MK’s Story
Michael still has a light accent, but it’s not typical for where he’s from (he tried very hard not to sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger). He grew up in a small town in the Austrian Alps during a time before the internet and eventually realized his goal of studying business management in the US (he went to USC).
After graduating, he spent a few years in consulting before starting his first tech consulting firm in 2002. Since then, Michael has built two more companies, consulted with hundreds of clients, and, since 2008, has been focusing on US healthcare IT, where he sees a real opportunity to make things better for all involved, now more than ever.
Michael is an avid reader, loves to ski, hike, play tennis, and has recently rediscovered his passion for the piano.
MK the Entrepreneur
Being an entrepreneur is not exactly a choice. That’s certainly how Michael has experienced it. He has a deep desire to create and build new software products and platforms, inspire others for a cause, change the status quo, and create businesses that provide real value for customers. Here are the companies Michael has started:
- eBI Solutions (sold in 2008)
- Health Data Vision (now Reveleer)
- MK Advisory Services
- Rebus Health Systems
- Velox Health Metadata, Inc
MK the Software Architect
As founder and consultant Michael has often taken on the role of a product owner (CPO) for software and SaaS solutions, which also allows him to naturally leverage his extensive experience as an engineer and project manager earlier in his career and working very closely with Microsoft product teams for over eight years. His passion to architect and build something that works well, is secure, can scale, and provides value seems innate.
MK the Healthcare Change Agent
After coming into healthcare IT by coincidence, Michael has spent the last twelve years in this industry and has not looked back. Initially focusing on solving a very specific problem (medical records review workflow), in 2017 he started an extremely structured effort to understand the larger clinical data ecosystem, standards, regulations, and economic drivers to affect change at a larger scale. He is now confident that we are on the verge of big progress and will continue to work with government, regulators, standards bodies, and customers to make it happen
MK the Speaker and Writer
Michael has come to like writing and sharing his insights with audiences and students. Writing has become Michael’s most effective tool to organize information, concepts and his thinking. While most his writing is for internal or client work, he likes to share in blogs and posts, including at the NCQA Digital Measure Community (link). He also likes to talk about his favorite healthcare IT topics at industry events. In addition, he gives guest lectures at Pepperdine GSB on Venture Capital and Private Equity from an entrepreneur’s perspective.
MK’s Philosophy and Approach
Over the years, Michael has developed a bit of a philosophy or framework on how to get ambitious things done. It can be summarized in three words:
Vision – Pragmatism – Discipline
Vision
Although he considers the term a bit pretentious and oft-overused, Michael believes the concept to be very important with the following definition: ‘a vision is seeing something clearly that does not yet exist.’ That applies to seeing the ‘big picture’ – understanding a topic well, understanding the greater context, and then seeing how existing and missing pieces will come together to form something new that fills a compelling need. Which also requires…
Pragmatism
It is easy to have grand visions or fall in love with one’s ideas but keeping a sober perspective on the big picture, what does and doesn’t exist, and what is actually of value to a customer is not easy. Being brutally pragmatic about what is needed, what is possible, and what is feasible is key, especially with technology – ‘we have become the tools of our tools’ warned Thoreau some 150 years ago. To Michael, it’s important to keep that warning constantly top of mind.
Discipline
Execution is still the x-factor that requires a plan, but mostly discipline. Discipline to follow the plan, track against the plan, complete the tasks at hand without distraction, and the diligence to avoid errors where possible, recognize, communicate, and fix them when they are unavoidable. So Michael believes that hunkering down and diligently doing the work at hand is hands-down the top job for everyone in the organization. As the saying goes, ‘Vision without execution is hallucination.’ a perfect bookend that brings us full circle with Vision: Execution without vision is chaos.‘
About MK
Michael is an entrepreneur, consultant, software builder, and startup advisor with his main focus on US healthcare IT. He considers himself a lifelong learner, deeply curious about many things with a passion for understanding and solving problems and scaling solutions.
While he is an introverted and deeply private person (don’t look for him on social media beyond LinkedIn), he strives to build meaningful, long-term relationships in his personal and his business life.