Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Rachel Soper Sanders, co-founder, and CEO of Rootine, located in Nashville, TN, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Rootine is a startup on a mission to empower millions to leverage their data to achieve optimal health. We're optimizing member health by combining lab testing with connected health data to deliver science-backed insights, precision nutrients based on those insights, and a way to track health progress over time. Our community, Precision Health Club, is the premier place for data-driven health enthusiasts to connect, learn, and optimize together and completes the Rootine member experience.

Our members are connected health consumers who are high performers in everything they do - at work, on the field, and at home. They use data to make more informed decisions and come to Rootine for a better approach to improving total body health, energy, and mental clarity and managing stress levels and burnout.

Tell us about yourself

I started my career learning about the entire US healthcare ecosystem as an investment banker and immediately saw so much opportunity in leveraging advances in technology and data access to improve how people experience their health and wellness solutions.

I was inspired to make a positive impact and focus on building a solution focused on lifestyle change and prevention vs. purely symptom treatment, but I wasn't exactly sure what that looked like. I knew going into my MBA that my path would be unique; my goal for my time there was to further understand the market and the problems that individuals faced in their health journeys.

During that time, after struggling with stress and fatigue for a number of years, I was looking to optimize my health and daily performance - I dove deeper into ways to improve across the health stack or key pillars of health from sleep, exercise, and nutrition, but had to approach it in a very manual, guess-and-check methodology.

After launching my first startup, I connected with Dr. Daniel Wallerstorfer, Ph.D., who had spent 12+ years leveraging genetic and other health data to build consumer-facing health and prevention products. Daniel was also going through similar goals - looking to optimize his own health, and Daniel, as the scientist and innovator he is, had thought through a solution rooted in data and science - combining quality ingredients, science, and technology to create precision micronutrient formulas informed by health data.

We were both really inspired to use this solution to enable people to leverage their health data to improve how they look, feel and perform; we launched Rootine to fill a gap in the market and make an impact.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Making a positive impact on thousands of lives. I started Rootine to help people understand what their bodies were telling them and how to use that data to fuel health decisions and offer solutions. We're in the business of changing people's lives for the better - that's the most amazing feeling of accomplishment you can get.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things that come with being an early-stage startup founder is the mental rollercoaster that happens on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis. As a founder, you experience some of the highest highs and lowest lows in the professional setting, and this can take a toll on mental health. The key to combatting this rollercoaster is to try to keep your mood as level as possible while still celebrating the highs and learning from the lows.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Decision fatigue is real, so ensure that you build a team surrounding yourself with individuals who not only compliment you but also force you to think differently and are experts in their field. You should not be the smartest person in every department. If you are, you're not going to be able to scale your company. Put serious thought behind your hiring process, especially as you're building your foundational team.
  2. Build a culture your team feels passionate about. Rootine was built remote first before the pandemic, and we function mostly async. This way, we're able to maintain time for both deep work and team collaboration. Startup life is rapid-fire and long hours, but our goal is to balance work and life the best we can to prevent burnout. Some of the ways we do this are through unlimited PTO (with vacation photos encouraged), taking time during the day to move /workout/reset, and celebrating mistakes as learnings.
  3. Take care of yourself. You cannot be your best self at work or at home unless you do. Being a founder and CEO is rigorous work; you could work 24-7 and still not check everything off your to-list. It's also easy to prioritize everyone else while your needs fall behind. Make sure you get proper nutrition and adequate sleep, incorporate movement into your day, spend time with friends and family, and take a few minutes each day for reflection and a mental reset. I ride my Peloton or do a weight workout in the afternoon when my circadian rhythm is in a slump which propels my focus and energy level later in the day. I also walk my dog, so I make sure to get some time outside and soak up some Vitamin D. I block off a few hours every night to spend time with my toddler and husband so I can be present as a mother. It's not easy and by no means am I perfect but having experienced burnout before when I was in the financial world, I do my best to structure my day in a consistent manner that sparks some joy.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

We are excited to continue building towards our bigger vision of a tech-enabled platform supporting even more individuals in their health journey!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://rootine.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootine_co/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rachelssanders
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-soper-sanders/


If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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