“But… the wildest, most hazardous and ill-prepared yet thrilling expeditions I’ve found myself on have been start-ups.”

- Dr Jack Kreindler: Founder, physician and extreme environments researcher

NEW: 2023 IMPACT REPORT & AWARDS

What’s the latest? Industry trends for this landmark year seeing the rise of founder/startup health & performance initiatives, especially in mental health.

What’s the impact? Results and learnings from the first 50+ founders completing a 6-month health & performance research programme.

Who’s leading? The VCs, Founder/CEOs and Thought Leaders setting the standard for health and performance. And 2023 Leadership Awards.

We study the limits of human endurance, healthy longevity and the utility of health technologies

We love research. There’s nothing like validating a hypothesis. Publishing our findings, and open-sourcing everything is not the best commercial practice, but it’s the best medical practice. We turned WellFounded Health into a company knowing that openness and excellence wins the trust that grows the kind of company we want to build serving human health and growth. Our Institute aims to become a recognised contributor to this area of research with our academic partners - currently UCL, Imperial College London, the MOD and University California, Berkeley.

We also love extreme environments, like startups. Our medical team at Curia Health are all elite endurance this, that and the others or into some fairly extreme sports. But we also know that thriving in the extreme environments of start-ups is just as challenging and deserving of research. Unsurprisingly there is great overlap from what we learn in extreme physical pursuits and extreme occupational ones.

And we’re seriously into technology, like most of our patients. Our innovations, inventions and research generally involve biosensors, health tech devices and machine intelligence of some kind or another. What we learn about their use in the very sick of very challenging environments like Antarctica or Everest translates to how we can better serve patients everyday, reduce health system burden and promote longer health-span.

If you’re a med-tech company wanting to research something with a uniquely well profiled, technology-loving population of inspiring humans, please get in touch.

From our Founder and CEO

“My most vivid career memories include Kilimanjaro with disabled buddies, skiing with 19 men and women to the South Pole for science, 7 marathons on 7 continents in 3.5 days and all those weird and wonderful celebrity charity challenges. It’s been a privilege to experience such endeavour, celebrating and studying fellow human beings of all kinds in bizarre and austere environments. Sometimes for ludicrously bold and inspiring goals. All, greatly challenging and rewarding.

But, looking back, the wildest, most hazardous and ill-prepared yet thrilling expeditions I’ve found myself on have been start-ups.”

Dr Jack Kreindler

What’s the evidence that this works?

There is a large and ever-growing body of research built over the last 25 years on the commercial and heath risk reduction impact of optimising sleep, jetlag and daytime energy, stress and mental health, interpersonal relationship skills and executive leadership, nutrition and physiological fitness. WellFounded has been specifically built upon this past work including our own contributions, our recent work on performance in extreme environments, best practice and scientific evidence. This was started in earnest by Vielife in 2001 (acquired by CIGNA in 2006, Dr Jack Kreindler was founding team, Chief Product Officer and built the medical, research and technology teams). Here are some of the key findings of the research to date:

  • Research shows that healthy executives are more productive, make better decisions, and are better able to manage stress. They also have lower rates of absenteeism and burnout.

  • Studies have found that executive coaching and leadership development programs can significantly improve the performance of executives. These programs can help executives develop their leadership skills, enhance their emotional intelligence, and improve their communication skills.

  • There is evidence to suggest that companies that invest in executive health and performance optimization have better financial performance, higher employee satisfaction, and better overall business outcomes. For example, a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that companies with wellness programs for executives had a 25% lower rate of absenteeism and a 32% lower rate of workers' compensation claims.

  • Investing in executive health and performance optimization can also provide a competitive advantage. Companies that have healthy and productive executives are better equipped to innovate, adapt to change, and outperform their competitors. It is also beneficial for attracting discerning talent.

  • Executives who feel supported and valued by their company are more likely to stay with the company long-term. This can reduce turnover and the associated costs of recruiting and training new executives.

We believe, and the evidence suggests, that investing in executive health and performance optimization is not only good for the health and well-being of executives, but it can also have significant benefits for businesses, including improved financial performance, higher employee satisfaction, and competitive advantage. However, not as much research has been done specifically for startups and the innovation economy, where we intend to extend our research and pioneer best practices in this underserved sector. Here are some of the key references on exec health and performance optimisation. 

But what about Startups and Founders specifically?

Regarding startups and founders, there is strong rationale and early evidence to suggest that executive health and performance optimization is particularly important for startups and entrepreneurs. Here are the key drivers for why we feel that the results of such initiative as WellFounded will prove to be at least as impactful if not more than existing Health, Wellbeing and exec performance initiates to date:

  • Startups and entrepreneurs often face high levels of stress due to the fast-paced and uncertain nature of their work. Research has found that effective stress management techniques can help reduce burnout and improve performance among entrepreneurs (for example: Kim et al., 2021).

  • Studies have shown that entrepreneurs are at a higher risk for mental health problems such as depression and anxiety than the general population. Addressing mental health concerns can improve overall well-being and enhance performance among entrepreneurs (for example: Fernald et al., 2018).

  • Entrepreneurial success often depends on the leadership skills of the founder or CEO. Executive coaching and leadership development programs can help entrepreneurs develop the skills they need to effectively manage their business and employees (for example: Fiet et al., 2010).

  • Many entrepreneurs struggle to find a healthy work-life balance, which can lead to burnout and other health problems. Implementing policies that support work-life balance, such as flexible scheduling and time off, can help entrepreneurs maintain their health and performance (for example: Cardon & Patel, 2015).

In summary, while much more research is needed on this topic, evidence suggests that executive health and performance optimization is critically important for startups and entrepreneurs. Our early data auditing of the before and after of those on the WellFounded programme plus anecdotal, qualitative feedback from founders and startup CEOs points clearly toward this being an important and unmet need. Addressing stress, mental health concerns, leadership development, and work-life balance in an integrated fashion with rapid access medicine will, we are quite convinced, contribute to better outcomes for both the individual and young, high-growth businesses with clear benefits for their investors.