#155 How I Became an Advocate for Children’s Health and Safety Through My Innovative Product

Welcome to the Passive Income MD Podcast where we talk about creating your ideal life through multiple streams of income. I'm your host, Peter Kim. If you enjoy hearing about this stuff, make sure to hit subscribe so I can bring it to you every week. Now let's get on with the show.

Hey everyone.

Hope you've had another great week. As you know, here at pimd, we love talking to amazing people, whatever it might be. We love having those people in our community. Whether they're investing in real estate, building businesses or just trying new things outside of medicine to expand their identities to create new income. I love bringing you stories of these type of people. Today is no exception. When we talk to Dr. Manasa Mantravati. She is the creator of Ahimsa. The going to find out all about what that business is. But I can tell you I have her product in my own home and my children use her product every single day. She has an amazing story and I know you're going to enjoy it. But before we get to the interview real quick, I want to let you know and remind you that this fall PIMDCON is happening. That's our signature event of the year. It brings people from all over the country to talk about real estate and new this year we're going to talk about entrepreneurship. As always, we're bringing together some of the smartest minds in real estate, investing and entrepreneurship. People who will teach you actionable skills. You'll be able to connect with the rest of the community. And we're also going to provide some coaching and mastermind sessions for those people that are interested. You can join us in person in Los Angeles September 21st through 23rd. Otherwise you can join us virtually. We'll have both options for people. Tickets go on sale soon, on May 15th. There of course will be incentives for people who jump in early. The early bird. But I can't tell you how excited I am by this.

Hope to see you there.

Now enjoy today's episode.

This is Dr. Manasa Matrovati. She is a board certified pediatrician but most recently she launched the world's first colorful stainless steel dishes for kids. It's this company called Ahimsa. You might see this all over now. We're going to be talking about how she built this amazing business, her passion behind this and how she makes it all work. She received the Physician Mentor of the Year award at Indiana University School of Medicine, which is a large medical school in the country. In 2021, she was named a Forbes Next 1000 entrepreneur, a list of rising business owners in the U.S. and that's. That's fantastic. She's got an amazing story, and I'm excited to talk to her today. Marisa, how you doing?

I'm good. It's so great to be here. As always, Peter, you're doing such wonderful things for our physicians.

No, I. I love talking to you because obviously of your story. We're going to get into that. But of course, I love talking to you about your current business. I love talking about a himself. Do you mind telling people exactly what that is and what you do?

Yes. So it's a line. I actually have some. It's a line of colorful stainless steel dinnerware for kids. And really, it was born. So we've got these, like, plates and cups and spoons, and it's all stainless steel. And it was really. I launched this company, and we've got little cute containers for snacks and. And so really the reason why I did it, though, it was because of a public health policy, and really the policy of the American Academy of pediatrics back in 2018, really, highlighting endocrine disrupting chemicals and carcinogens in plastic, especially as it relates to foodwear for our children. And if you have kids, you probably walk down every major aisle of stores and can only find plastic bottles and cups and dishes for kids. And so I felt like there was a big disconnect between what modern medicine and physicians were saying and what industry was offering those parents. So I was like, maybe I'll just do it. So that's. That's how it all.

I mean, we. We use it at our house. You know, I heard about you, and. And we bought it, and my family and my kids love it. How did this all get started for you, though? Is this like, you're. You're now this, like, Forbes 1000 next entrepreneur type thing? Was this always part of the plan for you when you started in, you know, your practice or at least. At least in training or medical school?

Oh, gosh, no. Like, if. If someone told me this is what I would be doing. Like, people. Someone joked with me the other day. It's like, I'm the plate lady. I'm like, I'm the plate lady. Like, that's. That's what people know. It was not part of my plan, honestly. It just kind of really, like, converged right in front of me. And it really started with, like, a text message chain with my residency girlfriends. You know, we all did residency together, six of us. We all have since become mothers and practicing pediatricians. And one of them basically just sent out a text and said, hey, have you seen this policy statement? What are you going to do with all your plastic dishes? Everybody was frantically trying to figure out what they were going to do because our kids were all young at the time, and we really were in that stage of feeding. I had already been using stainless steel. The AAP recommended, hey, there are these chemicals in plastic. Don't use them. Try to avoid plastic to serve and store food and use glass or stainless steel. Well, I am Indian, and there's a lot of Asians eating out of stainless steel. So I had already been doing that because I got scolded by my mother one time. And if you're like an immigrant with an immigrant mother, you know, like, they don't take no for an answer. And so I was already kind of following the AP guidelines, and that's how it all came to be, as they were like, oh, my gosh, I need some of those. And so that's how it all started. It was truly a group of residency friends and a policy and then really looking to my roots in India, where stainless steel is the material of choice at the dinner table and just kind of bringing in my roots. And then pediatrics, and it kind of just converged here. And then the idea for the color came from my husband's actually head and neck oncologic surgeon, and so he does a lot of reconstruction. And I saw some of his metal implants for patients, and I realized this one would be blue and another product would be pink. And I thought, how in the world are they getting those colors? And I found out it was actually titanium coating on top of stainless steel. So I said, oh, let's just do that on dishware, because if it's safe enough to go in the body, like, it should be safe enough to eat off of. And that's how the story came to be. It was. I wasn't looking for an idea. I just realized that there was a problem. And I understood kind of what it was like to be a mom and to be a pediatrician making these recommendations. There was no solution. So that's how it came to be.

