KURT: Having a fair amount of persistence goes
a really long way. And it's one of those things,
yeah, you don't have to be the smartest person
in the world, but you do need a fair amount of
grit, as they would say, or persistence, just
because it can be a long and hard road.
TREVOR: Hello and welcome to the Founder's Shares
podcast brought to you by Hutchison, a law firm
in Raleigh, North Carolina that helps founders
and entrepreneurs in technology and life science
companies start up, operate, get funded and exit.
So whether you're already an entrepreneur or want
to be one someday, or are just fascinated by the
stories of how a business goes from idea to success,
or not such a success, this podcast is for you.
Today's guest is Kurt Sysok. Co-founder and CEO
of Radformation. That formation provides a suite
of radiation oncology workflow automation solutions
that save time, eliminate planning errors, and
enable oncologists to design optimal treatment
plans for their patients. Kurt was a medical physicist
by trade, which means he worked behind the scenes
to put plans together for treating radiation oncology
patients. What he noticed while he was trying
to come up with the right radiation treatment
formulas for each patient was that much of his
work was manual, where he felt it could have been
more automated.
KURT: I was working in the clinic for many years
and I just thought things could be more streamlined.
How do we reduce errors, better quality plans
that we put together for these patients? Ultimately,
how do we do things as efficiently as possible
was one of the main things I always thought about.
Then it got to the point where I kept thinking
about it all the time. Yeah, there's this whole
thing, it's like, if you can't let it go, then
it's probably a good sign. You should probably
go do something about it. For me, that was kind
of the, okay, maybe it's time to actually go start
a company around this.
TREVOR: Hurt found two other radiation oncology
medical physicists, Liz Van Wee and Alan Nelson,
and together in 2014, they formed a company together
to solve this problem. Gradformation, which as
we'll hear later has raised millions in funding
and has over 100 employees, actually was a side
hustle for quite a while. Back then, Kurt was
at his job all day and then would code at night.
Finding new clients was often a challenge. Visibility
was somewhat limited and resources were constrained.
However, as they persevered and grew through word
of mouth, that side hustle turned into a full-time
gig and Kurt quit his job on January 1st, 2016.
KURT: And so in the early days, it's just trying
to. Talk with people to let them know you're there.
And then as you grow and more and more people
hear about you, now a lot of people, at least
in the US, kind of know about us. The majority
of our customers are in the US. So then it kind
of makes it a bit easier just because you have
more brand recognition. So it's less like, oh,
who are you? You're this tiny company. You're
going to be around in a year. Oh, okay. Yeah,
you're going to be around. Show me what you have
there. But yeah, I mean, it just, you know, one
year at a time just kind of keeps growing and
growing and growing. And yeah, and then as you
bring on more people right now, you could have
more outreach, right, to all the clinics that
don't know about you. So, you know, it kind of
every year builds on itself, right, as we were
adding headcount. I mean, because every year we
kept hiring, hiring, hiring, hiring as we kept
growing, growing, growing.
TREVOR: So a question of kind of on that side
of things, you know, as you are thinking about
allocating resources to the folks that you're
going to hire. Do you hire dev teams first or
sales teams first or kind of grow them equally
as you went along? How did you think about that
as you were building the company out?
KURT: It was kind of interesting, you know, from
day one, we kind of had this aggressive roadmap,
and it's taking us a really long time to kind
of build it out. Like, we're still literally in
phase one of what we wanted to build like seven
years ago, and we're just... We're still not even
there yet. It'll be like another year or two,
and then we'll finally kind of have all those
things built out. We have eight different kind
of software modules right now. And so we always
had these like, There's never a shortage of ideas
of what we wanted to build. It was just more of
the talent to go through and build these things.
We just hired on all fronts. We small-chunked
the products. We launched this thing called ClearTech
and this thing called EasyFluence. We launched
them as separate products. Then over time, we
know we would continue hiring engineers and build
these other products that would come after them.
Then ultimately, you end up with this. Ideally,
we would have just built everything all up front,
but we just didn't have resources. You end up
having all these different software modules that
are built over time as we've continued to hire
on the developer front. And then on the sales
front, we kind of do the same thing where we've
kind of continued to build the sales team and
then we're always building new products. And so
they're always bringing those into the mix with
the other products that they're already current
selling, you know, into different clinics and
whatnot. And so then eventually as you get big,
you know, it's kind of a mix where some clinics
have none of your products and then other clinics
have one or two or three of your products, and
now you're kind of selling additional products,
you know, down into the current base.
