Episode 158: Now Hear This: Christian Gormsen on Breaking Convention in the Hearing Industry at Eargo

Like many entrepreneurs, Christian Gormsen admits he didn’t start his career with a passion for his current field. Instead, he backed into the hearing industry from his work in investment banking and consulting, and eventually wound up working at the world's 4th largest hearing aid company. Christian realized just how stigmatized hearing aids are and became determined to address this. In 2012, he was first connected to Eargo while doing advisory work. Unlike other traditional hearing aids, Eargo’s products are basically invisible, comfortable, rechargeable, removable, and sold directly to consumers rather than via physicians. After being a board member for about 3 years, Christian was asked to lead Eargo as CEO through a challenging time in 2016, and by the end of 2017, he had achieved a four-fold increase in sales and the company has since gone public. In this interview with host Geoff Pardo, Christian shares his story of entering the hearing industry and then joining Eargo, various unique aspects about the company compared to traditional hearing aid manufacturers that have led to their success, achieving cognitive diversity via cultural diversity, and the effect on the company’s personnel after its recent transition to being public.