Mary Ellen Beliveau is the CEO and founder of Knowledge to Practice (K2P), a leading provider of medical education software.
A passionate advocate for lifelong, continual learning in medical education, Mary Ellen and Knowledge to Practice are transforming how expertise is shared and learned among physicians across the globe.
Her personal experiences, coupled with more than 15 years of innovating postgraduate medical education curriculum, led her to launch Knowledge to Practice in 2014.
Mary Ellen is a successful female entrepreneur who’s conquered the corporate, education, and health administration worlds and is currently working with leading scholars to improve medical education for physicians around the world.
What motivated and inspired you to start your own business?
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for transforming industry through education.
After a misdiagnosis of congenital heart disease for my infant daughter, I realized that physicians want to provide the best possible care but don’t always have to the tools, resources, or support to do so.
Medical knowledge doubles every 73 days, so having access to the latest on emerging medicine is a monumental task for the busy, time-strapped physician. I set out to build a comprehensive and personalized curriculum, delivered directly to any device that improves physician knowledge.
Since 2014 Knowledge to Practice has been offering high quality ongoing education and empowering physicians to provide the best possible care to their patients.
Tell us about your business.
Knowledge to Practice is a leading provider of medical education solutions. We deliver personalized, adaptive curriculum through an intuitive, easy-to-use online platform that enables physicians to learn how, when, and wherever they’d like.
We personalize the content based on each individual physician’s needs and continuously call out learning objectives to maximize time and retention of relevant information.
Are you currently running any promos/contests/giveaways that you would like our readers to know about?
In late 2017 we’ve started to sell our solution to private practices and hospitals, both to teaching-hospital training programs and to groups of practicing physicians. We include an administrative dashboard that helps leaders understand where their team has and lacks mastery.
List awards/certifications/accomplishments.
I currently sit on the board of trustees for Suburban Hospital and am a member of the Mindshare, an invitation-only network of chief executive officers (CEOs) from the most promising, emerging, and high growth technology companies in the Washington, D.C. area.
I was previously a part of the 2015 LearnLaunch Accelerator Cohort and a winner of the “2014 MIT Start-up Simulation Competition.”
One of my favorite pastimes includes speaking at medicine conferences regarding lifelong learning initiatives and organizational change.
I have a Master of Education in adult learning and online instructional design, a Bachelor of Science in business from Bentley University, and an executive certificate in strategy and innovation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.
Where is your business based?
Bethesda, MB—but more importantly we’re online at www.k2p.com.
What were the first few steps you took to get your business up and running?
Initially, I knew I’d need to have a critical mass of high quality curriculum from a trusted source. That’s why I partnered with Mayo Clinic.
Together we built the lessons, and at Knowledge to Practice we built out the software focusing on ease of use and what we call “micro” learning.
That is, we wanted to ensure that the Physician could fill their free moments with fast, relevant, and accurate information on emerging medicine.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?
Customers are our number one priority, so we’ve focused our efforts on making our customers successful. They tell us they’ve changed the way they practice medicine based on what they’ve learned in our solution.
More importantly, they tell their colleagues. Nothing is more powerful than customer referrals to spur growth.
What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Growing a software startup is never easy; it includes long hours, ups and downs, trying out new things, and being willing to turn on a dime. In short, this environment is not for everyone.
How did you overcome these challenges?
We spend a lot of time focusing on hiring the right people and reinforcing a culture of collaboration. We pride ourselves in only working with world renowned medical experts who deliver high quality training.
Everyone at Knowledge to Practice is committed to our vision: to spread challenging and emerging medical knowledge globally resulting in improved patient care.
How do you keep motivated through difficult times?
Personally, I’m fortunate to be surrounded by mentors and coaches, people who hold the wisdom to make a difference, who help steer us through the inevitable ups and downs of startup life.
Broadly, at K2P, we set aggressive growth goals, and as we meet each milestone, we celebrate our successes and learn from our challenges.
How do you distinguish yourself from your competitors?
Knowledge to Practice is the only medical education solution provider that delivers both quality, personalized curriculum and advanced technology. Additionally, we go beyond standard CME requirements, enabling physicians to stay up-to-date with the rate of medical innovation.
Knowledge to Practice faculty includes more than 35 world-renowned academicians who are dedicated to empowering their peers through effective, lifelong medical education.
Our interactive education technology enables users to consume information the way they prefer (video, audio, PowerPoint, or transcript) all while taking notes within the platform. Users can even speed up the recording to get the information they need in half the time.
This effective learning design ensures that physicians are maximizing their time while gaining a 59 percent lift in learning, which is 24 percentage points higher than traditional live courses.
What is the best advice you have received recently?
Something I learned a few years back, the best advice I’ve heard and what I continually push our team to do is to reach outside of our four walls to learn from others.
We believe that the busy physician knows best as to what will work and what is valuable.
We believe that experienced faculty can tell you where physicians struggle.
We know that the value of our platform lies with the user.
So we challenge ourselves to use our community to build the best possible solution in the market.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
Don’t delay; get started today.
There really is no better time than the present to build your dream company and change the world. And while you do it surround yourself with people who complement you.
They should have strengths you don’t have but share your passion for your vision.
What are your favorite business tools/resources and why?
I subscribe to the philosophies espoused in the book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution. Everyone in the business must focus on the most important goals for success. This book is a must read!
What is a good article or book you have read recently?
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek is my favorite and most recent book.
What are you currently learning about for your business or looking for help with?
Later in 2018 or in early 2019 we will be looking to do a “B” round with investors that are aligned to our mission.
What are your goals for the next few months and how are you striving to achieve them?
In 2018 we will double our revenue, while bringing new products to market. This is our most important year yet. We’ve got the strategy, and now we must execute.
What social media outlets do you use? List them below.
Twitter @K2PEd, @MEB_K2P
Facebook www.facebook.com/KnowledgetoPractice
Website www.knowledgetopractice.com
K2P Blog www.knowledgetopractice.com/blog
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/knowledge-to-practice-inc-, www.linkedin.com/in/maryellenbeliveauk2p
Email info@k2p.com