TREVOR: Yeah, talk a little bit about that, because
as you move into the healthcare space or as you're
working with these clinics, there can be a lot
of different steps and different hurdles you gotta
get to even get in there. So talk a little bit
about some of the challenges in working with large
healthcare institutions or working with clinics.
KURT: Yeah, it's one of those things that I think
it's kind of unfortunate more folks don't kind
of do startups in the healthcare space. I mean,
a lot of people are, which is good, but it is
challenging both from a regulatory front, right?
Because there's all sorts of challenges there.
And then two, just from how long sales cycles
could be or like going through IT review or contract
review. These could be very long processes, right?
So if you're trying to, if you're a startup, right,
trying to like bring in revenue and it takes like
12 months just to kind of by the time you first
started with somebody before you actually the
invoice goes out or you can have these long sales
cycles in there. I mean, it's just part of selling
into hospitals. You know, it's just kind of how
it how it ends up working.
TREVOR: And did you expect that going into it
since you were kind of coming out of some of these
institutions yourself or was that a surprise to
you?
KURT: I was super naive, which I think ended up
working out well in my favor. I think with startups
in general, it's kind of good because if you realize
how hard it is, then you're like, I don't know
if I want to do this. But then you're kind of
oblivious to all that and you're like, just gung-ho
and let's go do this thing. And then you're like,
oh yeah, this is really hard. And so I had known
loosely of how going purchasing software worked
in clinics having been in the clinic. You know,
not to the detail, right? That I know now.
TREVOR: In a different way, but kind of a similar
experience of some of the challenges and regulations
and all of that. What's been your experience kind
of moving outside the United States into these
other countries? Has that been a big hurdle for
the company or how would you experience that?
KURT: Yeah, it's just relearning everything, right?
In terms of like, well, I mean, obviously, the
regulations kind of are slightly different. Some
are similar, other have additional things or different
things. So yeah, there's a whole regulatory component
behind it. And then each market is different.
I mean, ultimately... Cancer as a whole is treated
very similarly, but yeah, there's certain aspects
that might be emphasized in different markets
versus others. And so then as you think about
features or product roadmaps, it's like, how do
you take those into account to kind of... Handle
all these different sites, you know, just not
kind of, I'm used to operating a certain way,
working in the U S right versus other places.
TREVOR: So at what point did you decide that you
were ready to move outside the US? And tell me
a little bit about the thinking about, yeah, taking
on that challenge rather than just staying on
your home turf and working things out here.
KURT: Yeah, it's tough, you know, because it's
something that, you know, a lot of companies face,
you know, at what point, and it's always a tough
point because like, you know, it's a resource
allocation, you know, thing where, you know, do
you... Spend more resources here versus going
into a new market. And so we had got to a point
of growth where for us it made sense, but it's
definitely a super difficult thing. As you continue
to expand into new markets.
TREVOR: Anything about that process surprise you
or memorable through that process?
KURT: Again, I guess more... Back to. Yeah, I
mean, you're like, oh, how much different could
it be than like this one? Then some things are
quite different. Right. And so. But I guess, you
know, that should be like super surprising, but.
Again, in general, I mean, I don't know. I think...
I think part of the... Thing that I... Didn't
quite realize, which again, sounds a bit negative,
you know, as for like a startup side is like things
never really get easier. Right. They only like
you keep leveling up your skills, right? And you
just kind of level up and then the company levels
up and then there's like new challenges that were
just as hard as like, you know, how challenges
were in the past. Yeah, so it's kind of, you know,
always been my experience. Yeah. And, you know,
so it's only what you just kind of keep leveling
up, right? You keep learning, you keep figuring
things out. And it's just kind of how it is. Yeah.
Well, it's good that you said
TREVOR: the thing that drew you in was that problem
solving aspect, because you're always going to
have those problems to solve.
KURT: I think for anybody looking to start a company,
there's two things. Just have that growth mindset.
You want to continue to learn because there's
just so much to learn and then just new problems
to solve. Having a fair amount of persistence
goes a really long way. And it's kind of one of
those things, yeah, you don't have to be the smartest
person in the world, but you do need a fair amount
of grit, as they would say, or persistence just
because it can be a long and hard road. I mean,
there's plenty of great moments and stuff, but
there's a lot of, it can be rough at certain times.
