Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
I heard about it for the first time Normatec at Unbreakable Performance Gym in West Hollywood nearly a decade ago.
One of the Jonas brothers was in the recovery room ranting to a friend about how the Normatec compression boots allowed him to do two leg workouts in one day. I was intrigued. Usually, I'm done for a few days after a leg workout. I had to learn more about this product.
Turns out, I wasn't alone. Once the exclusive and must-have recovery tool for celebrities and elite athletes, the device is now becoming popular with ordinary people. Building on this momentum, Normatec's parent company Hyperice launched the Normatec Elite last month – a fully integrated, wireless version of their popular compression boot that eliminates the need for external hoses and control units.
“This is like our ninth or tenth product launch for the Normatec brand,” says Gilad Jacobs, Chief Innovation Officer at Hyperice and founder of Normatec. “This is by far the most excited I've seen athletes and individuals be about the products.”
I spoke with Jacobs on the latest episode of A day with Jon Bier podcast about the story behind the brand's evolution and the valuable lessons he's learned about entrepreneurship and building a successful company.
Never give up
When Jacobs was growing up, he remembers seeing a magnet in his mother's office with Winston Churchill's famous quote: “Never, never, never, never—in anything, big or small, big or small— never give up”.
He is inspired by this quote and how his mother, Dr. Laura F. Jacobs, put it into action. A rehabilitation doctor and bioengineer, the late Dr. Jacobs was frustrated with the methods available to improve blood circulation for her patients recovering from breast cancer surgery, who often suffered from lymphedema, a condition whose main symptom is swelling. So she invented a device—the first iteration of the Normatec (named after his grandmother, Norma)—that uniquely places air compression on the body and mimics a person's physiology.
“She figured out how to move fluids in the body in the most efficient way possible,” explains Jacobs.
Later, Gilad Jacobs introduced this technology to the athletic community, targeting college sports programs and triathletes. They didn't bite right away. The early version of Nomatec was expensive and heavy. Jacobs points out that uncertain times like these are inevitable in entrepreneurship.
“You're going to have those bad days, weeks, months, where you're like, I can't do this anymore,” he says. “But if the bank isn't removing the furniture and the electric company hasn't turned off the lights, you have to keep going.”
Connected: How This Green Beret Defied Conventional Wisdom and Built a $46 Million Backpack Business
Focus on the next two weeks
Dr. Jacobs had a quote: “In another two weeks, we'll know the outcome of this.” This mantra has helped him stay focused on short-term goals and highlights, meeting challenges while always looking ahead to the next breakthrough. Whether it was waiting for a new prototype or approval from the FDA, the two-week-at-a-time approach kept them moving forward.
“As an entrepreneur, you take two weeks and then another two weeks and keep going,” Jacobs says.
Prioritize hard work over smarts
While intelligence is valuable, “I take hard work over smart any day of the week,” declares Jacobs.
He has seen many brilliant people give up too early, while less intelligent but more determined individuals have killed it over time. “There are a lot of not very smart people who have done very well because of their persistence.” This philosophy has driven Normatec's approach to product development and market expansion.
Connected: Adopt these 9 habits and you will be unrecognizable by the end of 2024
Build strong partnerships
The decision to partner with Hyperice was based on a long relationship and mutual respect between Jacobs and Hyperice founder Anthony Katz.
If you're thinking about joining or selling to someone, I recommend you really get to know them,” says Jacobs.
He recalls having deep conversations with Katz for years before he sold the company to him, trading questions and war stories. The two were so close before their merger that Jacobs and Katz's lawyers said it was the fastest M&A they had ever worked on.
Jacobs says, “It's always been my overall mission to screw with cool people in a way that can affect people.”
Be one step ahead
The recovery market is hot, with products like cold soaks and massage guns becoming more popular than ever. But that wasn't always the case, says Jacobs. He notes that 20 years ago, people didn't think much about healing. “It wasn't really a thing. Maybe jump in an ice bath, or take a day off.”
That never made sense to him. “I started thinking, what could we do to improve the other 20 hours of the day when you're not racing or training?
Now, Normatec equipment is commonplace in the training rooms of major professional and collegiate sports programs.
With its new Elite product, Jacobs wants to take this forward-thinking approach to the next frontier of the recovery revolution.
“Being able to be at Best Buy and Target where individuals are getting it for their aunt who is a nurse and on her feet eight to 10 hours a day and is coming home and wants to put her feet under her in the right way. For me, that's the most beautiful thing,” he says.