the time.

Kaylan:

That's so powerful. You're so focused on building relationships. That, you really got the ultimate reward when it came to customer discovery and testing your product on real life patients but the richness there is in you being in that space. Touching the product and experiencing how the patient experiences that firsthand, building those relationships, how has the concept of building relationships, how has that helped you along your startup journey? What other relationships have come to build your support system or just served you along your way?

Akash:

I, think it, it always comes back down to every, you want everyone to feel like they're winning. I think that's the main thing that I tried to aim for. So across the board, it's like providers want to feel like they're winning patients want to feel like they're winning insurance folks. The only reason they're using our product is because they feel like they're winning at the end of the day and giving this feeling of we're like sidekicks in their journey and making them the hero. That kind of builds the relationship that we want that ultimately lasts and then we can ultimately build stuff together and it just comes down to the same stuff there. Me personally, I have other founders, other folks in the same health tech field that, yeah. They serve as a support structure for me. My co founder is amazing. I have other folks that are building the same space. You just want to be friends with them. You just want to learn from them, grow together. And I think that's ultimately the end game. It's not selling the company, but, enjoying the people along the ride right now.

Kaylan:

I feel like it can become an invisible burden trying to make all these different parties happy. Does that ever take a toll on you or does it motivate you or both?

Akash:

I think for me personally it's, something I enjoy meeting new people, building these relationships and then learning from each other. So my, big thing is I like learning about new things. And if I can meet a new person or learn something new about them or the stuff they do, it's genuinely fascinating to me. And I like doing that. So it's never really takes a toll on me personally. Another thing is you want to keep yourself mentally fit, physically in shape. So as you're meeting these two people, you want to remember them. I think that's the bigger thing. So you just do everything you can to like manage everything there.

Kaylan:

So you have participated in Techstars and you also won our Next50k pitch competition. How have those experiences shaped your journey or even opened up opportunities you didn't expect?

Akash:

Yeah, I think both of them are unique in their own ways. Speaking most recently from the next 50K, I think the big thing that you guys are offering right now, it's the community and their willingness to help, which is very like it's a fresh scene. So we can make quick intros, we can get stuff going quickly, and there's no Wait time. And the best thing is it's not even in just the Paducah area. It stretches beyond it's all of Kentucky from what I've seen, maybe even stretches in Nashville, just work with Monica and other folks there. So it's a quick, every once a quick text away, you ask me, you haven't asked him to make sense. They're willing to make the intro. I think last week, Monica made an intro to someone in Louisville and they made a very, like they made a very, very thoughtful intro to one of these key industry leaders in PT who's based in Louisville as well. And I was like, wow, like, I don't really expect people to talk so highly of me. Right. Yeah. They're willing to do so much there, which is amazing. So I think that's the big realization that came out of being a part of this program. Techstars what they were doing. And again, they have their own, like really good stuff. They're good with is just broadening the scope of people that you're willing to, you can meet. So their network, I am pretty sure of this. They have the biggest startup network in the world right now, just based on all the accelerators throughout the country, not even country throughout the Earth, throughout Earth, honestly. So, they work in a way that they can connect you to almost anyone in the world, as long as you figure out a way to them. So I think one big thing is they recently opened up a new physical therapy hub in Texas. And we were like the first people to end up calling. So we went through the New York program and the Texas folks were like, we would love to meet you. We want to put you in front of all our hospital centers that are down here. And let's do this as quick as possible. So that's their willingness to connect them with you from folks from there. The other thing that program did provide was you're part of this really select group of like 12 accelerator, 12 companies that are selected, like thousands of companies. And they're willing to take a bet on you, but at the same time put you in a group that people are going through the same struggles as you. So you can work with them and figure out ways to accelerate from there. And they're all the same I think our company was half health tech, half FinTech. So you can get to meet all these great people throughout really around the world. I think two of our, one of our teams came from Paris, another one from Israel, and then another one came from like Mexico. So you meet these like really awesome people and you stay friends with them forever. We're still in touch today. So really fun to see.