But yeah, you just keep going.
TREVOR: And in those rough times, are you finding,
is the team at Radformation a good support for
that? Do you have other CEOs that you can lean
on to again, find some support for that? Or how
do you find that grit to keep going on?
KURT: Yeah, I don't know, you know, I think it
comes back to, for me, the mission, you know,
it's like, why do we start this in the first place?
And so, you know, always kind of like anchoring
back to like, that's why we're doing this. And
so I think that kind of helps. In the long run
of things where, yep, this is going to be hard
and that's fine, right? Because we're on this
mission to kind of help all these clinics and
it's just kind of how it's going to be. And so
kind of just coming to peace with that. And then
obviously, having a great team, you need a great
team. On so many aspects, right? Just to be able
to execute and support each other and just, you
know, kind of keep going. But I think that's one
of like the biggest inhibitors as companies continue
to grow is the talent of the team, right? As you
grow it's like. Just more and more people and
you're just, you know, the summation of kind of,
you know, the whole entity and that's going to
dictate, you know, how, you know, how well you're
going to be able to execute and continue, you
know, on your mission. So. Yeah, the team's super
critical.
TREVOR: Well, tell me a little bit about that.
How big is the team at Radformation now?
KURT: Yeah, so we're just over 100 employees now.
TREVOR: Wow, okay.
KURT: And in my right-hand way, it has that from
the three. Yeah.
TREVOR: Three to 100. So tell me, if I recall
correctly, you guys work as a distributed team.
You're not kind of all in one location. Is that
right?
KURT: Yeah, yeah, that's what we like to say.
Yeah, we were doing, you know, remote work before
it was cool, you know, before everybody else.
And, uh, yeah, we were always a remote team. So
Alan, even in the founding days, you know, Liz
and I were in New York city and Alan was in Boise,
Idaho. And yeah, so it's. It has its pluses and
its minuses. The pluses are you can instantly
just hop on a meeting with anybody. You can recruit
talent from any... Geographically, sometimes I
don't want to move to this region. And in the
early days, it was super nice from a competitive
advantage of being able to hire talent. Now a
lot of folks allow remote, so that's not as much
anymore. But yeah, but then there's obviously
communication challenges. There's also challenges
with people building a rapport. There's something
about face-to-face, in-person that helps you build
this rapport with other individuals. So actually,
we do once a year, we get everybody together in
person. And the goal of that is, how do we build
up some of this rapport with others? Then when
we go back to the virtual world, how do we take
that rapport with us into the digital side?
TREVOR: And on those yearly get togethers, is
it business meetings? Are they kind of team building?
I mean, how do you build that rapport even in
a short period of time?
KURT: Yeah, so we kind of like split it. So we'll
do some kind of like business side of things.
And then, but yeah, a lot of like just team having
fun stuff. Because we can do a lot of these business
meetings kind of remotely and kind of talk through
that. But I mean, but there are good things to
like brainstorm and whiteboard, you know, with
everybody in like the same room together. But
yeah, there's just kind of all that team building,
having fun together, doing fun activities is something
that you quite can't do. Yeah, we do virtual happy
hours as well, and those are fun, but it's not
quite the same as everyone being together.
TREVOR: There's still something missing when you
can't just be right next to somebody.
KURT: Yeah.
TREVOR: In your experience, have things shifted
with teammates, kind of on the remote post pandemic?
Do you find that the new hires that you have coming
into the company have different expectations or
different perspectives on remote workers that
remained relatively consistent across your experience
with it?
KURT: No, I think a lot of it's kind of remained
consistent. Yeah, I think. Because some people
were already kind of used to remote. But others...
It's a transition because we hire a fair amount
of folks. Out of Earth. Out of the clinic. And
so. Some of them were kind of doing hybrid. Environments,
but some of them might have just been in the clinic,
you know, five days a week. So now it's actually
a switch going to like a full remote, where it's
like, Hey, I haven't left my house all day or
my apartment all day. Like, I should probably
go outside for a little bit. So, you know, you
can kind of fall into those traps. And I think,
yeah, with, you know, when you're kind of doing
the remote thing.
