When the idea clicks, entrepreneurs go for it 🏃‍♂️

Have you ever considered that adopting the mindset of a child might be just the thing that helps you think beyond your perceived limitations?

When Jason Moore, founder of Elite HRV and Spren, had children of his own, he never realized how educational and insightful the experience would be.

“Adults, who think of themselves as responsible and thoughtful, always ask, ‘Why?’ ‘Why would you do this?’ or ‘Why is this the way it is?’ But children? They always ask, ‘Why not?’ ‘Why not that?’ or ‘Why wouldn't this thing be the way it is?’ …And it’s this mindset that really helps us be more open to opportunities and identify the things we might be holding on to.”

And in his case, that meant developing an app and taking risks that quite literally save people’s lives.

Growing up, entrepreneurship was the norm

“My childhood was not ‘normal,’ I learned later. My dad was an entrepreneur, and there were some high highs and some low lows, but I didn’t know that was not the ‘normal life’ people think of. It taught me a lot, even as a kid, that if you put yourself out there, there are some pretty interesting rewards that can be had…”

Though Jason’s upbringing may have been a little different than that of most of his peers, it was filled with experiences that all came together to set him up for success later on.

At just six years old, he and his dad built a computer together, instilling a fascination with all things technology.

Throughout childhood, he was always involved in sports too, fulfilling his love of being active and healthy competition.

And as the oldest of three siblings, and having many younger cousins as well, he took on the role of a helper, supporting those around him through their own struggles with new perspectives and big kid wisdom.

These traits became the very things that led to his own journey into entrepreneurship.

After college, Jason was essentially helping build software that does data analytics, using sensor data from equipment out in the oil field, and using that for preventative and predictive maintenance.

At the same time, he was getting back into health and fitness, taking his own physical well-being more seriously after a little down time during college.

This is where the ah-ha moment happened: Why not take this preventative maintenance stance toward our own health?

He came across a marker that serves as sort of a “check engine light” for our bodies, with some compelling research to back it.

And since there weren’t really any tools that made it easy and affordable to monitor, he and his then-roommate teamed together to create an app the market was greatly lacking.

Learning lessons that lead to confidence

“And it's a continuous learning process. It’s not so much, gaining the confidence that I would know what to do at the next steps… But it’s more about gaining the confidence that I could learn what to do at the next step.”

There’s no denying that Jason’s upbringing had a hand in his success as an entrepreneur.

Even if he wasn’t intentionally learning, seeing his dad’s hustle and drive to create a better way is something that became ingrained in him.

When it came to being parents, they worked hard to instill values in their children, but they also let things happen organically.

This way of life translated seamlessly into Jason’s entrepreneurial efforts, understanding that a plan can be put in place, but oftentimes, it’s going to change.

“It seems like when those opportunistic leaps come, they're very difficult to predict. And when they come, they're often counterintuitive. In a sense, you have to leave a position of security to leap out and grab them.”

Knowing what to go for and what to leave behind can be challenging though.

His wife and teammate, Alyssa, who is an engineer with a lot of training in preventing catastrophe, provided a fresh perspective that served to level out any extreme ideas.

But growth doesn’t always come without risk.

Having planned for these moments, they worked hard to build up a bit of a safety net straight out of college–and lucked out from some stocks doing exceptionally well–providing support while they inevitably made a handful of mistakes, always learning along the way.

And as Jason reminds us, we don’t always need to know what to do next.

We just need to know that we can figure it out when we get there.

Even ‘entrepreneurs at heart’ experience challenges

“In some ways, there's a healthy dose of delusion early in your entrepreneur journey that basically makes you jump out and take those types of leaps. Thankfully for us in our journey, we've been able to cling to the rock face a little bit and not fall to our deaths.”

Admitting to experiencing “delusional excitement” when it comes to big ideas, Jason understands that any successful decision won’t be made on a whim.

Over the years, this has led to some intentional growth when it comes to communicating with others, especially Alyssa.

Learning from each other and understanding how each other thinks allows them to anticipate how they might react in certain situations.

This has served as a great grounding exercise, forcing Jason to stop and think things through before approaching someone with an idea.

It’s also allowed him to take risks in a way that’s more calculated and predictable, especially when it came to investing in a new, bolder “model” that could potentially affect their biggest revenue stream.

“Collectively, our team, along with our stakeholders, decided we wanted to go for the ambitious vision. If we don’t cannibalize our own sort of legacy revenue, somebody else will.”

And for those moments when doubt tries to creep back in?

Initially, this brought up some fear and doubts that it was the right decision. Ultimately, the “fear” that someone else would take the ball and run with it was worse, though.

Overcoming struggles with intentionality

“The more I took part in conversations I wasn’t entirely confident about, the more I realized, a lot of people don't know what they're doing, and experience doesn't necessarily guarantee that you have the right answer.”

