Introduction
Poojitha Lakkakula, founder of Navara Health, is an innovator dedicated to solving the fragmentation that defines the modern patient experience. Recognizing that healthcare is one of the few industries where intelligent technology can immediately reduce cost and confusion, Poojitha launched Navara to create a structured “front door” to care. Her platform uses intelligent triage logic and urgency categorization to help patients navigate their symptoms and connect with the right local providers. With a background in AI-driven healthcare startups, Poojitha’s mission is to turn a chaotic system into a streamlined, systems-based solution that benefits both patients and providers.
Challenge and Goals
When Navara Health joined the Innovation Forge Startup Accelerator, the business was in the early prototyping stage. While Poojitha had a technical architecture in place, she faced significant strategic gaps regarding market clarity and regulatory positioning. The platform was initially leaning toward a broad, consumer-facing model, but it lacked validated insight into who would actually pay for and adopt the solution.
Her primary goals were to move from a conceptual framework to a pilot-ready product. This required narrowing the scope to a specific “wedge” use case within outpatient care, refining the platform’s positioning to ensure it functioned as a navigation and intake tool rather than a diagnostic one, and identifying the true economic buyer within complex healthcare organizations.
Outcomes and Results
The Innovation Forge program, facilitated by The Corner and the Digital Foundry at New Kensington, pushed Navara to prioritize operational value over feature breadth. Through structured customer discovery, Poojitha made a fundamental pivot. Navara evolved from a broad navigation app into a B2B2C model.
Impact and Next Steps
Navara Health is now positioned for disciplined, stepwise growth. By focusing on the right model and customers, the platform has moved from an idea to a pilot-ready MVP.
Over the next 12 to 24 months, Navara will launch controlled pilots to measure specific KPIs. Poojitha is now focused on converting this pilot validation into long-term partnerships, ensuring that Navara provides a defensible, real-world impact.
Reflecting on the experience, Poojitha notes the value of the program’s rigor: “It’s not about polishing a pitch deck—it’s about pressure-testing your strategy before you invest time and capital scaling in the wrong direction. The program forces you to define who your real customer is and how your solution fits into real-world workflows.”
