Reeve Benaron is the co-founder and co-CEO of Intrivo Diagnostics, the company behind the pioneering Diagnostics as a Service (DaaS) platform, and developer of the ON/GO Test to Trace COVID management tool. Reeve is a successful entrepreneur and early stage investor in healthtech and adtech, and has been bringing game changing tech to both sectors for many years.
In April 2012 Reeve co-founded AUDIENCEX and remains Chairman. AUDIENCEX is a leading digital advertising partner for agencies and brands. Disrupting the digital media landscape, AUDIENCEX offers strategic omnichannel performance solutions.
Reeve is also an active partner at AX Venture Partners, which combines world-class marketing capabilities with a unique venture model to grow future industry leaders.
Please tell us a little bit about your business – what is Intrivo all about?
Intrivo is all about bringing healthcare into the home by harnessing AI and user-centered design to find solutions to global health challenges. We launched in 2020 specifically to counter the spread of COVID-19. This led to the development of our proprietary Diagnostic as a Service (DaaS) solution.
In turn, this led to the development of the first test to trace rapid home COVID solution. Fully authorized by the FDA, our ON/GO COVID-19 management solution gives employers all the testing and tracing data they need in order to keep their workforce safe and healthy.
The ON/GO tests are also available to individuals who want to monitor their exposure to the virus, allowing them to make the best decisions for their family. Our research and development of this technology has also allowed us to utilize it for philanthropic purposes – we’ve recently donated more than $1 million of ON/GO tests to hospitals in Ukraine.
We’re now looking at using our methodology, talent, and expertise to find solutions for other global health problems.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
While I started my career in investment banking, I have always been an entrepreneur at heart. I’ve been involved with various tech companies with a strong focus on automated solutions and AI.
I’m always looking for ways to help start-ups reach parity with established businesses through the use of tech. After years as an investment banker, I moved into marketing tech and co-founded AUDIENCEX.
Today, I’m still Chairman of AUDIENCEX, which partners with agencies and brands to maximize their marketing spend through tech driven solutions. We offer omnichannel performance solutions that maximize the advertiser’s ROI. Through automation and data driven insights, the solutions pivot and change with client needs and deliver outcomes that routinely exceed client expectations.
From AUDIENCEX was born AX Venture Partners, which is our VP arm. Through AXVP we are able to grow startups in a unique way.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
- An innovative mindset, a thorough understanding of emerging technology, and the ability to shift with consumer expectations.
- While it’s important to keep following your overall goal, you also need to be ready for the unexpected. Staying one step ahead of consumer demand and the way technology can be leveraged to meet this demand is key.
It’s important to constantly be self-reflective in order to not lose sight of yourself. Markets shift and you need to do the same. A spirit of relentlessness – never give up.
What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
For Intrivo, the future is about finding new ways to bring healthcare to those who need it the most. Our company vision is to ensure that location and financial constraints should not get in the way of people accessing quality healthcare solutions.
I am also a board member and lead advisor for Aurox, which is a crypto trading platform with a bright future. I’m looking at expanding partnerships and driving marketing.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
I try to practice three principles of courage, clarity, and humanity in all my affairs.
I believe in always staying connected, not just with my clients, but also with my partners, and teams. This is what stands me out from the rest.
What were the top three mistakes you made starting your business, and what did you learn from them?
- It’s all too easy to make all kinds of errors when you’re first starting out. When launching an early stage business, I think that there is always the pressure to get there as fast as possible. This rush to market tends to exacerbate the chances of making mistakes.
- While I’m all for working hard and as fast as possible, it’s also necessary to avoid the basic errors. There have certainly been times in my early entrepreneurial days when I was tempted to hire the wrong people, spend too much on the wrong resources and be too rigid overall.
- I’ve learned to be less impulsive and to allow business plans to strategically flex when necessary. In fact, flexibility is probably one of the most important lessons you can learn as a new business owner.
Tell us a little bit about your marketing process, what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
We prioritize building trust behind the brand. This allows consumers to identify with our product, through proving out specific use cases that demonstrate the success and delightful experience of using our technology and product.