TREVOR: Yeah, any other thoughts on kind of managing
that remote team that you found to be effective
aside from kind of those getting together on a
yearly basis for the building rapport and other
thoughts on how you manage that group?
KURT: Yeah, no, I mean, yeah, really it comes
down to communication. Right. And so. We use a
bunch of tools, right? And so there's a variety
of digital tools out there for folks to collaborate
with, project manage with. And so. Kind of getting
a good cadence with those things, I find. Kind
of helps with just kind of keeping everybody on
the same page and moving in the same direction.
TREVOR: That's great. So Radformation announced
earlier this year that it took on a strategic
investment from BVP Forge. So I wanted to ask
you to how was that process? How did you find
the whole fundraising process and then closing
on the deal? What was that like for you?
KURT: Yeah, yeah, no, that was definitely a big
shift for us. And so, yeah, kind of the backstory
there, we had been growing and kind of everything
was going good on that front. But again, there's
just new problems that just kind of, I think happened
to all companies at all stages, right? And so,
right as you go from this level to the next level,
to the next level, to the next level. And so,
we had gotten to a point where, we were looking
for a great partner to kind of act as that kind
of mentor and kind of coach and just strategic
advisor on a lot of these things that a lot of
companies kind of go through. And so, yeah, we
talked with, and so that was kind of like one
of the big reasons to do that round. And so, yeah,
we talked with a variety of different groups,
which is always tough. It's always hard to like
feel out like, what's the interaction gonna be
like on a... Day to day, week to week, month to
month, with this new partner. And so, luckily,
yeah, we just hit it off with the Forge team.
And we had, I think, we shared a lot of the same
mindset of like where we wanna go and... Kind
of the problems we're going to face. And yeah,
we felt they were really well positioned to kind
of help us with our particular problems that we're
going to have, you know, growing wise. And so,
yeah, and it's been, you know, great ever since
closing with them. And so. Yeah, so I think they'll.
You know, help us tremendously as we continue
to grow.
TREVOR: That's great. I mean, and then how much,
it sounds like a lot of it has to do with that
connection with the team, but how much of it?
To make that final decision is personality based,
kind of that experience with them and how much
of it is based off of either their network or
the other companies that they are working with
or other success that they have. Kind of when
you come down to make that final decision, how
do you weight those different factors?
KURT: Yeah, a lot of it for us particularly, yeah,
was the direct team we're gonna be working with.
And obviously tapping into a deeper network is
always, there's a lot of pluses on that side too,
but who are we gonna be interacting most with
and what's their skill set and how's the interaction
gonna go for the problems that we're facing? And
then, okay, if something needs escalated or has
to go to part of the network, how deep is the
network to kind of help us on all upfront? And
BVP Forge has it on all fronts, right? Cause like
the people we directly interact with are great,
but then they're actually kind of associated with
the venture side, Bessemer. And so they have like
this huge network that you could tap into as well.
TREVOR: So any advice you could offer to other
founders seeking funding and or the kind of the
process of getting that funding closed?
KURT: Yeah, funding is always a tricky thing,
unless you're doing AI large language models now.
And then I think they'll just hand it out, right?
All right, they just sign here. And so, yeah,
I think there's two sides. I mean, there's always,
especially in the early or wherever you're at
with burn and whatnot, there's always some financial
side. But like, I don't know. Yeah, I guess. I
would think long about the partnership in terms
of what are these individuals going to be able
to bring to the table? You know, from a skill
standpoint where. You know, I have this problem.
You know, you know, can I talk to them to like
help me, you know, work through it versus somebody
just being a check. And so I think that's something
that you know, founders, I think, you know, I
think the problem is, you know, farmers always
get hung up, especially if you're like, burning
money, and you know, you need to do a raisin.
It's like, I just need to, you know, clear payroll
here. So, but anyway, yeah, there's, there's a
lot to I think, to be had to kind of thinking
through. The challenges you're facing and how
can this group help me through those challenges
on that front.
TREVOR: Sure. That makes a lot of sense. So tell
me a little bit about what are some of the goals
that you hope to accomplish with this investment?
How do you plan on using some of the funds that
you brought in?
KURT: Yeah, I mean, ultimately it all comes back
to our original mission, right? We're on this
growth mission to help as many clinics as we can.
