Learning about Ideas & how to Execute them. Engineering | Storytelling | Business

"You are the world you have created."

That line from Cormac McCarthy hit me at month 7 of unemployment. 68.8% rejection rate. 1 month of finances left.

I wasn't getting rejected because I lacked skills. I was getting rejected because 10 years earlier, I'd made a choice I didn't know I was making. I picked legitimacy over authority. Proof over interpretation.

Engineering credentials over storytelling instinct.

Every project after that: one more vote for a future I didn't consciously want.
By the time I noticed, the shape was drawn. I was at the crossroads thinking there was a choice, but the choosing was done a long time ago.

I stopped applying to jobs.

For 4 weeks, I wrote. Not to explain what happened. To see what I'd been building without realizing.
The answer showed up in 15 minutes.

Short story writing wasn't a hobby. It was the access mechanism.

Stories surface assumptions before they harden. They let you test futures without betting your life on them first. They show you the world you're building while you still have time to choose differently.

I built a workshop around it. Ran 6 sessions in 2 weeks bfeore I even had a job offer.

A 30-year scenario planning veteran at Morgan Stanley told me: "I've been trying to do this for three decades. You just solved it."

Here's the method:
- Write for 15 minutes. First-person future. One day. 
- Don't think. Let details emerge.
- Signals guide the writing. Your unconscious does the rest.

What surfaces:
- Assumptions you didn't know you were making
- Prereqs you hadn't considered
- The gap between what you think you want and what you're actually building

A computer programmer: "Blank canvas that made me rethink what was possible."
A marketer: "More engaging than mood boards or strategy docs."
A startup chief of staff: "Discovered new angles to a problem I'd been stuck on."

I spent 7 months learning what McCarthy meant.
Now I help people see the shape before acceptance becomes the only option.
DM me if you're building something and want to surface what's driving it.

Mohammad Khan

She followed startup advice perfectly & created a disaster. 

Elizabeth Holmes followed advice you’d find “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel
• Built a monopoly (proprietary blood testing technology)
• Eliminated competition (aggressive NDAs, patents) 
• Created switching costs (Walgreens and Safeway locked in multi-year contracts) 
• Owned her category (redefined blood testing)

Succeeding at everything Peter Thiel teaches. Except the technology didn't work. She was a fraud.

By the time anyone discovered this:
• $700M trapped in investments
• Partners locked in multi-year contracts
• Patients receiving false medical results
• Employees silenced by NDAs

“Zero to One” can't distinguish between a successful startup and frauds like Theranos.

Both can claim they have products 10x better than competitors, capture markets, and make money.

Thiel's framework has no test for "does the technology actually work?"

Because the framework assumes you'll exit in 5-7 years. Well before the technology has to prove itself long-term.

You can't "move fast and break things" in cancer therapeutics. You can't "exit" before your technology proves it works.
But that's what startup advice assumes you'll do.

So what can deep tech founders do? 

Instead of focusing on growth & exiting, focus on proof points & partnerships. 

• Instead of Gatekeeping > Educating the market 
• Instead of eliminating competition > Transparent tech demos 
• Instead of optimizing for growth rate > Optimize for customer success rate. 

Same goal of building a successful company but on different timescales. Different worlds built, a sustainable one instead of extractive.

Elizabeth Holmes followed the playbook & built an extractive monopoly.

But the playbook doesn't care if the technology works. It only cares if you can build power before anyone finds out.

Deep tech founders can't afford that gamble. 
You're building for 20 years, not 5.

Teaching professionals to navigate uncertainty through short stories | Engineer building future-prototyping workshops in public

I read "Zero to One" in 2019. It changed how I thought about building a business. 
I read it again in 2024. It's an indoctrination manifesto.

Then I read Octavia Butler. She predicted what Thiel was building, 21 years before he published his playbook.
---

In 2019, I was devouring business books.

"Zero to One" was high on people's lists. And it made sense. A concise book on growing your business and what to aim for.

Took some notes & moved on.

2022: ChatGPT launches

A question stuck in my head 
"What problem does this actually solve?"

I couldn't answer it.

2024: I reread "Zero to One" 

ChatGPT broke every rule Thiel teaches.

Thiel's thesis: build monopolies by making something so uniquely and often 10x better that they escape competition

OpenAI didn't build 10x better technology. They published first with better marketing & lower costs.

And Thiel funded them anyway.

That's when I realized Zero to One isn't methodology. It's business ideology.

