SM: Based on the number of customers you have today, how many people have insurance companies laid off due to your technology? BO: I have no idea. We have taken a significant amount of money out of the healthcare budget. SM: I asked that question in a complimentary fashion. Good technology has effects on organizations.
Another good review of Sramana Mitra’s Vision India 2020 on Amazon.com: “An excellent book by Sramana on fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in developing countries, notably India. The author’s first hand experience in education and professional pursuits lend credibility to the lessons enumerated in the book. It should be a useful and enlightening guideline for India’s
SM: Did you negotiate the deal before writing the software? How did you know the insurance company would be willing to pay for your software? BO: I wrote the software first because I had a lot of doctor friends and they had told me how terrible the situation was. It took forever for them to
Brian O’Neill founded Office Ally in 2000 after observing poor business practices in the healthcare industry. Office Ally (covered in Deal Radar early this year) is a health information network connecting patients, providers, and payers. It offers a free practice management system, a free clearinghouse, a low-cost electronic health record ($29.95/month/provider) as well as a patient
SM: Your message is that you need to prioritize and that your priorities can change over time. Is that correct? TT: Yes, but you need to keep your family first. SM: That is not always possible. If your company is going through a crisis you have to put it first. TT: For stretches, yes.
SM: When you were going through the financially stressful period, what happened with your family? One of your children would have been entering the teenage years at that point. TT: I have the best kids in the whole world. My son goes to UCLA and works at the company during the summer. I was single
SM: What happened in 2004 when your competitor started out and you were running out of cash? TT: I wanted to quit a thousand times. I would wake up at 1 a.m. just worrying about the money and payroll. We cut people but still had a $50,000 payroll. I would call my friends from SunGard
SM: Tell me about the origins of BlackLine. What was it and how did you get it started? TT: Officially I started it in 2001, but it really got going in 2002. I started it as a wealth management software company, and I used the money I made from SunGard to fund it.