It Takes Two: Emily Hochman, Founder, and CEO of Wellory, and Kelly Kopchik Goldstein, Principal at Harlem Capital
Ask anyone you know about the things they want to improve on and eating healthy or losing weight will be a common answer. In the past few years, we have seen a boom of apps and programs meeting the demand of increased consumer awareness to health and longevity. According to a study by the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness economy is currently valued at $4.5 trillion with healthy eating and nutrition valued at $702 billion. Yet this is an industry strife with inequality and a lack of representation. One founder is set to change that and that founder is Emily Hochman and her team at Wellory.
Emily Hochman is the Founder and CEO of Wellory, a wellness app with the mission to encourage healthy eating in an accessible manner. The app partners customers with a certified nutrition coach who will offer a personalized plan. In December of last year, Wellory raised a $4.5M seed round with Harlem Capital leading and Tinder co-founders Sean Rad & Justin Mateen, Ground Up Ventures, and wellness guru Hannah Bronfman participating.
Kelly Kopchik Goldstein is (newly minted) Principal at Harlem Capital. Harlem Capital is set on the mission to change the face of entrepreneurship by investing in 1000 diverse founders over the next 20 years. So far, the team has invested in companies like Blavity, Cash Drop, Paladin, and Repeat.
In this interview, we sit down with Hochman and Kopchik Goldstein to hear more about their partnership, their insights on the wellness industry, and how they hope to inspire other women in venture capital and entrepreneurship.
How did you two meet?
Kelly Kopchik Goldstein: Emily came very highly recommended by Rachel at Imagination Capital. and I’ve rarely seen Jarrid (Tingle, partner at Harlem Capital) so excited about a founder. He just saw the same CEO energy that we’ve seen in female CEOs who have taken their companies to IPO this year. I had just returned from parental leave and it was so exciting to jump back into work especially connecting with a founder like Emily.
On the first call, she just had this great energy and passion for what she was building but she was also very data-driven, analytical, and extremely resourceful. She passed the founder market fit with flying colors. Not only was I excited to know her as a founder but also get to know her personally because she seemed like an incredible woman.
Emily Hochman: As I was raising my seed round, I met with Jarrid and Kelly for an initial call. Right off the bat, I just felt the spark and knew that I needed to work with these two as I was building this company. They asked really poignant questions, they communicated clearly during the entire investment process, and there was a mutual understanding in that we were supporting each other to achieve goals as founders and investors.
What was the moment that inspired you to start Wellory?
Emily: The need for Wellory came from personal experience. I participated in several diet programs to the point that I got very sick. Instead of taking medication, I thought there had to be a better way to cure myself and found that nutrition was the answer.
I was able to get better all through changing my diet and then became obsessed with the power of food as medicine. And when I really looked at the market, I realized there was nothing out there that was helping consumers learn how to eat, what to eat, why to eat, and really making personalized nutrition a part of the conversation.
There were a lot of weight loss programs where you could sign up to lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but how do these programs change the way we think about food? How are we bringing healthy, eating and personalized dieting, but really personalized eating, to the forefront of conversation? How are we making it accessible and affordable?
To get a sense of the wellness industry, I went to a school called the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and became a certified health coach. Through that experience, I learned over a hundred different dietary theories and the one that stood out was bio-individuality.
That means one person’s food is another person’s poison. Through these learnings, I was able to cure myself of my chronic illness through trial and error and also understand the importance of a balanced meal. Once I was cured, I shared my experience and learned everyone had their own experience or relationship with food too, but no one really knew where to turn. People were spending hours and hours on Google trying to find information but couldn’t come to any conclusions. They were missing experts, personalized solutions, and information suited for them.
I started talking to the health practitioners in the wellness industry and they were lamenting on the struggles of finding customers because the technology was antiquated and lacking innovation. This got me thinking that there could be a solution to connect the millions of digitally active Americans who are struggling with a healthy diet to the thousands of nutrition experts who are ready to support them. And now here we are, about 2 years later.
I participated in several diet programs to the point that I got very sick. Instead of taking medication, I thought there had to be a better way to cure myself and found that nutrition was the answer.
How does Wellory fit into the nutrition and wellness landscape?
Emily: One of my mission statements as a business is to make it to Capitol Hill and advocate for the lack of public education in nutrition. We see Wellory as a platform to educate and inform people on the benefits of healthy nutrition. It’s not about maximizing or increasing your costs at the grocery but rather encouraging you to create micro habits that lead to a lifelong change.
By starting our platform with an education-forward mindset, it makes it easier for us to distribute our content to anyone, regardless of socioeconomic or geographical status. There is an opportunity to make a huge impact on teaching people how to make these smart nutrition decisions.
Kelly: One thing to add is that Emily saw another great opportunity to create a consumer-driven platform that could gain traction in selling to a broader audience which the typical wellness industry often leaves out. On the topic of food as medicine, Wellory can be a resource that employers can offer to employees as a benefit.
Kelly, why did you and the Harlem Capital team decide to invest in Wellory?
Kelly: Wellory’s missions resonated with me on a personal level. I had an eating disorder growing up, a mother with diabetes, and was just pregnant with my first baby so nutrition has just been constantly on my mind. Outside of work, I’m also a certified yoga instructor where the teachings of food as medicine are a core value.
From an investor perspective, I also saw Wellory tapping into a huge market opportunity when it came to increasing the focus on health and wellness in America. The country is going through a nutrition crisis because none of the solutions are working. The anti-diet approach to wellness that Wellory is taking taps into the cultural trends we’re seeing with millennials and Gen Z who are focused on feeling good rather than losing weight.
