12 Years, 12 Questions, 12 Lessons with Physitrack Group CEO and co-founder, Henrik Molin

1. Can you take us back to the beginning? What inspired you and your co-founders to start Physitrack back in 2012?

I grew up in a family where entrepreneurship was the norm, so it's no surprise that I caught the entrepreneur bug early on. I was captivated by the tech world from a young age and launched my career before turning 20. It was inevitable that I'd eventually dive into something with significant impact. When my brother-in-law presented me the Physitrack idea of digitising the rehab journey, I knew it was the game-changing opportunity I'd been dreaming of. The concept of having a global impact on people's lives was incredibly inspiring for us right from the start.

2. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in the early days of Physitrack, and how did you overcome them?

Back in those days, every day felt like a new challenge—building the product, hosting it (this was before AWS made it big), selling it and figuring out the funding. We were just enthusiastic guys with no real experience in digital health, and our big ambitions in combination of being early in a space that wasn’t overly capitalised or commercialised meant we had to do most of the work ourselves. It was tough and scrappy at the beginning, but it taught us that hard work and determination are key to success.

3. Every startup has its defining moments. What would you say were the key milestones that propelled Physitrack to where it is today?

If I had to pick one defining moment, it would be when Physitrack was included in Apple's acceleration program for iPad apps back in 2015. That was a game-changer for us as it taught us how to build a product that resonated with consumers. Plus, we received invaluable help with commercialization, and we spent a lot of time in Apple stores worldwide, talking to prospective customers and getting direct feedback.

4. Startups often learn the most from their mistakes. Can you share a significant mistake or setback and what you learned from it?

Oh, we made plenty of mistakes—like all startups do. The key is learning from them and staying resilient. Our biggest blunder? Not listening to enough customers early on. We developed our initial product based on our assumptions and feedback from just one chiropractor in Austin, rather than gathering input from a wider customer base. Consequently, much of our work from 2013 to early 2015 ended up in the digital trash once we engaged with real users in 2015. Fortunately, Apple's acceleration program in mid-2015 taught us the importance of customer-first thinking and the necessity of redesigning. Looking back, I wish we'd prioritized this from day one, but better late than never!

5. What exciting projects or initiatives is Physitrack currently working on? How are they aligned with your mission to improve healthcare?

There's never been a more exciting time for us. Innovation is happening at a rapid pace on both our Lifecare (Physitrack) and Wellness (Champion Health) sides, with fantastic new features and versions launched just in the past few weeks. AI, a big part if our content playbook since 2019, has played an even more significant role for us over the last year, and we see even more exciting developments ahead for both our B2B and B2C projects. I’m especially proud of what we have been able to do with our Inclusion project with a vastly simplified ways to provide AI-powered digital rehab in rural communities in Rwanda and Indonesia. The best is yet to come for our global impact!

6. Physitrack has always been at the forefront of digital health. Can you talk about some of the latest technological innovations Physitrack is implementing?

Our first AI feature, Copilot Search, has significantly improved our customers' efficiency by allowing them to spend more time caring for patients and less time dealing with complex technology. The next step in our AI journey is the launch of our Physitrack Assistant. This feature will bring the power of exercise prescription to your smartphone, using AI to quickly pull up and send exercises to patients without the need for a computer. Additionally, we plan to include the ability to quickly film a patient and prescribe those exercises, a method commonly used by non-digital health tool-using healthcare providers today.

7. How would you describe the company culture at Physitrack? What values are most important to you and the team?

I'm proud to say we've created a culture that balances high performance with a healthy outlook on our work environment. In our fast-moving space, it would be ideal to proceed at our own pace without stress, but we must stay ahead to remain competitive, which can be stressful. Our strong set of values encourages two-way feedback, allowing us to move at the necessary pace while providing our leaders and team members with the tools they need to maintain their well-being. We borrowed the most important value for this, “Lead up the chain” from the Navy SEALS, and I think this approach helps us achieve success in a healthy and sustainable manner.

8. Can you share a memorable story or feedback from a customer that highlights the impact Physitrack has had on their practice or patients?

There are so many amazing stories out there, and we impact the lives of around 7 million people a year at this point. The most memorable one for me is very close to home.

When my mother had hip surgery, her physiotherapist gave her an app for her recovery. My dad messaged me, saying she'd been given an app called PhysiApp and asked if I knew the software provider. I told him, "Yes, Dad, it's Physitrack, the company I founded and that you inspired over all these years." It was a touching moment and it was incredible to see our innovation reach all the way to the very north of Sweden.

9. On a lighter note, what do you do to unwind and stay inspired outside of your work? Any hobbies or interests that keep you balanced?

I'd love to say that I unwind and have moments where I'm not thinking about the business, our team, and all the lives we touch, but in reality, I'm plugged in most of the time. There are so many challenges and amazing opportunities that switching off isn't really an option. I make sure to take care of my personal wellness by incorporating routines that ensure I sleep well, stay healthy, and maintain high energy levels. I voraciously read a mix of business books, biographies, and fiction, typically 30 to 40 books a year, and I listen to many podcasts, which I find to be a great shortcut to learning from the brilliant minds of successful entrepreneurs and executives. When I do have some personal time, I enjoy writing—over the last year I have been chronicling the Physitrack story from its founding to the present (250 pages of book so far), via our crazy journey listing the company on a Nasdaq exchange in 2021. I also love playing the guitar and singing. I used to have regular gigs with my cover band, but as work became more intense, I had to let that go a few years ago. I'm hoping to pick it up again someday.

10. What's your favourite thing about what you do?

I love seeing innovation in motion, especially when it comes to our products and the features that make them exceptional. Watching specific teams—and sometimes the entire company—huddle around core innovations to ensure success is incredibly inspiring. I feel very privileged to be part of such a dynamic and creative process.

11. Looking ahead, what is your vision for Physitrack over the next five to ten years? What are the big goals you hope to achieve?

I feel that we've only just started our journey. There's so much left for us to do and so much impact we can have around the world. There's not a single market where I believe we've saturated the need for great tools to care for people in need. Over the next few years, I anticipate a tremendous increase in the usage of our products. What will get us there is a relentless focus on innovation, using the latest and greatest tools at our disposal, applied by incredible teams of people who are driven to make a difference to those who truly need us around the globe.

12. If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self when you started Physitrack, what would it be?

I’d be surprised if my younger self would listen to “old” me because my younger self was very stubborn. That’s probably the first thing I’d change. But jokes aside, listening to your customers, giving them great products, making them see the value, and relentlessly innovating is probably the best thing you can do as an entrepreneur. Keeping it simple like that is what I would persuade my stubborn younger self to do. Oh, and I'd remind him not to forget about playing the guitar because it makes him super happy.

Bonus question: What’s one surprising thing you’ve learned about yourself through your work with Physitrack?

The greatest thing I learned was that it's okay to be vulnerable in front of your team. It's okay to open up about challenges, admit when you're not at your best, or acknowledge that you're not superhuman.

It's amazing to have a fantastic team that can rally around you when you feel this way and express it, helping you turn a difficult situation into something amazing. I grew up and built my 30-year career in tech and finance on always coming across as strong, as having everything together and always having the right answer to everything. Not having to be that way was a great relief to me, a great booster of business outcomes - so a very welcome surprise!