Seven Years Ago, He Decided to Stop Doing the Expected and Went for a 'Moonshot.' This Year, His Company Will Make Just Under Billion Dollars in Revenue. Brandon Sawalich, President and CEO of Starkey, discusses his company's revolutionary implementation of AI into hearing aid technology.
By Dan Bova
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In this ongoing series, we are sharing advice, tips and insights from real entrepreneurs who are out there doing business battle on a daily basis. (Answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.)
Please give us the elevator pitch for your business.
I am Brandon Sawalich, President and CEO of Starkey, one of the largest hearing technology companies in the world and the only U.S.-based one. We design innovative hearing technologies that improve people's lives far beyond just better hearing. Our hearing aids not only have the best sound quality available on the market, but they also incorporate AI technology to mimic the way your brain automatically adjusts to any listening situation; plus, they offer many additional features such as step tracking, fall detection, balance assessment — even language translation!
Tell us about a pivotal moment in the company's trajectory.
Seven years ago, I started looking at the company differently. Every hearing tech company seemed focused on incremental improvements. But I looked at emerging global tech and knew we could do better. I saw so many options for multi-use devices. Think of all the things your iPhone can do beyond just making a phone call. What Apple did for phones, I wanted Starkey to do for hearing aids. Your ear is the pathway to your brain — why wasn't anyone making hearing aids into want-to-have technology? I was determined to make the ear the new wrist. I saw an opportunity to disrupt the market and go for the moonshot. We were the first to begin the process of AI integration into hearing aids — years before anyone else. Now, seven years later, our newest product, Edge AI, is the flagship product of the industry.
What advice would you give entrepreneurs and business leaders looking for funding?
Surround yourself with people who understand and believe in your vision. We are a privately held company which allows us to focus on the customer and patient rather than shareholders. So I can't speak specifically to seeking funding, but I can speak to having an outside-the-box moonshot idea and the importance of having people around me who believe in it. So don't just seek out investors with big wallets; seek out people who believe in you. Entrepreneurs find success when they have an aligned and talented team.
What does the word "entrepreneur" mean to you?
I believe an entrepreneur is anyone who looks at things differently. And it can be anyone anywhere within an organization — not just leadership. An entrepreneurial mindset is one of innovation. I often tell my teams not to be satisfied with the status quo. You can't do something spectacular if you just do it the same way it's always been done. Take that chance. Look outside the box at what's been done and how it can be done better. An entrepreneur is never satisfied with complacency. They are always thinking steps ahead of the rest. I always want Starkey to be at least five years ahead. That's what excites me!
What does being a business leader mean to you and how do you use your platform to affect others?
The most important thing for any business leader is to inspire and support their teams. Once your vision is clear, you must lead from the front and set an example. I can't ask someone to do something if I'm not already doing it myself. It's important to exemplify the behavior you want to see in your teams. You also need to be open to feedback and change. I follow a lot of business leaders on social media who inspire me and who I aspire to be like. When people share leadership advice and wisdom, it helps me continually re-evaluate how I show up for my team and the leader I want to be. Starkey has over 5,000 global employees and the way I see it, I work for them, not the other way around. I want to be the best leader I can be and inspire them to lead through the example I set.
What is something many aspiring business leaders think they need that they really don't?
Oftentimes business leaders mistakenly believe they need to be the smartest person in every room. They don't! I think of leadership more as being the conductor of the orchestra. I look at the bigger picture of the organization to make sure we have the right leadership in each area of the company. I certainly hope our Chief Technology Officer knows more about tech than I do and that our Chief Operations Officer understands supply chain better than me. If you're trying to be smarter than your teams, you're doing it wrong. It's ok to say, "I don't know" and seek counsel from your leadership team; you chose them for a reason! Your job is to put the right people in the right places and then get out of their way!
Is there a particular quote or saying that you use as a personal motivation?
I have always loved the saying "Don't lose sleep over the competition. Make them lose sleep over you." I think competition is great, especially in our industry. The better the competition, the better the technology becomes, and the more people are helped. But I don't worry about what the competition is working on because I know what Starkey is working on. Science moves so quickly, and we aspire to stay several paces ahead of it. It inspires me to know that to be the best, we simply need to continue to outdo ourselves and commit to excellence along the way. Your focus should be on looking at what worked and what didn't, learning from failures, and improving on your best efforts. If you continually challenge yourself to do better than last time, you are set for success.
