My background comes from aviation, but today I run a wellness and healthtech company. The business lessons are universally similar and continued success requires adaptation and growth.
In this article, I want to share the most important points – or maybe you could call them tips, but definitely not tricks – that could help entrepreneurs. It’s all about how you work, and there are no easy solutions or fixes.
How to grow and remain a top player
I believe growth should be periodic, measured and planned. Business stability is a good thing, but today we live in a competitive environment where stability is more of an imaginary state. In our company, Kilo Health, we compete on a global scale, which makes stability really hard to achieve.
Also, you always have to invest strategically, that is, reinvest your profits back into the business. This is my key rule of business management: you can’t just walk away from the business, you always have to think about the future and have a long-term strategy.
Continually look for new innovations, business solutions and approaches that can help you grow your revenue.
I strongly believe that when you decide to stop growing and focus only on profitability or other aspects, you start losing the competitive battle. So, grow and always grow with discipline. Don’t be reckless: invest in the latest solutions as you grow. This will allow you to remain a leading player in your market rather than being overtaken by your competitors.
It is also very important not to be afraid of change. Change management is culturally difficult for any organization, but it is essential. Constant evolution is crucial. Keep this in mind and avoid sticking to a single standard or dogma thinking, “This has always been the best solution, the best way to do business.” Strive to maintain a flexible approach.
A leader must know that it takes two
I truly believe that great leaders are not born, they are made over time. Learning from past experiences, mentors and lessons is extremely important. Even if you are just starting out as a new leader, having a good team around you is essential.
For me, leadership means showing others how to do things. Leaders can make mistakes, but they need to have a plan and have people trust them. In my ten years of leadership, there have been times when people have trusted me, even though I didn’t have much experience to begin with. So while being a leader is important, the team is just as important. It’s about showing the way and motivating others.
Remember that one person alone cannot make a business successful. It takes a whole team, or at least “two”. Investing in people and their skills, investing in minds and investing in young people are core values of a healthy organization, which must flow from the company’s long-term strategy.
The last thing a good leader should know is that all lessons learned in business are valuable.
Entrepreneurs learn from the mistakes of other entrepreneurs and we often learn from our own mistakes. Mistakes are innumerable and business is a risk, while business development is about measuring risk and making risky decisions.
The illusion of young startups
But speaking of mistakes and risks, young startups often make bad decisions that can have a huge impact on their future success. For example, they may neglect the crucial step of validating their business idea to make sure it’s actually relevant.
Additionally, they may invest in developing their core product without first testing their business assumptions. Another key consideration is whether the company is actually solving a market problem.
Third, you need to manage your finances. It is important to be careful with initial investments, to make sure they are used wisely and not to waste them on untested ideas. These are common mistakes among young startups, who think that success is guaranteed.
But belief alone is not enough, it needs to be supported. And how can you support your idea? By investing a little more in testing and understanding those assumptions.
Often startups have a hypothesis and put it forward heavily, but that hypothesis isn’t necessarily correct.
Current Trends in HealthTech
If we talk about trends, the first thing that comes to mind is simplicity.
Today, people want innovation and new tools to help them live healthier and achieve their goals. They want simplicity, meaning not complicated features, but simply help to use technology. Our mission is to offer something new, to provide solutions that can truly help people live healthier every day and achieve their goals.
Our direct audience is tired of complexity, and we see this clearly in some of our products. Greater functionality does not necessarily lead to greater success in helping people achieve their goals.
In addition, the path of life is long and people want to try new things. That is why we see a growing interest in hypnosis and different psychological approaches to health. Most of the tools available, including those of our company, are not enough on their own to solve people’s health problems. For these tools to be effective, people need discipline and they are looking for ways to strengthen this discipline.
Trends show that people are looking for more natural and interesting products to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is a crucial aspect of our business: we analyze and research the latest trends daily, proving that people care deeply about healthy living.
Want to help people live healthier lives? Check out our careers page.
Zygimantas Surintas
CEO of Kilo Health
