Inspired with Alexa von Tobel
00:44:05 · Alexa von Tobel
[00:44:05] S1: Jeremy, I wanna move a little bit to you as a leader. And I think you and I kind of share a philosophy with Charlotte that urgency really matters. I think I always say CEOs are engines, and they kind of set the speed of which everybody moving. But you, uniquely, have always operated with an incredible sense of urgency just given how important the task at hand is that you're managing. How do you build two things? That's that core sense of speed and urgency into the the company in a safe way, just given that you're not just selling widgets, right? Like, these are really important things that matter. So how do you develop that sense of urgency? And I have a follow-up question.
00:44:45 · Jeremy Gurewitz
[00:44:45] S0: Yeah. So it's a really fine balance because obviously... And and I think you see this with a lot of founder CEOs of, like, you know, you could always by default just say nothing's ever good enough. We have to move faster, blah blah blah. And I think I think that's actually a mistake to just have that be the blanket default. Instead of instead of just saying nothing's ever good enough, what we say is, like, we use, like, the maximum possible amount of urgency when it comes to a particular thing. And so we are very strongly committed to setting goals and deadlines, and we push hard to understand what causes time delays. So, like, if we're building a piece of software, we do... You know, not only do we have a PRD, but we ask our our engineers to, you know, write down, for example, what what are the riskiest parts of a thing? What are the areas that we think we can push on? And I think it makes sense to... Like, you wanna treat people like people, like adults. Like, what... I think myself and and my cofounder, Sarah, we drill really, really deep into the details. So for example, even if it's a marketing project, we say we think it'll take a week. Why is it going to take a week? Let's understand the specific uses of time, and let's really drill in on if we think that those marginal increments of time are going to add the additional ROI or the value associated with that. And so I think that, obviously, you can just have that blunt instrument of just saying move faster. Nothing's good enough. But we try and instill in the culture. And because sometimes there are things that do take time. Like if you're building a really critical feature or something that the patient is directly seeing, the last thing you want in the world is to ship something buggy or ship something that breaks or would be unreliable. And so those are types of things that are really good uses of time, and you have to build in uncertainty when it comes to software. And you have to build in testing time. I think that it's... It sounds a little bit, like, simplistic to say it, but, like, being sophisticated with time allocation and being thoughtful about what's worth spending time on and what's not, I think, is the way that you can instill a sense that time is incredibly valuable and you wanna use it to its utmost.
00:47:04 · Alexa von Tobel, Jeremy Gurewitz, Charlotte Ross
[00:47:04] S1: I wanna shift quick fire round where we just asked about some of the things that have helped make you you. And so I'm just gonna ask some questions. Want... Like, first thing that comes to your mind. The first is, what book have you read in your whole life? And it doesn't have to be a business book that has left a material impact on you and the way you think? [00:47:24] S0: Oh, man. [00:47:26] S2: Jeremy's an avid reader too. Feel like you read a book a week or something crazy. [00:47:31] S0: Yeah. I read a lot of books. And so five books popped into my head. [00:47:38] S1: I'll let you pick two. How about that? [00:47:40] S0: The Great Divorce by CS Lewis is what popped into my head, which is a pretty intense one about the nature of the choices that we make in our lives is maybe one way that I would say that. And then I'll just say beyond good and evil by Nietzsche, which is philosophically how we think about what matters. [00:48:01] S1: I love it. What's a mantra that kind of runs in the back of your head? And it can be anything, but just sort of a mantra that you kinda come back to or believe in. [00:48:12] S0: Nothing is impossible. [00:48:15] S1: I love that, Jeremy. That is very you, by the way. What is a habit that you've adopted? You know, you're now at the helm of a probably one of the fastest growing companies in health care, period, of the last twenty plus years, which that alone is a crazy achievement. And I know in your mind, we're in chapter one, just getting started. But what is a habit that you've adopted so that you could be a sturdy pilot?
00:48:15 · Alexa von Tobel, Jeremy Gurewitz
[00:48:15] S1: I love that, Jeremy. That is very you, by the way. What is a habit that you've adopted? You know, you're now at the helm of a probably one of the fastest growing companies in health care, period, of the last twenty plus years, which that alone is a crazy achievement. And I know in your mind, we're in chapter one, just getting started. But what is a habit that you've adopted so that you could be a sturdy pilot? [00:48:37] S0: I've become really obsessed and maniacal about making sure that I exercise, which sounds funny, but I found just whenever I skip it, the impact on my mood and even just broadly speaking, I'm not as effective as a CEO. Exercising is everything. [00:48:55] S1: Amen to that, by the way. When you think of to date, a pinch me moment at Solace, something that just, like, you really went home and looked at your wife and were like, can't believe that, like, what was that? And I'm sure it's not the fundraising. What was a pinch me moment for you?
00:48:55 · Alexa von Tobel, Jeremy Gurewitz
[00:48:55] S1: Amen to that, by the way. When you think of to date, a pinch me moment at Solace, something that just, like, you really went home and looked at your wife and were like, can't believe that, like, what was that? And I'm sure it's not the fundraising. What was a pinch me moment for you? [00:49:17] S0: So we recently held our company off-site at... In Miami, and we had over 200 Solace. I forget what we're called. Solaceons. Two two hundred Solaceons there, and I was speaking in front of them. And I remember calling my wife that evening and just being really moved by... Because because people people have lives, and they could choose anywhere they wanted to work. And I just feel so grateful for the people that have chosen to work with us, and I think they're exceptionally talented people. And to just see everyone there and, you know, just thinking four years ago, it was just myself and Sarah is just really, really moving. [00:49:55] S1: I'm gonna end on one fun one, which is in ten years, Jeremy, what does this look like? [00:50:01] S0: Yeah, we're gonna be a publicly traded company. As I mentioned, everybody's going to have a health care advocate. We're gonna be helping millions and millions of people, and we are going to be a fundamental piece of US health care, and we're gonna change the way health care is done in The United States.
00:50:01 · Jeremy Gurewitz, Alexa von Tobel
[00:50:01] S0: Yeah, we're gonna be a publicly traded company. As I mentioned, everybody's going to have a health care advocate. We're gonna be helping millions and millions of people, and we are going to be a fundamental piece of US health care, and we're gonna change the way health care is done in The United States. [00:50:16] S1: Amen. Jeremy, just again speaking on behalf of both Charlotte and I, we're so grateful to be your teammates. And thank you so much for just letting us dream a little bit about the future of our healthcare system. Jeremy, if people are out there and have a loved one in their lives that needs care, where do they go? [00:50:33] S0: Yeah, just go to solace.health. You can easily find us or just Google Solace Health and we'll pop up and we should be able to help you. [00:50:41] S1: Yes. So spread the word. If someone in your life needs to make a big important health care decision, solace.health. Jeremy, we're rooting for you. Thank you. And I can't wait to see what you do next. [00:50:51] S0: Thanks so much. [00:50:53] S1: Thank you all so much for tuning in today. If you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, subscribe. We'll be back again with another episode of Inspired with Alexa von Tobel. Thank you.