A lot of people find it very unusual that even though I'm a full time practicing IVF specialist, I am now also an active angel investor. Most people expect to do just one thing in their life but I think life is too short, and it's much more challenging, fun, and interesting when you try multiple things. At this stage in my life, I'm in the fortunate position that I can actually do so.

I think I am actually a better angel because I am also a doctor.  Because of my domain expertise, I understand a doctor's and patient's pain points, which is why I can add a lot of value to digital health startups. After all, I have been doing for over 30 years, and I can help founders to do a better job at providing clever solutions to both payers and providers.

I am a practising doctor, which means I am also an entrepreneur of sorts ( every doctor in private practice runs their own small business) which makes it easier for me to empathise when things don't do as planned !

Because I invest through my family office , I only need to look at the big picture, and don't have to worry about the nitty-gritty of doing due diligence . This helps to compensate for my lack of financial skills, because my Family Office ( Solidarity, which is run by Manish Gupta) does such an outstanding job at doing this for me.

Not only  do I get to learn a lot from my founders, some of their optimism and can-do attitude also rubs off on to me, so I have a much more hopeful outlook towards life. And being an angel also allows me to invest in social impact enterprises, with the hope that I can help to create a better world. This is why I am a member of the I3N Intellecap angel investor network.

Interestingly, being an angel investor has actually helped me become a better doctor as well . I enjoy learning more about what my patients do in their professional life, and this helps me to establish a rapport with them. As an angel, everything is grist to my mill, and I have to learn about lots of other fields. This means my ability to understand the way the world works has improved considerably, because I am interested in the big picture, rather than being restricted to only an IVF specialist's prism.

This is the T-shaped model of expertise, when I can apply my depth of expertise ( the vertical stem of the T) in one narrow field ( IVF) to other areas ( the horizontal arm of the T). My skill and experience as an IVF specialist and as an angel complement each other.