Hi everyone, this is Rachel Feller, co-host of the Pulse podcast. Today we have the treat of having two guests with us, Belinda Tan and Noah Kraft, co-founders and co-CEOs at PeopleScience. Founded in 2019, PeopleScience is a human-centered clinical research platform addressing the need for rigorous clinical science to back alternative medicine and wellness solutions that do not typically fall under traditional Western medicine. The company’s platform studies a range of solutions spanning microbiome and food as medicine interventions, natural and synthetic psychedelic medicine, cannabis and cannabinoids, functional medicines, and digital therapeutics. Its user-facing app, called Chloe, supports users to test these alternative treatments on themselves and enables them to view personal results in real time while comparing themselves to others. PeopleScience secured its $8.5 million seed funding round through two rounds earlier this year, most recently in December 2022. In this episode, I spoke with Noah and Belinda about the philosophy behind PeopleScience, the nuances of alternative medicines compared to Western medicine, and their founding story, including their unique co-CEO model. I hope that you enjoy the conversation. Noah and Belinda, thank you so much for joining me today on the Pulse podcast. How are you both doing? Great. Wow. Wonderful to be with you today. So we have a tradition of asking each of our guests this icebreaker question. What did you both want to be when you grew up? This was a fun one. I wanted to be a detective, like a secret agent. And I can’t remember what inspired this. One thing that I really enjoyed doing as a kid was creating my own little pretend secret files out of Kodachromes that were overexposed. My dad used to take photos using Kodachromes back in the day, and I loved anything that involved searching, exploring, and kind of like detective work. I really enjoyed that. How about you, Noah? I still haven’t grown up. I’m not sure what I’m going to be when I grow up. No, the only thing I can remember from super early childhood is my mom used to tell me I wanted to be the president of the United States. That was quite a young age. I do not want to be the president anymore. It seems too hard of a job. Well, I could see you being very well suited for the role. So while people science focuses on studying alternatives to Western medicine, you both bring very robust backgrounds to the table with experience across medicine, scientific research, and clinical trials. Could you elaborate on your backgrounds as well as how you both met and what led you to start people science? Yeah. So Belinda and I have really different personal and cultural backgrounds, so Belinda can tell her own story. But we both fell in love with science in college, and then we met in the mid-90s in the MD-PhD program at UCLA. And that was the start of a long journey of exploration and learning and education where we were trained formally as medical students and then microbiologists, immunologists, molecular biology. We both became dermatologists. Belinda is also a dermatopathologist. And so we have this really geeky, interesting, overlapping background. And then about 15 years ago, we got together as science and business partners and also romantically. And so it’s been a long, interesting journey. I’ve transitioned through running a translational research lab at UCLA. And then in 2014, Belinda and I started our first substantial company called Science 37. At Science 37, we were trying to virtualize or make decentralized the traditional randomized controlled trial for FDA drug development. And we were very successful at demonstrating you could use technology to make it possible to run clinical trials in people’s homes instead of in the hospital. And what that meant was you could recruit people from all over the spectrum, a broader demographic and really make it easier for participants to take part in research. So we built that company over about five years and really fun to build something new, a technology and a logistics platform to make it possible to do clinical research a different way. And in 2019, we left that company to really focus in on people science, our current work. My background starts with my birth in Malaysia. And I am ethnically Malaysian Chinese. My first language was a dialect of Chinese called Hokkien. And I moved to the States when I was four. And I grew up for the most part in the San Francisco Bay Area where my parents still retained a lot of our traditional culture from Malaysia. And I grew up with traditional Chinese medicine, did all the usual stuff of a first generation individual coming to this country where there was so much opportunity, did well in math and science, ended up going to MIT as an undergrad and then med school, you know, where Noah and I met. And I feel like one of the big themes in what led me through this path that I’ve chosen where if one looks at my CV, it seems very intentional. And I think this happens for everyone. And the 2020 rearview mirror had that very nice narrative of the history. And it was by no means that smooth and intentional feeling. And I bumped up against a lot of moments over the course of my training, which by the way, I had 14 years of postgraduate training, where I found that I didn’t quite find exactly the type of roles that I wanted to be. So whatever was out there, as a physician scientist, we’re trying to pursue becoming an academic clinician and researcher, going to industry. It was kind of discrete and very few options that I had seen at the time. And I landed on becoming an entrepreneur because it was kind of the space where I had the most freedom to explore and to build and be creative, which is at the core who I am. So I feel like it was this, I found my path, which is like, I can actually create it on my own and put together all the pieces of my path where previously I felt I was now a jack of all trades and a master of none. And that felt frustrating at times. And then ultimately building companies became the place to plug in all of these interests and the deep training and all these disciplines. I imagine many of those sentiments will resonate with our listeners, many of whom are students trying to figure out their own path in the industry. And it’s really inspiring to hear how you took one existing company that you created and turned it into something new at PeopleScience. So as part of understanding the spark story behind PeopleScience, I’m extremely interested in your broader philosophy behind the platform and holistic health itself, as well as what drew you towards the alternative medicine space? Yeah, thank you for this question. It comes back to my experience, and Noah will share his as well, growing up with traditional Chinese medicine, and then pursuing being training as a Western physician and scientist where the whole framework and how you think about things is completely different. There was really no way to blend the two. And what was interesting and ultimately happened was I still held on to and accepted that TCM was a way that worked for human beings and worked for me and my family. And Western science and medicine is a very powerful language that we can use to solve all kinds of questions and mysteries of nature. Where the spark came from for PeopleScience was the Noah and my prior experience at our last company. Among the things we took away were lessons learned of how to operationalize and build a company. To me, those lessons were people, people, people. And so I’m thrilled that part of our new company name has people in it. And another part of it was that some of our core principles for why we started our last company, Science 37, still held true, which was how do we build a platform and a methodology where all the people truly are engaged and feel empowered to be involved in research in this case and in participation. And I feel that it’s been incrementally solved for. And in what we did previously, that did incrementally solve for that. However, we have so much more work to do. As we can see, the themes still continue to come up in clinical research and drug development as one niche of it where there isn’t enough diversity participation and it’s still really hard to recruit people. You know, that’s still there. And so among the things we felt we could solve for PeopleScience was addressing that continuous challenge by putting our lens on the people. What is it that the people want? Where are the people today? And I would say the people today as the broad audience are in this alternative medicine marketplace. And it’s a broad marketplace where consumers are already making their own decisions of things to try. We are all doing it. I imagine among this audience, people are tinkering with supplements and things that are outside of their traditional healthcare system. So the people are there and we know how to build a technology platform that is rigorous and can support generating the evidence for what works for me. And so all of this was very exciting for us. And then I want one more thing, which is also another lesson learned over the course of being an entrepreneur was we made PeopleScience a public benefit corporation. And this is something that is happening more and more among founders who want to use a mechanism that can actually be actionable to be socially conscious. And our public benefit is to serve the public with education about health and science and medicine. It brings us closer toward what we wanted to do before, which is how do we truly, truly authentically serve the people? And if we can put in mechanisms like this that are tangible, I think we can incrementally continue to move in that direction. **Matt Stauffer:] Rachel, I think that at our core, Belinda and I consider ourselves explorers, scientists, and tinkers. And we happen to be trained in Western medicine and we’re physicians. But the notion of being a scientist and the definition of science to us is it’s the way that humans organize our knowledge to uncover the hidden potential in nature. And what it doesn’t say is what is the frame of the questions and what is the frame of that knowledge? So when we started PeopleScience, it was this convergence of our personal passions for complex, alternative, and complementary medicines that have been around for millennia in many cases with our expertise in scientific discovery or clinical research. And that notion about using the lens of science to really generate evidence for medicines that are more sustainable and accessible and affordable, that’s part of our long-term