John Corcoran 12:56
So you stuck around for a little bit, then what was that?
Russell Benaroya 12:59
stuck around for about six months? How did that go? You hear horror stories?
John Corcoran 13:05
Yeah. Your stories. Yeah.
Russell Benaroya 13:07
Yeah, it was, it was it was it was horrible. But not horrible in the sense of like, I’m blaming anybody for being horrible. I think it was horrible. Because we so often go into these arrangements without a clear shared agreement with the acquiring company about roles and responsibilities. And we just didn’t have a clear shared agreement. And so there was ambiguity. And that creates consternation or resentment. Yeah, pretty textbook.
John Corcoran 13:43
Your next business every move, you started out of Techstars, which is, I guess, an accelerator you’d call it. What? What was that experience like starting a business out of an accelerator versus the way it started the other company?
Russell Benaroya 13:59
So we had sold REM Medical, and I’m in the car one evening with one of my fellow forum mates. His name’s Andy Liu. Andy Liu runs a venture firm today called Unlock Ventures, but very successful entrepreneur. And I was sharing with him, he was a very successful technology entrepreneur, and I was sharing with him how slow healthcare has been in developing consumer strength technologies to really help people engage in taking better care of themselves. Now remember, this was back in 2010. So it sounds a little trite today, but back then it was like, Yes. There’s not a lot out there. And he said, You know, you’re so right. It would be great if we could develop a technology that was really engaging. I like encouraging an incentive and motivating people to want to be more healthy, more active. And so we ended up having a meeting With the local Blue Cross firm here in Washington State premera, Blue Cross. And it was right at the time where they were thinking a lot about their engagement strategy, their consumer engagement strategy to activate people to take more responsibility for their health. And so they provided us with the initial seed funding, they got excited about some ideas that we had, they provided us with some initial seed funding. And then we applied and were accepted into Techstars, which is really an accelerator to get to a place of not only developing the business model on the product, but also getting on stage in front of a whole bunch of investors to help you raise money to take your product to the next level. And we were effective doing that, in raising money from the Blue Cross Blue Shield venture fund to build what essentially was a mileage rewards plan for your health, where people could track their activities through all these different wearable devices that were coming on the scene you might remember, like the Fitbit, and yeah.
John Corcoran 15:55
I mean, this is 2010. Right. So I don’t remember when Fitbit started, but and that’s even early days of iPhone,
Russell Benaroya 16:01
the Right, right. No, exactly. Exactly. So, like Strava was just coming out Garmin runkeeper.
John Corcoran 16:10
Fitbit, it’s pre Apple Watch pre peloton, I you know, yeah,
Russell Benaroya 16:15
right, right. And so we created this consumer experience where people could connect their apps or devices, we normalize the data that they were capturing into this point system, and people can socialize around the points, they could compare each other. And then we created a rewards vehicle, so that health insurance companies and employers could systematically reward people for hitting certain milestones or targets around their physical activity. And so that was, that was our pursuit of trying to change the conversation around health care, which is, Hey, if you’re actually doing things in your life that measurably reduce your risk, let’s create a positive feedback loop. To recognize you for it.
John Corcoran 17:01
Yeah, yeah. You know, what always strikes me about different entrepreneurs, astounded who started different companies, is how you can see in a way that the subsequent business is different from the previous one, sometimes deliberately. So for example, a friend and neighbor of mine, Adam, started a co-founder of one of these meal delivery companies. And you think about all the challenges, they had perishable food, you know, refrigerated distribution, all the challenges of his subsequent business, totally digital, totally online. It’s like moving money internationally. It’s like, all the barriers that were headaches before he got rid of them. So for you every move, I’m struck by the fact that, you know, there’s no physical location, it sounds like, and it’s a very different type of business. Did you think that through or how was how you did? You think that looking back on it now, every move was different because of your experience with REM Medical?
Russell Benaroya 17:56
It’s such a great question, John, when I’m Eric, my partner from REM Medical, and I were sitting at his house after we had sold the business and we were ruminating on purpose, purpose, like, why are we doing what we’re doing? And we came up with this big lofty vision, it said, we want to be in businesses that can improve the lives of 10 million people in 10 years. And the reason we set that vision was that it’s very hard to build a business in healthcare that can affect that many people. And so you have to think differently, you have to think about scale, you have to think about technology. Now, we went off and did our separate thing. So Eric was not my partner on every move. But we ran it every move we ran with that purpose. I want to improve the lives of 10 million people in 10 years. And that took me naturally to a place of thinking about how we are going to use technology to do that and get a level of scale that traditional healthcare services like run medical in Arizona was never going to achieve.
John Corcoran 19:07
Right. Right. Yeah. Interesting. And then, so you, you do that until about 2017. How did you end up exiting that business?