Kaylan:

What's, so what's next for you? What milestones are you currently working toward?

Akash:

Yeah, so I think our big focus for now is the two things. So we have an existing product that we've already launched into several healthcare systems right now. We're pushing this across a lot of the folks, a lot of the places in Paducah, so it's like Baptist Health, Mercy Health, those areas where we have friends of Next50k helping us there. And we're launching in a couple of healthcare offices in the tri state area. So New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and just planning for another product launch coming up next year. So we've gathered, we're getting all this fun feedback. We built a product they liked and now we're looking to add onto it and make it even a better experience for the, ultimately for the patients and providers.

Kaylan:

Very cool. And I'm curious to know, as we wrap up this conversation, this is for my own, curiosity too, what books or podcasts do you tell everyone that you need to read this or listen to this if you're wanting to dive into the startup journey?

Akash:

Yeah, so I think books wise, two things come to mind. So 48 laws of power. I think that's a must read for most folks that just tells you how relationships are formed, how to really work with them, especially different types of people. And the other one is called Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I think that one tells you how to control your emotions as you're going through a rollercoaster of a startup. So I think those are two like necessary reads people should get into, at least for a personal development piece. Podcast wise, I'm all over the place, honestly. It just depends on the interest of the week, but I'll go from comedians all the way down to Andrew Huberman's his neuroscience lab podcast. So yeah, it depends how I'm feeling the week and then you can ask me.

Kaylan:

Yeah, they're hefty though, like do I want to listen to a three and a half hour podcast or do I need just a 20 minute heavy hitter real quick?

Akash:

Yeah. Yeah. It, it also depends. Like I'll, be listening and sometimes I'll take like a walk, I'll listen to it there and work out someplace. You squeeze them in. Never three hours in a row though.

Kaylan:

You mentioned the books on meditation and building relationships. It seems for you, especially the startup journey is less, it's more of an internal journey too. Can you talk a little bit more about that and any characteristics or traits that you've really tried to harness to help you help yourself be successful in your journey?

Akash:

There's like two things that happens when people first become founders. There's like a really fine line between confidence and then ego. And a lot of founders are like they feel like they have to fake their ego. They have to fake confidence and it comes across as ego versus there's innate confidence that they can provide to people. And that's what you want to strive for. I don't think I'm there yet. I still have my weaknesses and I'm still working on those. But that's the ultimate goal. How do you feel confident in everything you do as a founder, as a person, as a human being, as everything. And as you get better in the world of startups, I see it percolating to the rest of my life, the way I speak to my friends, the way I speak to my family, relationships, all that other stuff. And you just learn how do you know, how do you feel about stuff? Are you more open about it? And how can you just talk to more people more openly and honestly, and that comes from like this inner confidence about your own self, which trust me, startups will teach you about that. So I think there's two things. First, I'll speak from personally. There's a willingness to learn. I think that's something I always look forward to in other people. So, how can you learn more about the world around you, everything going on? You want to personally just do it. The second thing, is more from like a health standpoint of like, how do you keep yourself mentally and physically in shape? Because if you can't do those two things, that's the base of everything. If you can't keep those things in check, everything else crumbles on top of that. So as long as those two things are being done on a daily basis, I think everything else can fall into shape from there.

Kaylan:

Because you are your most valuable asset.

Akash:

Exactly. Yeah. Yes.

Kaylan:

So walk us through, I'm curious, walk us through a day in your life. How do you make time and space for those things on top of all the other things that you need to do for your startup.