mission and goal is to really build the tools of science in a different way so we can understand these medicines more clearly and understand how to use them. **Rachel Stengels** Now I’d love to shift focus towards more specifics about what you’re studying through the platform. Can you elaborate on some of your areas of focus with your research as well as why you’ve selected those focus areas? **Matt Stauffer** Yeah, there’s a few different ideas that come together in what we’re doing. Before we get to the what we study is the how we study it. We believe very different than how we’ve studied things in the past. The science is still rigorous, in some cases more rigorous and more inclusive. But our methodology of how we study things and engage with the public is very different and our technology platform supports that. But focusing in on your question of what we’re studying, we define the market segments or the medicine segments, if you will, as complex, complementary and alternative medicines. So there’s two pieces of strategy here for why we’re focusing in on these areas. One is we believe these medicines often are challenging to study, meaning they’re often whole living organisms like an entire bacterium or an entire fungus or an entire plant. Sometimes mixtures of plants. That’s really challenging to study in a randomized controlled trial like we do for single molecules with the FDA. So we pointed our lens of the company at this broad array of markets. I’ll go through a few of them. Some of them are things like probiotics or prebiotics, things that affect the organisms that are part of us or that we live with in our guts and on our skin. And so you can imagine if the medicine itself is alive and changing all the time and lives on you or in you. That’s pretty challenging to study over time, but that’s one of the areas we’re particularly interested in. The other are plant-based medicines. So this could include herbs, herbal formulations, as well as things like cannabis. Cannabis has been a medicine for humans and probably other species for thousands of years. And it’s a very, very complex plant, has hundreds of active molecules in it. We’re just starting to scratch the surface how we understand that and how you can use it as a medicine, both for illness and for wellness. Our market segments, importantly, go into the field of psychedelics, both natural and synthetic psychedelics. And the reason there is twofold. One is the natural psychedelics are complex, sometimes whole plants, whole fungus. And understanding how those medicines affect us for wellness and for illness. That’s important to us. The other thing about the field of psychedelics is that the study of the process itself is very complex. It involves the personalization of your experience as a human. So your trauma is your cultural background. These are things that typically don’t affect blood pressure medicines. But when it comes to mental health and spiritual wellness, psychedelics in particular demand a form of science that’s going to have to be more complex and more inclusive to understand how they work for humans across the globe. So I think these broad categories of food as medicine, whole plants and herbs, complex plants like cannabis, psychedelics and probiotics, these are the market areas we’re focused in. And aside from our passion for the science of them, the markets therein are blossoming or blooming really quickly all by themselves. So you’re probably aware that people are choosing these things as medicines for wellness and betterment all over the globe. And it’s growing really quickly. What process do you go through to determine which studies you’ll launch and in what cadence? And relatedly, how do you determine who you’ll partner with to launch these studies? I would say that we haven’t spent any money or energy on outbound marketing. So all of our current clients and partners have reached out to us based on their knowledge of what we’re doing. So I would say the primary ingredient for a good client relationship is their mission aligned with us. That often means doing things a little differently, pursuing the science in quite a different way. And so combination of mission aligned, good people, fun people and interesting projects are what we’re looking for. Of course, most of our clients need to have funding to do the research. Some of them we partner with them to raise money philanthropically to do the research. But I think the core ingredients of people pursuing complex scientific questions in these markets that we’re looking for. And for sure, at this stage of career and company, good people, good people, good people, that’s part of the equation. It’s really important to us. And I’ll add too, as any startup founders would know, we have to strike the balance at this stage between finding those best early partners who are going to help us figure it out when we’re early on and be aligned, as Noah was saying, and built toward that sustainable business model. I think among the challenges we have as visionary founder types, it’s like you get so excited about all the ideas and there’s so many out there. And we have to be really diligent about how we extend our resources and our own personal time even to go after those things. And so I think the hard work is actually managing basically all inbounds at this stage of our company. So outbounds are TBD coming up. However, it takes a lot of time to talk to people who are interested in what we’re doing. To me, the ideal client today is one that has the budget to do a research study, has some know-how about the clinical research studies, and really ideally wants to license our platform because it’s so unique in terms of how it engages participation and also has the back-end rigor of the quality that everyone is looking for when you’re edging into what’s the clinical evidence look like. With respect to clinical evidence generation, we as consumers hear all over the news daily about the quote-unquote health and wellness industry and how it’s being disrupted by so many new products and technologies. Yet many times the number of products on the market can be so overwhelming and the claims made about products are very unclear, especially given that a lot of companies sponsoring these studies are likely not credible. So what are, in your eyes, some of the biggest challenges to reforming the health and wellness industry and how is people science helping to address these challenges? A great question. I think it goes back to our fundamental approach to our platform and to the science itself. So let me take a step back and get a little philosophical for a second. If you think about data, data is just numbers and ideas that are uncontextualized. If you contextualize data to an individual person and their experience, so for you, Rachel, it’s if you’re having problems sleeping, which medicines will affect you and improve your sleep? That data contextualized to who you are becomes knowledge. That knowledge, if we collect it from 200 people like you, Rachel, that becomes knowledge at scale which can be distributed to society and it becomes wisdom as you learn how to use a medicine like that. The notion of data and contextualize to your person, you can think of it as your voice. So using your voice as a form of influence, there’s two different ways you can do it. You can tell your story to a friend. So this is classic marketing like I use this, it worked and I’m Rachel, an influencer. So that’s great. That is one way to influence people buying a product. The second is data at scale. So your voice in the context of 200 other voices like you becomes a choir. That song can be told through a different megaphone, if you will. That’s what science does is it aggregates 200 people like you to bring that data into the story of does this medicine work for people like Rachel? And that notion around the individual story or the emotionality of how this helped me personally combined with, wow, this scientifically really works for people like Rachel. That form of combination, you can call it marketing or you can call it science. To us, it’s a blur. And it’s really important in this space because these medicines are so complex. Doing a randomized controlled trial defies the complexity of humans and these medicines. And so our idea is if you can capture the data and knowledge from individual people, aggregate it, and then bring that back to society, that really will underscore the believability and the credibility of these medicines in a form that’s kind of adjacent to the current FDA process. But we believe will really transform this industry of wellness and supplements and things like that. You mentioned food as medicine as one of the areas you’re studying, which is an area that I’m particularly passionate about and have spent quite a bit of time studying through both investing and personal research. And I think one of the hardest aspects is convincing health plans why they should invest in food as medicine solutions when they can’t directly point to patient outcomes. So can you maybe speak to an example of how your platform could help make this a reality and actually help overcome the challenge of a lack of clinical endpoints in the food as medicine space? The way you ask the question is quite interesting because convincing the FDA for a drug approval is one whole set of science. However, convincing payers or people that care about the overall long-term health of individuals or members, that’s a very different project for scientists to really generate the evidence. I don’t get too cynical thinking everything’s about money. Sometimes it is. So you can ask the question, if we could prevent diabetes with a diet or food, or if we could prevent obesity or reverse obesity with food, how much money and how much wellness and long-term longevity would that generate? How much money would it save? The way that you can use our platform to study these things is in a much broader type of study, so a lot more people at once and for a longer period of time, where the outcomes can be things like weight or BMI, for example. They can be development of diabetes. Ultimately, my belief is payers care both about the wellness of their members and the bottom line. And so if you can generate evidence that says this approach with food, which is much more accessible and inexpensive than all these expensive pills, if that diet or that food can prevent diabetes, reduce obesity, things like that, ultimately that can save billions and billions of dollars. So I think what our platform allows you to do is study real people in their