Russell Benaroya 19:14
Yeah, so we sold the company in 2017, to a company out of Chicago called Higi. H i g i. And he’s a really interesting business. They operate the nation’s largest network of health screening kiosks in major retailers and pharmacies. You’ve probably been to one, you go into the pharmacy, and you see this kiosk and you sit down and it takes your blood pressure. And yeah, it’s other biometrics, right? Yeah. But they had about three, I’m sorry, about 10,000 of those around the United States, about 3 million people a month sitting down at the stations, and we’re looking for ways to better activate and engage and capture more information on the people that sit down at those stations. And so we were acquired by Higi. The business when we sold that was different from the business when we started it. And the industry had changed quite a bit in 10 years as well. And so instead of just engaging people that were active and healthy and wanted to shop their health, we were really starting to activate people that were unhealthy, had chronic conditions, and really were more expensive to manage for the health insurance companies like diabetics or people with heart conditions. And so we changed the product pretty dramatically. By the time we made the decision that we were ready to exit the business.
John Corcoran 20:39
Yeah, yeah. And as you know, you obviously didn’t sell it in 2009. It wasn’t a big downturn like that. Was the timing better? Did that give you better options?
Russell Benaroya 20:48
Yeah, so Higi, has continued to navigate and had a challenging healthcare environment. And so it’s raising subsequent financing. And so long story short, the story is still being written on higi. Get well, we will see what happens and stay there for a year, and ran corporate development for that.
John Corcoran 21:10
Okay. And I want to get to your book, I want to ask you about that. But before we do, you know, 2018, you decide to acquire a small bookkeeping and financial services and advisory accounting company, and then kind of take it online, will you explain why you decided that type of business, and what the challenges have been with
Russell Benaroya 21:37
that wasn’t really wedded to getting into the outsourced bookkeeping and accounting industry, that wasn’t like my primary objective, my primary objective was the following. My family and I made a decision to have a year’s experience abroad. And we moved to Costa Rica in 2018. And that was really a function of my wife and I making a decision in service to what we are trying to do as a family versus what Russell is trying to do as an entrepreneur? The what that demanded was that I get involved in a business that would give me geographic independence. And so that idea kind of took root for me, which is, I want to be in a business where I can do it from anywhere in the world, I want to be free. And, again, right, the world works in funny ways. So I put that out there metaphorically into the universe. And lo and behold, my first business partner, Eric Page, was working on an idea where he had a hypothesis around the future of business process outsourcing, how to help entrepreneurs, how to help business owners, that are focused their resources on the things that they can and should strategically own, and get rid of, or outsource all those things that are important, but not necessary for them to own. And bookkeeping and accounting have some really interesting attributes that we can go into detail about. But we both got really excited about how we could serve entrepreneurs and help them get in their genius zone. And by taking over this area of the back office, we started talking to some companies, because we decided we wanted to acquire our way into that industry. Because building a service business, as you know, John, from scratch, is a really long haul to get from zero to one is a whole lot harder than getting from one to two. And we wanted to bypass that zero to one. And so we had the opportunity to acquire a controlling interest in a long standing outsource bookkeeping firm that we could use as the foundation to execute this vision.
John Corcoran 23:57
Now that has its own challenges, just like acquiring you know, defunct chain of sleep centers. You know, that didn’t work in certain locations. But you know, acquiring a new business where people are used to doing things a certain way. What was that experience like for you?
Russell Benaroya 24:17
It has been an incredible learning experience. And let me just share a piece of data that 100% of the people that were part of the business when we acquired the business are no longer working at the business. And that is not and that is not a judgment call on them. It’s more about the value of establishing a strategy and executing a strategy that may or may not align with the current people that are there. And what I mean by that is when we acquired the business, we wanted to take that transactional bookkeeping work, that’s a commodity. And we wanted to move it to our growing team in the Philippines. And we wanted to elevate the people in the United States to be more senior level relationship managers. And I believe in that strategy. It could be wrong, by the way, but I believe in that strategy. The net result was over the course of a couple of years. There were a number of people that weren’t interested in being in that law, which is fine. Yeah.
John Corcoran 25:32
And navigating through that has been arduous. Looking back on it now, you know, you rebranded The company also right? Yes. To Stride Services. So you rebranded the company? Yep. 100% of the people who were there before are no longer there. You got a new team in place? Yeah. Would you say that? You know, I guess the question is, what were you buying other than a client list? Was it a client list primarily and looking back? Would you do it the same?
