Today's entrepreneur: National Coronavirus Hotline's Dr. Michael Garbade

Be ready to adapt to the market and any developments in your industry as you move

Today's entrepreneur is Dr. Michael Garbade, Project Lead at the National Coronavirus Hotline, as well as co-founder and CEO of Education Ecosystem, aka LiveEdu. NCH, which recently launched in California, is a healthcare campaign platform. The company partners with local governments, including cities, counties and states, along with non-profits, foundations, and for-profit companies, so they can launch targeted campaigns to deliver healthcare-related services to their constituents, while also tracking the performance of these services in real-time.  

Garbade is was formerly a Business Finance Manager at Amazon, an operations Manager at Rebate Networks. He is a Python, Django and DevOps engineer, as well as a serial entrepreneur, having founded Roundclock, and Kyuda. Garbade speaks English and German as mother tongues.

He has a Masters in Business Administration and Physics, and a PhD in venture capital Financing.

Why did you choose to be an entrepreneur?

I got inspired into entrepreneurship by my mother. She runs her own business and I grew up watching her juggling different aspects of her business. It got me interested early on in high school  to launch a company.

What are your favorite startups?

Currently my favorite start-ups are climate change and EV focused start-ups. The series of natural disasters in the last years raised my interest in the space.

Why did you start your company?

Our community of developers started National Coronavirus Hotline as a response to coronavirus pandemic. It is a product borne out of the pandemic. We started initially in California and now we are rolling it out to other States, UK, South Africa and India.

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

The frustrating part is that like with every company there are up and down cycles and sometimes you have to sacrifice and assign the company absolute priority over your private life. The most rewarding part is when customers are delighted and I can see the direct result of our team’s work. 

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Not taking action faster if there is a problem in the company, be it with team members not performing, products not working or marketing strategies not working.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. Things might not work out as you hoped when starting. Be ready to adapt to the market and any developments in your industry as you move. 
2. Seek help by reaching out to mentors, advisors, and investors. Most people love to support a good idea.
3. A company’s success is a product of great teams. Be sure to include feedback from your end users in product development.