real homes over a long period of time without disrupting their lives. And it doesn’t compromise on the science. So it just is a scalable platform that can really ask these hard questions around what is a dietary change in someone’s real complicated life look like? With respect to your business model and how you actually operationalize these studies, can you speak a bit about both the B2B clinical platform side as well as the B2C user-facing side and your Chloe app? Our goal is ultimately to be primarily an enterprise platform solution for research, specifically clinical research that I will define as broadly, are you studying human beings? And is the question you’re asking related to some outcome that a human being would report? So that is our target. And in our B2B service right now, we have two different types of customers. One is looking for the full service where they don’t really understand how to design a study, go through the regulatory process if there’s something needed, ethics boards, conduct the study. And then there are those who know how to do all of that and really need a robust tool that’s affordable and really engaging for participation. And we have clients right now in both of those realms. And I’ll say what we’re learning in how we’re conducting our business today is a lot of what our future enterprise clients will be wanting. And they will be folks who are seeking some kind of pathway toward more regulatory rigor. So perhaps looking for signals that will then inform a later stage study for an FDA, NDA, new drug approval process. Other clients will be academic researchers who are trying to look for something that is all-in-one, really engaging for participation, uses all the modern tools for these ecologically relevant inputs, as Noah was alluding to. We can actually get data from people in their everyday lives, which is very different than what is currently available. And that’s compelling for looking for solutions around fluidism, et cetera. And then the organizations where I’m particularly excited about, this growing marketplace in the health and wellness industry where you have these CPG brands, they’re actually quite rigorous in terms of their product research and development. However, they’re looking for that edge to how to market themselves and differentiate. And so they want to be science-backed. What does that mean? And we know some companies that have hired their own clinical operations teams, they understand clinical research, and all they’re looking for is a really great tool. And those are, to me, a very exciting client base. In this future of building a scalable platform, it’s essentially democratizing clinical research. It doesn’t have to be a scary thing where you’ve never done it before and you have no idea where to start. It’s going to be a solution that a lot of the barrier of entry will be much lower. On the consumer side, what is the primary demographic or customer segments that you’re targeting? And how are you engaging them with the Chloe app? If you think about all the people who are consumers buying products and exploring wellness solutions across the markets that Noah described, you know, food is medicine, microbiome intervention, psychedelics, cannabinoids, that broad category. To us, it’s really a broad base of very similar people who are empowered, have some form of resources to go and purchase these products and try it themselves. And to us, those are the consumers who will be coming to our platform and wanting to find a tool that… It’s not a tracker. So Chloe is not a tracker. There are many apps out there for consumers. It measures and it gives you the results. And that’s really where I feel there’s a gap in what is enabling consumers to know exactly what to do. So I’m trying something, this is happening. What does it mean? That’s the consumer community that we’re targeting with Chloe. And one thing I’ll add too, these will be people who are highly engaged to participate in research studies by research and sharing using our platform. There are ways within Chloe where it becomes kind of like this marketplace of really engaged people who want to participate and really believe in this model contributing to science. I would imagine that the data collected from this clinical research is invaluable to many companies that are looking to understand everything from nutraceuticals and supplements to functional medicines. Does the data collected from your clinical research get monetized or perhaps sold to other parties beyond those paying for the studies themselves? Currently, no. So Chloe is free to consumers and the data or knowledge generated by individual consumers is you can think of it similarly to electricity. It’s contributed like a solar panel would contribute back to the grid. So it fuels both your own understanding of your own wellness and it can contribute back to the knowledge and societal benefit that people science seeks to deliver on. In general, the way that our company works or how we make money are through sponsored studies. And so the sponsors hire us to test medicines or license Chloe the platform. To drill in a little bit more on Chloe’s purpose, Chloe, our platform stands for consumer health learning and organizing ecosystem. And it is truly built around the journey of the individual person. So there’s two forms of evidence generation. One is experimental where we’re actually provoking an experiment. So that would be a sponsored study. And the other is what we call real world evidence. So additionally, real world evidence, most scientists or most clinicians think about it as a lens of what happened in a doctor’s record. So the EMR and look back retrospectively. However, a doctor’s record does not capture the lived life at home of an individual person. And so Chloe is built to capture what really happens to people at home intervening in their own health. And that real world evidence, there’s no other platform like that that is a scientific tool built for capturing evidence in people’s lived lives. So we call it real world evidence, but it’s captured through a very different lens than a doctor’s lens. So interesting. What are some of your other plans for expanding the business over the coming year, expanding your platform as a software as a service product and giving more access to academic and clinical institutions to launch trials of their own? That is our vision with our business model is to be that enterprise platform solution for research. We currently do have some academic researchers for our clients using it in that staff model sort of way with our MVP, which has been terrific. And then also other CPG clients who are looking at it as a solution. And what’s been great at this initial stage is we actually identified some pretty important key features to build into the backend for the UI UX and the SaaS model. And our next major development push starting in the next few weeks is actually to build out that backend even more. So we’re very excited about it. All the while we’re developing this, continue to conduct studies ourselves. As Noah was describing these full service studies where it’s identifying some critical workflow solutions that are needed, that makes it that much easier for the clinical operations teams, the reporting, you know, all of these aspects that make it a really easy tool. And all the while we also have to keep in mind what’s the participant experience. We spend a lot of time keeping an eye on what’s happening in that realm with our users. And our team includes folks who are from public health and community participatory research, and they will identify and have one-on-one conversations with some of these users. And we’re learning really, really important learnings from this in terms of what to build into Chloe. To answer it more philosophically as well, we think about Chloe and what we’re building as infrastructure. Think of it like railroad tracks. And so our hope is that we’ll build a really global, easy to use set of railroad tracks and other scientists or other communities will be able to put their own railroad cars on the tracks, fill it up with different types of questions, fill the car up with different types of materials. Currently, we also offer to put the train on the track ourselves as well. So if you don’t have your own trains, you don’t know how to run studies, we will do that for you. But our long term goal is really for this to be an easy to use ecosystem or infrastructure that attaches people who are interested in contributing to science, the people or consumers to scientists who are interested in asking questions. And those scientists might be engaged with different communities asking on behalf of the public or manufacturers of medicines. So it’s really an infrastructure or utility that can be used by thousands of scientists around the globe and empowers millions of people using Chloe as a mobile app. Do you foresee any barriers to expanding the platform at this time or over the next couple of years? You could imagine as repeat crazy entrepreneurs, we see barriers not as barriers, but as opportunities and challenges to overcome. Yeah, really, we seem to be on track. We’re having a lot of fun. The market seems to be alive and well, there’s tons of inbound interest. And we’ve scaled a company and a technology platform before. So it doesn’t seem insurmountable. Time and capital, of course, are critical ingredients to scaling a company and a platform like this. But overall, we see the market and interest is there, our capabilities to deliver on this vision are there. So I don’t know, Belinda, do you see any? The main barrier, like in many cases, where you’re trying to develop a new market is the new market understanding of the value. And if our inbounds have any prediction for what the future holds, I will say we are on the right track. And a lot of the hard work that we’re doing right now is educating the market. And having a lot of these interactions in sales, it gives us feedback on how people are thinking about things and where we need to work to educate, where we need to build our tool out. And I think that’s a barrier one might expect. And we’re pushing through it. And certainly, Noah and I are not shy when it comes to these challenges. Absolutely. And I think it’s such an interesting time in the market, whether it’s due to generational shifts or post-pandemic prioritization of holistic well-being, I think you’re coming into the market at the perfect time. Noah, you mentioned capital, and I wanted to shift focus towards your fundraising. So first of all, congratulations