Making Something From Nothing: Jim Kaveney of Unlimited Heart Health & Wellness On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Doug Noll

Your health is your greatest asset. My journey with Atrial Fibrillation shows how important it is to prioritize health even when building a business. The balance between personal well-being and professional success is crucial.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jim Kaveney.

Jim Kaveney is all heart. In 2012 Jim founded Alkemy Partners (a Life Sciences Learning and Performance company that was ranked by Inc5000 in 2019 and 2020 before achieving acquisition in 2020 by EVERSANA™) and he is currently the founder of Unlimited Heart Health & Wellness — a collaborative organization of health care professionals accelerating cardiac innovation. After years of balancing entrepreneurial ambitions with his own growing cardiac issues, Jim Kaveney, M.S. has turned his pain into a purpose to become an expert in navigating the burgeoning worlds of digital therapeutics, global startup initiatives, and the mindset training required to tackle the pillars of a holistic work-health-faith-family-life balance. Growing up as the youngest of nine in Erie, Pennsylvania, he sought understanding and solace in forces greater than himself, a quest that has influenced his personal and professional journey.

Through his story, he hopes to empower others to find strength and resilience in the face of health challenges, while continuing to innovate and advocate for better patient care solutions.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I am the youngest of nine children from a working family whose parents did everything they could to give us kids everything we needed, even if it wasn’t everything we wanted. A big, Irish Catholic household in Erie, PA, everyone recognized us when they saw us coming. As the youngest, I was given the privilege of watching my older siblings go out into the world and make something of themselves. I was also given the self-inflicted burden of wanting to live up to everything that had been given to me. Everyone in the family was an incredibly hard worker, and even in childhood we all played a role. Whether helping mom clip coupons, altar serving at mass to offset tuition, or delivering newspapers, we all chipped in to keep the family machine running.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I graduated from college as a competitive rower with a biology degree. That was great, but I could have easily graduated with a degree in confusion. My classmates seemed to be locked in and directed. I was directionless, my mind all over the place. During our crew team’s senior dinner, my rowing coach toasted me and stated that the “world was my oyster!” I did not know it at the time, but this opened my mind to the endless possibilities the world had to offer. Inside one of those oysters, I would find the pearl of my purpose.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

For me, there’s no competition. Napolean Hill’s Think and Grow Rich changed my life. After quitting our jobs to launch our own business, my business partner decided that the path of entrepreneurship was no longer one that he wanted. We had barely gotten off the ground and he was out. This was a devastating blow, and I was honestly floundering a little to figure out how to do it on my own and succeed. I wanted this thing to be great. I needed it to be great. One night a buddy of mine recommended I read Think and Grow Rich for some inspiration. And inspire it did! Napolean Hill managed to put into words all of my feelings and fears and spelled out the same approach and mindset I had already taken, but to see it so clearly on the page in front of me was a game-changer. I was scrambling to put my thoughts in order and Napolean Hill did this for me. I tell everyone who will listen to me that this is THE quintessential for any entrepreneur and businessperson.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

I’ve had a million and one ideas. I’d like to think they’re all “brilliant,” but that doesn’t mean they’re all right for me. I could go on and on about manifesting your future. Turning nothing into something. I mean, heck, I named my first company Alkemy Partners for this exact reason, but there’s really two main approaches to turning an idea into a business. The first is to go all in and quit your job to be able to devote 100% of your time, energy, and focus on turning this idea into an actual business. The other is to moonlight, devoting evenings, weekends, and any spare time you have to build out the idea while also still working to bring in steady income. There’s no right or wrong answer to which is the better option, and depending on someone’s individual circumstances, it will wildly vary. Once this first decision has been made, a few more questions will arise. Questions like: Why is this the idea I want to pursue? What is my main reason for wanting to turn this idea into an actual business — money, passion, schedule? There’s nothing wrong with the answer being money; in fact, you’ll need to still think of money regardless. Some ideas are brilliant, but figuring out how much money it will take to build the business and how you can monetize whatever the idea is. Are you selling a product? A service? Will you be paying other people or just paying yourself? Have you looked at what similar businesses are charging and how can you remain competitive? It is also important to ask yourself if you are ready to talk about your idea and potential venture with others. Let the idea out from under the lampshade. By opening up and sharing your concept with others, you’re speaking it into existence. I know it might sound a little wishy-washy, but it’s true. When you share your ideas, you never know who might be ready to help through investment or recommendations or their talents.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

I think a thorough Google and AI search is always a great first step. And like any good research, make sure to mix up your keywords to get as thorough results as possible. Now this can be scary, as there is a very real possibility that your idea has in fact already been done before. That’s OK though. Rather than wondering if it’s already been done before, I think it’s better to ask what you can bring that is different. Even though your idea might not be 100% original, your individual life experience is. It is this life experience that can alter an approach to an idea and THAT is what makes it unique.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about things like how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

