The prestigious New Ventures Forum, which is an annual event for relevant startups and business plan competitors, has invited a team representing the Lassonde New Venture Development Center at the University of Utah. The team will travel to Berkeley, California this June as they present their project at the well-known event sponsored by Siemens.
The business development team representing Health Alignment is comprised of two MBA students, Spencer Bacon and Chris Lewis, and Chinmayee Bhimarao, who graduated with a master in genetic counseling in 2013. Health Alignment was founded by Dr. Lewis Frey and Dr. Leslie Lenert, and they’re one of only 12 companies invited to attend the 2013 forum. On behalf of Health Alignment, the development team will discuss their business concept of using big data analytics for electronic medical records to help doctors with better diagnosis.
The overview of Health Alignment is to provide a network of information that doctors can access to more effectively treat patients while also having a wealth of information and research. Doctors will supply information about a patient’s age, case, treatment plan, and outcomes into an aggregated network, thus giving a doctor in a different state that has a patient with similar symptoms quick access to treatment options—potentially saving lives and unnecessary expense.
This is just one of thousands of companies that has benefited by partnering with students and entrepreneurs at the Lassonde New Venture Development Center. This interdisciplinary group assists researchers and helps determine the commercialization potential of ideas while providing students the hands-on experience of developing business ideas.
Spencer Bacon, a first year MBA student, says the development team had to “evaluate the business model, determine what competition was already in the market, decide which clients to target, and determine how to get the product to market.” Each week the business development team met with the doctors to discuss the market that Health Alignment is in, how to develop market research, and find funding to launch the company. Bacon says it gave him real-world experience for moving a company “from concept to inception to what the company would look and act like.”
Knowing that education takes place by applying theory to practice, the Pierre Lassonde Entrepreneur Center provides students the opportunity to work in the field with a variety of companies and peers from across the campus. Bacon says being able to discuss the business (Health Alignment) with Troy D’Ambrosio, Director of the Pierre Lassonde Entrepreneur Center, “was a huge part of the educational experience because I could bounce ideas off of him and gain insights.”
“Taking people from various backgrounds helps create diversity and strengthens the business,” adds Bacon. His education was greatly enhanced though his involvement in the Lassonde Center—Bacon could take high-level data and learn how to formulate a business plan. He could understand the structure of a business from beginning to end and then apply critical decision-making, which then impacted an actual business.
Bacon says, “Pierre is a phenomenal man. He is committed to the success of education. He encourages you to take a concept, see if it’s an idea that can go to market, but if not, there’s still a learning experience throughout the process.” He says the interaction with the business community and the resources allowed him to dive into the project and put his education into action. “