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Tim Rosa remembers the day he realized his true calling.
When he was the Chief Advertising and marketing Officer at Fitbit, the wearable health monitoring gadget, he pored over emails, discussion board posts, and help logs. There, he found shifting tales from clients—one mentioned the product had helped him uncover a coronary heart challenge, and one other mentioned it helped her reverse sort two diabetes and at last get pregnant.
“I’d actually be in tears studying these tales,” Rosa says. “From then on, I knew my function was to assist folks by doing good and creating lovely services that enhance lives.”
At present, Rosa is the CEO of Somnee, a pioneering neuroscience-based sleep firm whose flagship product is a neurostimulation gadget that helps customers go to sleep quicker, keep asleep longer, and enhance general sleep high quality. Rosa desires to enhance lives by fixing probably the most elementary human wants: high quality sleep.
Rosa is that this week’s visitor on the One Day with Jon Bier podcast. Within the interview, he talks about his journey from a run-and-gun advertising and marketing government at ESPN, 2K Sports activities (launching the NBA 2K sequence), and Fitbit, working so laborious he typically slept underneath his desk, to discovering the worth of sleep later in life and channeling that keenness into Somnee.
He additionally imparts some precious knowledge he is gained in enterprise through the years.
Construct manufacturers that ‘win hearts and minds’
“Crucial factor is to be completely obsessive about understanding your buyer,” says Rosa.
At Somnee, that meant first digging deep into buyer suggestions, engagement metrics, help logs, qual/quant analysis, and attending to know his clients’ wants on a private and emotional stage.
“By placing the shopper and model on the heart of constructing your organization, he says, you need to use that as a information to assist inform your choices.”
That mentioned, the shopper solely is aware of what they know. To be modern as a pacesetter and introduce pioneering new merchandise, experiences, or options, you continue to have to take some calculated dangers, particularly as a challenger model or class creator.
“The truth is, whether or not you are in a client enterprise, an enterprise enterprise, or healthcare, on the finish of the day, somebody on the opposite aspect desires to make use of your product, purchase your product, eat your product,” he says. “Your job is to win their coronary heart and win their thoughts. Interval.”
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Acknowledge private struggles as potential enterprise alternatives
When enterprise capitalist Vinod Khosla and UC Berkeley’s sleep scientist and creator of “Why We Sleep”, Dr. Matt Walker, first approached Rosa about Somnee, he was coping with critical sleep points.
He had experimented with magnesium, CBD, and THC edibles however discovered no aid. Rosa checked out Somnee’s web site and located the corporate’s product complicated, which frankly left him skeptical, however he determined to attempt the product himself for 14 days earlier than committing to the CEO place.
“They despatched me a tool, and I went by means of the journey. In my third session, I fell asleep with the gadget on and was blown away by the truth that it actually labored. However I felt the model, product, web site, and repair wanted to be elevated to mirror the unbelievable innovation behind the science and expertise.”
He realized they had been onto one thing particular. If Somnee may assist somebody with sleep points like his, the remainder can be historical past.
Embrace the facility of personalization
One of many key improvements behind Somnee’s expertise is its deal with personalization. Rosa explains that their patented “closed loop” product makes use of a cushty sleep headband with an electroencephalogram (EEG) that reads your brainwaves to know particular person patterns for optimum sleep. This is identical tech that’s utilized in a number of the world’s most superior sleep labs.
“The language of the mind is actually electrical frequency,” he explains. “We set up a baseline utilizing the EEG sensor. As soon as we have performed that, our AI fashions then apply light, customized neurostimulation on the optimum frequency that is particular to you. This helps calm and put together your mind for sleep. We cut back the time to sleep by 50% and enhance general sleep high quality.”
Rosa argues that this customized closed-loop method is the way forward for client well being tech and wellness merchandise—it is not nearly monitoring your sleep however truly fixing it.
Apply the ‘Rule of three’ to simplify complicated enterprise challenges
All through his profession, Rosa has relied on the facility of pondering in threes to sort out complicated issues and talk successfully.
“I feel in threes. What are the three issues you’ll do to win?” Rosa explains.
This “Rule of three” applies to all the things from product improvement to buyer communication. He says this helps him simplify methods and prioritize actions.
Rosa makes use of this precept to stack-rank priorities and construct his MVP (Minimal Viable Product). By specializing in the three most important facets, Rosa ensures that his staff stays centered and avoids getting misplaced in pointless particulars.
Leverage partnerships and information to create highly effective ecosystems
Drawing from his expertise at Fitbit, Rosa emphasizes the significance of making buyer personas and cultivating ecosystems round your product and buyer wants. He envisions Somnee ultimately rolling out an API and dealing with different wearables and repair corporations to create a extra complete health-tracking ecosystem.
“I view wearables, human efficiency companies, and healthcare as strategic companions,” Rosa explains. “I wish to assist facilitate an ecosystem of companion services that make the most of our clinical-grade information units to assist others. Good information in is nice information out.”
Rosa’s journey from sleepless advertising and marketing government to sleep tech innovator has been rewarding in some ways, however he says essentially the most impactful moments have been listening to from his clients. Like Fitbit, Somnee helps folks and altering lives.
He tells the story of a Vietnam veteran affected by Insomnia and PTSD who was hooked on sleeping tablets and was solely getting 3.5 hours of sleep an evening. After utilizing Somnee for 30 days, he is now as much as 7 hours and has made the 15-minute Somnee session part of his nightly bedtime routine.
Or when Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff despatched Tim an e mail saying how a lot he loves Somnee as a result of it has dramatically improved his sleep and well-being, a lot in order that his spouse is now utilizing Somnee as properly.
“It reinforces my very own function, which is to assist folks, to assist them carry out and to assist them dwell a greater life by placing actually good merchandise on the earth that truly have an effect,” Rosa says.