As we inch closer to marking 14 years of embarking on a remarkable journey with Practo, we have more reasons to celebrate. We have been fortunate to have a string of exceptional people help us build access to quality care, but one stood out from the rest. In fact, Siddharth Nihalani has remained committed to the company since 2008 when it was launched, always leading by example and driving the development of our products to new echelons.
Now, he joins CEO, Shashank ND, and CTO, Abhinav Lal as one of Practo’s co-founders.
“It has been an absolute honor to be a part of Practo’s journey, and witness it grow in spades to where it is today,” he says, adding, “The company has been a catalyst of change in India’s journey towards digitizing healthcare, and I hope that in my new role, I’m able to fast-track our growth as we continue to innovate to simplify healthcare for all.”
Introducing Practo’s new co-founder
Growing up, Siddharth – or Guddu, as he’s fondly called – always had an affinity for technology, tinkering with it in order to discover imaginative solutions. This took him down a road that stopped at the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, where he met his fellow co-founders.
As the trio set out to build an organization driven by the mission to make quality healthcare affordable and accessible for a billion+ people, he drifted into his role with ease and confidence, helping create breakthrough products. His knowledge and experience in the product development space has allowed us to think big, and build a high-quality suite of products at Practo.
His mastery over his craft notwithstanding, his skills as a leader continue to amaze us as he applies first principles thinking, focuses on the development of others in the team, inspires trust, and encourages strategic thinking in all that we do here.
Affable and agreeable, Siddharth is where conversations meander and branch off into new tales, each equally insightful and engaging. A man of refreshing candor, his sense of humor has always been straightforward, creating an environment where anyone can be comfortable approaching him with both problems as well as solutions.
Steering the next phase of growth at Practo
Even as crisis simmered – especially during the challenging months at the onset of the pandemic – Siddharth never lost his cool and solely focused on building better solutions to help the country access quality care at such a difficult time. Cooped up indoors like the rest of the country during repeated lockdowns, he worked away at his home office desk, sucked into a vortex of critical meetings to ensure that online doctor consultations on Practo were not only reliable but also exceptional.
Since 2020, we have expanded greatly across products and geographies, with major launches like Practo Prime, Health Plans, and Practo Care Surgeries spearheaded by Siddharth. Throughout this time, his instincts had been unerring and his response, measured and swift. As with any product or service, not all upgrades represent progress, and he understands that very well, rising through the ranks by strengthening product, engineering, growth, and expansion at Practo.
As he steps into new roles and responsibilities as co-founder of Practo, we cannot be more excited to have a leadership team that’s fully committed to leading Practo into its next phase of growth as we advance towards building India’s largest integrated healthcare company.
