Dr. Moby Kazmi is the President and Co-founder of COPILOT Provider Support Services.
Over the past 20 years, I’ve learned a great deal—sometimes the very hard way. Now I’m in the position of having advice to impart, just like my father did for me years ago.
These are some important lessons that have shaped my journey; I’m hoping they help entrepreneurs like you too.
Find The Right Niche To Scale
When I developed my tech platform for the pharma industry, I targeted orthopedics—a space with high potential but significant challenges in reimbursement, one that competitors often avoided. By mastering this niche first, we positioned our platform to scale more effectively into other therapeutic areas, creating a foundation for our long-term success.
Try to see the potential surrounding your idea. Focus on areas with less competition, clear demand and problems that your solution addresses in ways others cannot easily replicate. Beyond that, ensure your idea is part of a larger total addressable market (TAM), where capturing even a small percentage can lead to outsized growth.
Diversify Your Revenue Streams
When I first tried to sell my business, one of my biggest challenges was that a single client made up the majority of my revenue. The first lesson I learned was the importance of building a diversified client base to reduce risk and appeal to investors.
Investors, especially PE firms, look for businesses with diversified revenue streams because it reduces risk and highlights scalability. A varied client base shows resilience and makes your business more appealing to buyers.
Improve Scalability Across Markets
My second major lesson came from recognizing that even within my revenue stream, I needed to expand beyond orthopedics. Diversification isn’t just about having multiple clients—it’s about showing that your product or service can succeed across different markets or segments.
I expanded my hub services company from orthopedics into other therapeutic areas, demonstrating that my platform was adaptable and scalable across various verticals. This ability to scale is essential to increasing valuation and attracting investors in any industry.
Investors Invest In People And Results
Investors don’t just invest in ideas—they invest in people, and their trust is earned through building relationships and seeing positive results. To get those kinds of results in a complex field like orthopedics, you need real talent. When we started out, we couldn’t pay high salaries, but still managed to bring on top-tier talent because we hired with a vision.
If you are bootstrapping your business, find folks who believe in what you are doing and ask them to work for less pay but greater equity. If someone has belief in the larger goal, they’ll work for a lower salary initially, trusting that the ultimate rewards will be greater.
The CEO’s Role: Hire Right And Lead With Vision
As a CEO, your primary role is to hire the right people and provide a clear vision and strategy for the team. Getting the right hires isn’t all about experience and qualifications—you also need to consider the person’s mindset, work ethic and cultural fit.
Focus on building a team that not only excels in their individual roles but also collaborates effortlessly across all departments and functions. These are people you’ll spend countless hours with, so hire individuals you genuinely respect and enjoy working alongside. And remember: hire slow, fire fast. If someone doesn’t fit the culture or disrupts the team’s alignment, let them go.
Establish Clear Processes, Avoid Bottlenecks
One of my mentors, Vern Davenport, wrote a book called Accelerating Growth as a guide for those looking to build sustainable businesses. One of its key lessons is about the importance of being process (rather than people) dependent.
Many companies fail to scale because they find themselves dependent on a few key peoplewhose skills are indispensable. If you’re trying to scale up, those people can’t be everywhere at once, and if they leave it can be a disaster.
Establishing clear processes and drafting well-documented SOPs creates a template for expansion that anyone can follow and it means crucial institutional knowledge never walks out the door. It’s a principle I’ve embraced at my company, ensuring we’re structured for long-term success, no matter who’s on the team.
The Secret To Sales: Listen First
Customers buy from companies they can trust. The key to building that trust is listening. In sales, it’s not about talking up your product—it’s about understanding your customers’ pain points, challenges and priorities. Once you’ve done that, focus on solving problems better, faster and more affordably than the competition.
Negotiate With Confidence, Not Attachment
The key to effective negotiation is staying calm, detached and strategic. You can’t get so wrapped up in one outcome that you lose sight of your larger goals. Chris Voss’s advice from Never Split The Difference is invaluable: Focus on connecting with the other party through techniques like mirroring, labeling and tactile empathy.
Great negotiators build trust, maintain boundaries and stay in control by letting the other person feel heard. If the deal is right, it will happen. If not, don’t be afraid to walk away.
Time spent in negotiation is never wasted effort. Even if the deal falls through, it will help you in the long run. Stay calm, listen more and don’t fear silence. Sometimes, the first person to speak loses.
Time Management And Habit Stacking
Time is your most important resource. To maximize mine, I employ a practice called habit stacking. Habit stacking is a simple yet powerful way to build new habits by linking them to existing ones. For example, you can listen to an audiobook during your workout, focusing on topics that help you grow, such as negotiation, sales or communication.
Mastering these skills is essential for success in any field. By aligning productive activities with your daily routine, you can make better use of your time and stay focused, ensuring you never fumble to find your next move.
Gratitude And Charity
To set the tone for my day, one of my habits is to spend five to 10 minutes every morning reflecting on all the things I’m grateful for: God, my family, good health, positive opportunities and even the challenges that have made me into who I am today. I shift my attitude from one of obligation to one of humble privilege: I don’t have to do this; I get to do this—even when I’m headed to the gym at 5:30 a.m.
Also, so much of my work is shaped by a deep commitment to charitable action. My company has a philanthropic arm, and it has been instrumental in my ability to focus on what’s really important in the world. It also provides a great morale boost for team members who love the chance to give back to those in need.
When people ask me about my accomplishments, I don’t just reflect on building and selling multiple businesses—I talk about the team that made it all possible. The true legacy of a CEO and founder lies in creating the conditions for their team to thrive and achieve their own success. Your team needs to share the success of your company so they have the opportunity to live out their dreams and passions.
As I mentioned in my first article, two people who inspired me early on—Edward Hensley and Dom Meffe—are now my neighbors. It’s a surreal, full-circle moment to pass their houses and give them a wave as I head to work. It’s a constant reminder of how far I’ve come, pushing me to keep paying it forward, creating opportunities and striving to do even better for my team and our customers. I hope that when you take in my advice you see how it can apply to your journey. What steps will you take today to grow your business and help build your legacy?
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