Yona Shtern | Changing Lives of the Sleep Deprived

The Lesson: Many major chronic health disturbances like depression and inadequate sleep are treated in the west with self-serving temporary crutches like prescription drugs. When Yona Shtern was taking over the helm of a publicly-traded wellness wearable company Hapbee, his normal understanding that he could create value for investors flipped after having the first good night of sleep he could remember using their product. Now, he sees his powers of growing a business directly correlates to the number of people he can help—veterans, prison guards, caretakers, and it's giving him new purpose.

Notable Excerpt: "I wasn't able to sleep at night, quite frankly. I became a believer because I became a user, and then something really unforeseen happened to me. I was maybe in the chair for two weeks when I started getting LinkedIn messages from people saying they had tried the product and that it had changed their lives, and if there was any way they could help us out. I felt I had a responsibility to get this into the hands of more people, and figure out a way to change people's lives."

The Guest: Yona is a serial entrepreneur who has successfully scaled disruptive businesses in technology and consumer goods. He was CEO of Arrive (digital parking), CEO of Beyond the Rack (e-commerce marketplace) and Board Member at Swap.com (resale marketplace). Today, Yona is the Chairman and CEO of Hapbee – a publicly-traded company whose wearable wellness technology is on a mission to improve the lives of 10 million people.

Yona was also Start Up Canada’s Entrepreneur of The Year in 2014 and is a frequent speaker to management students at McGill University (his alma mater), Yale and at many start-up and business conferences.

The Product: Hapbee is the next generation of wearable wellness technology. Hapbee is a chemical free solution to help with sleep, performance, and mood, all without side-effects. Unlike other wearables that simply monitor your health, Hapbee gives you the power to actively change it.

LGC listeners can receive a 10% discount on Hapbee with promo code "goodnews" to be applied at checkout. Visit hapbee.com/goodcurrency

Episode Resources:

Hapbee | Website

Hapbee | Facebook

Hapbee | Instagram