Victor L. Brown, Founder & CEO of Xcellent Life, is a seasoned leader with extensive experience in both large global companies and start-ups that deploy enterprise-class software and sensor-based applications. Victor has driven business success as a leader and as a hands-on practitioner of best-practice approaches across engineering, marketing, business development, and sales.
Highlights include building an international product marketing team from the ground up and driving revenue from $10M to $42M in three years. Additionally, he led the successful consolidation of two enterprise software applications post-acquisition, resulting in the introduction of cutting-edge enterprise software that generated over $20 million ARR across a global customer base. Victor has led the introduction of over 20 different products into global markets, which have grossed over $1B in revenue.
He enjoys football, basketball, and spending time in the gym. Passionate about making a positive difference in the world, Victor cherishes time with his family, where the love for his son and daughter drives his passion for leaving the world a better place.
If your business could have a mascot, what would it be and why?
My mascot would be an Eagle. I would choose an Eagle because they have great vision, are powerful birds, and do not fly in flocks. I tend to be more of a visionary than detail-driven. I am relentless in my efforts and very comfortable following a path that may not be the path of the crowd.
What strategies do you employ to maintain a healthy work-life balance while running your own business?
I have found many moments in my journey where there has not been a good work-life balance due to the enormous workload required to move a vision from concept to business and then move a business from surviving to thriving, which is still ongoing. However, I have tried to manage the work-life balance goal better with a few strategies and tactics I now include.
I always try to spend at least 15 minutes being active each day. I always try to spend 15 minutes each day meditating. I now block out family time on my calendar. Each year, I try to have at least two periods where I break away from work and completely unplug. I usually find a couple of days during the summer time and then a couple of days toward the end of the year. While these measures may not sound like a lot, they are a step forward for me in my efforts to achieve a better work-life balance. Ultimately, like most entrepreneurs, we do what we must, but it is also critical that we seek balance, which is an area where I am still evolving and improving.
When faced with unexpected detours on your business path, how do you pivot with grace and resilience, showing fellow women entrepreneurs the way forward?
I like this question a lot because it asks about two things that I find critically important—grace and resilience. First, you must always give yourself enough latitude to make mistakes and move past those mistakes with the lesson learned from that experience. You must give yourself grace and take away nothing but the lesson in those moments. Second, resilience is required because there are so many moments in the journey that without resilience, a person would just give up.
In the context of this question, I have not had to deal with major detours or pivots from the initial vision of the business, but the barriers that I have had to overcome, along with the mistakes I have made along the way, have required the highest levels of resilience and grace. At this stage, I can appreciate the wisdom gained from both mistakes and success, but it has indeed been the ability to give myself grace in the moments of realizing a mistake that has allowed me to move forward with the lesson rather than the weight of the pain of the mistake.
If it were not for resilience, I would have stopped in year one and likely month one. I have enough stories of pain and sacrifice to fill two books, but in my reality, those pains and sacrifices do not add up to the satisfaction of pursuing purpose and experiencing the joy of knowing that my efforts are centered around a meaningful purpose to me. Ultimately, I know that in some way, my journey serves to make the world a better place, and that fuels the resilience necessary to move forward, even on the toughest days. Given this experience, I always recommend doing something you are passionate about that aligns with your purpose, and the universe will provide what you need in return.
How do you measure the success of your business beyond financial metrics, such as customer satisfaction or community engagement?
I measure the success of my business by the number of people that have been impacted in a positive way. I believe that because we bring additional health insights to individuals, they naturally become more empowered. Given this belief, I want to see the number of our users grow and those users staying with us over time, which would be an indication of their perceived value in what we are providing.
Our vision is that one day, billions of people’s lives will be empowered with greater health due to our software innovations that serve to improve their health and overall quality of life.
Can you share a memorable moment where you witnessed significant growth or transformation in your business, illustrating the impact of your services/products?
There have been a lot of memorable moments, but two come to mind that made me feel equally as proud. The first was when we started compiling the results of our pilot programs and could see that there were measurable improvements across the population that used our software. This was very memorable because it validated, in that moment, that our approach worked well and that we were progressing toward our mission to improve the quality of life for all by advancing wellness.
The second instance was when Xcellent Life was accepted into a program based in Asia. That highlighted the global opportunity, considering that out of the approximately 90 companies in their portfolio, only three of those companies are based in the USA, including Xcellent Life. Given that I founded the company with a global vision in mind, it was a very good feeling to see that the technology and innovation in our software was being recognized in a foreign market. It also served as a point of validation that we are truly addressing a global problem in a way that is being recognized across the globe.
What role do you believe mentorship plays in the success of small businesses, and how have mentors influenced your own entrepreneurial journey?
I believe that mentorship is critical to success for businesses, as it provides an opportunity to get guidance from those who have already traveled a similar path and thus have the benefit of hindsight. That informed perspective can help you avoid mistakes, reduce your time to getting great outcomes, and save you a lot of stress along the way.
I have been fortunate in my efforts to improve that I have been surrounded by and sought out highly experienced and very smart people, who have been generous enough to share their insights with me. Their insights and guidance have helped me tremendously over the years to travel my journey in a way that has allowed me to stay the course and have a few wins along the way. I am incredibly grateful to the many men and women who have contributed to my body of knowledge by mentoring me and some who continue to mentor me today.
What’s your work all about, and how does it make a difference in the world?
I founded Xcellent Life because I understand the pain of having a loved one deal with a preventable illness and watch that person have a reduced quality of life. When my dad was diagnosed with type II diabetes, I became very familiar with the problems in the existing healthcare system and the pain those problems cause. Now that my dad deals with Alzheimer’s, it is a constant and painful reminder that millions of people around the globe deal with conditions that cause tremendous pain and suffering.
This suffering is not just experienced by the individual with the condition, but also by the ones who love them. Because I understand this feeling, I know that if we can help one person avoid that pain and that person go on to fulfill their destiny and do something amazing in this world, we have done our part in making the world a better place. We have a vision to improve the lives of billions. Therefore, I am confident that in the process of pursuing that goal, we will be removing a lot of suffering and replacing it with incredible outcomes and advancements that would otherwise not be part of what society realizes.
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