"I believe a company’s leader is responsible for setting the mission and goals of the organization."
Jaswant S. Tony is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GoMeyra, an innovative cloud software company providing enterprise technological solutions for the healthcare industry. Its premiere product, GoMeyra LIMS (Laboratory Information Management Solution), is a comprehensive, fully customizable, cloud-based laboratory information management system that helps laboratories easily operate with as much automation, contact-free processes and regulatory compliance as possible.
A visionary leader in the software industry and an expert developer in systems IT technology, Tony self-funded GoMeyra LIMS and developed the software in just a few months at the start of the pandemic. Currently the platform is being used by multiple laboratories and medical providers in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean impacting productivity across the country. GoMeyra LIMS has tripled these laboratories’ daily capacity and empowered labs to provide same-day, direct-to-patient results reporting within hours.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET FEATURED?
All interviews are 100% FREE OF CHARGE
Table of Contents
Let’s start with a brief introduction first. Introduce yourself to our readers.
Jaswant S. Tony: I am the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GoMeyra, a cloud software company dedicated to providing enterprise-level technological solutions for the healthcare industry. My expertise is in developing IT systems, with more than 20 years of experience architecting, configuring, integrating and troubleshooting both large enterprise and service-provider networks. In fact, I designed the content streaming technology that is now owned and operated by Warner Bros. Television, and developed the technology for several worldwide live streaming events including NBC’s televised coverage of five Olympic games and Super Bowl XLV.
Our audience is interested to know about how you got started in the first place. Did you always want to become a CEO or was it something you were led to? Our readers would love to know your story!
Jaswant S. Tony: In my early days in the United States, when I was working as a welder for a manufacturer, some of the practices they were using seemed inefficient to me. I saw a better way and set out to change how some of the welding was done. After a couple of months, I was able to demonstrate my invention to the entire company. My new idea worked and shortened the amount of time it took to do certain projects.
It also allowed the company to charge customers a higher price since my invention also increased the quality of the products. While eventually the owners liked what I did and made my innovation mandatory for all welders, there was a lot of push back to changing the way things were done. I remember thinking, “Why wouldn’t you want to find a better, more efficient way to do things?” This planted a seed in me and it was then that I knew the only way I could make changes without answering to anyone was to run things myself. Soon after, I was injured on the job, which provided me the opportunity to go to school. I jumped at the chance and got a degree in computer sciences with the goal of one day running my own company so I could have the freedom to make my own decisions and silence the doubters.
“Selfmade” is a myth. We all received help, no doubt you love to show appreciation to those who supported you when the going got tough, who has been your most important professional inspiration?
Jaswant S. Tony: I have talked about this before and my answer is always the same, it is my wife, Harkirat and my daughter, Ahenzi, Yes, there are people in business who have helped me but without my wife and daughter I don’t think I could have achieved all this. Anyone running a business, especially a startup, can attest to the hours that are required, and this makes it hard to sometimes pay attention to those you love. They understood and allowed me to spend the time I needed without complaint. For that, I am forever grateful.
How did your journey lead you to become a CEO? What difficulties did you face along the way and what did you learn from them?
Jaswant S. Tony: In March of 2020, at the start of the pandemic, my IT company was contracted to help a local medical lab with their technology needs. At this time, COVID-19 was starting to spread and the country went into lockdown. After reviewing the lab’s information management system (LIMS), I was a bit shocked at how inefficient it was. After some research, I found it was the same for many labs across the country. This is one of the reasons for the COVID testing backlog and it was a big problem. I felt compelled to help and developed a new software system to address the issue. That was my journey to becoming founder and CEO of GoMeyra.
One difficulty in this journey was finding employees who could really hit the ground-running. We’re growing fast. Since our system is so new it’s been challenging to find people with the right experience and commitment. I learned to trust my instincts and rely on my ability to see the potential in others even more.
Tell us about your company. What does your business do and what are your responsibilities as a CEO?
Jaswant S. Tony: GoMeyra is an innovative cloud software company dedicated to providing enterprise technological solutions for the healthcare industry. Our premiere product, GoMeyra LIMS is a comprehensive, fully customizable, cloud-based solution for medical laboratories that help labs run more efficiently so people can get results faster and get back to work and school and be able to safely travel sooner. Ultimately, it addresses the underlying problems facing an antiquated lab system. We are also creating other testing panels and a health care management platform, GoMeyra MD, which is a suite of modules needed for managing patient care and electronic health care records, including a proprietary telehealth application.
As CEO, I am responsible for overseeing the executive leadership team, spearheading client relations, internal communications and directing new product development.
What does CEO stand for? Beyond the dictionary definition, how would you define it?
Jaswant S. Tony: I believe a company’s leader is responsible for setting the mission and goals of the organization. The CEO must then put the right people and tools in place to achieve those goals. While it may sound simple on paper, it is actually very difficult to achieve.
