We had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Joshua Titus, the innovative CEO and Founder of Gozio Inc. As a technology-forward firm, Gozio is aiming to revolutionize the healthcare industry by allowing patients to engage more actively in their healthcare via mobile devices.
Titus, who steers the helm of Gozio with a balanced blend of calculated risks and visionary insights, brings a unique approach to the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare. During the conversation, he spoke candidly about his journey, his philosophies, and the accomplishments and challenges Gozio has encountered along the way.
With a notable blend of humor, practicality, and profound insights, Titus provided a glimpse into the mind of an entrepreneur determined to bring healthcare into the mobile age, while candidly sharing personal experiences, and even his most significant mistakes. Dive into our conversation with Joshua Titus, a pioneer working tirelessly to redefine how we interact with the healthcare system.
Revolutionizing Healthcare with Mobile: Inside the Journey of Joshua Titus and Gozio Health
In an illuminating conversation on Bright Founders Talk, Joshua Titus, CEO and Founder of Gozio Health, unravels the mission driving his health-tech company forward. Gozio Health, as Titus expounds, is on a mission to empower people to actively engage with their healthcare systems through mobile devices, an area often overlooked by healthcare providers. Like booking a restaurant table or finding the nearest Starbucks, the company envisions making healthcare access just as seamless and intuitive.
Drawing parallels to everyday activities that have been revolutionized by technology, Titus highlights a glaring discrepancy in the healthcare industry's adoption of tech. "You walk into a hospital system in the US, and they're asking you to send a fax with your records on it. So we're taking the expectations that consumers have in the market in general, and we're basically dragging healthcare into this decade," he says. The goal is not merely about digitizing healthcare, but also about personalizing it, handholding patients throughout their healthcare journey.
Among the myriad topics covered during the interview, Titus also reflects on the importance of team dynamics in achieving success. He explains his viewpoint with a thoughtful quote, "The individual does the revolutionary things, but you need a team to do the evolutionary things." This highlights his belief in individual creativity sparking innovation, and the collective effort of a team driving growth and sustainability. It's a delicate balance that resonates throughout the ethos of Gozio Health, illustrating the multifaceted approach necessary to revolutionize an industry deeply ingrained in traditional practices.
The Digital Transformation of Healthcare: Joshua's Journey from Silicon Valley to Medical Tech Maverick
In the heart of Silicon Valley, Joshua found himself working on the design of computer chips, eventually contributing to the original Xbox. Yet, the allure of solving more tangible, real-world problems beckoned him away from the silicon landscape. Joshua yearned for a legacy that extended beyond digital diversions and into solutions that mattered. "Bikini beach ball games and first person shooters, they have their place. Absolutely right. But I really wanted to have my legacy be different than that," Joshua remarked, revealing the genesis of his transition into healthcare technology.
With his arsenal of tech skills, Joshua ventured into the struggle-laden terrain of US healthcare, seeking to crack the enigma of mobile engagement. This path led him to develop a way for phones to understand their location indoors with GPS-like precision. "How do I allow a phone to understand where it is, to determine where it is within a building at a high level of accuracy, where GPS doesn't work?" Joshua asked. His technical toolbox yielded an answer, leading to patented technology that could pinpoint indoor phone location down to four and a half feet.
Despite Joshua's early successes, he learned quickly that technology development is never a one-and-done deal. What started as a simple solution to indoor navigation rapidly evolved into a comprehensive digital engagement platform, marrying wayfinding with scheduling, wait times, bill pay, and lab results in one homogeneous experience. Reflecting on this growth, Joshua noted, "The thing that we thought was gonna be the end all was really a door opener for us more than anything."
His journey taught him the importance of market responsiveness over perfectionism. He stated, "We've gotten really good at very quickly taking it to market, maybe even not moving beyond PowerPoint until we have existing clients that have blessed the idea." It's a hard-earned lesson that embraces the humility of "mild embarrassment" over the hubris of the perfectly polished apple.
Joshua's Insight: Hitting the Tipping Point in Digital Engagement through Flexibility and Utility
Joshua's revelation struck like a bolt from the blue: a compelling suite of utility features can boost mobile engagement from a mere trickle to a deluge. During their journey, they found that three components of an app might serve their purpose, but the fourth could be the magic piece that tips the balance, elevating an app's user base from 40 to 40,000 installs a month. It's a simple, yet impactful lesson of scale and consumer behavior, one that many app developers could take to heart.
Counterintuitively, Joshua's team discovered their 'killer feature' wasn't a specific functionality but instead, a flexible platform able to incorporate best-in-class digital solutions quickly. The brilliance of this approach lies in its adaptability, a key to ensuring future relevance. Through this insight, Joshua's team is able to integrate new solutions like chat GPT and deliver it to their large user base overnight, reflecting an innovative approach to staying ahead in an ever-changing tech landscape.
Joshua's platform stays ahead of the curve by keeping a close pulse on the needs and feedback of its clients. The team believes in constant innovation with their clients at the forefront, building MVPs, running pilot tests, and implementing solutions based on real-world results. This focus on customer feedback has led to a deep understanding of the market's common needs and has enabled them to fulfill 90% of these requirements through just a few point solutions. At the end of the day, Joshua and his team firmly believe in providing real utility, effectively tackling the problem of low engagement numbers in the app world.
Decoding Success: The Power of Quick Decision Making and Honoring Burnout in the Corporate World
Throughout his illustrious career, Joshua has realized that perfection isn't always the solution. He believes in the power of "good enough" – the courage to act swiftly and decide quickly rather than being caught in the analysis-paralysis cycle. This conviction emerged from his passion for aerobatics, where taking immediate, decent actions can literally mean the difference between life and death.
In a striking analogy, Joshua shared, "If I sit down and scratch my chin and think about what I should do with the plane, I'm three miles ahead before I figure that out." His statement echoes the essence of real-time decision making and efficiency in our professional lives. A memorable quote that resonates with his ethos is, "An 80% solution today is better than a 100% solution a month from now."
Joshua emphasizes the significance of maintaining a healthy work-life blend, not balance. From his experiences at Go Zero, he understood the importance of recognizing and respecting burnout symptoms within the workforce, regardless of the organizational hierarchy. His philosophy of taking necessary time off, or 'tapping out', has significantly contributed to the employees' energy, performance, and loyalty.
"Knowing what the signs of burnout are, having done it myself previously, so when you get to that edge and you know you really need to recharge those batteries, you can raise your hand and go, 'Alright, I'm tapping out for a little bit, guys. I'll be back.'", Joshua elucidates.
Reflecting on Gozio's decade-long success, Joshua shares the cornerstone of their achievements - believing in what you're doing. Building a company that stands for a cause or mission that genuinely matters has not only brought them business growth but also connected them with passionate individuals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company doubled their employees, with many individuals drawn to Gozio's mission.
He concludes with a piece of advice, "Do something that you yourself are proud of having attempted and something that will make the world a better place." A fitting reminder for every startup aiming for longevity and impact.