And we just see this as something to accelerate
that mission, right? And from a hiring standpoint
of continuing to kind of hire and bring on the
talent, right? That we need to support all these,
you know, current products and new products and
new features, and then all of our current clinics
and new clinics we're going to bring on and then
just kind of help with a lot of, you know, the
growing pains of, you know, as the company goes,
you know, now to just over a hundred employees,
right? To, you know, beyond that, right? And kind
of working through kind of all those org challenges
as you continue to scale up and increase your
head count.
TREVOR: So I think you mentioned earlier on that
you're still within phase one of your roadmap.
And you said early on,
KURT: it's taking a lot longer than I anticipated.
It's funny looking back at like old decks and
stuff at like how fast I thought we'd be able
to kind of build everything out. And so we're
almost there.
TREVOR: Okay. And so how many, how many phases
are there? I mean, is that phase one and two or
we got eight phases to come?
KURT: Well, no, no. Yeah. Well, I think there
will be this, we have no shortages of ideas for
things to build, just the shortages of resources.
And then, you know, we are prioritizing certain
things over others. So I think now we'll kind
of have this original arc of what we wanted to
kind of build through. And then we'll be able
to start building of some of these newer things
that we've been thinking about, but just didn't
have time or resources to kind of work on.
TREVOR: Yeah. Well, talk to me a little bit about
that. How are you seeing changes in technology
affecting reformation and what you think is really
kind of capable in the next few years? Are you
seeing kind of big... Moves in the industry that
are going to impact you, or is it not quite caught
up to your field yet?
KURT: Yeah, I think, you know, I don't know, you
know, general tech, you know, is obviously a bit
further ahead of, you know, maybe like healthcare
side of things, but I don't know, I think people
just kind of seen the power of LLMs. And so, you
know, like that's just. Something that's like,
oh wow, this thing could be pretty useful, right,
for helping individuals. So, I don't know. Yeah,
so for us, we just kind of look at... What are
it all comes back to like what are the specific
pain points right in the clinics and then you
kind of work backwards from there of like what
could a potential solution look like and Yeah,
and then kind of like what kind of tools could
be useful. We do AI, but in the auto-contouring
side of things, right? For being able to identify
where... Organs, more lymph node chains, right,
are on a CT scan or an MR. And so, so I think
AI will continue. To apply to healthcare and arts
fields specifically and different sectors kind
of moving forward in addition to like other tools
that others can build.
TREVOR: So what's one aspect of your job that
people don't really appreciate or that you wish
you knew was going to be part of the job earlier
on?
KURT: Yeah, I don't know. It's kind of unique,
I don't know, kind of in that CEO seat, because
you kind of have this vision and you kind of see
into all departments. But I think as you continue
to grow, that communication thing is difficult,
just kind of keeping everybody on track and we're
all headed in a similar direction. And so that's
something we're always trying to get better at
on that front. But I mean, I don't know, ultimately,
it's a very rewarding job. Again, I don't think
you anticipate how hard it's going to be in the
early days, but that's okay. It's just, I don't
know, just again, back to why are we doing this?
What's the mission? And kind of re-centering on
that and to keep going in that direction.
TREVOR: And you talked about the kind of your
why for doing this quite a bit and they have that
vision and have that goal kind of cemented in
your focus. Are you seeing stories coming out
of these clinics? Are you getting kind of feedback
from the folks that you're working with that helps
you to tangibly feel like, yeah, we are making
an impact. We are making a dent in this problem.
KURT: Oh yeah, yeah, we get tons of feedback from
our users. Yeah, we love, you know, kind of talking
with users, you know, in remote fashions like
this and seeing people in person at, you know,
trade shows or on site. And again, yeah, I think.
That's something as we continue to grow, how do
we incorporate all this feedback into the products
and the evolution of what we're putting out there.
But I think it's... Something that's critical,
right? I mean, you know, they're the ones, you
know, on the front lines kind of, you know, day
in and day out doing this work in the clinic.
And so ultimately, you know, we should be listening
very closely to them to, you know, how do we make
their lives easier? You know, it's just, I mean,
it's challenging as you continue to grow, because
then you have You know, so many sites and how
do we? Aggregate and collect all this information
in a useful way and then prioritize things where
somebody may want this feature or maybe somebody
else wants this other feature. And so, but that's
all just kind of part of the organization. How
do we kind of organize and collect and execute
on all this data?
