MedAssets + Precyse announced the acquisition of Equation this month. It’s something that our team is incredibly excited about both for our users and the future of our platform. I wanted to take some time and share just a little about the journey.

I joined the team full-time in Q1 of 2014 after a 30-day contract term where I proved my worth prototyping out an initial MVP. This whole process was key because I was the first full-time engineer and during the interview process, I literally said “I’m not your guy.” Granted, this was premature but the feeling was so because of their current technology stack. Prior to this, the team had engaged contract engineers to setup a Sharepoint instance for delivering embedded Excel files as dashboards and so they wanted to continue building against it. I had built data platforms previously at PressTrends and Explorer.io and knew the right way to get a scalable MVP shipped and so my orientation was such. We talked it out, I proved the model during those 30 days, and we moved forward.

Focus on product.

Hacking on the platform.

Team dinner in Chicago during HIMSS, Huge moment for vision and overall strategy.

Team dinner in Chicago during HIMSS, huge moment for vision and overall strategy.

The critical aspect to this was the fact that they were willing to start over because they were more invested in the mission rather than the existing assumptions. A lot of people talk about making pivots and I think pivots can take different shapes throughout the product lifecycle, but the underlying characteristic of being willing to challenge your assumptions is critical to success. Whether it’s relative to the technology stack or the product, you have to be sold out to the mission above being right.

Over the three years we moved quickly and continued to challenge our own assumptions which led to many pivots and ultimately product-market fit. We transitioned from a consulting firm to a product company delivering enterprise healthcare business intelligence. Along the way having to overcome various challenges and keep focus intact.

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Caleb always kills it during the product meetings.

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Working through strategy and growth.

There’s a hundred different lessons learned and experiences that I can speak to that played their own role in getting us to this stage, but here a few I think are really important.

  • We started with consulting, used consulting to drive product, and ultimately scaled product. I think a lot of companies undervalue having access to early customers via consulting services. Those that have taken this consulting strategy such as KISSMetrics have been able to build fantastic products by validating their assumptions quickly. The challenge here is to not get caught into a fully fledged consulting model and keep the focus on product.
  • We stayed lean throughout the stack. We bootstrapped. We kept the team small and only scaled our architecture where it needed to be. This allowed us to listen, prototype, and double-down where we saw engagement.
  • We cared more about delivering real value over creating a brand or hype machine. So many startups are doing the latter. We were able to grab large clients away from larger, more established competitors because we focused on substance and value. It’s not sexy in today’s startup culture to sit in a room and build out models and cut code for hours on end in order to deliver value. Rather, I see a lot of startups focusing on conferences and brand, which are just noise until you have product-market fit. Allow the value you bring to your customers to be your brand.
  • We valued production above anything else and because we’re lean, it built a culture of thinking at scale. How can I automate this or do this in half the time, not because I think it would be cool but because I have no other choice. This, in my opinion, turned a disadvantage (bootstrapped, small team, location, etc.) into one of our leading differentiators.
  • We built a great team. I love everyone at Equation. It’s a unique group of analytical people driven to change healthcare in a real way. More so than anything above, putting together the right team is it. If you have the right individuals on board you can overcome setbacks, pivots, or whatever the market throws at you. You can just win.

No reclaimed wood conference tables here. Just focused on delivering value.

No reclaimed wood conference tables here.

With growth, knocking down walls to keep an open, collaborative culture.

Knocking down walls to keep an open, collaborative culture.

Building a great company is difficult. Having the right leaders is critical and Cory is one of the best.

Building a great company is difficult. Having the right leaders is critical and Cory is one of the best.

We had to be intentional about bringing in the right culture as we're not in a startup community. HireVue visit dropping knowledge on the team.

We had to be intentional about bringing in the right culture as we’re not in a startup community. HireVue dropping knowledge on the team.

About the 15th iteration of washboarding, always focused on UX.

About the 15th iteration of dashboarding, always focused on UX and iterating on it.

Celebrate your wins. Every client is important.

Celebrate your wins. Every client is important.

Cory speaking at Church & State.

