We recently connected with Alenka Kyslik and have shared our conversation below.

Alenka, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I never planned on becoming an entrepreneur. I had always enjoyed solving problems and being creative, but it wasn’t until my entire life turned upside down that I found a problem I couldn’t leave unsolved.
I spent almost two years trying to find answers for my health, and after spending exorbitant amounts of time and money, I was finally able to put the pieces together and begin to heal.

During this time, I went through a breakup. I thought this was going to be the person I would spend the rest of my life with. As you can imagine, I was a mess. A friend recommended journaling, and so I did, every day. A few weeks in, it came to me: I had been putting my life on hold, waiting for the illusion of stability. If you’re a millennial like me, that ship sailed a few “unprecedented events” ago.

I realized that with my background in software and the corporate world, I could build something for people like me. So that’s what I started doing. The first few months were mostly research and brainstorming, but mostly fighting imposter syndrome. I had never done anything like this, and the idea of how big this could be was terrifying.

If you’ve never started a business before, there are so many things to research. That’s what took up most of my time in the first year. What kind of business entity do I need to establish? What is the business model and the market size? What does the competition look like? What kind of networking do I have access to? Do I need a trademark? How do I run social media? What type of social media platform makes the most sense for my target audience? The list goes on.

I started with planning where I wanted to be and working backwards. What would it take to get a proof of concept off the ground? What can I do myself, and what do I need to pay someone to do? That research took some time and some trial and error. Once I was able to narrow things down, I started researching who could help, what the pricing would look like, and then made a decision.

During this process, I started to understand that I needed to focus on my key differentiating factor and bring that to life. I documented what that would look like using a virtual mind-mapping tool and then used that when speaking with potential vendors. It became the blueprint. This happened alongside all of the other research I was doing.

I met so many incredible people, made some hard decisions, and locked down a developer to help bring the prototype to life. I then spent four months working closely with them to make that happen. The last three weeks were intensive testing, long days, and finally, we went live—just under a year after the LLC was established.

Alenka, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

After years of being an over achiever and people pleaser and putting work first I burnout really horribly and had to quit my job (I had never been without a job since I was 16).

A year later I stepped off a curb and tore apart my ankle. After doing everything I was told to I still wasn’t getting better and after 7 months I decided to do my own research.

After trying a lot of different things I started to see improvement. I had two major realizations.

1. If you don’t know someone who knows someone who can help you’re often out of luck.
2. There are so many incredible healers out there that want to help people but they didn’t sign up for everything else (having to be an expert on social media, needing to learn how to create content, figure out how to build a website etc)

So I realized with my background in software and business I had the skills to do something about it.

I’m building a health provider matchmaking system that connects people to experts based on shared values and current needs. We’ve launched the free prototype and are currently preparing for the full launch that will be a business in a box solution for providers.

To start with we will be focusing on burnout, chronic stress, chronic fatigue and chronic pain helping people find answers where they haven’t in conventional medicine. The platform will be available to employers to provide as a benefit for their employees.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I spent my entire life in corporate, pushing myself to my limits and never feeling like I had done enough. In 2021, I burned out. Now, this label is not something I used at the time. In the moment, what I knew was that I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning. I felt exhausted all the time, I could barely write two emails a day, and I was grinding my teeth so hard I had shooting pain in my jaw.

After spending years recovering, I learned that if I wanted to live a full life, I had to start prioritizing more than just my work—that my worth was not dependent on my ability to be productive. I had to learn to start listening to my body, to pay attention to the small signs, and to do what I needed to do to reset instead of running on adrenaline 24/7.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Some people are born lucky; others use grit and opportunity to create it. I’ve always been more of the latter. I’ve worked since I was 15. In university, I would work four jobs on the weekend—8 a.m. to 2 a.m. for three days in a row—and still manage a full course load.

I knew that starting a company would be difficult, and it hasn’t disappointed. In order to launch the prototype, I’ve continued to work my full-time corporate day job while also working on the startup. This looks like starting meetings at 7 a.m. most days before my 9-5, and then, as soon as 5 p.m. rolled around, spending most evenings until 10 p.m. working on the startup, plus full days on the weekends.

Now, this all sounds standard as far as startups go, and in many ways, it is. To fund the prototype out of my own personal finances, I’ve cut back on all spending. What does this look like? No eating out, no new clothes, no vacations, no trips—using points to fly to visit family, and finding creative ways to spend time with friends.

Outside of money, time is our most valuable resource, and I’ve changed everything about the way I spend it. I can say that I’ve never done something that I felt so fulfilled doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sahacollective.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saha.collective
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556083835193&mibextid=ZbWKwL
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sahadotcollective/