Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Eva Galant, Founder of Hashiona, located in Wroclaw, Poland.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Hashiona is an all-in-one platform for people with Hashimoto's disease, with the goal of improving our users' quality of life by lowering the level of harmful antibodies in their blood. Our mission is to make the lives of people suffering from Hashimoto's disease easier. Our customized meal plans were designed to reduce inflammation in the body, while the symptom tracker assists in monitoring (and avoiding) negative triggers. We also provide a comprehensive guide to thyroid health, complete with interactive content to make learning enjoyable. Our users can connect their Garmin, Oura, Polar, or Google Fit devices to pull health data. Our customers are mainly women. They mainly suffer from Hashimoto's, and we want to help them with that.
Tell us about yourself
My career background and current role have been a combination of general manager, entrepreneur, and product manager. I have over 10 years of working in international markets across the tech and startup sectors, with experience in product launch, strategy, marketing implementation, product innovation, and driving new business opportunities, products, and solutions. My professional career has taken me to places such as Warsaw, Berlin, London, Tel Aviv, Chicago, and Western Australia.
After six years of struggling with Hashimoto's, I decided to start Hashiona to help the 480M women around the world diagnosed with the disease. My understanding of the disease gave me a unique insight into the needs of patients - often overwhelmed by the varying symptoms and confused by the lack of information. Hashiona's mission is to make the already complicated lives of our users easier with simple meal plans, symptom tracking, and medication reminders. The platform also provides in-depth information about the disease and offers tips on how to keep the condition in check. I know that our product is needed, and patients need this support - this motivates me every day because I know what it's like.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Our greatest accomplishments to date have undoubtedly been the successful implementation of our beta testing and clinical studies. We had 30k free beta testers who tried out the Hashiona recovery/lifestyle plan and gave us valuable feedback. Since then, we've sold several hundred subscriptions and seen our user base grow significantly. In addition, we've already completed a three-week pre-clinical study on a group of 20 women with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. This study looked at how non-pharmacological dietary interventions affected their quality of life and anthropometric data. We discovered that this intervention significantly improved symptoms for those who participated, which encourages us to conduct full-time proper patient trials.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Sometimes it is difficult to control everything and find your way through so many threads. The most difficult for me is administration and accounting; the number of documents I have to sign is never-ending! Also, finding the right people to help build the platform was the most difficult challenge. We needed experts who could not only provide expertise in their respective fields but also verify the content we were providing to ensure it was educational and up-to-date. It was difficult to find individuals with these combined skill sets within our budget, so we had to take our time to ensure we made the best decisions for Hashiona's future. We met with numerous experts and spent countless hours researching various teams before settling on one that could meet all of our requirements.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
The most important piece of advice I can give to anyone starting a career in this industry is to stay true to yourself and follow your passions. Although the road ahead may appear daunting, keep in mind that hard work and dedication can often go a long way. One of our investors, Tim Draper, founder of DU University, stated in his pledge, "Make short-term sacrifices for long-term benefits." This is something I am certain of. It is critical to obtain as much knowledge and experience as possible by speaking with experts, reading relevant literature, and participating in industry events.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://hashiona.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hashiona_global/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hashiona/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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