On the TechTO stage ×2
Balaji Gopalan of Medstack presents The Business of Greasing Coattails
Watch on YouTube ↗Balaji Gopalan of MedStack presents Lessons Learned
Watch on YouTube ↗First seen on a TechTO stage in 2018. Every TechTO talk is searchable — ask the archive about Balaji ↗
In their words
One day, after building all this stuff, I asked myself the question: what would be bigger than building cool stuff for customers? Well, how about building cool stuff so that other people can build cool stuff for customers?
This is what my product looks like. It's plumbing. It's boring, not that interesting, and doesn't really do anything there — MedStack has no UI.
Here's what we've learned in the past four years. First of all, if you're an entrepreneur, believe in your mission first. Everybody will try to give you input on your mission; nobody understands your business more than you do.
Quick answers
What is Balaji Gopalan known for?
Co-founding MedStack in 2015 with Simon Woodside and running it as CEO for nearly a decade. MedStack automates HIPAA and privacy compliance so digital health apps can get to market without building the security paperwork themselves. Launchit Solutions acquired it in November 2024.
What did Balaji Gopalan do before MedStack?
He was the lead product manager on the skunkworks team that built and launched BlackBerry's BBM, and led platform strategy at D2L, Nymi and EventMobi.
What is Balaji Gopalan doing now?
Advising and teaching. He is an Expert-in-Residence at the DMZ at Toronto Metropolitan University and is listed with U of T's Health Innovation Hub, where his profile describes him as MedStack's co-founder and former CEO.