Fares Ksebati of World Swim Day: “Drowning is one of the leading causes of death in the world and it’s 100% preventable; That needs to change”
I had the pleasure of interviewing Fares Ksebati.
Fares Ksebati is the CEO of MySwimPro, a technology company that creates apps that help people improve their performance and health. MySwimPro has received international accolades including App of the year by Apple and featured in Sports Illustrated. The company has global partners and an international investor base that spans 36 countries.
Fares is the founder of World Swim Day, a global initiative that empowers people to be more active through swimming. He competed on Wayne State University’s varsity swim team and continues to compete. He is a 3x U.S. Masters swimming national champion, USA Triathlon Certified Coach and American Swim Coaches Association Fellow.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I learned how to swim at age 5, and competed all the way through college. MySwimPro was born from personal experience as a masters swim coach. It was clear to me that there was a gap in the swimming industry for people who can not afford to hire a personal swim coach. The vision for MySwimPro is to be the digital coach for swimmers and build a community to share, compare, and compete with each other around the world.
Can you share your story of Grit and Success? First can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?
When you start a company, there’s a lot you don’t know. The further along in your path, the more you realize how much you underestimated the work it will take to bring your vision to reality. Beyond the hard work, is self-doubt. You often wonder if you’re making the right choices and making progress in the right direction. Despite what the Instagram feed looks like, it’s not glamorous. You don’t make any money. There isn’t really a plan B. You just need to figure it out.
When I attended my first CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, I really started to understand what grit is all about. I needed to be at the conference for a few meetings, but did not have the funds to cover a trip from Michigan to Nevada. I was side-hustling as a swim coach, so I had enough money to buy a plane ticket, but could not afford any of the hotels on the strip or even an airbnb that wasn’t already booked. I was able to find a ‘couch’ on Airbnb. Yes, just a couch someone was renting out in an apartment that was walking distance to the convention centers I had meetings at.
I spent 4 days on that couch. I couldn’t even fully lie down on it and walked about 1 mile for meetings everyday. I didn’t really care about traveling in luxury because that’s not why I was there. I knew the people I was meeting with were staying in luxurious hotels on the strip and taking Ubers when they pleased. I had a couch and my two feet. I made it work. That’s what Grit is all about, making it work under what seem to be sub-optimal circumstances.
I’m not staying on couches anymore, but I try to maintain the same level of frugality in business decisions and empower our team to be scrappy. Reflecting back, I don’t regret any decisions I made. Just keep moving forward!
Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
You have to love what you do. It’s always hard, and only gets harder. When you care enough and believe strongly in your mission, it’s less difficult to keep going. When you see the impact of the work you have on people around the world, it empowers you to keep going and think bigger. Perseverance is an important trait in entrepreneurship and in life.
So, how are things going today? How did Grit lead to your eventual success?
Our company is growing. What was once an idea, is now a business. We have team members in 4 countries spread across 8 time zones. We’re building a distributed team. All of us our passionate about the impact we are having and humbled by the opportunity to help people around the world improve their performance and health.
Grit is one of the underlying variables to our success. We must continue to persevere and make progress. We’re not letting off the gas at all. There is much more work to be done!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
We thought it would be a good idea to make a few major updates to our main app, MySwimPro right before the busiest time of the year for us. In theory, it sounds like a great idea because you want to share your latest and greatest to a new audience. In practice, everything takes longer than you anticipate so we launched a rushed version that broke. Lesson learned, be patience.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
We’re building a globally distributed team. We believe in hiring the best team members in the world who are passionate about our vision, products, and the community we serve. We want our team members to live where they can do their best work, which is not in one spot. Our team is spread across four countries and eight time zones. As we grow, our distribution will as well. So will our impact. It’s an exciting time to scale a technology company with an international team for a global market.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Patience. Your vision will take time. That’s why it’s a vision and not a calendar event. Understanding that it will take longer than you think is important. It’s most important to enjoy the journey. That’s the process. The ups, and the downs. Embrace it all.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Your family, friends, and the startup ecosystem will help you grow. My family is very supportive. The network of friends I’ve developed along the way has been amazing. We’ve been fortunate to participate in a few different startup development programs in the ecosystem and that’s been a positive boost to our company. I empower anyone starting a business to find these individuals who will be there for you when things are going well and not so well.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
MySwimPro has reached a global audience, and while we still have a long way to go in reaching our vision of empowering aquatic prowess along the way, we’ve made a positive impact. In 2018, we started World Swim Day — an international holiday to empower people around the world to be more active through swimming. In our inaugural year, we saw participation in over 100 countries. This is just the start.
Personally, it’s been a great experience to contribute to the startup ecosystem and give back to the programs that have helped our company grow. Mentoring startups and entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of building a company is a rewarding experience.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- Everything takes longer than you think.
- The market and your customers will determine success, not investors or ‘startup people’.
- Your successes and failures will come in ways you did not anticipate.
- People are the most valuable part of any company.
- Enjoy the journey. It’s a fun (and difficult) ride.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start 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. :-)
Drowning is one of the leading causes of death in the world. It’s 100% preventable. We must do more to reduce this terrible tragedy that plagues families around the world. Over 4 billion people around the world can not swim. That needs to change.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
I’m very active on all the major social networks and share a behind the scenes view of what it’s like to build a startup. Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
