consumer-wellness
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Sarah Rahal Built a New Aisle by Knowing When Not to Enter One
The physician-turned-founder took one unfamiliar ingredient from a direct-to-consumer launch to 10,000 retail doors. Her sharpest growth decision may have been the year she spent saying no.
Liquid I.V. made a billion-dollar habit out of a little powder
A drink inspired by a Las Vegas morning became a fixture in water bottles and a growth engine for Unilever. Its most useful business lesson fits inside the packet: make the product easier to carry, explain and buy again.
Raed Khawaja Is Building a Place to Come to Your Senses
He left the machinery of finance and consumer brands to study a quieter question: what helps people become present together? Open is his answer - part app, part Venice studio, and part long experiment in designing for attention.
Wondermind Sold Mental Fitness for Everyone - Then the Startup Couldn't Make Its Own Numbers Work
Wondermind made mental health feel less like homework and more like a daily habit. Its free media reached millions - but a celebrity-sized launch could not protect a fragile business model from missed payroll, layoffs and an unresolved investor lawsuit.
Simon Cheng
Simon Cheng is the founder and CEO of Pique, a Los Angeles-based wellness company that turned whole-leaf tea into dissolvable crystals using a patented cold extraction process. A Hong Kong native who grew up drinking tea with his grandparents, Cheng abandoned those rituals in his teens, then spent his 20s cycling through surgeries and a decade of health crises. He rebuilt his health on a multi-year study trip across Asia learning from medicinal-plant and breathwork masters, and channeled that obsession into Pique, which launched in Whole Foods in 2016 and scaled to thousands of stores. Harvard and Stanford educated, and the youngest member of Harvard School of Public Health's Nutrition Roundtable, Cheng built Pique on three promises: efficacy, purity, and zero prep.
mindbodygreen
mindbodygreen is an independent lifestyle media and wellness company that pairs science-backed editorial content - articles, newsletters, podcasts and certification courses - with a direct-to-consumer line of supplements and personal care products. Founded in 2009 after a back injury pushed Jason Wachob toward yoga, the company has grown into one of the largest independent health-and-wellness platforms, reaching millions of monthly readers with a 360-degree approach that weaves together the mental, physical, spiritual, emotional and environmental sides of well-being.
Vivoo
Vivoo is a San Francisco-based health tech company that makes at-home urine test strips analyzed via smartphone camera. Founded in 2017, the company offers a wellness platform that measures 8+ biomarkers — including hydration, vitamins, minerals, pH, ketones, and oxidative stress — and delivers personalized nutrition and lifestyle recommendations through a free mobile app. Backed by $19.4M in funding led by Tim Draper, Vivoo is sold at Target, Walmart, and Sam's Club, and has expanded to 100+ countries with a focus on making lab-grade health insights accessible to everyday consumers.