Okay, this is. Most people, if they send out a recommendation or text, I'd say, all right, here, go to Amazon. I'd say, like, go to Amazon, just buy this. I mean, there's something a little bit different in the story where you actually say, all right, not only, you know, am I doing these things, but, okay, now I'm going to build this product. I'm going to create this from scratch. Like, what gave you the idea that you could even do something like that.

Oh, I don't know. I'm a big dreamer. Like, I, you know, I'm always, I'm very problem solution focused. So I'm the same way in medicine, right? Like, I can't. If I see a bad patient outcome, then I can't. I'm not the person who just sits there. I am like, why don't we have a policy for this? Why don't we have a procedure for this? How can we prevent this the next time? And that's just like the way my brain works, right? So if there's a problem, I just feel very compelled to probably my family's annoyance to create a solution for that. And so I think that's where it stem. Like, I love solving problems. And so this just was like a really big problem with a very clear solution. And I just felt like, if not someone else, why not me if no one else is doing it? And this impact is so significant for kids. I mean, we're seeing things in pediatrics we've never seen before, right? Like premature puberty, obesity, childhood diabetes, learning disabilities, add all of these things are very clearly linked to our environmental toxins that genetics didn't change in a generation, right? Like, we know that as doctors. And so if it's such a big problem with a really clear solution, like, why not try? And that's just how I felt.

So how did you come with the whole idea for the business plan? Because this is building a business. There's, there's a lot of money involved. I'm sure there's a startup costs and all of these things. Like, did you even think about how to. I'm sure you did. But how you created that plan, that this would be a successful business, where did that all come from?

First it was about risk mitigation, right? Because as physicians, we're like, not risk takers by training, right? Like, you don't want your doctor to take risks. And so first it was just my husband and I sat down and we're like, okay, listen, if we do this, we had some initial costs for the manufacturer. Some initial, like, okay, this is what a business plan is like, this is maybe some of the capital needs we need. And so basically, okay, what's the worst that can happen? You know, okay, it's sealed, there's no expiration date. Like, whatever. If all goes to crap, just sell off the inventory and at least not lose your bank lifestyle. And that's actually a really important lesson for people. It's important to know that you can take these big leaps, but don't take it blind. At least know what you're getting into. Kind of try to create a map and understand your risks just like you would do with any other decision in medicine. And so really when we thought, okay, this is something that's not. It's not like food, where it expires, it's not like it'll be fine. And so then we said, okay, I just started. I literally googled how to make a business plan, started going through step by step on how I should do this. I read voraciously some really good business books. The E Myth is a really good one to start. And then, you know, the lean method, the art of the start. And I just kind of took all those principles and tried to build out a business plan, understand some of the capital needs, not just for inventory, because that's a big difference in a product based company. You spent a lot of money on inventory. But then how much was it going to cost me for lawyers and all this stuff? And I think one of the things that I did successfully, and I really encourage physicians to use this financing model tool, a pledged asset line is a great thing that I think a lot of physicians qualify for. And it's just, it's really a. It's a line of credit that can be used for certain things, including like starting a business. So that really helped me get off the ground. And I don't think I would have been able to do it without that financing tool. And most entrepreneurs may not be able to get that. But as physicians, you really are in a position of luxury.

Okay, so somebody, so you got a manufacturer to make this for you, Then where did it go from here?

Somebody. I convinced somebody.

Convince somebody to make it. So what happened next and how did it ultimately end up in my kitchen? Like, how did that, how did that happen? Like, hold the next step for you.

