Dr Harshit Jain, Founder and Global CEO Doceree
Some believe they are born to be an entrepreneur; others work at it for years. But there are some successful and inspirational entrepreneurs who never set out with the goal of running a company. Being personally invested in solving a problem with tenacity is what leads their way towards the entrepreneurial path. Such a breed of entrepreneurs possesses a rare combination of risk tolerance, charisma, empathy, and a unique ability to think broadly. Dressed with curiosity and ardor to solve a problem, they understand the possibilities and work their finger to the bone to achieve the desired results. One such ardent leader we at APAC Entrepreneur came across is Harshit Jain, the MD, Founder, and Global CEO of Doceree.
Being surrounded by doctors, Harshit always aspired to become one. So, he earned a medical degree and began practicing medicine. However, he got intrigued about exploring the creative side of healthcare, which pushed him to try his hand at healthcare advertising and make a difference in people’s lives through compelling campaigns. During his first year of medical school, he organized a 24-hour blood donation camp. He was also a part of the team that developed Asia’s first bone marrow donor registry. Moreover, his textbook on liposuction was the first in the nation. All this made him realize his passion for healthcare advertising. As a result, he founded two companies, which he had eventually sold prior to joining big advertising agencies. His experience in the medical field and vision for healthcare advertising further propelled him to explore ways technology can improve virtual communications within digital platforms. And, this led to the inception of Doceree, a global platform building unprecedented solutions for HCP programmatic marketing with proprietary data tools.
Prospering Amidst Challenges
Doceree began its services in 2019 and by the time it expanded its wings, COVID-19 hit the world. While the pandemic had a drastically negative impact on several businesses around the world, it was a blessing in disguise for Doceree. The circumstances were unstable for pharma companies and Doceree’s offerings acted as a solution to the issues that pharma brands were facing on the regulation and compliance front. “The pharma companies were struggling for solutions as their legal and regulatory departments weren’t prepared for such uncertainties. For them, Doceree’s product came as a ray of light during difficult times to reach healthcare professionals (HCPs). What our product could deliver in terms of regulations and compliance could not be matched by digital platforms, and that has substantially reduced the challenges pharma companies faced,” affirms Harshit.
Streamlining the Fragmented World of Pharmaceutical Marketing
Doceree was born with a strong purpose of streamlining the fragmented world of pharmaceutical marketing. “Right now, pharmaceutical brands are acting on their own without a lot of knowledge on digital marketing strategies. To them, digital initiatives are more of a checkbox activity that does not yield any satisfactory business outcomes. Furthermore, digital platforms are also running as standalone entities in the absence of a unified platform, missing out on the monetization opportunity associated with the network effect,” elucidates Harshit.
Doceree is the first global platform to integrate physician-only digital platforms to maximize HCP’s engagement and drive behavior change. The platform allows pharmaceutical brands to target physicians at the right time with the right message, enabling them to achieve the desired business outcomes. It offers three key products: Doceree Target, Doceree Perform, and Doceree Exchange.
The Three C’s of a Successful Leadership
Harshit is known for his keen leadership skills driven by insightful values to facilitate a comprehensive growth of the people surrounding him. For Harshit, the keys to successful leadership lie in the three C’s: Confidence, Communication, and Commitment. He goes on to explain that confident leaders motivate their team members to reach their full potential and the stakeholders and employees also expect leaders to act with confidence when uncertain times arise. He fervently believes that a leader must be good at giving clear instructions, absorbing new ideas, listening, and being open to feedback. Delineating on the importance of commitment for a leader, Harshit further asserts that the value of commitment can be demonstrated when a leader invests in short- and long-term plans that help to clarify the vision and transform it into reality. Lack of commitment on the part of the leader can result in employees’ failure to meet organizational objectives.
According to the avid leader, a true entrepreneur is someone who manages and analyzes the risk of carrying out a business. To have the ability to define, invest, build, and repeat is the true quality that exemplifies an entrepreneur. He says, “An individual who is eager to define the business, invest capital, build an empire out of the monetary resources, and keep the cycle going is the entrepreneur who achieves success.”
Fostering a Collaborative Work Culture
Harmony and dedication are the two key aspects that assure employees’ integrity and efficiency towards a company. Keeping that in mind, Doceree has ensured an empowering and collaborative work culture having flexible working hours and employee engagement activities. As a leader of the company, Harshit focuses on creating an employee-centric culture that people aspire to be a part of, one that allows for the holistic development of each person within the organization. “The zeal to bring change to the industry is what motivates me and my employees to come to work every day. It is the intense desire to achieve our vision to make healthcare more affordable what keeps us driven,” opines Harshit.
Living by a Mantra of “Follow Your Dreams”
Forging ahead, Harshit looks forward to addressing some of the biggest challenges in healthcare. He envisions himself successfully leading a transformation of pharma marketing across digital platforms in the upcoming years. He lives by a mantra of “Follow Your Dreams” and gives the same advice to all the budding entrepreneurs. “Being a part of the leadership team at my previous company, I was spoiled with many comforts and leisure, so I knew it would be hard to start over from scratch. But I believe that if you are passionate about fulfilling your dreams, you are bold to make that leap,” adds Harshit on a concluding note.