TREVOR: And has it been easier for you since you've
kind of had that medical physicist background
to have these conversations and be able to kind
of talk, to talk with the folks that you're in
the room with or tell me a little bit about that?
KURT: Yeah, I think it's kind of helped a lot,
you know, because you can kind of, you know, imagine
what it's like, you know, being in their shoes.
And also, I think the thing that's hardest is
like, now I've been out of the clinic seven years,
you know, and so, you know, so what I think about
is like, you know, am I losing touch, right with
what's going on? And how do you, you know, minimize
that? Cause to me that would kind of be the ultimate
travesty, right? If you like. Ultimately kind
of lose touch with like kind of what's going on
in the clinic and you know,
TREVOR: how do you prevent that? Do you miss any
aspect of actually being in the clinic?
KURT: I do. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I much
prefer kind of, you know, how things have kind
of worked out and So, I mean, it's all good, you
know, in the end, but yeah, I think there was,
you know, nice aspects of kind of, you know, being
there and, you know, kind of seeing patients,
right? Not that, you know, physicists don't see
like a ton of patients, they're more behind the
scenes, but I think it's just easier to kind of
understand the impact that you're having, because
it's like, it's more, it's more tangible, right?
It's like right there. You know, it's, I don't
know, it's a little bit more abstract to be like,
what does 1500 clinics using our software mean?
You know, it means something, right? You know,
that like, you know, a lot of people, you know,
must really like this software and there's, you
know, a lot of value we're generating, but it's
not as, I don't know, you know, it's just a bit
different, right? And I know what it means, right?
You know, I was in the clinic, right? As far as
like, you know, I can imagine like, you know,
how all these things could be used, right? All
these different software products would be used,
you know, generate value for clinics,
TREVOR: but it's just a bit more abstract. Right.
So what are your biggest areas of concern for
the company here in the next 12 to 36 months?
What keeps you up at night?
KURT: I think it's just, again, all the growing
pains. Make sure we're not losing touch with the
customers and make sure we're listening to feedback
and executing on it. And just the communication
throughout the organization to make sure we're
all headed in the same direction and executing
on that. There are just tons of growing pains.
You can go into any department. There are just
things that My. We just need to keep. Continuing
to improve and tackle.
TREVOR: And it sounds like there's lots of opportunities,
but what do you see as kind of the biggest opportunities
for the company in the next couple of years?
KURT: Yeah, so to kind of finish out phase one
here, you know, will be one thing, but ultimately
everything will kind of still revolve around this,
you know, automation, you know, streamlining things
for the clinic and reducing errors and better
quality plans. So it'll still kind of follow all
these similar arcs that we've been on, you know,
but right, what's a, what are product features
or different products to kind of go about different
aspects of what's going on in the clinic to tackle
those subjects.
TREVOR: Got it. So we are the Founder Shares podcast,
and so I always like to ask our guests, you know,
if there was one piece of advice that you wanted
to share with a new founder or someone who wants
to be a founder one day, what would that advice
be?
KURT: Yeah, yeah, I think I would say, you know,
again, if there's some problem that you can't
stop thinking about, like, just go do it, you
know, just go start that company. So at least
you'll stop thinking about it then. Or actually,
you'll be thinking about it quite a lot. But then
you'll kind of be, you know, all in on that idea.
And Yeah, and again, I would say, yeah, just.
I don't know how you can like... Build up your
persistence, your grit quota? How do you improve
your grit capacity? But yeah, I don't know. I
would just say, you know, just... There's going
to be ups and downs, right? Obviously, you want
to celebrate the ups, but it's fine, right? Just
accept that there are going to be ups and downs
and have this, okay, we're on this mission. We're
doing this for this specific reason and we're
just going to keep going. And really trying to,
because it mentally can be pretty tough as you
continue to grow, you know, these are all. There's
just a lot of challenges that you'll run into.
So anything you can do to just build up your persistence
will be very helpful.
TREVOR: Yeah, well, and I do think you've hit
on it a couple of times, but having that kind
of founding purpose or that founding mission of
why you're doing it, sometimes I think that is
so critical to having that persistence to keep
going on.
KURT: Yeah, it definitely can help because you
can always anchor back to something like that.
