Elevating Our Vision: Medtrics' Transformative Experience at the Highland Summit

When I stepped off the plane in Whitefish, Montana, with our new Chief of Staff, Shruti Rangnekar, the crisp mountain air filled our lungs with anticipation. We were there for the Highland Summit, the culmination of months of mentorship and hard work within an exclusive community of CEOs from rapidly scaling start-ups.

The Highland Journey Begins

My journey with Highland began late last year when I first met Scot Chisholm. At that time, Medtrics had found product-market fit, and we were gearing up to scale. I was searching for a mentor who had walked this path before, someone who understood the nuances of growing a B2B SaaS company. Scot was that person. Having built Classy from the ground up into a $1 billion company, his experience was invaluable.

Scot was launching the Highland program, an invite-only coaching community for CEOs like me who were navigating the uncharted waters of scaling a company that found product-market fit. Since January, I've been part of this community, alongside 12 other CEOs. This shared experience has been instrumental in our growth journey.

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Reinforcing Our Foundation

Earlier this year, during our internal company retreat, we took the crucial step of refining and expanding our mission, vision, and core values:

Mission:

To create an engaged healthcare workforce to save [our] lives.

Core Values:

Have Integrity: We deliver on our word
Take Initiative: We improve every day
Make Impact: We focus on what matters

Vision: Become a global leader in healthcare workforce management, with clear milestones for 3, 5, 10, and 20 years.

With this strong foundation in place, and months of Highland coaching under our belt, we arrived at the Summit eager to learn how we could further strengthen and implement these guiding principles.

The Highland Summit Experience

The Summit kicked off with an electric welcome reception in downtown Whitefish. A fireside chat with Drew Bledsoe, former NFL quarterback and founder of Doubleback Winery, set the tone for the event. His journey from professional sports to entrepreneurship resonated deeply, embodying our value of continuous improvement.

Over the next two days, we immersed ourselves in workshops and talks led by a diverse mix of Highland members and industry experts. The topics covered everything from scaling operations to aligning team goals. The collaborative spirit was palpable as we engaged in brainstorming sessions with fellow entrepreneurs, exploring creative solutions to common challenges.

One session that stood out was Scot's introduction to the Northstar operating system. This holistic approach to building a company with purpose and clarity emphasized clear goal-setting, structured meetings, and articulating a mission, core values, and vision that everyone can rally behind. It was validating to see how closely this aligned with the work we had already done at Medtrics, and it offered new insights on how to refine our approach further.

Insights for the Future

As the Summit drew to a close, Shruti and I found ourselves energized and full of new ideas. We realized that while we had laid a strong foundation, there was still an opportunity to refine and implement our vision.

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Once we got back to the office, we began planning our next internal retreat and outlining our 2025 annual goals. The insights gained from the Summit, combined with the ongoing support from the Highland community, were instrumental in this process:

Implementing the Northstar Operating System: We discussed how to adapt elements of the Northstar operating system to reinforce our existing framework, particularly goal-setting and team alignment.
Refining Our KPIs: The Summit provided valuable perspectives on measuring success in scaling companies. We started brainstorming more effective KPIs that would align closely with our 3-year goal of becoming the most customer-referred healthcare education company in the US.
Enhancing Team Engagement: We were inspired by discussions on fostering a people-centered entrepreneurial culture. This feeds directly into our 20-year vision and we began outlining strategies to further embed this in our company DNA.
Strategic Partnerships: Conversations with other leaders opened our eyes to potential partnerships that could accelerate our 5-year goal of expanding into the international healthcare education market.
Refining Pipeline: Sessions on product development and market expansion got us thinking about our 10-year goal. We started mapping out potential areas for innovation in the healthcare workforce and practice management.

Looking Ahead

As we prepare for our upcoming internal company retreat, we are more excited than ever about Medtrics' future. The Summit, and the entire Highland experience, didn't change our course, but it certainly gave us new tools to navigate it more effectively.

To fellow founders and leaders, I can't emphasize enough the value of finding a community like Highland and experiences like the Summit. Even with a clear mission and vision in place, there's always room to grow, refine, and elevate your approach.

We're heading into 2025 with renewed energy and a sharper focus. Our mission to create an engaged healthcare workforce to save [our] lives feels more achievable than ever, and we're armed with new strategies to make our vision a reality.

Here's to the journey ahead, guided by our values, driven by our mission, and inspired by the collective wisdom of the entrepreneurial community.