An indoctrination manifesto from survivorship bias that built the world we live in today. 

2025: I read “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler 

She wrote it in 1993 & set the story in 2024. And she showed me what happens when Thiel's ideology runs for 20 years.

Most startup advice assume you'll exit. But what if you can’t exit? 

What if these companies built themselves a monopoly they now have to manage and can’t exit? Something so entangled in the market where leaving risks collapse? 

What happens when you plan on exiting but can’t? 

In Butler's story:
• Corporations own entire towns
• Employees become debt slaves
• Technology serves monopolists only
• Workers can't leave (leaving means death)
• Corporations call this "providing value"

If “Zero to One” gives the extractive monopoly ideology, then “Parable of the Sower” shows you what happens when that ideology runs unchecked.

If you’re building technology that will take 20 years to mature, you should understand the world your advice is quietly trying to create.

A fiction book made me ask: What world am I building?
Then I rewrote my entire business model.

In 2025, I read “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler

She predicted what "build a monopoly" creates after 20 years:
• Company towns for employees
• Employees indebted to the company
• Technology serving monopolists only
• Workers can't leave (leaving means death)

Then I looked at my own positioning company.

I was helping science and engineering companies:
• Lock in customers (switching costs)
• Dominate categories (eliminate alternatives)
• Become the "only" choice (build monopolies)

Butler forced me to ask: What world is MY company creating?

If everyone wins by becoming a gatekeeper, everyone loses.
Customers lose freedom. Innovation slows. Switching becomes punishment.

I didn't want to make money building a world I wouldn't want to live in.

So, I pivoted.

Just published a newsletter on What world are you building?

Deep tech founders don't exit in 5 years. You live with what you build for 20 years.

Make sure it's a world you want to live in. 

Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ggN9us6v

In 2025, I trusted my future plan because it was clear. Turns out clarity can be the problem.

I had just gotten back from a long trip. It was Christmas. While others were decorating, I was sitting with my laptop open, staring at a plan that still made sense.

8 months & no job and the plan was coherent and useless.

The plan said, 'network to find work', but it didn't say what happens when your contact gets laid off the week before your coffee meeting.

Every milestone assumed nothing would go wrong. Not one backup. Not one 'what if this fails.'

So instead of refining the plan again, I changed the test.

I wrote two stories from first-person perspective.

Two story lines:

I wrote Tuesday morning, best case. New job, coffee with the team, solving problems.
 
Then I wrote Tuesday morning, month 9 unemployed. Checking the bank account. 

My original plan never asked, "what if no one picks you?"

Plans optimize for clarity.
Stories expose consequences.

It's not about making a better plan for the future, but what you do when your plan gets punched in the face

On assignment at Montgomery College

• Streamlined the admissions application processes and workflows, improving efficiency by 50% in 8 weeks, and led the development of a new application form
• Leading implementation of the new student success platform powered by Salesforce, and developing contingency plans for managing multiple priorities and competing resource allocations
• Delivered a 37% prospect engagement rate and a 57% improvement in lead nurture rate within 5 weeks, leading enrollment marketing projects, coordinating cross-functional partnerships
• Cultivated strong partnerships with vendors and six cross-functional teams, including creative, enhancing collaboration and project outcomes within 3 months
• Leading a comprehensive UI/UX review and editing for the Team Dynamix platform, enhancing user satisfaction, improving user adoption, and streamlining support processes within 3 months
• Identifying and manage project risks, developing proposed mitigation solutions, and creating processes to escalate risks to improve stakeholder confidence and execution of projects

Technical Project Manager | Digital Transformation & Process Optimization

Montgomery College

Technical Project Manager

NoCodeOps

Innovation Fellow at @NoCodeOps

Independent Contractor

• Achieved a 25% increase in CSAT scores with improved user adoption within 2 months by creating UI | UX copy and content design for client mobile apps, SaaS platforms, and website
• Improved user engagement by 1000% in 3 months, optimizing the client’s digital presence and outreach by implementing strategic B2B content
• Lead consultations and discovery sessions to analyze clients’ tools, available resources, and requirements to design and build solutions that improve productivity and efficiency
• Create process maps, documentation, training materials, technical documentation, and user manuals to support client workflows and digital solutions
• Develop strong client relationships through outstanding client experiences, highly effective communication, attention to detail, and focus on client success