Affiliate marketing for sales and distribution is also important to us.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Launching and growing a company brings with it a range of challenges. For me, there is always pressure to ensure people are happy and thriving while working at my businesses. I also spend a lot of time sharing best practice with fellow entrepreneurs who are leading businesses – we can share our growing pains and learn from each other.
With that said, I believe the biggest challenge is always turning a vision into a reality, a viable, working product or service. To overcome that, I always strive to hire the best engineers I can.
What was your first business idea and what did you do with it?
My first business idea came to me in the 90s during my college years. I was able to build a platform that delivered food and drinks to college students. I never took the concept further, but it enabled me to pay for my schooling.
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
I’m learning every day. I’m learning to be more patient and that things don’t materialize on our timeline, but rather when they’re supposed to.
If you started your business again, what things would you do differently?
I have no regrets with the businesses I’ve launched and I’m very proud of everything we’ve achieved. Intrivo continues to make a significant impact on the way that business leaders deal with the realities of the pandemic, and that’s something to be extremely proud of.
That said, I’ve obviously learned many lessons over the years and all of this learning will inform my next venture I’m sure.
What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
I’m always exploring technology that will streamline the way that businesses market themselves and their products, and the way in which they can sustainably scale their operations.
At AUDIENCEX, the teams use Pardot and Salesforce to manage the company’s marketing funnel, and these are both great. Of course, I’m always keeping on top of advances with AI technology.
As an entrepreneur committed to improving myself and the services offered by companies I’m involved with, improving tech and fully embracing automation and AI is a logical next step.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
When you’re heading up any kind of team, you need to find the best way to be efficient with your time. Probably the most important tip I can pass on is to find the time you personally are the most effective in terms of productivity, creativity, and big thinking, and adjust your diary to accommodate that time. No matter what, I always ensure I am free of meetings and commitments first thing in the morning as this is when I think the most clearly.
Can you recommend one book, one podcast, and one online course for entrepreneurs?
- Book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It was published in 1936 but it’s a classic for a reason and while there are, of course, books that offer newer ideas or 21st century thinking, I always recommend reading this one too. I also really like The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey.
- Podcast: I really like the Super U Podcast. It’s hosted by Erik Qualman and every episode has one of the most impressive thought leaders in the world give their 7 Super Tips for inner superpower. They recently had Elon Musk on and it was predictably fascinating.
- Online course for entrepreneurs: Harvard offers an online course that covers all of the basics in a comprehensive way. It’s called Entrepreneurship Essentials and is really useful in helping you turn your big idea into a business. Since the pandemic, there have been more and more high-level, good-quality, business courses coming online and I think this is a great starting point.
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
I would use it to build a scalable, digital company. The beauty of this concept is that you can put a business together with few overhead expenses.
What helps you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business?
Success is addictive and that is a big motivation for me. Every time we engage with a new start-up and add the extra magic they need to make their business work, it’s motivating.
Working hard and doing what I love every day helps too. It’s a cliché but remains true – if you do what you love then you’ll never work a day in your life. I’m also grateful every day. If you look at every day as a gift, you will find yourself more able to take risks fearlessly.
What is your favorite quote?
“If you have health, you are wealthier than your wildest imagination”
What valuable advice would you give new entrepreneurs starting out?
Fear should not hold you back. You do need a healthy awareness of the possibility of failure, but by reframing the challenges in front of you, you can lose the fear that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your attitude and outlook has a huge impact on your chances of success – just as much, if not more, than your technical prowess and business acumen.
Who should we interview next and why?
Chris Lien – the founder and Chairman of the Board at Marin Software – because I want to see what he’d say!
What is your definition of success?
If I can get up every day and see it as an opportunity – regardless of the difficult tasks I have to do – then that’s success. I generally start every day with the hardest thing on my list and then use the boost to power through the rest of the day. But even on the days where I don’t achieve everything that I set out to, I find something to frame as a success. Businesses can be about the big wins, but you also need to find that success every day.
How do you personally overcome fear?
By reframing the narrative before I face the challenge. OK, it may be something that I’m worried about or afraid that will happen, but by taking the time to understand it for what it is, I can find the courage to move on through. Fear of failure does not stop successful entrepreneurs.
How can readers get in touch with you?
You can find me on Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/reeve-benaron