Even though Jason had a mentor in his father, a partner and teammate that perfectly complemented him, and endless lessons learned from previous “failures,” moments of struggle still presented themselves.

Impostor Syndrome seemed to pop up most when he found himself in a position where people he viewed as smarter than him were looking to him for guidance.

At that moment, there’s no one else to look to because you’re at the top.

But this is where his mindset came into play–pulling inspiration from his childhood and his own children to remind himself, he belongs there.

“Maybe I don’t understand this right away. But I’ll ask questions and pair that with my increasing level of experience, as well as my principles and values. And then I ask the question, ‘Why not?” Now, I feel a lot less Imposter Syndrome. And it's not because I feel like I have the answers to everything, it's just because navigating that conversation has gotten more comfortable.”

Along with Impostor Syndrome, moments of burnout are very common among entrepreneurs. Luckily, Jason was able to nip that in the bud before it became a problem.

Because he was working on building a company whose early focus was balancing stress and recovery, he had access to experts and knowledge on how to manage these.

He also makes intentional decisions that directly affect his mental and physical well-being, like keeping TVs out of the home and going for a walk multiple times a week.

“Food, sleep, exercise, stress, friends, who you spend your time with… All of these things will either be additive or subtractive from your life. nd so, you just have to balance it. Otherwise, you throw your whole life purely into this one thing and all of your self-worth gets tied up into it. We need the balance of health and well-being.”

What keeps him going? It’s the people he serves

“We're grateful to have such an impact on people, and it's really hard to stop when you know that there are more people who could get that level of help from you.”

Taking moments to reflect throughout this journey, Jason has realized that while Alyssa is a very internally-motivated person, he’s pushed to higher levels of ambition when other people depend on him.

And when you create an app that helps people take their health into their own hands, they depend on you in quite a literal sense.

As people started using the app, Jason received emails that fueled him and gave him more purpose.

Some were as simple as, “I learned something about myself today.”

But others expressed that he saved their life. Not in the metaphorical sense either, but truly, “I didn't die because I was using your product.”

These emails became a source of inspiration for him to continue providing for those who depend on him…

Not just the customers, but the stakeholders as well.

“As we raised capital and grew the team, now there’s more dependencies. People were deriving real livelihoods from the company. They wanted meaningful work with good income and a positive work environment… There’s all these reasons to try and elevate my own performance.”

In seeking growth, not only professional but personal, Jason has surrounded himself with genuinely good people.

He listens to his customers and tries new things that will ultimately enrich their lives and lead to a better product.

Along the way, he always remains transparent and if something doesn’t go according to plan, people see a genuine, caring human on the other side, doing their best.

“We‘ve been lucky that our customers, partners, investors, team… Have been that way and so we've been able, as a whole group, to continue to grow, accomplish more, and make mistakes together. And that makes it so much easier.”

Key takeaways from a life of entrepreneurship

Though it hasn’t always been easy, Jason’s been faced with many opportunities for growth along his journey so far. And when it comes to learning from mistakes and reflecting on successes, here’s what he’s uncovered so far:

🌱 Personally learn and grow faster than your company grows

Prioritize personal growth and watch how that affects the way your company grows too

🌱 Some part of your business has to be different than anything else out there

You can learn from others' journeys, but your customers and stakeholders have to easily understand and value that difference (could be as simple as location, or as complex as a new game changing innovation)

🌱 Don't ignore "founder-market fit" and "founder-model fit"

Make sure your business model is something you can passionately live and breathe and be great at

🌱 Prioritize transparency

Share both your successes and your failures generously and as openly as possible with the people around you

🌱 Solve real problems for real people

Don’t make it about the money–make it about the difference you can make in people’s lives

When’s the last time you audited your own wellness?

You get plenty of advice. What you rarely get is a pause. Each month, we’ll share a simple prompt to help you step out of execution mode and consider what “founding well” looks like in your world right now.

The holiday season has a way of making everything feel like it needs to be wrapped up with a bow—projects, plans, even emotions.

But not everything in our lives is meant to be finished on demand. Some things are allowed to stay undone for a while.

Feel free to pull out old fashioned pen and paper, or create a new doc just for journaling, and spend a few focused moments thinking about the following:

• Where am I trying to force a decision before I’m actually ready to make one?
• What’s one thing I can set down–not solve–just for today?
• Where in my life has giving something time actually worked out before?
• What would it look like to trust that clarity can arrive on its own timeline?

There’s no right or wrong answer. If nothing comes up, that’s okay too! Use this as space to notice what is real for you today. A few messy lines are enough.

If you're comfortable sharing your insights with us, let us know at foundingwell@vallelegal.com.