on the $5.3 million C2 fundraise that you guys did earlier this year, which was led by Acre Venture Partners. And as an aside, that is the fund where I interned this summer. So it’s very near and dear to my heart. What do you think were some of the key factors about your platform or business model, since this is a business-specific podcast that resonated with and ultimately led to success with your investors? Yeah. So our investor base now, I think we have eight institutional investors involved that range all the way from consumer goods to psychedelics investors to food as medicine investors to traditional health tech. And those are the different quadrants of where we operate and how we think. The recent round really accelerated our interest in and understanding of food as medicine as a market. So Acre Ventures, for example, is invested in companies that grow food differently or think about how we eat things differently and what the ingredients are. And when we sat down with them, we learned about their needs, which are they’re investing in companies they think can change the world of food and agriculture, and they have no great way to test those ideas scientifically. And so they defined the market need in their own space, and we learned about food as medicine as part of that interaction. So I think all of the domains I just spoke about, they have this market need for less expensive, rigorous, fast evidence generation or science. And I think that investors, by definition, they’re looking for a return on their own investment, which is for-profit venture capital. And they’re also mission aligned with us. And I can’t underscore that enough. All of our investors, they get behind us and they’re proud to say, we’re invested in people science, generating evidence for the public and for the common good. And that combination of people who want a great investment and want to do something great for the world, whether it’s climate or food or agriculture or psychedelics, that is a really wonderful combination in our investor base. And I couldn’t be happier with our current trajectory. I’ll add too, it helps that we’re repeat founders. This isn’t our first rodeo, as they say. And looking at the marketplace out there and certainly our conversations we had through the RAISE process, that was something that came up quite a bit and it gave us an edge in terms of how we could speak to what we’re doing because we’ve done stuff in this ecosystem before and we’re edging into this other space that’s a follow-on. I think that helps a lot. And certainly there’s the challenges of our business model, our two co-leaders. I really would love to highlight the fact that you are not only co-founders, but also co-CEOs. And it’s not often that we see co-CEOs in the world of startups, let alone from a married couple. And so it would be really interesting to hear more about your co-leadership model at the company. Yeah, this was a significant decision Noah and I made early on in our prior company. It was more traditional and Noah was the CEO. And the reason for doing this, I feel like there’s still a lot more work we can all do to model how partnerships and co-leadership can actually work very well. What’s interesting to me is that for those of us who have partnerships in the home, it is that we are living that model and have to work through it to make it work out for us. And the same principles actually that govern our co-CEO in the home also governs building a company. We often try to separate our work and our home. And while yes, that can sometimes be necessary so that you can actually carve out a true personal client, I feel like the values don’t change and the values are interchangeable between those spheres of our life. And so in our traditional model previously versus now, we’ve applied a lot of our learnings from our last company. It’s being very clear about decision making when any major decision needs to be made and we anticipate that’s the case. Everything stops and we say, okay, Noah, who’s the decision maker here? Let’s make that decision. And then we move forward and we go on, have our conversation, give the feedback and the decision maker makes the decision and we both look in the direction of where the decision date and we move forward. And that’s been so important in how we’re doing things. Another one is also renegotiating agreements. This is a big one where trust is such a critical part of the people, people, people part. How do you work together, especially as a startup where there are so many unknowns and people need to have the flexibility and the adaptability? You need to trust one another and you need to trust who’s making the decision. And among the things that gets slowly kind of chipped away in terms of compromising trust is when agreements are not followed up on. And it’s simple things like, oh, I’ll send you that by Friday. And it’s Wednesday the next week and there’s no word of where it is. And the receiver is like, wait, what happened there? I was expecting that. It’s little things like that. And then it’s the bigger things too. I thought we had agreed on this and now you’re doing this. What’s happening? So renegotiating agreements, which is to say that things happen and things change and that’s okay. And so if we can talk about it and renegotiate it, it’s about communication. And then the last one is having hard conversations as often as needed and as soon as possible. And this applies to us in all aspects of our life. The more you avoid it, the more the narratives spin out of your head and creates a really uncomfortable relationship. As co-founders, I would say we apply these to our home and our life. And I really look forward to continuing to have the courage together with Noah to model that we can get this done. I know a lot of people out there in the business world and investors shy away from partnerships like ours because it has the expected baggage that one might anticipate. And it’s important to show that we can model leadership holistically. There’s something special about the co-leadership model that defies some of the behaviors that come with a traditional model. So for example, in academic situations, sometimes there’s a rotating chair of a department. So you’re a chair for two years and then you’re going to be back in a faculty role. When you know you’re going to be in an opposite role or in a consulting role to a different CEO, in this case, it makes you model the behavior of how you would want to be treated both reporting up and reporting down. And so that notion around the respect for the decision-making process and understanding how that makes it so easy to co-lead, there’s something really cool about it. And it feels very different than our last company. And I think it’s hard to model at times, but the rewards of it are far outside the gravity of what you need to do. I love that you’re challenging industry norms, not just with respect to what you’re studying, but how you’re running the organization. I’m sure you’ve inspired many of our listeners today with your entrepreneurial journey. Do you have any advice for our listeners from your learnings as an entrepreneur, or I should say a two-time set of entrepreneurs and as innovators in the healthcare industry? Getting to know myself and listening more to myself and my heart and having the courage to see that, I feel like that’s been the most challenging. It really goes a long way toward contributing to how you show up and the types of people who you magnetize to and magnetize to yourself. And as we described before, people, people, people is such a huge lesson for us. And even right now building our initial team, which we’re proud to say many of whom we’ve worked with in the past, built on trust and really finding people who resonate with you. Another thing that None and I do toward this tendency to have more courage to show up is sharing our personal stories more with our business world and even our team. I think many people feel like that’s super private and it’s not the stuff that’s really private. It’s the stuff like, oh, this happened to us this weekend. And so that’s why this morning meeting had to be pushed later. Stuff that happens in everyone’s life. I think it’s okay to share it. Noah and I sent out an update to our investors recently that shared some really personal stuff that happened to us this summer. And I think some people had responded, thanking us for having the courage to say that. So that’s my advice is having the courage to listen to yourself, even though it feels like the market isn’t really doing that type of thing. Yeah. I always say my own journey is an end of one. So I’ve only been through this life once, as far as I can tell in my consciousness today. And what I’m going to say next is, I don’t know if it’s inherent to someone’s core fabric or core being, but as a professed delusional optimist and someone who lives towards what’s possible, I feel like in general, you don’t need to say that to entrepreneurs in general. However, a core belief that I have is painting out the future of what’s possible and not focusing on the past or the status quo or even the competition. I can’t overemphasize how important that is for me. So that’s what I mean by my experience has been, I live for that future vision. And in combination with Belinda, we live the FIO culture, which is, we see where we’re going, and then we FIO, figure it out. How do we get from here to there? And if you lose sight of that vision or the North Star, take some time to do the work to learn about yourself and get back to that vision. Being a founder or CEO can be a lonely job sometimes. Being a co-CEO is much less lonely. Regarding being an innovator in the healthcare industry, listening to our hearts and showing up as we are authentically is so critical. It’s what healthcare continues to need. It’s a big business engine that’s taken care of so many people and it’s so complex and it needs to be operationally minded. And at the same time, we have to continue to ask ourselves, where are the human beings in all of this? And if we start with ourselves and ask ourselves, how can I be more authentic and human? That goes a long way in terms of how we’re impacting what we’re doing. This is definitely the most inspired I’ve felt in quite a while. And I can’t thank you both enough for joining me on the Pulse podcast today. Belinda, Noah, I really appreciate your time and I can’t wait to see all that people science goes on to achieve for this industry. Thanks, Rachel. It’s great to be here. Thanks for having us. Fun conversation. Thank you.