Yeah, I think there's other ways you can kind
of go about just like. Building this capacity
to take on a lot. So anyway, so there's a whole
set of tools for like... I don't know, you know,
stress reduction and, you know, kind of being
healthy and, you know, being able to. Kind of
do that. I recommend people kind of using those
tools or kind of building up that tool set to
be able to take on these more and more challenging
things because it can be quite stressful. So how
do I orient things in my personal life to kind
of help me deal with all these challenges that
I know I'm going to be having on this professional
side of things?
TREVOR: I think that's interesting because you've
talked about leveling up kind of the skill set
as you've gone along and it's not just leveling
up your experience of running the business but
it's these other things that you're talking about.
The ability to take on the stress, the ability
to kind of roll with the punches as new problems
kind of come in. Those things are also skills
that have to be leveled up.
KURT: That's kind of interesting. That is something
I did not think at all about in the beginning,
but it's something I think a lot about now, just
because I've seen other founders just... At a
certain point, I don't know, yeah, you get so
beat down. You just can't keep going. And yeah,
I mean, it's really tough. So, and, you know,
I mean, it's just kind of one of those, it's just
a really hard thing, right? And so, if you can,
right, kind of do things, you know, in your personal
life to, right, reduce stress, kind of, you know,
give you energy, you know, kind of just this general
healthy lifestyle, it'll be able, you'll be able
to kind of take more of that beating. Which it's
a bit sad to think about it that way, but like.
Yeah, I mean, if you can kind of build these other
tools, you know, it's quite surprising how much
you can suffer. Well, on that note of encouragement,
TREVOR: I think we will wrap this up. But I do
think it's real, it's true, to kind of talk through
that, but it also is important to realize you
can get through it and provide that encouragement.
KURT: Yeah, yeah, again, you know, it's not like.
That bad. But like, yeah, there's anyway, I'm
just saying, yeah, there's a tool set that you
can build that can just help with like, Because
that's what I think stress can really be a bummer.
It just can weigh you down and run you down pretty
good. So anyway, just how do you stay healthy
mentally, physically, so you can keep going is
something I didn't think about at all in the beginning.
But as the years start to add up, you're like,
oh, yeah, I got to take care of this. In the beginning,
you're just mad dash. And then you're like, yeah,
I can't. Go all night and all day anymore. I need
to, what's a good pace and what's a reasonable
pace, but that's still like. You know, pushing
the edge as much as I can and then... And again,
you're expanding your capacity to be able to kind
of, you know, stay healthy and kind of get all
the work done that needs to get done. And so building
up that tool set.
TREVOR: So do you have a go-to activity to stay
healthy and stay fit?
KURT: Yeah, I got a whole variety of things. But
like, I don't know, I would say eating healthy,
you know, is a big thing. Getting sleep. I don't
know. I think when Matthew Walker's book, you
know, why we sleep came out, it was like a big
eye opener because I had always been like, oh,
just not sleep that much. Just code all night.
I was like, oh man, the sleep things like pretty
important. And so so anyway, so yeah, there's
kind of the. You know, the, and then obviously
exercise, you know, kind of. Both cardiovascular
and, you know, kind of lifting weights and stuff.
But then I don't know, I, I personally find that
like steamer sauna kind of has, you know, a very
nice like stress reduction aspect to it. And so,
um, you know, kind of doing those activities as
well.
TREVOR: That's great. I really appreciate the
conversation. I've enjoyed talking through these
things with you and, Kurt, I appreciate you coming
on. If people want to learn more about the company,
what's the best way they can find you?
KURT: Yeah, absolutely. So they can go to radformation.com
and all the information's on there. Awesome.
TREVOR: Well, I can't wait to see where the company
goes in the next few years and just enjoying watching
the ride.
KURT: All right, thanks Trevor.
TREVOR: Thanks Kurt. That was Kurt Sysock, co-founder
and CEO of Radformation. You can learn more about
Radformation at radformation.com. That's R-A-D-F-O-R-M-A-T-I-O-N.
KURT: Dot com.
TREVOR: Thanks for listening to this episode of
the Founder's Shares podcast. If you're a founder
or business owner and need legal advice, be sure
to check out our team at hutchlaw.com. That's
hutchlaw.com. We have the capacity to help you
out with just about any legal need your company
may be facing. We're passionate about the innovation
economy and ready to help you on your entrepreneurial
journey. The show was edited and produced by EarFluence.
I'm Trevor Schmidt, and thanks for listening to
the Founder's Shares Podcast.