7 lessons HealthTech founders can learn from Navy Seals training and The Law of Reverse

Lloyd Price
22 hours ago
6 min read

HealthTech founders can draw valuable lessons from Navy SEAL training and the Law of Reverse to navigate the complex, high-stakes environment of working with hospitals and healthcare providers.

SEAL training, particularly through exercises like drown-proofing and Hell Week, emphasises mental resilience, adaptability, and counterintuitive strategies for success, principles encapsulated in the Law of Reverse, which suggests that striving too hard for control or immediate results can hinder progress, while letting go and focusing on the process often leads to better outcomes.

Here’s how these seven lessons apply to HealthTech founders:

1. Embrace Discomfort and Uncertainty

SEAL Lesson: SEAL candidates face gruelling conditions, like Hell Week’s sleep deprivation and physical exhaustion, where they must accept discomfort as part of the journey. The Law of Reverse teaches them to stop resisting pain and focus on enduring it calmly to succeed.

HealthTech Application: Hospitals and healthcare providers operate in a high-pressure environment with rigid regulations, complex workflows, and risk-averse stakeholders. Founders may face resistance, slow decision-making, or unexpected setbacks (eg. navigating NICE, NHS or HIPAA compliance or securing buy-in from hospital administrators).

Instead of fighting these obstacles head-on, founders should embrace the discomfort of long sales cycles or bureaucratic delays. By staying patient and viewing challenges as part of the process, they can build trust and credibility with healthcare partners.

Founder Lesson: Prepare for extended timelines when pitching to hospitals. Focus on building relationships with key stakeholders (eg. chief medical officers, IT directors) rather than pushing for quick wins, accepting that progress in healthcare is often gradual.

2. Let Go of Control to Build Trust

SEAL Lesson: In drown-proofing, candidates with bound hands and feet learn that struggling to stay afloat causes exhaustion and failure. Relaxing and using minimal, efficient movements allows them to survive. The Law of Reverse highlights that letting go of excessive control leads to success.

HealthTech Application: Founders often want to control every aspect of their product’s implementation in hospitals, from integration to clinician adoption. However, healthcare providers value autonomy and expertise.

Pushing too hard for adoption or micromanaging workflows can alienate stakeholders. Instead, founders should “let go” by co designing solutions with clinicians and IT teams, incorporating their feedback to ensure the product aligns with existing workflows and priorities.

Founder Lesson: Engage hospital staff early in the development process through pilot programs or co-creation workshops. Show flexibility by adapting your solution to their needs rather than insisting on a rigid deployment plan.

3. Focus on the Process, Not the Outcome

SEAL Lesson: SEAL candidates succeed by focusing on immediate tasks (e.g., the next swim or obstacle) rather than obsessing over completing training or earning the Trident. The Law of Reverse suggests that fixating on the end goal creates mental strain, while process-oriented focus builds resilience.

HealthTech Application: Securing contracts or scaling a healthtech solution in hospitals can take years due to regulatory approvals, budget cycles, and stakeholder alignment.

Founders who fixate on closing deals or rapid adoption may burn out or alienate partners. Instead, they should focus on incremental steps, like conducting successful pilots, gathering robust data on outcomes (e.g., reduced readmissions or cost savings), or building case studies that demonstrate value.

Founder Lesson: Break down your hospital engagement into manageable milestones, such as completing a needs assessment, securing a pilot, or achieving measurable outcomes in a single department. Celebrate small wins to maintain momentum.

4. Build Resilience Through Adversity

SEAL Lesson: SEAL training is designed to push candidates beyond their limits, teaching them that resilience comes from confronting and overcoming adversity. The Law of Reverse encourages accepting failure as a learning opportunity rather than a defeat.

HealthTech Application: HealthTech founders will face rejections, failed pilots, or regulatory hurdles when working with hospitals. These setbacks are not failures but opportunities to refine their approach. For example, a hospital may reject a solution due to budget constraints, but feedback from that process can inform a more cost-effective iteration.

Resilience is critical in an industry where change is slow and trust is hard-won.

Founder Lesson: After a setback, conduct a post-mortem with your team and hospital stakeholders to identify lessons learned. Use data from failed pilots to strengthen your value proposition, such as demonstrating ROI or patient outcomes.

5. Cultivate a Team Mindset

SEAL Lesson: SEAL training emphasises teamwork, with candidates succeeding or failing as a unit. The Law of Reverse applies here as well: individual heroics often lead to failure, while collaborative effort ensures success.

HealthTech Application: Hospitals are complex ecosystems with diverse stakeholders, clinicians, administrators, IT staff, and patients. Founders must foster collaboration within their teams and with hospital partners to align goals.

Pushing a product without considering the needs of all stakeholders can lead to resistance, but building a collaborative “team” mindset with hospital staff creates buy-in and smoother adoption.

Founder Lesson: Form cross-functional advisory boards with hospital representatives to guide product development. Ensure your team includes members with clinical or healthcare operations expertise to bridge gaps with providers.

6. Adapt to the Environment

SEAL Lesson: In SEAL training, candidates learn to adapt to unpredictable conditions, like cold water or shifting objectives. The Law of Reverse teaches that rigid plans fail in dynamic environments; flexibility is key.

HealthTech Application: Every hospital has unique workflows, budgets, and priorities. A one-size-fits-all solution will likely fail. Founders must adapt their technology to fit specific hospital needs, whether it’s integrating with legacy EHR systems or addressing niche clinical challenges. Overly rigid product designs or sales pitches can push providers away.

Founder Lesson: Conduct thorough discovery sessions with hospitals to understand their pain points and technical constraints. Offer modular or customizable solutions that can adapt to different hospital environments.

7. Leverage Data to Tell a Compelling Story

SEAL Lesson: SEALs rely on preparation and situational awareness to succeed in missions. The Law of Reverse suggests that overemphasizing persuasion without evidence backfires; clear, objective data builds trust.

HealthTech Application: Hospitals and healthcare providers are data-driven and risk-averse. Founders must present compelling evidence of their solution’s impact, such as clinical outcomes, cost savings, or workflow efficiencies. Pushing a product without data can erode credibility, but letting the data “speak” aligns with the

Law of Reverse by reducing the need for aggressive sales tactics.

Founder Lesson: Invest in pilot studies to generate real-world evidence. Use metrics like reduced hospital readmissions, improved patient satisfaction, or time savings for clinicians to build a strong case for adoption.

Critical Considerations

While the Law of Reverse and SEAL training principles offer powerful insights, HealthTech founders should recognise the unique challenges of healthcare:

Regulatory Constraints: Unlike SEAL training, where failure is a learning opportunity, healthcare mistakes can have serious consequences (e.g., patient safety or data breaches). Compliance with regulations like HIPAA is non-negotiable.

Stakeholder Complexity: Hospitals involve multiple decision-makers, unlike the clear chain of command in SEAL teams. HealthTech Founders must navigate competing priorities among clinicians, administrators, and IT staff.

Ethical Stakes: SEAL training focuses on individual and team resilience, but HealthTech impacts patient lives. Founders must prioritise patient safety and outcomes in their solutions.

HealthTech founders can learn from Navy SEAL training and the Law of Reverse to approach hospital partnerships with resilience, adaptability, and a process-oriented mindset. By embracing discomfort, letting go of excessive control, focusing on incremental progress, and building trust through collaboration and data, founders can navigate the healthcare landscape more effectively. These principles help turn the slow, complex process of hospital adoption into an opportunity for growth and impact. For further insights, founders can explore healthcare innovation resources or connect with hospital innovation hubs to understand provider needs better.

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