Cory speaking at Church & State.

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Monthly Equation Day session, focusing the team.

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Product review meeting.

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Engineering team at DevMountain hackathon.

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Equation annual meeting, laying out strategy and vision.

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Matt’s first day on the engineering team.

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Howard leading Equation Day session.

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Morning engineering scrum.

Engineering team off-site to Snowbasin.

Engineering team off-site to Snowbasin. It’s so good to get out of the office from time to time.

I’m sure I’ll write more thoughts on this journey but for now, this is where I’m at. I’m excited about the future and grateful to have been apart of everything to date. It’s rare.Related: qpu, nUcDy, bEMH, XWA, XGw, sDwng, OiKsl, ldOnFL, ATawa, kcWocp, wjla, tLZJ, pgXSq, UDE, eWRH,Related: frank carbone montreal, john lund and wife, bioluminescent waves 2022 schedule, women in tech events san francisco, visual studio 2019 git menu missing, list of suv without cvt transmission, folsom lake accident today, eagle lock company trunk value, nagamaki vs nodachi, seattle fireworks 2020 lake union, maricopa county employee raises 2022, how to hear bellagio fountain music, volvo xc40 elétrico preço portugal, margaret lou pickens, disadvantages of exporting food,Related: used arabian saddles for sale, high school wrestling weight classes 1980, restaurants in carbondale, pa, personalised body simulator, personalised knitted jumper, baby, how did majak daw get to egypt, is james robertson still alive i am a killer, paul merton lives in kent, wedding venues in illinois suburbs, akron beacon journal recent death obituaries recent death obituaries, restaurant jobs on craigslist, jessica and christina psychic sisters, nick bosa wife, arizona pool spiders, are there snakes in tahiti,Related: ryan ward coventry, direct and indirect speech past tense exercises, impie famille de mots, is billy sharp related to lee sharpe, van der valk” death in amsterdam cast, car accident in gilbert yesterday, susquehanna university sassafras complex, jewelry marked germany value, what does in care of mean on property taxes, 5 grosvenor square, london, chiko roll girl, willie mcgee wife, a plan to fail painting reinhard, sarcastic and phobic in a sentence, dave lee travis theme tune,Related: a plan to fail painting reinhard, digital scale app for iphone 11, listen linda boy dies, importance of system theory in social work, best place to sit for nitro circus, marilu henner iq, net worth of john y brown jr, ghoulcraft cit list of items, who does simon callow play in harry potter, alight smart benefits, utilita arena birmingham detailed seating plan, artfone cs181 user guide, benefits of dance education in k 12 curriculum, terror squad saskatoon colours, why do mets fans chant larry,Related: ricky gervais house marlow, la familia michoacana videos, is richard roberts daughter jordan married, density of water at 21 degrees celsius, what actor plays oliver in the pledge, bendall walk new plymouth, rob schmitt wife, state of north carolina department of revenue po box, ivy methvin house, strathfield council general manager, public policy and politics quizlet, firearms must be packaged separately from live ammunition quizlet, mark of cain sabrina, fairfield police department officers, harry potter lequel de ces facteurs n’affecte pas la metamorphose,Related: catford greyhound stadium, benefits of claiming moorish nationality, patricia hamilton obituary, casita for rent long term, audrey graziano daughter of rocky graziano, benefit administrative systems po box 2920 milwaukee wi 53201, new braunfels football schedule, discovery model engine kit instructions pdf, why was nero wolfe cancelled, non statutory examples in early years, jason butler harner looks like christopher walken, wahl beard trimmer head assembly, adaptive m suspension vs professional, randolph mantooth children’s names, how to print vertically in word,Related: how to register a ministry in kenya, partituras para trompeta miel san marcos, tuscany italy fortunata pottery, star trek next generation cast salaries, pinal county parking regulations, technology debate articles, redondo’s pipikaula recipe, whistlindiesel tennessee location, digitalb supersport live, are simon baker and robin tunney still friends, florida man february 28, 2003, urge fitness cancellation, monopoly canada rules, andrew alexander blacksmith tools, ex miner poem analysis,