Today we’d like to introduce you to David Karabinos.
David, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The first 20 years of my career were spent in corporate America, primarily with enterprise technology organizations, IT service providers, and large consulting firms.
While I learned how to build and deploy technology as a strategic asset, I also learned how to build and motivate teams to do great things. I learned how to manage organizations, financials, sales, and customers.
During this same time, I always had side projects – passion projects. Through these I was, in effect, learning how to become an entrepreneur. About 20 years ago, I left the corporate world to become a full-time entrepreneur. In terms of success, I’ve had a failure, a single and a double (to lean on a baseball metaphor), and – in 2006 – I hit my home run.
Next, I began investing in startups and serving on boards, so that I could help guide and mentor other entrepreneurs. PointClear Solutions was one of those companies. I decided I wanted to operate one last time before hanging up my spurs, so I joined the PointClear team in 2009 as its president and CEO.
To this day, I still support entrepreneurs by sitting on the boards of some of my investments. And I served as the board chair of a business technology incubator for 10 years, where we helped many, many entrepreneurs start companies and raise capital.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There’s no such thing as a smooth road, in business or in life. Certainly, there are times when things are going well, but most of the time you should just be focusing on executing your game plan – and dealing with all the things that can be disruptive to the plan.
A few of the bumps in the road that someone building a new company will likely encounter include:
• Raising capital. It’s always harder and takes longer than you want it to. It’s a humbling experience, no matter how many times you’ve done it.
• Building the right team, and at the right time. This can be where you win or lose the opportunity. Too often, teams are built based on relationships, rather than on the competencies and experience that are needed.
• Getting drunk on your own Kool-Aid. If you’re trying to build something new and sell it to a nascent, immature market, which most entrepreneurs are attempting to do, you and your team must be adaptable. You’ve got to find a way to reconcile your vision and ideas with actual market conditions. I’ve seen many entrepreneurs fail due to intransigent thinking.
• Making payroll and paying the bills. There is nothing more sobering and anxiety ridden than figuring out how to make the next cycle.
• Successful distribution. You can make an awesome widget (or service), but if no one knows about it (or is convinced they need it), it doesn’t matter. You lose. I’ve seen great ideas developed into an offering that never becomes successful, because the team couldn’t come up with an effective distribution strategy (a good example of intransigent thinking).
We’d love to hear more about your business.
PointClear Solutions is a software consulting company that specializes in digital strategy, design, development, and management. We are differentiated from others in our space in two important ways: We have deep, unrivaled healthcare industry experience and expertise, and we have a passion for creating software solutions that deliver a great user experience (UX). We work with clients in all segments of healthcare: providers, payers, pharma, life sciences, device makers, and employers. We also partner a great deal with the technology product companies that supply these segments. Beyond healthcare, we’re known for our work in education, financial services, sports, and entertainment.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Leadership. Leadership. Leadership.
Contact Info:
- Address: 47 Perimeter Center East – Suite 440 Atlanta, GA 30346
- Website: www.pointclearsolutions.com
- Phone: 470-223-4370
- Email: hello@pointclearsolutions.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PointClearSolutions
- Twitter: @PointClearHIT
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pointclear-solutions-atlanta
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/1559870/
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