It is expected for any successful team to have a professional member with special abilities like Dr. Sattar Gheiratmand. He has a Ph.D in Finance, and MBA. He has studied IT in two different fields and at two different universities. High experience and education in the field of technology and financial management as well as 15-year constant and brilliant history of business activities and teaching at the university have made him a young versatile CTO.
As a first question, it is good to start the conversation by referring to your education and fields of activities.
I am an IT graduate of the University of Science and Research in Iran. I also have MBA and Ph.D. in finance. I have been teaching at the university since I was 24 and have worked in the field of computer in addition to academic work.
I have been the CTO of the PatientScheduler team since 2019.
Where did your interest in using technology in health come from?
There was a lot of luck. In fact, this interest arose when I was invited by a friend to join a conference on Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. Following that, I was attracted to research projects in this field and the result of these experiences is the PatientScheduler project.
It is attractive for many start-up enthusiasts to know your experience from idea generation to fundraising in Canada.
I can tell my own personal experiences. With a thorough study of the health care system in Canada, we developed a software that uses artificial intelligence for interaction and development and has many competitive advantages over its competitors. Given that we were able to earn money at the very beginning stage, we no longer needed to raise capital at the beginning because we also sold the product in Iran. Since we were able to develop our product and have a customer, investors are more confident in collaborating with us. So it was relatively easier for us to raise capital.
What companies or organizations is your product suitable for and what benefits does it provide for them? Basically, how is the relationship between artificial intelligence and advanced organizations (the future of companies) defined?
This question was very important and I think it would be good to explain it to the readers of this interview. When an evolutionary technology like the Internet comes into being (I think the Internet is the latest transformative tactile technology), that technology changes everything. Many different aspects of many businesses and lifestyles change. In this way, many companies in different industries have disappeared and many other companies have emerged. If we accept that artificial intelligence will affect organizations and even countries, we can say that the field of health is one of the priorities. Human rights are at the forefront of this transformation. With the advent of artificial intelligence, things are fundamentally changing. Lower costs and higher quality of service are other features of the technology used in our product.
PatientSheduler is an online scheduling & records platform for family doctors, Clinics and their patients.
In recent years, there has been a change in the field of start-ups in Iran. How familiar are you with this ecosystem in Iran and do you follow these developments, especially in your field of interest – artificial intelligence?
I am completely familiar with the Iranian startup ecosystem. My old friends from high school and university have been working in this ecosystem. I always tried to help the growth of this atmosphere as much as possible.
Which of the Iranian start-ups are you familiar with, especially a well-known company in the field of artificial intelligence?
I am familiar with many Iranian start-ups. Some of my friends are working in these start-ups and I follow their news from the internet and Twitter. Also many successful startups have been born in the University of Science and Research where I educated. One of the companies that is interesting for me and its founders are my old friends and colleagues, has an interesting idea in the field of artificial intelligence and medicine called auto-clinico, which does a lot of useful work. In the last four years, Iran has become serious about startups. I do not think that the Iranian market has such a large capacity but the market is finding its true form.
