In late 2023, following a surf sesh in Manhattan Beach, I had an idea. What if your health data could personalize your resort stay — before you even checked in?
Not just through aggregation, but through a fully harmonized framework that could ingest variable data (genetics, diagnostics, wearables, etc.) and be built in such a way that all future scientific and testing advancements could be easily integrated.
At the time, I was in diligence to acquire a beachfront resort in Costa Rica. I thought, if we could set a guests Baseline we could personalize arrival through departure — based on their biology — enabling quantitative analysis of a holiday.
I knew we were staring down the barrel of a 24-month construction timeline, so why not spin the IP into its own consumer longevity platform. This would strengthen our genomic database, let us gamify the users experience, and build the harmonized infrastructure needed for the future hospitality play.
We all know ideas mean nothing without execution, and my personal ability to execute here was limited by the fact I’m not a scientist, nor highly technical, so I was relegated to a “who not how” mentality — which became a blessing in disguise.
Seven months, two prototypes, and a few hundred grand later... I had nothing to show for it and the first two dev teams — Were. Not. It. Minus, Sam. We love Sam.
But you iterate until you get it right... right?
We lacked a rare expertise — someone who understood both the technical and scientific worlds (what I’ve come to learn is called multi-omics) to unify fragmented health data. Making it both usable, and more importantly, actionable for the user.
Queue Summer 2024: I was headed to Kefalonia, Greece for a resort consulting gig and retreat I was facilitating. As always, I added a few stops — Istanbul up front to meet up with some friends in town for a wedding, and Italy after with my girlfriend.
Morning of the wedding, we got the nod. Brian secured a +1. If the games were about to begin, I needed a suit, fast — so we hit the bazaar.
Moments before a $75 suit entered my life
We arrived in style, as one could only hope.
Somewhere along the Bosphorus Straight
I sat with Gabby at dinner. Clueless to her profession, but had known her for years.
Turns out she's a legend (I knew that) and runs B2B sales for the “Google of Genetics” out of Belgrade, Serbia. I shared what I had been working on, and she mentioned their principal scientist, Nikola Skundric.
"Screwing in a light bulb" dance move not pictured.
The night took on a life of its own and may or may not be the origin story of Kelvin...
Anywho, a few weeks later I was on what was meant to be a quick chat with Nikola that turned into a 3hr brainstorm about the potential of a unified longevity platform.
We hit it off and started talking weekly, swapping ideas and personal stories about how gaps in healthcare had shaped our lives. I’d lost my mom and best friend to cancer in my teens; Nikola, his grandfather and father, as well as self-diagnosed pre-stage cancer at 24, saving his live — which his doctor refused to test for.
I tried to recruit him for the next few months. As you'd assume, that would be quite challenging given the circumstances. He laughed it off and knew I couldn't afford him. Nonetheless, I had planted the seed of an alternative reality.
Before I go on, it's worth mentioning at this point most thought I'd completely lost my marbles, and my runway was dwindling. That only pressurized the situation, and one night I shared with my girlfriend that I was going to burn the boats. She didn't blink, and without her support I wouldn't be writing this email today.
Shortly thereafter, as if a sign from being willing to go all in, Nikola called.
His team of PhD bio-software engineers, who’ve spent nearly a decade developing 100+ projects together, including a $10B cancer drug, were ready for something new. I knew their credibility made raising capital pre-product and pre-revenue possible, but still, I had no money.
For context. A few years ago, I bet on myself. I maxed three credit cards to become a Tony Robbins Platinum Partner — for no reason other than it felt right. That experience led to the Costa Rica resort acquisition, exponentially expanding my network, and helped shape my mindset by arming me with a question to ask in the face of adversity:
"If there was a way, what would it be?"
This presupposes your subconscious has the answer, as it often does.
Date with Destiny — December 9, 2021
I knew I needed to buy myself some runway and ended up successfully negotiating a 90-day salary deferral in exchange for a signing bonus and founding equity, both for the genomics and development team (s/o Lubo).
I agreed to share visibility into my fundraising efforts if asked and they could expect their first paycheck on May 30th. I was extremely clear this was not a guarantee, and they'd be taking a risk, too.
Tip: Rejection is not just redirection, it's an opportunity to build a relationship. *See below.
I had been pounding the pavement for months, asking for every intro I could source. I even scraped the entire NfX investor database to cold email ~3,200 Pre-Seed HealthTech VC's. (722 Responses, 256 Calls Booked, All 'NO', Tough)
Either I’m not a great fundraiser (entirely possible), or it’s damn near impossible for a founder without a previous exit to convince a VC to back something that’s not been done before, let alone in consumer. I like to think it’s the latter.
Regardless, repetition is the mother of skill, and necessity is the mother of invention. I was learning how to play the game, and, I now had a defined timeline.
Instead of doubling down, I set a new standard.
I told myself I would not openly invite anyone into the round until we shook hands. This made me more selective, intentional, and thoughtful and changed the energy I brought into conversation. Travel selection was simple — if it felt right, I leaned in.
Great in principle, challenging in practice. From March to May, I took 17 red-eyes, logged over a eighty thousand miles, and unapologetically made every ask I could think of. No checks, and I was running out of time.
At the time, the fund I was most bullish on said they'd be in NY on Friday. I booked a flight that day mentioning ("I just happen to be in town, too.")
*Remember when I mentioned scraping the NfX investor list? One of those cold emails was to Diary of a CEO’s venture arm, Flight Fund. I reached out to Danny Gray, their investment manager at the time. They passed on investing, but Danny and I hit it off due to our share background in hospitality. Relevance?
At dinner the investor mentioned he had been trying for months to source tickets to Black Sabbath's final sold out show on July 5th in Birmingham, UK. He thought nothing of the comment, I took notice and voice noted Danny from the airport.
He replied less than 12 hours later... "sorted" Mic. Drop.
I sent the tickets hoping it might help my chances of landing a check — but I decided there we no strings attached. They thanked me, then went on holiday till the end of May. RATS!! They had no idea my impending doom.
Time passed and the fateful 30th of May arrived.
Having no commitments or visibility into the timing of a wire I stepped in front of the conversation and sent everyone on the team a variation of the following.
Reading the responses still make me tear up. The sentiment was universal.
Immediate crisis averted, but the job wasn't done, and if there was an opportunity to put some points on the board I was going to take it. I had to take it.
Saturday the 31st, I flew to NY for Tech Week (missing my girlfriend’s bday, ily Nat). I landed at JFK, cabbed into the city, and less than 48 hours after the team affirmed their faith in me, as if another sign, the NY dinner materialized:
I shared the news with the team that week. Everyone took a breath, then got back to work. The 2nd commitment came just over a week later. The 3rd is imminent.
A month late, but on June 30th, our Serbian office received their first paycheck. Nikola took them to dinner to celebrate, and I had one thing up my sleeve.
They’d bet their livelihoods on me — from nothing more than a vision of the future that might have saved my mom’s life without ever meeting me in person.
This deserved a surprise visit! What was one more red-eye? Ha!
Belgrade, Serbia — June 30th, 2025
I'm not a big gambler, but I'd be willing to, and have, bet it all on this team.
Oh, and remember that Black Sabbath concert.
Villa Park Stadium
Birmingham, UK — July 5th, 2025
The story you share tomorrow is the one you’re living today.
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