Dedication, perseverance, hard work, and a vision to succeed is what makes a leader ‘extraordinary’. Few have the ability to overcome the obstacles and create their own path to excellence. One such goal-driven leader is Oleksii Vinogradov, the Founder of HeartIn Inc.
Oleksii started his first company 25 years ago. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the Odessa National Polytechnic University, which was focused on engineering. However, he gathered most of his knowledge from his businesses. He asserts “business is the best tutor you could find”. Oleksii has created 11 companies in different fields, such as telecommunications, software and hardware development, digital health, mobile advertising, etc. Currently, he is transforming one of his companies into a blockchain technology company. He also performs different kinds of work for all of his companies. “I can be a sales manager, a software engineer, a hardware engineer and Chief Executive Officer at the same time.” says Oleksii.
A Dedicated and Sympathetic Entrepreneur
The biggest motivation for Oleksii is to decrease the overall death rate, caused by cardiovascular diseases. Throughout all his life Oleksii was working to earn money, and even though he was truly passionate about some projects, most of them were driven by monetary interest. HeartIn is the first missionary project. He believes the product they have created is capable of saving hundreds of lives all over the world.
Oleksii’s Views on Leadership
Oleksii feels that every entrepreneur should concentrate on their team. One might be genius, talented and ambitious, but there are weak points every professional has. Without great team there is no success. One person cannot cover all the aspects of business, regardless of his education and prior experience. He believes that a good team makes a good leader and a good leader makes a good team. This is the equation every leader and every team mate has to solve.
Remarkable Moments of Oleksii’s Career
“Every project I launched is tightly imprinted in my memory, this always was a challenge, and I really enjoy challenging myself.” says Oleksii. He mentions about some memorable moments of his career, which include:
- Launch of IXC Softswitch, third worldwide billing for IP-telephony maker in Ukraine
- Creation of the first Internet node in Illichivsk, the small city where he was born
- Creation of one of the first satellite channels in Ukraine
- Launch of the first optical channel, alternative to the state operator
Confronting Challenges with a Game Face
Oleksii states that the most daring challenge he had ever taken was the responsibility of the launch of HeartIn. He had quite enough experience and connections within IT industry, but one day he realized he want to do something really important. Without any prior knowledge in the healthcare industry, he started looking for team members that can accelerate company’s growth and make it prosperous. Eventually, he met Dmytro Fedkov (the Chief Medical Officer of HeartIn and Co-Founder), who helped him to conceptualize an idea, design a prototype, and make a product which has a real scientific value. “This was a risky action, but I think overall we are on the right track. This story has just begun, we have done a lot, but even more needs to be done in following years.” says Oleksii.
About HeartIn
HeartIn intends to accelerate cardiology telemedicine and remote heart monitoring solutions by bringing easy-to-use services to the market. By adding a possibility of constant heart rate monitoring, HeartIn smart T-shirt is able to gather and analyze the much more significant amount of data compared to classical ECG, used in hospitals.
Treading Confidently on the Road to Glory
Oleksii’s first success story was the creation of an internet provider in the small city near Odessa that is called Illichivsk, where he was born. “Probably, it was one of the first internet provider that provided the satellite connection for Internet in Ukraine.” says Oleksii. One of his first companies was called IXC Softswitch, which still exists. It was the third company worldwide that provided software like that. Moreover, this company has even been mentioned in books about the history of IP-telephony. Since then, Oleksii has never looked back and is looking forward towards achieving new goals in the days to come.
Advice to Emerging Entrepreneurs
“Make sure you can replace any employee in your company if necessary” advices Oleksii to up-and-coming entrepreneurs. He adds that it is hard to be proficient in marketing, finance and programming in the same time. But if one does not understand any process inside their company today, they may lose their whole company tomorrow.
Oleksii’s Views about the Healthcare Industry
Oleksii states that the healthcare industry is at the transformation stage now. Young millennials do not want to see clinics and hospitals in a format their grandparents did. They want digitalized easy-to-use services with the same or even higher quality, at the place and at the point of time they need it. Telemedicine is the only way for a medical sector to progress. Oleksii feels proud that HeartIn is a part of this process, helping to develop the new industry and make the world a better place to live.