Consultant & Writer - Medical & Technical

LeapPoint

• Created a rapid deployment implementation team that reduced project timelines by 30% with decreased resource load and launched new instances within 8 weeks with repeatable processes
• Led multiple concurrent and complex enterprise SaaS implementation, integration, data migration, and user onboarding projects for corporations, higher education, and government agencies
• Served as the main point of contact and successfully kept concurrent large-scale client projects on schedule and in scope while improving delivery times and payment cycles
• Contributed to platform designs, technical configuration, UAT, customer support, customer onboarding training, and change management to facilitate platform adoption and ROI
• Partnered with the sales team for pre-sales discussions, converting clients, client success, and account expansion

Client Services Manager & Senior Project Manager | Digital Transformation & Process Optimization

HealthStream

• Editing and updating content for continuing education courses for healthcare professionals
• Writing original content for continuing education courses for healthcare professionals
• Performing research and literature review to ensure that course references are current and appropriate
• Serving as a subject matter expert for continuing education courses
• Editing, updating, and writing post-course examinations
• Ensuring that course content meets the requirements for credentialing

Medical Writer, Technical Writer

Amedisys

• Demonstrated leadership, problem-solving skills, and customer service expertise as a case manager
• Coordinated healthcare team to empower patients and families to maximize function and independent living
• Analyzed patient’s need for assistive equipment, home modifications, and other services
• Coordinated patient services for interdisciplinary teams in assisted living facility

Senior Physical Therapist

Chesapeake Bay Aquatic & Physical Therapy

• Led operations and revenue projects focused on the P&L, budget, measurement based care, and accounts receivable to increase revenue and profitability
• Planned and executed strategic projects to drive lead generation, client engagement, operational improvements, and financial goal achievement
• Transformed clinical and business systems in physical therapy offices that increased revenue and productivity by 20% while delivering outstanding customer experiences in 6 months
• Participated in digital transformation, process optimization, and software implementation

Clinic Director

Johns Hopkins Hospital

• Led onsite departmental training and support for digital transformation during the implementation of EPIC EMR
• Demonstrated leadership and creative problem-solving as a superuser and trainer during the transition to ICD-10 code system and the implementation of EPIC EHR | EMR system
• Analyzed Emergency Department consultation process and developed new guidelines to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the program
• Collaborated with the diabetes management department to provide exercise-based programs for participants

Outpatient Rehabilitation Team Coordinator

Practice Maverick

• Implemented strategic plan and digital marketing projects to establish new physical therapy office
• Implemented operations and process improvement projects and solutions
• Trained and mentored a new clinic director in business operations and marketing
• Designed and led a project to analyze and improve customer experience

Founder & Business Consultant

Digital Transformation Consultant | Certified No-Code & Automation Consultant | Creator. I help organizations solve complex problems, optimize processes & implement digital solutions.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 | 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 | 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

I use analytics, problem-solving, and technology to drive meaningful change for organizations.

My career spans multiple disciplines, including project management, healthcare, process optimization, digital transformation, and SaaS implementation, equipping me to bridge the gap between 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮, 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵, and 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲.

I leverage cross-industry knowledge to craft innovative, tailored strategies that empower organizations to transform and scale effectively.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀:

• 𝗟𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀: Led SaaS implementations and process optimization projects for healthcare and corporate clients, driving operational efficiency and streamlining complex workflows.

• 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺-𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴: Developed an algorithm that optimized financial and operational performance for a national rehab company, improving clinical outcomes. Published in a leading industry publication.

• 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀: Led cross-disciplinary teams to implement operational and digital solutions that enhanced both clinical and financial performance for healthcare organizations.

• 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲: Proficient in no-code/low-code tools, AI applications, advanced diagraming platforms, and SaaS automation. Focused on developing solutions that optimize patient care, reduce administrative burdens, increase accessibility, and optimize financial results.

• 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Skilled at translating complex data, healthcare, and technology topics into clear, actionable insights. Extensive experience writing medical education content and engaging digital health material.

I consistently demonstrate the ability to lead innovation, solve problems, and optimize systems. I'm committed to implementing solutions that improve the quality of care while driving efficiency.

I'm always looking for opportunities to collaborate on projects that 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 with 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 and 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁!
If you’re looking for a leader with the expertise to bridge the gap between healthcare and technology, let’s explore how we can work together to drive positive change.

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Mohammad Khan

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taplio

The Battle

Mohammad Khan

Bud Ward

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Mohammad Khan's LinkedIn Performance

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