Yeah. So like, literally my whole process of learning was, okay, first figure out steel manufacturing, next figure out coloring. Oh, then find the steel manufacturer. Then I was like, okay, create a business plan. Oh, okay. How to launch a business. Like, I did not do this. I literally did it as I went. I do not recommend doing it that way, by the way. That's some learning lessons for later. But really I just learned about, you know, a platform called Shopify. And what I ended up doing is I just looked, I like read on other founders, I just read stories on how they did it. And I was like, well, these are the blueprints. I'll just do this and that's really how I did it. I just read on different founders that I was really intrigued that had similar products in the same space of like foodwear, for example, or maybe something that I had heard about and how they kind of built it from scratch. And I started learning about all these different platforms. Shopify how to what? A3PL, like a third party logistics in a warehouse was understanding ocean freight and customs agents. I just went step by step by step by step and kind of piecemeal that together. And so one of the things I did is when I launched on my shop and Shopify, which again, if you tried to build a business like 20 years ago, you didn't have this beautiful thing called Shopify or other platforms that allow you to launch your business in relatively short, short time. And so I just basically used that platform and got a 3PL and essentially pressed live. And those orders, like, just came to our factory, from the factory to our logistics center, to the customer. And that was it. Like, that. That was my game plan. I was like, oh, let's just see. Let's just see. And to my, like, overwhelming surprise, I pressed live and we got all these orders within a very short period of time. And I was like, oh, God, I think I just started a company and I actually don't know what I'm doing. So that was. That's how I brought it to life. People probably think I have some, like, mba. I clearly do not.

I mean, I think probably. No, I got it. Sing. Oh, my.

Okay.

This thing is gonna be like 30 minutes long. It's gonna cut down toy. Okay. I'm sure people that are watching this are.

Sorry.

I'm sure people that are watching this or listening to this probably have the same question that. That has. Probably. I'm about to tell you right now and ask you, how are you able to do all of this while still practicing medicine? And how are you able to balance all of this to start this company? Because it sounds like you want. It was a pretty sensitive process for you.

It was. Yeah. You know, if someone told me if someone actually outlined what. What entrepreneurship was like ahead of time, I probably would have been like, I'll pass. Like, sure, you know? But now that I know, I think there's a lot of things I would have done differently. But what I did at the start is kind of. I just did it all because I think that's part of what we are taught in training to be doctors is just like, just go, go, go, go. And so I would. I was, you know, I'm A hospitalist. I would do night shifts because my kids are young. And then I'd come home and I'd sleep and then I would write an email campaign to sell my products. And then, you know, then. Then the world shut down. We launched right before COVID and I had all sorts of supply chain issues. I was working on the pediatric Covid unit. My kids were home virtually like it was just a hot mess, just like everyone else. But, you know, through that process, I kind of realized that you can do it all, you just can't do it all at one time. And so I want to, like, especially for women, I feel like a lot of times we feel like we have to pick and choose, but I would say any human being kind of has to pick and choose their priorities. And so for me, after doing this business for about two years and kind of working part time as a physician, really working hard to get a team in place here and build a proper structure, a business structure, a team structure and processes in place. Then after we started launching into retail like Nordstrom and Bye Bye Baby and all of these other kind of outside, you know, channels, I realized like, this needed my full attention. And so, you know, I had a really great conversation with my division director who said, you know what, what you are doing is children's health at scale. Go do it. Like this job is here for whatever you need it and want it, but like, we support you. And I think especially for us as physicians, that load of confidence from someone in the medical field who is my boss. It just felt so good to be able to say, okay, I'm going to go do this thing, you know, without any guilt.

I mean, what does it look like today though? You mentioned going into retail. What does the business look like and obviously how's it evolved over the last couple years?

Oh, yeah, we've had a lot of growth, lots of exciting things. You know, we just started as completely an E commerce company and now we are launching 50 Bye Bye Baby stores nationally. We are on Gap and Nordstrom. We're launching, oh, gosh, lots of other retailers in the pipeline that are already secured. So lots of big things. And then all these celebrities somehow find us and purchase us and post about us. And we had like Jessica Alba post about us. And Kristen Bell had kind of a reel that had 17 million views and it was on our plate. Her kids tried to serve her cinnamon toast, but they used cayenne pepper instead. And it was on our plate. So just all these magical moments have happened. We've been on Good Morning America and Entrepreneur and Parents magazine, like, the print, like, it's just. I can't even explain, like, how much has happened in such a short period of time. And to me, the only thing that I can explain is that I have put forth a product that was designed to help people, and that stems from my background as a physician wanting to help people. And I think that when you lead with purpose and when you lead with mission, the rest comes, like, you don't have to work so hard. And honestly, you don't. It feels better because entrepreneurship is like this. There's not. Like, you guys may see the highs, but there are a lot of lows. There are a lot of. There are a lot of lows, a lot of, like, oh, crap moments, you know? But of course, like, the outside world doesn't see that. But in those lows, that purpose, that mission, like, why am I doing this? It has to be strong. Because if it's not, like, you won't withstand entrepreneurship, like, it's not for money. It's not for, like, the other stuff. It's really for the true purpose. I think everyone wants a purpose in life, you know, So I think that's why it's taking off, really, because we're leading with purpose.