Embrace your interests and passions, even if they lead you on an unconventional path. Both Belinda and Noah found their calling in entrepreneurship after exploring various roles in medicine and science.

Different backgrounds can lead to unique perspectives and innovative solutions. Their diverse cultural and professional experiences helped shape the philosophy behind PeopleScience.

The journey may not always be smooth or intentional. Be open to adapting your path based on experiences and challenges encountered along the way.

Prioritize the needs and voices of individuals in your work. Understanding what people want and how they engage with health solutions is crucial for success.

Foster trust and communication in partnerships, whether in business or personal relationships. Clear decision-making and renegotiating agreements can help maintain harmony.

Co-leadership can be effective. Working together as co-CEOs, Belinda and Noah demonstrate that shared leadership can enhance decision-making and foster a supportive workplace culture.

Sharing personal stories can strengthen connections with your team and stakeholders. Authenticity can foster trust and understanding in professional relationships.

Maintain a vision for what is possible rather than being bogged down by past challenges or competition. This forward-thinking mindset can drive innovation and resilience.

Educating the market about your solutions is essential. Understanding the value of your work and communicating it effectively can help overcome barriers to adoption.

Approach challenges with a positive mindset and a belief in the potential for change. This optimism can fuel perseverance and inspire those around you.

Both Belinda and Noah had unique childhood dreams—Belinda wanted to be a detective, while Noah aspired to be the President of the United States, showcasing their early curiosity and desire for impact.

They met in the mid-90s during their MD-PhD program at UCLA, where they both developed a passion for science, particularly in fields like microbiology, immunology, and dermatology, laying the groundwork for their future endeavors.

In 2014, they co-founded Science 37, aiming to decentralize clinical trials using technology, which allowed for broader demographic participation and made research more accessible.

After five years of success at Science 37, they left to pursue their vision for PeopleScience, motivated by the desire to explore innovative health solutions outside traditional Western medicine.

Belinda’s upbringing in a Malaysian Chinese household exposed her to traditional Chinese medicine, which influenced her perspective on health and wellness, contrasting with her Western medical training.

Frustrated by the limitations of traditional medical paths, Belinda found entrepreneurship as a way to creatively integrate her diverse interests and training, leading her to feel empowered in shaping her career.

Established in 2019, PeopleScience was born from their shared vision to rigorously study alternative medicine and wellness solutions, addressing a gap in clinical research for non-Western treatments.

The launch of their app, Chloe, exemplified their commitment to user-centered design, allowing individuals to test alternative treatments and view personal results, fostering a sense of community and shared learning.

Their journey reflects a belief in holistic health, blending traditional and modern practices, and emphasizing the importance of patient-centric research in advancing the field of alternative medicine.

Through their story, Belinda and Noah aim to inspire students and young professionals to embrace their unique paths, emphasizing that entrepreneurship can be a powerful avenue for innovation in healthcare.

The founders recognized the value in both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western medicine, leading them to seek a balanced approach that respects both methodologies in their new venture, PeopleScience.

Their previous experience at Science 37 taught them the importance of focusing on people and operationalizing a company around engaging and empowering individuals in research.

They observed ongoing issues in clinical research, particularly the lack of diversity in participation and difficulties in recruiting subjects, which inspired them to create solutions through PeopleScience.

The founders acknowledged a growing trend where consumers are exploring alternative medicine options, indicating a shift in how people approach health and wellness.

They aimed to build a technology platform that could rigorously support evidence generation for alternative medicines, addressing the needs and desires of consumers.

By establishing PeopleScience as a public benefit corporation, they committed to social consciousness and education in health and science, aligning their business model with their mission to serve the public.

They decided to focus on complex, complementary, and alternative medicines, recognizing the challenges of studying these areas with traditional scientific methods.

Their research spans various segments, including probiotics, plant-based medicines, and psychedelics, all of which are complex and require innovative approaches to study.

They emphasized the need for personalized approaches in studying psychedelics, acknowledging the influence of individual backgrounds and experiences on mental health and wellness.

The founders are excited about the rapid growth of the alternative medicine market, believing that their research and platform can contribute significantly to understanding and validating these practices.

The journey begins with a commitment to mission alignment, where the founders prioritize partnerships with clients whose goals resonate with their own, emphasizing the importance of shared values in successful collaborations.

Rather than pursuing outbound marketing, the founders rely on organic interest, allowing clients to approach them based on their innovative work, highlighting the power of reputation and credibility in attracting partners.

They prioritize building relationships with “good people,” recognizing that the right team and partners are essential for tackling complex scientific questions and achieving their goals.

As visionary founders, they grapple with balancing their excitement for numerous ideas with the need for diligent resource allocation, learning to manage inbound inquiries effectively as they refine their focus.

