I Built Too Much in a Silo (And How I Learned to Listen to Customers) — Ethan Schwartzbach

Ethan Schwartzbach, CEO of Flychain, joins David Knack to unpack the financial and operational challenges that can make or break a growing home care business. From messy financials and generic accounting systems to benchmarking and proactive decision-making, Ethan explains why having accurate, home-care-specific data can fundamentally change how owners run their businesses.

Ethan also shares one of Flychain's biggest early mistakes: building too much in a silo instead of staying close to customers and prospects. He explains how that experience changed the company's approach to product development and reinforced the importance of listening to the people actually using the technology.

The conversation also tackles one of the most talked-about topics in healthcare technology: AI. Ethan argues that AI can be transformational, but warns against treating it like a magic solution. He and David discuss the risks of automating bad processes, the importance of AI governance and guardrails, and why home care organizations need to think carefully about how technology affects caregivers and other stakeholders.

As the conversation moves into growth, Ethan explains why growing too quickly can create financial problems weeks or months down the road, why cash-flow forecasting matters, and why successful agencies consistently invest time in their clinical and operational teams. He also breaks down how the right KPIs can turn financial data from a source of confusion into actionable information.

In this episode, you'll discover:

1. How generic accounting systems can make it difficult to understand profitability, corporate structures, expenses, and performance at the level home care operators actually need.

2. Why Ethan believes Flychain moved too quickly without enough customer feedback early on, and how staying close to users reshaped the company's product development.

3. How accurate, granular financial data can help owners move beyond using their books as a tax placeholder and start using them to make business decisions.

4. Low staffing costs, utilization, cancellations, caseload, and other underlying variables can affect gross profit, and why simply looking at one top-line number isn't enough.

5. Why automation can actually create more work or damage relationships when the underlying process isn't working in the first place.

6. How regularly creating forums for clinical and operational employees can improve engagement, retention, and their connection to the org