Akash:

Typically I'm more of on the road, driving, meeting people in person. Just, it just makes the relationship development process much easier. I'm up by seven, seven, eight, right? Get breakfast, work, quick workout into the day, go for a walk, something like that. And by nine, my meetings start. So like nine to like. Up until 6, 7 p. m., it's either full of meetings or like projects I'm doing and working on from there. After work's done, that's just more time for like self reflection. How have I done today? Can I do better? What have I learned? How am I growing as a person? And you want to just understand where you are and be proud of yourself, like where you've gotten so far, because you always, there's always like someone better. There's always someone greater than you, but at the same time, you want to reflect and be like, I've gotten here, this is great. Here are my next goals, how, this is the steps I've taken to get there. And that just builds more confidence in yourself as a person that you know how to get there. And you just remind yourself of that. Because a lot of the times you'll face setbacks, a lot of stuff doesn't go your way, you feel like you want to quit. But as long as you keep reminding yourself that this is my goal, this is the steps I've taken so far, and everything's still in line and getting there, it just reminds you to keep going from there.

Kaylan:

What does that reflection time look like for you? Do you journal or are you just sitting in quiet?

Akash:

It can be a lot of things. I could be going for a run, and I find running very meditative for myself at least, though it depends on the day, how tired I am. Yeah.

Kaylan:

I love to swim because you have the breath and it's very methodical and patterned. Yeah. So you turn your brain off and then it just wanders and it, takes thoughts and puts it away. That's what I feel like meditation is or just sitting down in blank space. Your brain has a chance to unwrap things and just organize.

Akash:

Exactly.

Kaylan:

Make the house tidy.

Akash:

Yeah. It's, even when you go for runs, go for a walk or anything like that, it's just like you're re archiving messages because your brain gets hit with so many things throughout the day. You just need time to like say that this stuff matters, this stuff doesn't and just keep everything organized in your own head because the next day is going to, got to do it all over again.

Kaylan:

How do you move from reflection to action?

Akash:

I think reflection is more about being active. Reflections from my side at least is understanding where you've gotten from point A to point B how, have you done that and how well it's been done. So understanding the good things and the bad things that happen along the way. Putting it into action, it's more of learning from the past mistakes you've made or past like accomplishments you've had and understand how to repeat those again. So, I remember the first time we got a client, it was not an easy process. But we made a lot of mistakes and a lot of, we made a lot of like good, did good things to get that putting into action is just removing the bad things you did. Maybe there was like certain way of speaking to someone that it felt inauthentic and that wasn't the message you wanted to give off. People want to feel like they're in safe hands. So there's a different way of speaking to those people or You did something really well, like you showed a really good demo, and this is how the demo worked, and you saw people's lives, you saw their eyes light up, they're like, oh my god, I didn't know that was possible. That was a magic moment. And then you want to repeat those again. So, reflection is to learn, action is to put your learnings into work again.

Kaylan:

What advice would you give to a founder? Who's a couple of steps behind you or even just starting?

Akash:

I'd say work with your customer the most. I think that's the end goal. You want to be as close to them as possible, as friendly with them as possible, and just learn from them. The more you know about their problems, the more, the better off you're going to be building a product at the end of the day. And I think that's ultimately the goal that you should be aiming for. The money and everything else comes second, the customer is always first.

Kaylan:

Yeah, I think that's what builds strong relationships too, just your mindset of always being eager to learn removes any filters that you have in your brain or any agendas or intentions other than just being open to whatever's right in front of you. And that's what gives you the most information and builds that trust and ultimately builds a long term relationship too.

Akash:

A hundred percent. I agree with that.

Kaylan:

Before we wrap up, I'd love to know for our listeners, how they can follow along with your work or learn more about your company. Where's the best place for them to connect with you?

Akash:

Yeah. So you guys can shoot me a message on LinkedIn. So just type up Akash Deep Randhawa, and you'll see a nice. Big smiling face of me. You can shoot me a message there, or you can visit our website at smartms3. com.

Kaylan:

Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing your story, your insight and wisdom today. I can't wait to see what's next for you.

Akash:

Awesome. I'll keep you guys in touch.

Kaylan:

Thank you.