What Tech Startups Can Learn from Traditional Formulations: Building Scalable, Sustainable, and Resilient Systems

In the fast-paced world of modern innovation, it might seem unusual to draw inspiration from ancient systems. But some of the most enduring solutions—like Unani formulations such as Hamdard Habbe Suranjan—embody principles that are remarkably relevant to today’s technical founders, product architects, and system designers.

Hamdard Habbe Suranjan, known in the herbal medicine world for its powerful multi-ingredient composition aimed at joint pain and inflammation, is a compelling analogy for how resilient tech products are designed: combining small, well-known elements into a formulation that stands the test of time. In this blog, we’ll explore how traditional system-building practices offer lessons for designing robust digital infrastructure in startups and SaaS ventures.

1. Holistic Formulation Equals System Architecture

Traditional medicine rarely relies on a single active ingredient. Instead, it builds synergy across multiple components—each balancing or amplifying the effects of the others. Similarly, modern tech systems need holistic architecture. A robust SaaS product is never about the UI alone or the backend alone. It's about how front-end, backend, APIs, DevOps, and customer support interlink to deliver a consistent experience.

Too many tech startups focus solely on a single feature or trendy framework. But like Hamdard Habbe Suranjan, which blends ingredients for joint health without overemphasizing any single compound, successful tech products take a systemic view. Founders and technical leaders must architect products that balance innovation, maintainability, performance, and scale—not just "cool tech."

Lesson: Build for synergy, not silos. Treat each tech stack component as an integral part of a larger system, not as isolated deliverables.

2. Slow Burn, Strong Results: Prioritize Longevity Over Hype

Traditional remedies like Hamdard Habbe Suranjan are not instant fixes; they deliver results over consistent use. This mirrors how technically sound systems deliver compounding benefits—through test coverage, observability, feedback loops, and scaling plans. Unfortunately, many startups race to MVP, skipping foundational engineering that ensures long-term viability.

Just as centuries-old formulations gain credibility through enduring efficacy, software systems should be designed with future updates, modularity, and user feedback in mind. Early investments in infrastructure may not be glamorous, but they make the difference when you're onboarding your 10,000th user or integrating AI-driven features later on.

Lesson: Build for the second year, not just for launch. Embrace gradual development and iteration with an eye on technical debt and lifecycle costs.

3. Interoperability Is Non-Negotiable

One of the unsung strengths of classical formulations is their compatibility with other systems—diet, routine, lifestyle—which enhances their impact. Tech systems should behave similarly. Whether you're designing a microservices architecture or a data pipeline, interoperability with internal and external systems must be a design-first priority.

Today's digital products are rarely standalone; they must integrate with payment gateways, CRM tools, analytics platforms, and APIs. Ignoring this from day one leads to brittle codebases and fragmented user experiences. Like traditional remedies that consider the patient’s constitution and other medications, your tech stack should flex around the needs of other systems.

Lesson: Design for the ecosystem. Ensure your platform or service can seamlessly plug into the larger tech environment of your customers.

4. Traceability and Transparency Build Trust

Formulations like Hamdard Habbe Suranjan thrive in part because their lineage and composition are well-documented. Every component has a traceable origin and function, which builds trust with users. The same applies to tech systems: users, auditors, and partners increasingly demand transparency—through clear documentation, logging, traceable errors, and security disclosures.

Modern tech leaders must be ready to show how their platforms work, how they protect data, and how failures are diagnosed. Observability—via tools like Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, or Datadog—isn't just an engineering toolset; it's a business requirement for growth and credibility.

Lesson: Build trust through observability and documentation. Transparency is not a feature—it’s an architectural principle.

Conclusion:

What ancient formulations like Hamdard Habbe Suranjan teach us is that enduring systems are crafted through balance, patience, and thoughtful integration—not just innovation for its own sake. The future of technology, especially in an age of AI, automation, and hybrid-cloud infrastructures, will reward those who understand that longevity and resilience come from well-structured, interoperable, and transparent systems.

As a technical founder or systems architect, drawing wisdom from outside the typical startup echo chamber—whether from medicine, architecture, or manufacturing—can expand your mental model for building better software.

Just as herbalists understand how one component affects the whole, modern engineers must adopt systems thinking, blending technology, user experience, and operational excellence into their “digital remedies.” And who knows? The next time you’re troubleshooting a failed microservice or debugging scaling issues, you might just remember how something like Hamdard Habbe Suranjan still works quietly, dependably, and harmoniously after centuries.