What if a software company could scale and still feel deeply human? We sit down with Ricardo Velazquez, founder of Alternova, to unpack how a 90-person team navigated a pandemic pivot, built patient-first products in digital health, and held onto its principles when the market turned. Ricardo explains the journey from services-only growth to a smarter model: partnering with distribution-first operators to co-create products, combining deep compliance expertise with real go-to-market power.

We dig into the CEO shift from chief-everything to focused leadership. Ricardo shares how he delegates finance without losing rigor, invests time where it matters most—product and clients—and sets a high bar for leadership: transparent communication, respectful delivery, and a commitment to elevate the entire team. You’ll hear how Alternova hires and promotes quickly, why escalation is a non-negotiable habit, and how knowledge-sharing across backend, frontend, and product turns individual stars into durable teams.

The most powerful moments trace culture under pressure. Funding freezes and post-COVID corrections forced painful layoffs, and Ricardo walks through the playbook: radical transparency, tailored support, and severance that respects people’s lives. He also reveals a simple but profound way they rebuilt trust—a series of hand-written letters from leaders and peers that reconnected the company to its mission and set sights on a stronger year ahead. For founders, product leaders, and anyone building in digital health, this conversation offers a practical blueprint for scaling with soul: HIPAA-savvy software, patient-centered design, principled decision-making, and partnerships that compound impact.

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