It's one of Germans' favorite pastimes: waiting at the doctor's office. That's if you can even get an appointment. Minxli founder Jennifer Kelly is therefore working on a "virtual doctor's office" to meet the high level of patient care needs.
1. Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
My name is Jennifer Kelly, and I believe that digital innovations such as video consultations, appointment booking tools, and more are the solution to the growing medical care needs in the healthcare sector. For this reason, after graduating from Harvard Business School in Boston and working for McKinsey and Company for several years, I decided to Minxli Together with my team, I have been working in Munich for two years on the virtual doctor's office of the future to positively impact healthcare. Minxli stands for My INspired LIfe and connects patients, certified physicians, and healthcare experts for secure and easy communication. We are a technology startup and enable, among other things, health and medical consultations via video and chat—anytime, anywhere.
Three steps to a video consultation
2. But that's been around for a long time!
Not quite! Minxli is a virtual patient service for the medical practice of tomorrow. As the heart of practice management, we connect people and healthcare professionals for virtual appointments and other services related to medical consultations, ensuring high-quality healthcare, efficiency, and flexibility. Minxli is the only app that enables patients to communicate with their trusted physicians from anywhere in the world via video calls, chat, and photos. Among other things, patients can book a video consultation with a healthcare professional in three easy steps. At the same time, patients can also connect with new physicians. Minxli is the most straightforward app for physicians who want to offer their patients video consultations or who want to communicate virtually with other physicians. It includes a public profile for physicians, the option for expert consultations with colleagues, and an appointment scheduler.
Focus is the key
3. What has been your biggest challenge so far?
Healthcare startups have many different stakeholders. For Minxli, for example, these include not only doctors and patients, but also insurance companies, politicians, and unions. Furthermore, there are a wide variety of legal and regulatory provisions and laws to comply with. As a company, we must ensure that these expectations and requirements are met. We must understand the needs of stakeholders and what concerns them – now and in the future. My recommendation for managing these requirements is, on the one hand, to be in constant communication and contact with all stakeholders. On the other hand, one should not be overwhelmed by the complexity of the requirements and should focus primarily on the needs of the immediate customers. It is best to work on solving a very specific customer problem; this helps with focus.
4. Let’s get down to business: How is business going?
Things are going well at Minxli! We've received very positive feedback from doctors and patients who use our service so far. This has shown us that digital solutions are already a big step in the right direction towards an improved healthcare system. They increase efficiency, ensure better care overall, and also reduce costs. If we used technology correctly in healthcare, we could save about a tenth of the costs. But the journey to a world in which doctors and patients integrate virtual services into their daily lives and are supported by them has only just begun. We have set ourselves the goal of driving this development forward. As a digital consultant with a holistic view of the healthcare market, we support doctors and patients in implementing digital solutions. Our overarching goal is better healthcare.
“Munich is becoming increasingly popular”
5. What does Munich mean to you?
I absolutely love living in Munich, but I especially see the city's strong development into one of Germany's most important startup hubs. Perhaps there are more startups being founded in Berlin. But Munich is becoming increasingly popular and important for technology companies like ours. Industry and research work closely together here. Young talent in the IT sector is being supported with the TU and LMU. Events like Bits & Pretzels ensure that more attention is being drawn to Munich. And finally, there is a good network between founders and investors here. In short: Munich is a great city – for founding a business, living, and being happy!
Sales growth of 20 percent predicted in the eHealth market
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
Clearly the next unicorn! The German Medical Association has aptly described the situation in the healthcare system: In outpatient statutory health care alone, more than one billion doctor-patient contacts occur annually. In hospitals, the number of treatment cases has increased by more than 2.5 million to almost 19.8 million over the past ten years.
As Germans age, there's no end in sight to this trend. The BÄK President warns:
"Our society is aging, and the medical profession is aging with it. Almost one in four practicing physicians plans to retire in the next five years."
What does this mean? We must act urgently to ensure stable healthcare. Digital solutions like ours can improve doctor-patient communication and prepare them for the upcoming challenges in the healthcare system. This is demonstrated, among other things, by studies by Statista and Roland Berger, which predict revenue growth of approximately 20 percent for the eHealth market by 2020.
7. Hiking or beer garden?
Hiking AND beer gardens. Both are simply great in and around Munich!
