Peter Vranes is the co-founder and co-CEO of Nutromics, a MedTech company revolutionising healthcare through Continuous Molecular Monitoring (CMM).
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I’m the co-founder and co-CEO of Australian MedTech startup Nutromics. I am a chemical engineer and a serial entrepreneur. I’ve been an entrepreneur for the last 17 years. Before Nutromics, I founded a skincare company that was eventually acquired.
2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
Working in a startup is always interesting because no two days are the same. I usually spend my mornings with my family and then come into the office. I often start and end my day with investor/partner meetings as a lot of them are in the US.
Over the day, I will work with the Heads of our Engineering, Product, Legal, and HR teams to go over day-to-day developments as well as formulate a long term strategy. My co-CEO Hitesh and I used to oversee everything, but as our company has grown from the 2 of us to over 25 people, we’ve started to delegate responsibility so that we can focus on big picture stuff.
Living in Melbourne, we’re a coffee city, so our team at Nutromics always takes a lot of coffee breaks. These are great as they give me a chance to catch up with people individually, while giving me a break within meetings.
I always try to end my day on time because when I go home I prefer to be 100% present for my family. Work-life balance is rare in leadership roles but at Nutromics we make it a priority.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Absolutely! If the pandemic has done anything, it has shown us that people want flexibility at work. At Nutromics we offer a hybrid way of working- so our team comes in 3 days a week.
These 3 days are when we schedule our meetings and focus on collaboration. 2 days a week the team works from home and these are meeting-free days to allow for more focused work. Additionally, we believe that work is a part of your life and not your whole life.
This means that we don’t micromanage our team. People start and end days based on their productivity. If they need to pick up kids from daycare, or go to the doctor, we’re not going to stop them. We trust our team to be able to meet goals while living their best life.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
To me, work-life balance means being a 100% present in what I’m doing. If I’m at work, I prefer to do focused work. I stick to fixed timings in the day and through the day everyone at work has my attention.
Once I’m outside work, I give my wife and my kids 100% of my attention. We always have dinner together in my family. When I’m at home, I want to be able to engage with my family rather than think about how a meeting went earlier in the day.
Of course, I’m not perfect. There are days when work takes over. In those cases I make sure to take some time off and spend additional time with my family so that I can still give them my all.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
Well one thing I’ve started doing is consciously taking breaks. As a CEO sometimes your day can be just go-go-go. You have back to back meetings starting at 7 am and before you know it the day has ended.
I’ve started scheduling breaks into my day now. This ensures that I can eat, go to the bathroom, or just take a moment to gather my thoughts between meetings. It is a simple thing to do, but really is quite transformational.
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
I’m a huge Scott Galloway fan so I’d definitely recommend his newsletter and videos.
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
One gadget that I love is my Oura ring. It’s such a simple device but being able to track vitals like sleep has helped me live a healthier life.
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
I’d love to read one by Scott Galloway!
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Life is short so spend it working on visions you feel passionately about and with people you love!
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