In combination with the industry and market opportunity, a huge part of investing at this early stage is betting on the founder. In terms of founder-market fit, she had great energy, is an effective communicator, vast knowledge in startups and nutrition, as well as the ability to lead the business right off the bat. Downloading the app was an enjoyable experience and made it easy to see how they were able to attain 95% retention with just a team of two. Emily had to outsource the technical work to an agency and it was so great to see how she was able to keep them motivated and passionate about the product.
Based on investing and founding Wellory, where do you see the next few years in terms of technology-enabled food companies?
Emily: People don’t want to talk about weight loss in their wellness journey. It is such an antiquated and vicious cycle where you just end up in this lonely willpower and develop a poor relationship with food. People are gravitating towards a healthy relationship with food and the importance of incorporating self-care and mental health into this mindset. What we’re building at Wellory helps to solve for longevity — we’re focused on long-term fixes and feeling good rather than short-term solutions.
Kelly: Just adding to what Emily said, I think we are starting to see how food integrates with different aspects of your fitness and mental wellness. As we see more trends of people leaning into environmentally sustainable diets like vegetarianism, there need to be technological solutions that support them in terms of guidance and tips. Technology can also make the resources that Wellory offers more accessible to those that the wellness space has often left behind.
People don’t want to talk about weight loss in their wellness journey. It is such an antiquated and vicious cycle where you just end up in this lonely willpower and develop a poor relationship with food.
As two women in an industry striving for equality, are there things you are optimistic about and things that you’re tired of seeing?
Emily: I can’t stress enough how much I love the Harlem Capital team and how clear they are in their mission. Any piece of content they publicly put out together reflects their mission of investing in 1000 diverse founders. I’m so inspired by how they apply this mindset to their investment thesis and their clarity encourages others in the investment community to think critically about how and who they choose to invest in. They’ve done such a great job of creating leadership when it comes to changing the face of entrepreneurship.
For me personally, I try to engage in as many discussions that partake in empowering the female founder voice. It’s my hope that as the next generation of female founders is looking for inspiration they can see my story and say “Well if Emily can do it, then I can do it.” “If Harlem can support a founder like Emily, then they can support me.”
As you’re building a company, it is also important to be committed to diversity from day one and staying true to it. It may take longer to hire early employees as you’re trying to build and ramp up quickly but that effort early will be a great investment to your company in the long run. In the spirit of sharing statistics, our company is 80% female, and 20% of our employees identity as people of color.
Kelly: I would say I am tired of the lip service. I think a lot of companies have made statements about fighting for racial and gender equity, but not as many have taken action. For example, there are teams of investors who have said they want to invest in more diverse founders, but fail to build diverse teams from the inside.
If investors focus on building a diverse team, it will reflect in the firm portfolio and investment opportunities. There isn’t some secret sauce to this but rather a small change that has immense impact.
That said, there are increasingly more firms investing in underrepresented founders. It makes me optimistic that diverse founders and teams will receive funding and begin to generate wealth that will be reinvested into more women and people of color. We still have a long way to go which can be frustrating at times but there is hope.
If investors focus on building a diverse team, it will reflect in the firm portfolio and investment opportunities. There isn’t some secret sauce to this but rather a small change that has immense impact.
Kelly, what is one piece of advice that you would give to founders who hope to pitch you based on your experience with Emily and the Wellory team?
Kelly: Don’t be afraid to show your big vision when you’re pitching a company. Start off really strong and have confidence in yourself and your ability to communicate your goals to an investing team.
Also, “know your customer!” Based on my experience working in consumer marketing and brand development, I really appreciated how much effort and research Emily put into understanding her customer, market trends, and the trajectory of the industry. If the people that you are building for are not excited about your product or business, then it doesn’t matter.
Emily, what are two mantras that keep you grounded as you navigate this founder journey?
Emily : Be fiscally responsible. I think it’s really important to be a responsible risk taker because you’re not going to make your first million dollars in that first year. It’s important to have a financial plan and make sure that you have enough money saved to take care of yourself and pay rent. This allows you to commit full brain power into how to solve a problem and how your business can take off.
And my second piece of advice is to have patience. Everything in growing a successful business takes time and effort and nothing magically happens overnight. So buckle in, and get ready for a bumpy ride!
Kelly, what advice would you give for anyone who is hoping to break into VC?
Kelly: Start acting like a VC before you actually are. Think about your own investment thesis and what you are excited about. Ask yourself if there is an industry that you’re interested in, what companies would you invest in if you had the capital, and if you have the means, allocate your personal capital into these companies. This is also great for starting conversations with current VCs.
I can personally attest to how challenging entering the world of VC is, but I love when aspiring VCs reach out with companies that align with our mission and offer to make intros to their founders. Building those habits now is going to definitely pay off in the long term. This gives you the opportunity to trust yourself and your instincts.
Take the leap. The imposter syndrome isn’t going to go away but I don’t worry because I have an awesome and supportive team that I work with each day. Surrounding yourself with a team that trusts you and values your insights is going to be really important not just in breaking into the industry but also building a great community of friends and mentors.
Last question for you two. What are the three things getting you through quarantine?
Kelly: Definitely conversations like this one. I’m really fortunate to work in an industry where you can talk to so many varied and interesting people on a regular basis. I’ve also been spending most of quarantine in Arizona and have really come to embrace hikes and mountain biking. Another plus side is just having the opportunity to see my daughter Freya every day and be close to her. She’s really such a joy!
Emily: I’m so unbelievably blessed to work on something that I’m passionate about, so in a way work is getting me through the quarantine. I feel a sense of purpose and fulfilment in what I’m doing and creating. I’m also a big believer in balance so also grateful for a glass of wine post-work and spending time with my quarantine pup, Rupert.