The first step is to practice patience. Not patience in the sense that you will sit around waiting for someone or something to come to you. Success comes to those who move. Step 1: Get moving. Start exploring your idea, no matter how messy it is. Simultaneously, make sure to take the time to thoughtfully consider its potential. Step 2: Become very curious. Ask questions around design of the product, the problems it is solving, and begin to validate how the product will meet the customer’s needs. Step 3: Start small. Share the product or service with a focus group of customers to garner feedback and adjust. Step 4: Ready the product/service for the market with a campaign that your business can financially support. As traction is made, expand your marketing efforts. Step 5: Expand ways to further distribute your product or service. At Alkemy Partners,, we provided world class learning and development services. We built trusted relationships with ancillary partners who would help us sell our service to provide additional offerings for their organizations. For a small fee, you can spread the word even further and watch your company grow.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Expect the unexpected, especially from people. I never anticipated my business partner to leave me nine months into the launch of our business. Learning early on to adapt to unexpected situations and other people’s decision making is key.

2. Building resilience is just as important as strategy. There will be times that you will need to be as steadfast as the mighty oak and other times when you will need to be as flexible as the reed in the water. My experience overcoming the challenges with my health shows the importance of resilience,of being the oak and reed when needed.

3. Play the long game and pivot. Success doesn’t come in a straight line. Pivoting my business and staying flexible helped in weathering the economic storms like the Great Recession and other obstacles.

4. Your team can make and break you. Surround yourself with the right people. Advisors, employees, and mentors are crucial. Be very selective on who you hire. We built an amazing culture and brand because of the people we hired.

5. Your health is your greatest asset. My journey with Atrial Fibrillation shows how important it is to prioritize health even when building a business. The balance between personal well-being and professional success is crucial.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

I am blessed to have an intellectual property (IP) attorney as a good friend, so having him by my side is definitely a bonus. This was not always the case. When I first started out, I went out on my own because I did not have the money to bring on an IP attorney or development consultant. However, I did have general legal advice to ensure appropriate protections were in place. Once our IP became more complicated and our needs surpassed our general counsel’s level of expertise, I moved to my now good friend, the IP attorney. Depending on the size of the market and dollar potential, these moves may need to be made sooner rather than later. This will be individualized by need.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

I am going to talk out of both sides of my mouth here. When I started my first company, Alkemy Partners — a life science learning and performance company — I bootstrapped the whole operation. Being a training service company, I knew that we would come out of the gate slowly and the need for an excessive amount of cash was not necessary. I had complete control and ownership. This also meant I carried 100% of the risk. The most important thing to do is to establish your “no-go zone” when it comes to financial risk and the stability of family funds. This forced me to have financial discipline and provided me with the ability to grow at my own pace without outside pressure to show a return on investment. I had complete belief that I was going to build Alkemy into an operation that would catch the eye for mergers and acquisitions. This vision came true when private equity bought Alkemy eight years into its existence. So, by bootstrapping the whole thing, I also had no equity dilution and was able to share our success with the team that helped me build it.

On the other hand, I am in the process of building my second company, Unlimited Heart Health & Wellness. While this will be a service-based organization, it will require significant investment to build out the digital platform, content, and services. Therefore, active discussions are underway with venture capital to fund this initiative.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

To borrow a quote from Snoop Dog, “The more paper you stack, the more good you can do.” My success is a gift, a reward for all of my hard work. So, I always ensure that my community can benefit from my success. Whether that is through my church, the community rowing club that I founded, or the two main charities that we are heavily involved in, I always ensure the true difference-makers can continue to do so through my financial contributions. Outside of the financial aspects, I also spend a lot of time volunteering, coaching, and leading community programs.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I wrote my first book, Unlimited Heart: How to Transform Your Pain Into Purpose to answer this very important question. I am hoping that this book — and the actions accompanying this book — will truly lead to a major movement where people that are dealing with pain can potentially transform this into a catalyst for change in their community. Since I am an Atrial Fibrillation patient, and it is the number one cardiac arrhythmia, I am going to start there first. With over six million patients in the US in 2024 and soon to be twelve million by 2030, I am hoping to impact their personal cardiac journeys into positive lifestyle changes and community involvement.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

My purpose is to make a significant difference with patients dealing with AFib. Lifestyle modifications could create a significant amount of change in the trajectory of this disease and other diseases. I would want to go straight to the heavy hitters, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Cuban. All three of them are working to disrupt the healthcare field in big ways and with a lot of investment. I would want to show them what I could do with a small investment, relatively speaking.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Thank you so much for doing this with us!