The Hustle
Years in Tampa Bay
Hustle (job)
CEO & Founder of Resility Health. We are a digital platform that helps assess, monitor and manage chronic stress.
What do you do?
My biggest responsibility is pulling together a really great team, because that’s how startups really are successful. It’s all about the team. We have a big challenge because we’re a technology company that’s also related to the healthcare field. So we need to combine a mix of clinical expertise and industry expertise as well as technology expertise. So it has been challenging especially in the very beginning to attract a great team when you’re very early.
Why do you do it?
I started Resility because I had chronic neck pain for over 10 years, and it was caused by stress. I didn’t know it at the time, so I tried every kind of treatment available and they didn’t work. When I finally found something that worked, it was biofeedback. I did it in a clinic so I was hooked up to sensors that helped me see that stress in my body and be able to start to manage it.
What was your Catalyst? (How did you get started?)
It was very inconvenient and expensive. I knew there was a better way. I knew that we could take this technology and bring it to more people in a more convenient and affordable way.
What’s a common misconception or unknown aspect of what you do?
I think a lot of people feel that startups are glamorous. The reality is that it’s a lot of hard work and ups and downs.
What’s the most challenging part of your Hustle?
What’s the most valuable piece of business advice/insight that’s helped you?
The most valuable advice I’ve gotten as a founder is to make sure that you go out and try to sell your product before you do too much product development. It’s easy to have a great idea about a wonderful product, and then you build it and it turns out that the customers want something else. If you have the ability to test your market and validate your product before you do very much development, it can save you a tremendous amount of re-work.
