Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Deeksha Senguttuvan, Founder and CEO of BabyMD and executive trustee for a pediatric cancer foundation . Deeksha brings her authentic self to share powerful stories of personal transformation, entrepreneurial grit, and unwavering compassion for children’s health.
Some highlights from the conversation
Deeksha started her Career Journey in software industry Pivot to Healthcare due to circumstances that have presented
- Deeksha describes herself as someone who never had a fixed plan but followed what made sense in the moment.
- After a chemical engineering degree from NIT Trichy and an MBA from IIM Kozhikode, she joined the Tata Administrative Services and worked in marketing and product management.
- Despite no tech background, she led cloud product management, learning tech concepts from scratch and bridging the gap between sales and engineering teams.
- A personal life event led her to seek more meaningful work, Inspired by her pediatrician father, she co-founded a trust supporting pediatric cancer treatment in Trichy, where specialty care was lacking.
- Deeksha led digital transformation at Kaveri Hospital during COVID, building a patient-focused digital strategy that included basics like WhatsApp-based communication — revolutionary at that time.
- Motivated to align business success with patient well-being, she pursued a second MBA at Wharton to understand global healthcare and startup ecosystems.
- During her MBA, she pivoted her focus back to India after realizing her strengths and market understanding were more aligned with the Indian healthcare context
- She founded BabyMD during her time at Wharton and graduated early to work full-time on it from January 2024.
- Deeksha emphasizes the importance of credentials and networks (like Wharton) in breaking barriers and gaining investor trust.
- She met her investor through the Wharton alumni network, which led to a partnership based on mutual interest in pediatric healthcare.
- She advises entrepreneurs to articulate three things: a real problem, market size, and why they’re uniquely positioned to solve it.
- Advocates for volunteering as a personal and professional growth tool, linking social work with stronger leadership and empathy.
Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
- Range by David Epstein – on the value of generalists in today’s world.
- Entrepreneurship doesn’t always stem from a “Eureka” moment — it can be a structured, analytical process.
- Encourages small experiments to validate ideas before going all in.
- Believes generalists (with wide-ranging experience) bring unique value to entrepreneurship, as explained in the book Range.
Deeksha can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/deekshasenguttuvan/
Deeksha is Building BabyMD to be a partner in parenting and give parents easy round-the-clock access to qualified medical professionals across channels. The company’s goal is to create a future where parents don’t have to navigate through multiple avenues for their child's healthcare needs and instead find everything they require under one roof.
Executive leader with 7+ years of experience building and transforming businesses. I am passionate about utilising technology in the healthcare ecosystem to improve accessibility, affordability and quality of care.
As a part of the leadership development program of The Tata Group of companies in India I have worked across various industries and functions; utilised my diverse exposure to orchestrate the digital transformation of hospitals across patient engagement, clinical quality of care, and operational activities to make them future-ready.
Outside of work I am an avid Indian classical dancer and a public speaker passionate about motivating and mentoring!
