The hardest part of building a business like kaizenleap is not the strategy decks or the market analysis. It is deciding who to partner with. Every startup has a pitch that sounds promising. Few have the discipline, adaptability, and humility to make it in post-acute care. My job is to figure out which is which, because our growth depends on picking the right partner.

Founders come to us with energy and vision. They have raised a seed round, built an app, or landed a hospital pilot. They are convinced their technology is the missing link for skilled nursing. What they miss is that nursing homes are not smaller hospitals. They are entirely different operating environments with their own staffing shortages, regulatory pressure, and reimbursement quirks.

The frustration comes when I see a brilliant idea wrapped in arrogance, with no willingness to adapt. We can’t waste time on that. If a founder does not respect the reality of post-acute care, they are not ready for this market.

The good days are when a founder admits they are stuck. They cannot figure out why adoption lags or why operators keep stalling on pilots. That honesty opens the door. I can show them the disconnect between their product design and the daily grind inside a skilled nursing facility.

It usually surprises them how small details matter: how many clicks it takes a nurse to log a reading, how a shift handoff works, or how surveyors interpret documentation. Once they see that, they begin to understand why a hospital solution cannot just be dropped into a nursing home. That is when discovery happens for both of us.

Working with the right founder is not about adding polish to their deck. It is about reshaping their product so it earns a place in the workflow. That might mean stripping away features, tightening compliance guardrails, or building an ROI case that aligns with how administrators think.

The process is slow, and that is the point. If a startup is serious about this market, they have to be willing to rework their model, not just their messaging. The ones who accept that reality are the ones who get traction.

For me, the grind is in the filtering. Every conversation with a founder costs time, and every misstep erodes credibility with operators. kaizenleap only grows if we attach ourselves to solutions that work. That means I spend most of my days separating noise from signal.

It is not glamorous. It is long calls, pilot planning, and constant recalibration. Some weeks it feels like saying “no” more than “yes.” But protecting the integrity of our pipeline is what makes this business possible.

Founders often underestimate the complexity and scale of post-acute care. This is not a side market. Skilled nursing operators manage some of the most fragile patients in healthcare, under financial pressure that leaves little room for error. If a solution can succeed here, it does not just create margin relief. It sustains the future of care delivery for millions of residents.

That is why our bar for alignment is high. The right startup can grow fast with the right adjustments. The wrong one burns trust and time.

Partnership

kaizenleap exists to be that partner in the middle. We filter, refine, and accelerate, but only with founders who are serious about building for this environment. Our business depends on their success, and their success depends on whether they are willing to face the hard realities of post-acute care.

At the end of the day, my work is not about chasing every new technology that knocks on the door. It is about choosing the few that can endure the grind of skilled nursing and proving their worth in the trenches. That alignment is not optional. It is survival, for them and for us.

Robert E. Dugas is Co-Founder of Kaizenleap Solutions, bringing 25+ years of experience in the post-acute domain. Learn more at https://kaizenleap.com/about-us/