Russell Benaroya 26:01
Yeah. What we were acquiring was a foundation we Yes, was a book of business. We were acquiring cash flow. Yeah, we’re acquiring a profitable business. That would give us sufficient resources. And allow us to focus on working on the business and not in the business. And so to have people that were in the business that were executing the day to day services, Eric and I could spend more time thinking about the systems and the processes and the infrastructure, or this thing that we wanted to create and build, versus what would probably otherwise happen, we would be doing a lot of the detailed work early on,
John Corcoran 26:46
just like you had with your first business so I can see again, why you made the decision that you did to acquire the businesses. Alright, let’s uh, let’s talk about the business One Life to Lead: Business Success Through Better Life Design. It was inspired by that year that you spent in Costa Rica. Tell us about the new book.
Russell Benaroya 27:05
Yeah, well, thanks for asking. This is my first interview talking about it, and it will launch in September. So yes, the book title is One Life to Lead: Business Success Through Better Life Design. And the whole idea is, before you can lead others, it’s worth better understanding how you can lead yourself. And until I was able to step out of the crazy day to day in running a business, and really ask myself, why do I want what I want? Why am I doing what I am doing? What is important to me? Am I working in an area where I’m exceptional? Am I in my genius zone? Am I working with people, they give me energy? Am I living in integrity with my principles? Am I essentially taking control of my life? And then once I’ve taken control of my life, I can be better at applying that to the businesses that I’m involved in. And I hadn’t really thought about that. Because I was so worried about doing the next startup, impressing my family and my friends being accepted as worthy. And when I finally realized, I don’t have to prove my worth, I just have to live it. What does it mean to live it? If I take control and architect what it is that I want for myself and my family, I’m going to be a lot more effective at managing other people and helping them achieve the lives that they want to create. That was the impetus for the book. And so rather than just writing the Russell Benaroya story, I interviewed 13 entrepreneurs, notable entrepreneurs, notable like they run businesses that you may have heard of, possibly, but they contributed a lot of the content to the book of sharing their own experiences around life design elements that will allow leaders I think, to better identify their own journey
John Corcoran 29:32
And stay with that theme of life design when you have these conversations with these entrepreneurs. Did they have any insights or surprises that you weren’t expecting? That gave you ideas around or shaped your thinking around life design?
Russell Benaroya 29:54
Yeah, I think it’s an appreciation in the same way that eco The way that you and I are connected is an appreciation that under the hood, under the hood, under the veneer under the armor is a scared kid, that feels a little threatened, has all the same fears, and all the same concerns, all the same desires, right that we all do, whether it’s he or she is in a very successful business, or you’re in a struggling business, or you’re trying to figure it out, I think it was just the understanding that, hey, we’re all in this together. And yeah, that we’re all in this together. And it’s not the outcome that matters. It’s the journey that matters. Yeah,
John Corcoran 30:55
yeah, you also write about getting in and staying in your genius zone, which is a term I use all the time I love. I love it. I think it’s constantly a struggle to stay in your genius zone. Because, you know, especially as an entrepreneur, you have things that you need to be doing at any given time. And sometimes you don’t have the freedom or the liberty to be 100% in your genius zone. So talk a little bit about that concept, as you wrote about it in the book.
Russell Benaroya 31:23
Yeah. I’m a big believer in genius, and I first heard of genius zone from a guy named Lex Sisney and Lex Sisney wrote a book called Organizational Physics. He was also one of my coaches, and lives in Santa Barbara. By the way, our luck got her lucky. Yeah, Lucky guy. And it’s such a simple idea, John, which is, what is that area in your life where you are exceptionally capable, where it feels effortless for you? Where people look at you and say, Oh, my gosh, how did you do that? And you say, I don’t know, I just did it. It’s kind of like how I look at you in this podcast, you’re super good at it, you’re like, I don’t know, I just kind of do it. Like I’m just good at it. And that’s where we want to live 80% of the time. That’s where you want to live 80% of the time by 80%. Because most of us spend about 20% of our time now. So 80% is a good goal. Yeah, it’s a good goal. And so organizationally at Stride, we work with our teams, as individuals to help them get and stay in their genius zone. And whether that’s at Stride or whether that’s at another company. We’re going to help you support you in getting there, huh, that’s the most important thing.
John Corcoran 32:46
Great, great. One Life to Lead is the name of the book. Stride.services is a website for Stride. Where can people go to learn more about your Russell and connect with you or ask you a question?
Russell Benaroya 32:57
Yeah, so the best place to go is www.strides.services. You can also find me on LinkedIn at Russell Benaroya. I also have a personal website, which is thebenaroyagroup.com and you can read some of my blog posts there and you can always email me at [email protected].
John Corcoran 33:16
Excellent. All right, Russell. Thanks so much. This has been a pleasure. Awesome. Thanks, John.
Outro 33:21
Thank you for listening to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast with John Corcoran. Find out more at smartbusinessrevolution.com. And while you’re there, sign up for our email list and join the revolution. And be listening for the next episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast.