Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

Building stuff is all about messing up - also for us! We were in survival mode this week and just didn’t make it to release our episode on time.

Speaking of which: scaling a company isn’t just about growth—it’s about evolving as a leader, making tough decisions, and staying true to your vision. As teams expand, processes become essential, leadership challenges shift, and the role of a founder changes dramatically.

In this episode, we sit down with Kai Eberhardt, co-founder and CEO of Oviva, a leading healthtech company founded in 2014 that has treated over 800,000 patients across Europe and raised $120 million. We explore what it really takes to scale a startup while maintaining culture, trust, and speed. Kai shares insights on balancing structure with innovation, learning to make hard decisions, and the leadership habits that helped him grow alongside his company. Exclusively for our newsletter subscribers, Kai has shared additional insights below.

🎧 Tune in now on Spotify, Apple or wherever you listen to podcasts. In the meantime: Follow the Gradient and stay tuned!

🫶🏼 Melanie & Christian

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How to scale startup without losing its soul

What you will get out of this episode

In our conversation, Kai shares:

• how to scale company culture as your team grows

• how to balance processes with innovation vs. speed

• the key leadership lessons from scaling Oviva

• how to build on a power of trust and thrive from "heart-to-heart" conversations

• managing work, leadership growth, and family life

• and much more!

Our main take away’s

1. Scaling culture proactively: As a company grows, its culture won’t remain the same unless deliberately shaped. Without intentional effort, it can drift into something unrecognizable.

2. Balancing process and speed: While processes are necessary for scale, they can also slow down innovation. The key is to keep them minimal, adaptable, and designed to empower teams rather than create bureaucracy.

3. Leadership growth is continuous: Founders must evolve alongside their company, making tough decisions, embracing change, and learning to lead at new levels. Staying reflective and open to growth is critical.

4. Trust and deep conversations matter: Regular “heart-to-heart” discussions with team members build trust, strengthen relationships, and create a healthier work environment. People perform better when they feel heard and understood.

5. Work, life & focus: Maintaining balance in a fast-growing company requires structure, clear priorities, and support systems. Having dedicated thinking time, open communication at home, and focusing only on what truly matters helps sustain long-term success.

Additional material on the topic

• MBTI - Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® - a personality test, Kai was mentioning

• Netflix’s concept of “informed captains”

How to reach out to Kai

• LinkedIn

• Oviva

Exclusive from Kai

You’ve raised a lot of money: What’s the best advice you could give other health tech founders going the VC route?

Always consider and optimise for the long-term partnership you should have together.

What’s your framework for making tough calls quickly?

Making reversible decisions fast. Get the best information together, read, reflect and then debate trying to bring out all opinions and allowing for direct conflict. Have one decider.

Any books that inspired you how to run yourself, the company, your team better?

• The new one minute manager by Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson M.D.

• Amp it up by Frank Slootman