When you first became a CEO, how was it different from what you expected? What surprised you?
Jaswant S. Tony: I was surprised that truly knowing when the company is running smoothly is hard to quantify. Often times, the minute you think things are going well, something else pops up that needs your attention. It is a never-ending stream of problem solving, but lucky for me, that is where I thrive.
There are many schools of thought as to what a CEO’s core roles and responsibilities are. Based on your experience, what are the main things a CEO should focus on? Explain and please share examples or stories to illustrate your vision.
Jaswant S. Tony: A CEO needs to have a comprehensive, big picture view of the industry they operate in. Since the CEO has the final word, this decision-making power should be based on the current climate of that particular industry. For example, I understood early on that a handful of big labs in my industry were dominant, giving the independent labs less of a voice. To help the independents, I built GoMeyra NETWORK into my system. This feature allows labs, regardless of location, to work with each other for overflow testing in an effort to manage high daily sample volumes and maximize testing capacity. In essence, the GoMeyra network maximizes a lab’s capacity and versatility during spikes in testing nationwide. Additionally, having a LIMS that speaks to other labs allows smaller independent labs to take on more business, enabling them to team up and compete with larger diagnostics providers.
A CEO also needs to be a visionary, so I am constantly looking to the future. This means GoMeyra is always evolving and creating products. One product we have in development is GoMeyra MD, a suite of modules for managing patient care. New testing panels are also being developed so labs can use our LIMS for other testing such as toxicology, women’s health, men’s health and more.
If you add fiscal responsibility to the traits I previously mentioned, then you the have the makings of a CEO with the necessary skill set to run a prosperous company.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Jaswant S. Tony: When I first started GoMeyra, I hired people that I worked with in the past and ignored my instincts. Unfortunately, it soon became evident that a couple of these employees were not cut out for the job. It simply wasn’t working. This put a strain on my relationship with these colleagues as well as the employees who were performing well. Considering the health of our company and the employees who were being affected, it became clear that a tough decision needed to be made. By reorganizing the corporate structure, I was able to provide a more productive and efficient working environment for everyone.
How would you define success? Does it mean generating a certain amount of wealth, gaining a certain level of popularity, or helping a certain number of people?
Jaswant S. Tony: Wealth, of course is certainly not the only measurement of success but I would be lying if I said it did not play a part. But I don’t view money as a barometer for success, rather how it provides me with freedom to do what I want to do. This is different for everybody. For me, it includes helping people. I understand what it means not to have much, so I have always strived to help others. Personally, being able to give back means I have succeeded.
Some leadership skills are innate while others can be learned. What leadership skills do you possess innately and what skills have you cultivated over the years as a CEO?
Jaswant S. Tony: I have always been able to recognize abilities in others; the special qualities that set them apart. That translates into me being able to put the best people in the right positions. A useful trait when running a business.
One thing that did take me some time to master is actually having faith in the abilities I recognized in other people. In order to thrive you need to let employees use those skills to help achieve your company’s goals. It took a while but I learned to give my team autonomy and the authority to make decisions.
How did your role as a CEO help your business overcome challenges caused by the pandemic? Explain with practical examples.
Jaswant S. Tony: The pandemic did not cause a challenge for us, rather it is the reason we are in existence. We launched GoMeyra because of testing problems and quickly created it in the starting months of the lockdown to help labs with the COVID testing backlog.
Do you have any advice for aspiring CEOs and future leaders? What advice would you give a CEO that is just starting out on their journey?
Jaswant S. Tony: “Figure out a way to do things differently and better.” I have been doing this for a long time, and it is the sole reason why I started GoMeyra. I saw the inadequacies in lab processing systems and figured out a way to do it better.
Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge with our readers! They would also like to know, what is one skill that you’ve always wanted to acquire but never really could?
Jaswant S. Tony: At this stage in my life, there really isn’t a new skill that I have a desire to learn.
Before we finish things off, we have one final question for you. If you wrote a book about your life today, what would the title be?
Jaswant S. Tony: Disrupting the System by GoMeyra founder and CEO, Jaswant S. Tony.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Jaswant S. Tony for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Jaswant S. Tony or his company, you can do it through his – Facebook
Did you enjoy this article? Check out similar stories:
Jocko Willink: From US Navy Seal To Millionaire Coach And Best Selling Author
Andy Frisella: An Inspiring Story Of Grit
Allison Stokke: How A Single Photo Made Her The Famous Internet Sensation That She Is Now
Dave Portnoy: The Story Behind The Founding Of Barstool Sports
Jawed Karim: The Story Of Youtube’s Co-Founder And The First Youtuber
Dan Bilzerian: The True Story Of Instagram Playboy Millionaire
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
