He Left Harvard to Help His Mom and Built a $25 Million Nutrition Business

Since he was “a bizarre little child,” Sam Faycurry aspired to attend Harvard Enterprise Faculty. So, when he obtained accepted to the distinguished program, he and his household have been thrilled.

However life had different plans. Whereas serving to his mom and sister, each registered dietitians, begin their enterprise, Faycurry stumbled into an untapped enterprise alternative. He and his accomplice Mark Stefanski based Fay, a digital platform that connects individuals with registered dietitians (RDs) who supply customized diet counseling and settle for insurance coverage.

Quickly, Faycurry realized he could not attend Harvard and run the enterprise on the identical time. So, he dropped one dream to pursue one other.

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In the present day, at 31, he’s the co-founder and CEO of Fay, which has raised $25 million in funding and is quickly altering the panorama and accessibility of diet counseling. He talked with me about his journey from serving to relations to main a venture-backed startup on the most recent episode of the One Day with Jon Bier podcast. Listed here are 5 key entrepreneurial classes Faycurry realized alongside the way in which.

Get down and soiled

Faycurry believes expertise is the very best instructor. Fairly than merely learning find out how to begin a enterprise, he says it is equally essential to get your palms soiled and simply do it.

“You learn these books and so they’re all the time speaking about, ‘Do not do issues that do not scale.’ What the f— does that imply?” he says. “However then you definitely’re sitting there and also you’re doing issues that do not scale, and you are like, ‘Oh, shit. That is what they imply.'” This hands-on strategy allowed Faycurry to deeply perceive the issues within the diet business and develop tailor-made options.

Swallow your pleasure

Constructing a profitable startup means checking your ego on the door, and setting apart your pleasure to do menial jobs that may really feel like they need to be another person’s downside.

For instance, Faycurry remembers his mouth being bone dry from having to lick his fingers to separate mounds of paperwork. “It isn’t till you are doing that that you simply’re realizing, ‘Oh, that is what it means to be low ego.'”

However he says a willingness to deal with unglamorous duties head-on was essential in understanding the intricacies of the business.

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Clear up actual issues, not mental workout routines

Earlier than constructing Fay, he admits to beginning firms that have been “extra like mental masturbation.” He describes these early makes an attempt as “horrible concepts” that nobody actually wanted. It wasn’t till he centered on fixing an actual, tangible downside for his relations that he discovered success.

“If you’re on this mental state, one could possibly be eager about a whole lot of issues to resolve,” he says. “Nonetheless, when I discovered myself serving to my mother and my sister begin their dietetics personal apply, I began to simply uncover issues that folks perhaps by no means noticed earlier than.”

Be keen to pivot out of your unique plan

Regardless of his lifelong dream of attending Harvard Enterprise Faculty, Faycurry made the tough choice to drop out when Fay began gaining traction. “It was essentially the most difficult choice as a result of it meant a lot to be provided to my household,” he explains. “Nobody in my household had ever gone there and it was a giant supply of pleasure.” This means to adapt and prioritize the enterprise over private objectives was essential for Fay’s progress.

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Keep hungry

Regardless of being a market chief, Faycurry and his crew are always conscious of the hazards of complacency. “It is truly one among our nice weaknesses,” he admits, pointing to the necessity to hold climbing even once they’re on the prime of the mountain.

He refers to to various cases within the psychological healthcare area the place the businesses that rested on their laurels needed to drop out of the race, whereas these with one thing to show stayed within the sport.

Because of this, Faycurry says he is all the time difficult his crew to ask themselves, “How will we keep that starvation and that drive?”

All through his entrepreneurial journey, Faycurry has realized that success typically comes from essentially the most unlikely locations. He by no means dreamed his household’s dietician enterprise would derail his Harvard Enterprise Faculty observe—however that is precisely what occurred. By specializing in actual points and being keen to do the grunt work, Faycurry has positioned Fay to make a major affect within the healthcare business.

Reflecting on his journey from serving to his mom and sister with paperwork to main a venture-backed startup, Faycurry stays assured Fay will make an affect. “This feels just like the one,” he says. “Whether or not it is profitable, I do not know. I am not right here to say that. However for some motive, in my bones, this feels prefer it.”

Faycurry’s story reminds us that generally essentially the most promising enterprise concepts come from essentially the most sudden locations—even from licking stuck-together papers in a suburban workplace.