They believe in the transformative power of contextualizing data to individual experiences, which shifts raw data into actionable knowledge, thus enhancing the relevance and applicability of research findings.

Integration of Personal Stories and Science

They advocate for a new framework for generating clinical evidence that acknowledges the complexity of human experiences and medicines, positioning their platform as a bridge between individual stories and scientific validation.

They recognize the hurdles in convincing health plans to invest in food as medicine solutions, advocating for a broader approach to evidence generation that demonstrates long-term health benefits and cost savings.

Their platform is designed to study real people in everyday settings over extended periods, allowing for comprehensive data collection that respects participants’ lifestyles while maintaining scientific rigor.

Ultimately, they aspire to reform the health and wellness industry by leveraging their platform to generate credible evidence that supports innovative health solutions, thereby influencing both individual wellness and broader healthcare economics.

The podcast highlights the founders’ realization of a gap in the market for scalable platforms that facilitate complex dietary and health-related research, prompting them to create a solution that addresses this need.

They identified two main types of B2B clients: those needing full-service study design and execution support, and those requiring a robust, affordable tool for conducting their own studies. This dual focus helps them cater to a broad range of researchers.

Acknowledging the increasing demand for regulatory rigor, they positioned their platform to support clients in navigating the complexities of clinical research, thereby enhancing their credibility and appeal in the market.

They launched the Chloe app as a B2C tool designed not just for tracking but for empowering users to understand their health changes and engage in research participation, thereby creating a community of informed consumers.

The platform targets an empowered demographic that actively seeks wellness solutions, emphasizing their desire for tools that provide actionable insights rather than mere tracking capabilities.

They propose a unique approach to data collection, viewing consumer-generated data as a communal resource that contributes to broader societal benefits, rather than monetizing individual data, which builds trust with users.

By capturing real-world evidence from users’ lived experiences rather than relying solely on clinical records, they differentiate their platform, positioning it as a valuable tool for understanding health in everyday contexts.

The founders express a vision for expanding their platform as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product, making it accessible to more academic and clinical institutions, thus broadening their impact on research.

They highlight ongoing development efforts aimed at enhancing the user interface and experience, ensuring that the platform remains user-friendly while effectively supporting clinical operations.

Throughout their journey, they maintain a strong focus on the participant experience, ensuring that the platform not only serves researchers but also provides value and engagement for users, fostering a collaborative research environment.

The team, composed of experts from public health and community research, engages in one-on-one conversations with users to gather insights that inform the development of Chloe, their mobile app.

They envision Chloe as an infrastructure akin to “railroad tracks,” allowing scientists and communities to utilize their platform to ask diverse questions and conduct research collaboratively.

The founders view challenges not as obstacles but as opportunities, maintaining a positive outlook on market conditions and their ability to scale the platform effectively.

Recognizing that a key barrier to expansion is the market’s understanding of their platform’s value, they focus on educating potential users and investors about their offerings and capabilities.

The company successfully raised $5.3 million in funding, attracting a diverse range of investors from various sectors, including food as medicine and health tech, highlighting the broad applicability of their platform.

The founders emphasize the importance of partnering with investors who share their mission of generating scientific evidence for public good, creating a strong alignment between financial goals and social impact.

Their experience as repeat entrepreneurs gives them credibility in the market, allowing them to effectively communicate their vision and navigate challenges based on past learnings.

The decision to co-lead the company as co-CEOs, particularly as a married couple, reflects their belief in the power of partnership and shared values, which they apply to both their personal and professional lives.

They advocate for the idea that the values guiding their home life should also govern their business practices, fostering a cohesive approach to leadership and decision-making.

The founders recognize the current market’s shift toward holistic well-being, positioning Chloe to meet the growing demand for accessible, science-backed health solutions.

The co-founders reflect on their experiences from their previous company, emphasizing the importance of clear decision-making processes in their current venture.

They recognize that trust is fundamental in a startup environment, where flexibility and adaptability are crucial amidst uncertainty.

The duo highlights the necessity of open communication and the willingness to renegotiate agreements when circumstances change, fostering a culture of accountability.

They advocate for addressing difficult topics promptly to prevent misunderstandings and to maintain healthy relationships within the team.

Emphasizing their unique co-leadership model, they illustrate how mutual respect and understanding of decision-making roles enhance collaboration and organizational culture.

They express their commitment to challenging traditional norms in both their business practices and the healthcare industry, inspiring others to think differently.

The founders share their personal stories with their team and investors, recognizing the power of vulnerability in building connections and trust.

They emphasize the importance of a positive outlook and focusing on future possibilities rather than past failures or competition, which fuels their entrepreneurial spirit.

They stress the need for authenticity in the healthcare industry, advocating for a human-centered approach that prioritizes genuine connections and understanding.

Lastly, they acknowledge the challenges of leadership, noting that co-CEO roles provide mutual support, making the journey less isolating and more fulfilling.

While peptide therapies offer many potential benefits, there are significant safety concerns and the importance of sourcing clean peptides cannot be overstated. This highlights the need for caution and professional guidance in the use of such therapies.

Belinda and Noah emphasize the importance of teamwork, indicating that their achievements are a collective effort rather than individual triumphs.

Their excitement about the conversation suggests a belief in the power of curiosity, driving them to explore new ideas and concepts within their industry.

They express a strong belief in the significance of people science, which likely motivates their work and research to enhance understanding in this field.

Their anticipation for what people science can achieve reflects a belief that their work can lead to meaningful changes and improvements in the industry.

The casual tone of their conversation suggests a belief in lifelong learning, where they remain open to new insights and perspectives.

Their appreciation for the opportunity to engage with others indicates a belief in the importance of building relationships and networking for personal and professional growth.

Their enthusiasm hints at a belief in innovation as a driving force, pushing them to seek out new solutions and approaches within their work.

The willingness to participate in discussions like the podcast suggests a belief in the value of sharing knowledge and experiences with others.

Their excitement about future achievements in people science reveals a belief in a positive outlook for the industry and the potential for growth.

Their gratitude towards the podcast host indicates a belief in the importance of community and collaboration in advancing their field.

Belinda Tan had aspirations of becoming a detective or secret agent during her childhood, inspired by creating pretend secret files from overexposed Kodachrome photos.

Noah Kraft humorously mentioned that he still hasn’t grown up and, as a child, wanted to be the President of the United States, a desire he no longer holds due to the perceived difficulties of the role.

Belinda was born in Malaysia and is ethnically Malaysian Chinese; her first language was a dialect of Chinese called Hokkien before moving to the United States at the age of four.

She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where her family maintained traditional Malaysian culture, including practices related to traditional Chinese medicine.

Belinda experienced a long journey of 14 years of postgraduate training and faced challenges in finding roles that aligned with her interests, ultimately leading her to entrepreneurship for greater creative freedom.

Noah and Belinda met in the mid-90s while enrolled in the MD-PhD program at UCLA, which was a pivotal moment in their professional and personal journey.

They both share a passion for science, having developed expertise in various fields including microbiology, immunology, and dermatology.