What are some of the other skills that you think you picked up from medicine that really allowed you to build this business? And it probably, hopefully it's a translatable skill that other people and other physicians can see which allow you to be successful and grow this. What are some of those things?

Yes, I've been told, actually the very specific ones from, like, investors. We had a very successful seed. A series. Oh, my gosh, a seed round. Not a series. A. A seed round. And it was really nice to kind of see what the outside world thought of physicians in the business space. Right. And. And I. And agree. So, number one is that we are incredibly good at learning. Right? Like, we have done this, oh, gosh, like, since high school, getting into college, going to med school, residency, fellowship. We are the best learners around. Right? And so, I mean, even Covid, like, okay, there's this new thing. Let's go figure out what to do with it. And so that ability to learn is exactly what you need in entrepreneurship, I think being really structured and organized and dedicated. That is, again, part of what you have to do to get through this very long road in medicine. You've got to be very committed. You have to have these innate sense of, you know, I think all of us are a bit type A. Let's not let's just be real here. We probably are cut from the same cloth. And so you know, I think that level of organization, time management, it's inbuilt into how we are as physicians. I think we are natural leaders. Because for example, you may not realize, but you're leading a team every single day, right? So whether that's in the OR in your clinic, you are managing people the same way you would manage a business. And it's the same way like I call it supply chain, maybe we call it, you know, like the, the or staff, right. Like I call it finance. But it, that's it. It's just different. Like you're managing people and you are uniting them like towards a common goal. So that's really translatable. And then the last one is I think attention to detail. Because a lot of entrepreneurs, I think what happens is you get really tied up in the ideas and the opportunities. You don't pay attention to the details. But we're meticulous, right? Because people lives depend on it. So like we really need to watch that sodium right. In a, in a di patient. And so the ability to able to kind of extract a lot of information, analyze it and then make a thoughtful decision for your company is a skill that a lot of people don't have. And it's so inbuilt into what we do, you know. And so if you just take out like switch out the terms in, in business we call it KPI Key performance indicators. Everyone feels very threatened by like oh my gosh, these financial statements, these profits and losses, like I don't know what I'm doing, I'm a doctor. But I can tell you when you look at all those numbers, it's the same as when you round on your patients. Like you look at vital signs and labs all day long and images and you, you extract from all of that what's important. So it's just learning new terminology. So I think that's why we make really good entrepreneurs. And I think the outside world knows that and I hope that this proves that it's really not that hard. You just gotta learn different lingo, that's it.

I mean I love this and I know that people are gonna hear the story. They want to want to find out more about your company, but they're also going to want to connect with you.

Because I know you help a lot.

Of physicians in the space as well. Where's a great place for people to find out more about your company? And then also you.

Yes. So you can go to ahimsa home.com which is a h I m s a home.com to find our website. What's beautiful is we have a line of safe, sustainable products for your kids at home, but we also have a school line because it wasn't important. Like for me, I wanted to do it all. I wanted to eliminate plastic wherever children dine at home, at school. And the schools are the biggest source of the school lunchroom is the biggest source of carbon emissions landfill wastage and also exposure for children's health. And so we have an entire cafeteria line and we're in seven states now and been able to successfully transform cafeterias from plastic to reusable steel. So you can check out both of those lines@ahimsahome.com and then I love teaching physician entrepreneurs because I just, I wish I had that. I wish I had somebody who like kind of walked in my shoes and could give me that whole roadmap and the tools. So I do consulting on the side. It's called mantra mind to get it. Mantra mind. So mantramind consulting.com not sorry, mantramindconsultingmail.com so you can just email me there and if you have questions, I'd love to help you.

That's awesome. Before we let you go, do you mind just sharing? I mean, you've already given so many words of advice. Awesome wisdom. Can you leave people with one tip? For someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

Yes. You know, dream big and take the leap. Like, just take the leap, you know, because you did all of this work to get where you are today, to be a physician. And at the end of the day, you are intrinsically designed to do good for others. So in the business world, you can do that too. Like, you can still practice medicine and do that work, but there are other ways that you can translate these skills and still do these amazing things for other people and the world. But it just requires that you take the leap and take a little bit of a risk because if you don't, you'll always wonder what would happen. And I promise you, like, you will be a successful entrepreneur if you have become a physician. Like, no doubt.

All right, this has been an awesome story. I know that people are going to love it. They're going to want to check you out, find out more about what you're doing. They're also going to get inspired by this. I know as well, especially the pediatricians out there. I think that's you're doing amazing things in that world as well too. I want to thank you for your time. Thank you for all the amazing work that you're doing. And let's talk again soon.

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Peter. Good luck, everybody.

Okay, bye. Enjoy the show.

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