LiquidHub connects health care, financial services firms to their customers

“It’s important to have a set of discipline and management principles and a cultural identity that links everyone and not be a pickup team, if you will,” Brassington says.
LiquidHub has established a meritocracy culture where ideas from an entry-level associate have equal opportunity to rise to the top.
“Our creativity processes are driven on getting that inclusive idea, where people feel they can participate and approach me as CEO of the firm. Meritocracy is a core principle of the business,” Brassington says.
An internal “next big thing” contest resulted in Panorama, a mobile portal for information on the go.
“Out of this contest came one of the coolest apps we’ve built, a mobile framework for content delivery that we use in any engagement,” Brassington says.
Another way LiquidHub fosters its culture is in bringing staff together around charitable endeavors. Team members in various business divisions work in a very distributed way with clients, but a charity bike ride for multiple sclerosis, for example, can bring 40 employees across practice areas together for training.
“That really brings the interconnectivity. The social mission part or philanthropic drive is something we fostered from the get go and has been extremely important in creative linkage among associates to each other, as well as a bigger purpose of serving a specific philanthropic cause,” Brassington says.

“These types of things are the underpinnings of a strong and vibrant framework that represents LiquidHub.”

 

Takeaways:

  • Seek outside funding in a strategic manner.
  • Adjusting to client needs is critical in the age of the customer.
  • Work deliberately to link your employees as you grow.

 

The Brassington File:

Name: Jonathan Brassington
Title: CEO and co-founder
Company: LiquidHub
Born: Georgetown, Guyana
Education: Bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from Misericordia University, in Dallas, Pennsylvania; a master’s degree in telecommunications and operations strategy from the University of Pennsylvania.
What was your first job and what did you learn from it? My first job was working for my Aunt Lucia, a Religious Sister of Mercy nun, stacking shelves and replenishing food supplies in the hospital kitchen. It certainly taught me the importance of hard work, staying organized and keeping a schedule. At an early age, it also showed me how to work with others to achieve a common goal.
What is the best business advice you ever received? To dare to dream and be willing to take the risks associated with being an entrepreneur. When I founded LiquidHub in 2001 with Robert Kelley and Leighton Yohannan, we didn’t have any external capital. Knowing service businesses are capital efficient, we believed it was critical to build value and grow first.
Who do you admire in business? Judith Faulkner, founder and CEO of Epic Systems, is a great example of building a business that focuses on putting the customer (patient) at the center. She is true a innovator and pioneer in her field, and it’s amazing to think that roughly half of the U.S. population’s medical information is stored in Epic digital records.
What did you want to be when you grew up? I was always interested in the field of medicine and thought I would become a doctor at an early age.
In the end, technology became my passion, and I get to work with many life sciences companies that keep me informed of what is going on in the medical field.
I’m excited about the possibilities that wearable devices can have in terms of prevention and improving overall health, which the iPhone 6 has embraced with its partnership with the Mayo Clinic for the new Health app. This is a growing area that we are excited to develop technology solutions for.
What technology do you wish you invented? The electric car. We need to rethink our dependence on fossil fuels. As the technology becomes mainstream and costs decline, electric cars are going to become viable options for more drivers.