Their relationship evolved from academic collaboration to a romantic partnership, blending personal and professional lives.

Belinda describes herself as a “jack of all trades and a master of none” before finding her path in entrepreneurship, where she could integrate her diverse interests and training.

The philosophy behind PeopleScience is deeply influenced by their experiences with traditional medicine, highlighting the contrasts and potential synergies between alternative and Western medicine.

The guest believes in the importance of both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western medicine, valuing the balance between the two.

They emphasize the significance of people in their business model, indicating that their company name, PeopleScience, reflects this focus.

The guest is passionate about addressing the lack of diversity in clinical research and drug development.

They are committed to exploring complex, complementary, and alternative medicines, which they believe have been under-studied.

The guest identifies as an explorer, scientist, and tinkerer, highlighting their curiosity and innovative approach to medicine.

They advocate for a more inclusive and rigorous methodology in studying alternative medicines, differentiating it from traditional methods.

The guest is particularly interested in probiotics, plant-based medicines, and psychedelics, noting the challenges and complexities involved in studying these areas.

They recognize the personal nature of experiences with psychedelics and how cultural backgrounds can influence mental health treatments.

The guest is motivated by the rapid growth and acceptance of alternative medicines in the marketplace, reflecting a shift in consumer choices.

They have chosen to establish PeopleScience as a public benefit corporation, aiming to educate the public about health, science, and medicine.

The guest emphasizes the importance of mission alignment with clients, indicating a preference for partnerships that share similar values and goals.

They highlight the significance of working with “good people” and “fun people,” suggesting that interpersonal relationships are key in their business.

The guest discusses the challenge of managing excitement over numerous ideas while maintaining focus on resource allocation and personal time.

They express a philosophical view on data, stating that contextualizing data to individual experiences transforms it into knowledge and wisdom.

The guest believes in the power of storytelling and data aggregation, likening individual experiences to a “choir” that can influence broader perceptions.

They are particularly passionate about the intersection of food and medicine, indicating a personal interest in this area beyond their professional work.

The guest acknowledges the complexity of human interactions with medicines and emphasizes the need for innovative approaches to clinical trials.

They mention the potential financial benefits of food as medicine solutions, suggesting that preventing diseases through diet could save significant healthcare costs.

The guest is focused on studying real people in their natural environments, aiming to gather long-term data without disrupting their lives.

They express a commitment to maintaining scientific rigor while exploring new methods of evidence generation in the health and wellness industry.

The guest is focused on democratizing clinical research, making it more accessible and less intimidating for those who have never engaged in it before.

They are passionate about capturing real-world evidence from people’s daily lives, which is often overlooked in traditional clinical settings.

The Chloe app is designed not just as a tracker, but as a tool that helps users understand the implications of their health interventions.

The guest emphasizes the importance of consumer engagement in research studies, aiming to create a community of participants who actively contribute to scientific knowledge.

They describe Chloe as a “consumer health learning and organizing ecosystem,” highlighting its role in personal health journeys.

The guest believes that the data generated from individual users is akin to solar energy, contributing to a larger societal benefit without being monetized for sale.

They are excited about the potential partnerships with CPG brands looking for science-backed marketing strategies.

The guest is currently focused on enhancing the user interface and experience of their platform to better serve academic and clinical researchers.

They have a vision of expanding their platform to allow more institutions to launch their own trials, indicating a commitment to growth and innovation.

The guest values the participant experience in clinical studies, ensuring that the platform is user-friendly and engaging for those involved.

The guest emphasizes the importance of community engagement and participatory research, highlighting a deep commitment to understanding user needs through one-on-one conversations.

They view their platform, Chloe, as a form of infrastructure, akin to railroad tracks, designed to support a wide range of scientific inquiries and collaborations.

The guest believes that barriers in the market are opportunities for growth and education rather than obstacles to success.

They express excitement about the current market climate, particularly regarding generational shifts and an increased focus on holistic well-being post-pandemic.

The guest has a diverse investor base that includes stakeholders from various industries, such as consumer goods, psychedelics, and food as medicine, reflecting a broad interest in their platform.

They highlight the significance of mission alignment with their investors, which includes a shared commitment to generating evidence for public good.

The guest is a repeat founder, indicating a wealth of experience in navigating the entrepreneurial landscape.

They are co-CEOs of their company, a unique arrangement that they believe models effective partnership and co-leadership, especially as a married couple.

The guest stresses that the values governing their personal partnership also inform their professional collaboration, showcasing a holistic approach to leadership.

They believe in the power of education and feedback from interactions with potential users to refine their platform and address market needs effectively.

The guest emphasizes the importance of decision-making clarity in a startup environment, where everything stops to identify the decision-maker before proceeding.

Trust is highlighted as a critical component in teamwork, especially in renegotiating agreements to adapt to changing circumstances.

The guest advocates for having hard conversations promptly to avoid misunderstandings and maintain healthy relationships.

They believe in modeling leadership that transcends traditional business norms, particularly through co-leadership with a focus on mutual respect.

The guest finds value in sharing personal stories within a business context, believing it fosters connection and authenticity.

They describe themselves as a “professed delusional optimist,” focusing on future possibilities rather than past challenges or competition.

The guest stresses the importance of self-awareness and listening to one’s heart as essential for personal and professional growth.

They mention that being a co-CEO alleviates the loneliness often associated with being a founder or CEO.

The guest highlights the necessity of maintaining a human-centered approach in the complex healthcare industry.

They express a commitment to authenticity in their work, believing it significantly impacts their effectiveness and the culture they create.

The guest expresses gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the podcast.

They highlight their excitement about the potential impact of “people science” in the industry.

The guest appreciates engaging in a fun conversation during the podcast.

The guest acknowledges the contributions of their co-host or fellow guest, Noah, which indicates a collaborative spirit.

The tone of the guest suggests they value open dialogue and knowledge sharing.

The guest seems to have a positive outlook on future developments in their field.

Belinda wanted to be a detective, inspired by her childhood creativity, while Noah aspired to be the President of the United States, reflecting early ambitions and leadership qualities.

In the mid-90s, Belinda and Noah met while enrolled in the MD-PhD program at UCLA, where they began a shared journey in medical and scientific education.

Belinda, born in Malaysia and raised in the U.S., embraced traditional Chinese medicine, while Noah’s journey led him through various scientific disciplines, ultimately becoming dermatologists with overlapping expertise.

About 15 years ago, they became both business partners and romantically involved, setting the stage for future entrepreneurial ventures.

In 2014, they launched Science 37, a company focused on decentralizing clinical trials, successfully demonstrating the feasibility of conducting research from participants’ homes.

Over five years, they built a technology and logistics platform that broadened participant demographics and made clinical trials more accessible.

In 2019, they left Science 37 to focus on PeopleScience, a platform aimed at rigorous clinical research for alternative medicine and wellness solutions.

Their backgrounds in traditional Chinese medicine and Western science fueled their desire to create a platform that bridges these worlds, addressing gaps in healthcare.

Belinda’s journey through extensive training highlighted the limitations of traditional roles, leading her to embrace entrepreneurship as a means to explore and innovate within the healthcare space.

