The Financial Times has recently named Kilo Health the second fastest growing tech company in Europe. Much of this growth came last year when we hired more than 400 people across the globe. Let’s check the 3 principles that brought us here.
Recently, I have spent quite a lot of time reflecting on how did we get here.
I hope these 3 principles we use at Kilo Health will help entrepreneurs find their way and identity faster.
The early years of Kilo Health were not easy. But we never followed the rules in the business textbooks. As a team of 7 people, we came out of nowhere and were crazy enough to believe that we would lead an international company one day. And we did that.
Being a bootstrapped company allowed us to grow our confidence because we didn’t need to align our decisions with the vision of investors. It gave fuel to our “we can do anything” attitude.
Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Try to hush the voice in your head that there are people who are more clever or better than you. You can bring a lot to the table.
It’s the mindset that drives success.
Do not overthink your decisions. Take action, reflect on the results, adjust, and think about your next stage. Once you start building your business, the miracles happen on the way.
The best advisor is your gut feeling. If you wake up and don’t feel like conquering the world today, don’t. You may be ten times more productive the next day, and it’s okay to admit it.
It’s normal to face situations when you do not know what to do, what decision to make, and what is right or wrong. You are just starting out, right?
Get used to this feeling. Don’t get scared off and ignore outsiders who will come to you and lecture on how they could do better. If they really knew, they could have done it already. So don’t get distracted.
Starting a business is intimidating, as you are not sure about your idea yet. You worry if you can build your client base and bring in enough revenue to keep going. You are looking around for advice and trying different approaches to figure out your next steps.
Maybe you should follow the advice from consultants working in big corporations? But other people who do not know your business as well as you do.
So don’t ever let a suit scare you.
Not everyone is as bright as they look. An expensive suit doesn’t always mean that the person on the other side of the table has more experience or a better product than yours.
Many large corporations are slow, while a startup can be faster and more focused.
Many young entrepreneurs are afraid of industry giants, but the global market is huge and agile. You can outrun the larger corporations. There is a place for your startup under the sun.
Once you notice the first signs of success, it might feel like you have to start going even faster than before. You want to build tons of new features or products and expand to new markets. That comes with the feeling that you need to hire quickly.
However, don’t lower your standards at this stage. It’s better to wait for the right talent than hire someone who might not be the best fit for the role.
We prioritized balancing out experience and culture fit since our new hires require a unique set of skills. Our product managers, developers, and engineers are building innovative products that work with vast amounts of data. They’re exploring new areas of technology and creating innovative solutions.
Obviously, we needed to hire people who are both experienced and open to growing together with us. Rapid growth requires a different skill set than when our company first launched in 2013.
One of the ways to do this is to always carry out a “vibe check” conversation together with the technical and other interviews. While you hire a new team member, learn more about the personality, lifestyle, and goals. This way, you can be sure it’s a good fit for both of you.
The lesson here is that you can’t compromise on the new hires or rush through the hiring process. Your company is all about the people that work in it. Nothing else matters. So make sure that you spend just as much (or even more) time finding the right talent as before the rapid growth stage.
In the past few years, we were named the second fastest growing company in Central Europe by Deloitte. We are the second fastest growing tech company in Europe by the Financial Times. We have a portfolio of 15+ health and wellness products, invested in plenty of other startups, and helped 4+ million people get healthier.
And this is just the beginning.
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