About Us
It all started with a water pump in the middle of a village in India. This water pump with its cacophonous motor and awkward color scheme was the bane of my existence. It was my responsibility in our miniature townhouse situated among roaming cows and pigs to make sure our water reservoir was sufficient for our daily activities. My two roommates had other responsibilities to facilitate our living conditions. All I had to do was flip a switch to fill a water tank that was located 10 feet below our townhouse. Once that was full, I had to flip a second switch to move the water from the bottom reservoir through a long cylindrical filter, and then ultimately to an overhead storage concrete tank located on the roof of the house. Seems simple enough, right? Hardly.
We were not required to pay a water bill to the government since they did not provide us a legitimate connection (known as “Metro water”), so we didn’t have the greatest expectations for the quality of the water being pumped into the house. Our predictions were correct. The filtration unit provided was not particularly effective; the water would change from light brown to a semi-clear substance. The water that entered the house was the most corrosive agent I have ever seen in my life. It rusted everything it came in contact with. Cutlery, bathroom faucets, and of course the pipes connecting the water pump. That stuff should be used for chemical warfare. The only thing that survived the wrath of the village water was my titanium folding bicycle that I used to transport myself between the hospital and my house. The whole contraption of pumping water was not a closed system as it should have been. The corrosive nature of the water caused the low quality metal connecting the pumps to let air in, causing multiple air leaks. We pleaded with our landlady to fix the issue; the only responsibility she felt she was obliged to do was to send her servant to collect rent from us every month. Anything that broke down in our house, which was literally everything, was our responsibility and had to be paid for out of our pocket. My friends loved to use the term “shafted” to describe the pump situation, among other things that would constantly not work for me. It was an endless source of amusement for our monotonous days, and I actually found it genuinely funny that so many things that could go wrong would go wrong.
We didn’t know the language and there is no such thing as a proper Yellow Book in India. Only after biking down the dusty road in vain next to our house, I was able to find a “plumber” who proceeded to install an air valve that was faulty among other things. The net result was that water had to be poured into this open valve whenever there was an air leak, which was every day. I was forced to spend wasted time every day after school, placing water from a bucket and a mug into the valve like a village idiot to provide enough water pressure to run the motor. During my moments of water pouring reflection, I thought to myself there had to be a better way to find a solution for my problem. The seed for Emoptune was sown.
Days turned into months as I kept analyzing the situation at hand. I kept turning the problem over and over in my head, looking at it from different angles. Brushing my teeth, going to school and back, whenever free time permitted itself. During the peak months of summer and monsoon season, the power would always go out and I would never be able to fall asleep. Covered in sweat and protected by my mosquito net, I’d stare at the ceiling and think. Oddly, it became such a calming affair; it was an opportunity to momentarily forget where I was and to just be lost in thought in my own world.
The answer finally came to me during an internal medicine rotation in my third year. My classmate was helping me translate my questions to the patient so we could figure out what was his problem. It was very cumbersome for me because I would ask the question to my classmate in English, and then she would translate it and ask the patient, who would then respond to her and she would translate it back to me in English. It was the same formulaic drivel for every patient, every single time. I just finished my presentation, thanked my patient and classmates for their help, and looked at my case sheet one last time before putting it in my bag. Then it hit me like a lightning bolt. The process we were using to come up with a differential diagnosis was not useful just for a medical problem, it can be applied to any problem, whether concrete or abstract. The chief complaint, which is the reason the patient states he/she came to the hospital, is the same as a user stating the title of their problem. The history of presenting illness, which is an elaboration of the chief complaint, combined with the past history of the patient could form the narrative of the user’s problem that he would like to post. Investigations, or tests performed on a patient to further understand his problem, could be the same as the user posting video clips and/or photos to give a more detailed look of the situation. Giving a differential diagnosis, which is a physician giving multiple possibilities of the disease, is the same as other users providing answers on how to solve the original problem. Since we are utilizing the Internet, we can crowd source and have an unlimited amount people provide diagnosis’ on how to solve the problem. Finally, treatment for the patient would be the same as a having a handyman come to your house to fix your problem. The answer was sitting in front of me the entire time.
After this breakthrough moment, the rest of the puzzles pieces came together and fit elegantly. People need incentives to provide help and don’t have a viable way of demonstrating their critical thinking skills online, hence the Emoptune resume, a digital portfolio demonstrating your potential to employers that a traditional resume doesn’t show. People in third world countries don’t have the opportunity to build a traditional resume, so this is a chance to showcase their talents to move on to better places. It is also a way for people who are unemployed to be productive. The reverse bidding system and feedback system came into play after finding and dealing with corrupt handymen fixing everything that broke in our townhouse. We had no way of verifying who was competent and what was the appropriate price to pay them. Emoptune lets market forces come into play and allows users to compete with each other to provide the service at the lowest cost. A five star rating system was derived to show who is superb and who is not.
After one unsuccessful 6 month stint “outsourcing” to a medium level programming team in India and moving to a second team, finally here I am in September 2011 ready to go live. It’s been a wonderful 9 month relationship with my second development team from Sibers, an elite level development team based in Russia, and now the baby is coming to term. It’s exciting and scary at the same time; will the site be a success or will it be a flop? Only time will tell. I only know for sure I gave it my best, trying to balance my school obligations with my startup aspirations. It’s been a great ride so far; I can only hope this journey takes me to bigger and better places while providing people an avenue to improve their lives.
Madhu Amara, 25, is a final year medical student in India and founder of Emoptune. If you would like to get in touch with him, you can at the following: madhu “at” emoptune.com