Their experiences and philosophies converge in their mission at PeopleScience, focusing on alternative medicine’s potential to complement traditional Western medicine, driven by personal and cultural insights.

The founders, Matt and Rachel, have a strong foundation in Western medicine and clinical research, which shaped their understanding of health and science.

They recognized the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in their lives and the lives of their families, leading to a belief in the value of both Western and alternative medical approaches.

Their experience at their last company, Science 37, taught them critical lessons on operationalizing a company and the importance of engaging people in the research process.

They observed ongoing challenges in clinical research, particularly the lack of diversity in participation and difficulties in recruiting individuals, which motivated them to find solutions.

The idea for PeopleScience emerged from their desire to address these challenges by focusing on the needs and perspectives of people in the alternative medicine marketplace.

They established PeopleScience as a public benefit corporation, committing to serve the public by educating them about health, science, and medicine, reflecting their social consciousness.

They emphasized a different methodology for studying complex and alternative medicines, aiming for inclusivity and rigor while engaging the public in the research process.

The company targets a variety of complex, complementary, and alternative medicines, including probiotics, plant-based medicines, and psychedelics, which are often challenging to study using traditional methods.

They recognize the importance of studying psychedelics for both wellness and mental health, acknowledging the complexities involved in personalizing the experience based on individual backgrounds.

They noted a significant and rapid growth in the popularity of alternative medicines globally, with consumers increasingly turning to these options for wellness and health improvement.

The founders recognized a gap in the health and wellness industry, particularly in the credibility of research and the overwhelming number of products making unclear claims.

They focused on building partnerships with clients who share a similar mission, emphasizing the importance of good relationships with individuals who are both fun and aligned with their vision.

As a startup, they faced the challenge of managing resources and time effectively, especially with a plethora of ideas and opportunities available to them.

Rather than pursuing outbound marketing, they relied on inbound interest from clients and partners who reached out based on their innovative approach to research.

They recognized that many clients needed funding for research, leading them to collaborate on raising money philanthropically to support their studies.

The founders emphasized the importance of contextualizing data to individual experiences, transforming raw data into knowledge that can be widely distributed and understood.

They blurred the lines between marketing and science, believing that personal stories combined with aggregated data could enhance the credibility of health products.

Their platform allows for broader, longer-term studies that capture real-world data from individuals in their own environments without disrupting their lives.

They explored the potential of food as a preventative measure against chronic diseases, aiming to generate evidence that could convince health plans to invest in such solutions.

The founders are committed to demonstrating that investing in food-based health solutions can lead to significant cost savings for health plans while improving overall wellness, aligning financial incentives with health outcomes.

The founders identified a gap in the clinical research space, particularly in understanding dietary changes in people’s complex lives, leading to the development of a scalable platform.

They established two primary customer segments: B2B clients needing full-service study design and execution, and B2C users seeking engaging tools for personal health insights through the Chloe app.

They began working with diverse clients, including academic researchers and health and wellness brands, who sought affordable and robust tools for conducting clinical research.

The vision emerged to lower barriers to entry in clinical research, making it accessible for those unfamiliar with the processes involved.

The Chloe app was designed to empower consumers, not merely as a tracker but as a tool that helps users understand their health journeys and participate in research.

The platform targeted health-conscious consumers who are willing to engage in research studies and contribute to scientific knowledge.

The founders emphasized that data generated by users would not be monetized but instead used to enhance individual wellness and contribute to broader scientific understanding.

The platform aimed to capture real-world evidence, emphasizing the lived experiences of individuals, which traditional medical records often overlook.

The company set its sights on expanding its software as a service (SaaS) platform, offering more access to academic and clinical institutions for launching their own trials.

Ongoing development efforts were planned to enhance the backend of the platform, ensuring a seamless user experience while conducting studies and improving clinical operations.

The team began by engaging in one-on-one conversations with users, leveraging expertise from public health and community participatory research to identify user needs and insights.

The concept of Chloe was framed as an infrastructure akin to “railroad tracks,” designed to support various scientific inquiries and allow different communities to contribute their unique questions and materials.

Initially, the team offered to manage studies directly for users who lacked the expertise or resources, establishing a hands-on approach to building trust and understanding user needs.

The vision evolved into creating an accessible ecosystem that connects everyday individuals with scientists, aiming to empower millions through the Chloe mobile app.

Recognizing the challenges of educating the market about the platform’s value became a critical focus, with the team viewing these challenges as opportunities for growth and refinement.

The company successfully raised $5.3 million in a C2 funding round led by Acre Venture Partners, highlighting the increasing investor interest in innovative health solutions.

The investor group was diverse, encompassing sectors like consumer goods, psychedelics, and food as medicine, reflecting the multifaceted approach of the platform.

Investors were attracted not only to the potential financial returns but also to the mission of generating scientific evidence for public good, creating a strong alignment between the company’s goals and investor interests.

The founders’ previous startup experience played a significant role in their fundraising success, as they leveraged their established credibility and insights from earlier ventures to articulate their vision effectively.

The decision to operate as co-CEOs, especially as a married couple, was rooted in their belief in partnership dynamics, demonstrating that shared leadership can thrive in both personal and professional realms.

The founders reflect on lessons learned from their last company, emphasizing the importance of clear decision-making processes.

They implement a system where major decisions pause all conversations to identify the decision-maker, ensuring clarity and accountability.

They recognize the importance of trust in a startup environment and establish practices for renegotiating agreements to maintain flexibility and adaptability.

They highlight the need for open communication to address unmet expectations and ensure that agreements are honored, fostering trust among team members.

The founders commit to having hard conversations promptly to prevent misunderstandings and maintain healthy relationships, both personally and professionally.

They adopt a co-leadership approach that contrasts with traditional models, fostering mutual respect and understanding of decision-making processes.

The founders encourage sharing personal stories within their team to build connections and authenticity, recognizing the value of vulnerability in leadership.

They emphasize the importance of maintaining a forward-looking perspective, prioritizing the vision for the future over past experiences or competition.

The founders stress the need for authenticity in the healthcare industry, advocating for a human-centered approach amidst its complexities.

They acknowledge the loneliness of leadership roles but find solace and strength in their partnership as co-CEOs, fostering a supportive environment for innovation.

Rachel welcomes Belinda and Noah to the podcast, setting a positive tone for the conversation.

Rachel shares her excitement about the potential impact of “people science” in the industry, hinting at a broader context of innovation and change.

The participants engage in light banter, establishing a friendly atmosphere conducive to open dialogue.

The conversation is directed towards how people science can transform industry practices, suggesting a forward-thinking approach.

The guests recognize the importance of collaboration in achieving industry advancements, emphasizing teamwork.

The discussion aligns with the podcast’s theme of exploring innovative ideas and their implications in various fields.

Rachel encourages Belinda and Noah to share their insights and experiences, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of their work.

The conversation fosters a sense of community among listeners, promoting engagement with the topics discussed.

The closing remarks reflect a shared commitment to progress and innovation in the industry, leaving the audience inspired for future developments.