I Love My Pogoplug!!
Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE
In January 2009 I met Brad at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It is always fun to hang out with my son for a weekend. This weekend was special because Daniel and my brother Charlie and his wife Cindy were at the show also.
One morning Brad asked me to walk around the show with him. As soon as we arrived at the startup area of the show entrepreneurs gathered around Brad to ask questions. I felt like an extra wheel.
While he was busy I visited a few exhibits. I love to ask a lot of questions about the products for two reasons; first, I want to see how the entrepreneur expresses himself and second, to see if the product interests me.
I stopped at the Pogoplug exhibit Daniel and Jed Putterman. It was a small exhibit with two tables and two guys. It turned out they were brothers. They did not have fancy banners or giveaways. They simply had a dynamite product.
Two brothers, Jed and Daniel Putterman, were starting the company. They described the product with great passion. I was enchanted. It was a small square box. You plug it into the electrical outlet and into your router. Then you plug a USB port into an external hard drive.
The two brothers got me excited about their Pogoplug. I carry my hard drive back and forth to the ranch weekly. With a Pogoplug I would not have to carry the portable hard drive back and forth. I have been and still am goosey about putting my data in the cloud. With the Pogoplug I could enjoy the advantages of the cloud but avoid losing control of my data.
I asked how much the Pogoplug cost? Jed told me the price was $99.50 per unit. I said, “sold”. They said they had a special at the show. The Pogoplug would not be ready for shipment until March. The show special was $79.50. The delay did not bother me. I felt like buying two of them.
I did not know at the time I was their first sale. I also didn’t know that Brad and the Foundry Group was looking to invest in the Pogoplug.
Eventually Brad finished answering questions and found me near the Pogoplug exhibit. I told him I bought a Pogoplug. Brad said, “no kidding”. He immediately went over to the brothers and told them that if they could sell a Pogoplug to my father, a 71 year old retired clinical endocrinologist, he would invest in the company. I received my Pogoplug as promised in March. It worked perfectly. Jed and Daniel did a magnificent job with this little box. It was clean, uncomplicated and extremely user friendly.
The second generation Pogoplug is sexier and has added functionality.
I love my Pogoplug.
I think all physicians should have a Pogoplug attached to their file sever in their office. They would have a personal CLOUD for all the data in their electronic medical record. Patient records can be accessed from anywhere on their smart phone. Prescriptions can be written off campus after review of patients’ records and emailed to the pharmacy. The Prescriptions can then be downloaded or emailed to the chart.
The beauty of the Pogoplug is that the physicians would retain physical ownership of his medical data on their own server.
At my 50th Columbia College reunion the chairman of Columbia University Information Technology Department delivered an Information Technology Lecture to our class. He went through the history of computing since IBM’s first massive computer and ended with a demonstration of the wonders of the Pogoplug.
Wow. I raised my hand and told my classmates the story of my Pogoplug. If anyone does not have one and needs to be plugged into their files in the office or at home get one and plug it into your hard drive.
Get one. You will love the Pogoplug!
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.