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Worlds shortest elevator pitch: NESTRE combines neuroscience, performance and AI machine learning to help people get mentally and cognitively better.

Company: NESTRE

Location: Orlando, Florida

Year founded: 2018

Website/App: https://nestreperformance.com/Funding round to date: Pre-Seed. We will be going into a Seed Round probably in Q2, but we're currently in Pre-Seed funding. Were in a bridge funding round right now.

Who are your investors? Weve raised $1.6 million. Investors include Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson Jr. and former Lions teammate Rob Sims. Toby Redshaw, former VP of Verizon 5G and Infoworld Top 25 Global CTO and Information Week Top 50 Global CIO. The Minority Entrepreneur Institute. Florcy Morisset, former strategy lead at Netflix and Dell Technologies. Moaz Hamid, formerly with Palm Inc., Microsoft and Google, now Founder and Managing Partner of mvm Ventures. Former Nike executive Mark Hochgesang, of Oregon Sports Angels, as well as global sports and health tech accelerator, leAD Sports, and global real estate developer and owners of Tottenham, Tavistock.

Are you looking for more investment? Yes.

Tell us about yourself, CEO & Founder Dr. Tommy Shavers: I was born in Niagara Falls, N.Y., raised in South Florida. Igrew up loving sports and loving learning. I played college football at the University of Central Florida, was ateamcaptain.Had the unfortunate experience of suffering several head injuries that ended my playing career, and also experienced, as a result, severe cognitive impairment and decline for several years. I was told by my doctor those things don't get better--they only get worse. This was around the time when conversations around CTE were becoming apparent. I chose not to give in to that narrative and created a model for self-recovery. I started with the premise: If the brain can be injured, it serves to reason that it functions like a muscle. And if it functions like a muscle, it serves to reason it could be rehabbed. I created my own cognitive conversion model and self-recovered, I had the opportunity to share this at a global health catalyst summit at Harvard. That became the seed and catalyst for NESTRE, my vision and dedication to help people know they can get better. And not just from mental and cognitive challenges, but the opportunities to increase the mental and cognitive performance. I really got inspired by the neuroscience of neuroplasticity and connected with some of the world's top experts and formed NESTRE. That's our focus, mission and passionto help build a better world with the human in mind. We've yet to tap into our human wellness and performance potential.

Who are your co-founders/partners? Right now, Julius Thomas is a partner but hes about to take on the role as co-founder. Julius [former NFL tight end] has an incredible story. Retired from the game, really still somewhat in his prime, to pursue his personal passion of helping people get better and increase quality of life from mental and cognitive perspectives. He pursued a Doctorate in psychology with a focus on mental health and neuroscience, and he's been an incredible partner along the way in the work we've done.

Former Pro Bowl tight end Julius Thomas is a NESTRE partner who has pursued a doctorate in psychology with a focus on mental health and neuroscience.

How does your product/service work? The NESTRE app, the vision is: we want it to essentially create the first digital environment for people to better both their mind and braingiving users access to the world of neuroscience and AI machine learning to help them get better, perform better and feel better. As I said, the purpose of the app is creating a digital experience to better both the mind and the brain. From the sports perspective, its understanding how mental wellness and cognitive performance are core aspects of the sports and performance world. We're really leveraging our experience and expertise in the sports world, mental wellness and neuroscience, really to take it to the next level, as mental health and cognitive performance are becoming core focuses in the performance space.

What problem is your company solving? If you look around the sports world, the mental health challenges that have been apparent, some of the athletes weve seen, the narrative has typically been either a fatalistic or stigmatized narrative or it's been a siloed narrative. Performance-based has typically been focusing on the neck down. What we're looking to do is really to change the narrative and shift the paradigm when it comes to mental and cognitive strength training. That mental health and cognitive performance are really integrated, and we all need the opportunity to get better and be stronger in these areas. Our first and most important workout really starts with the neck up. We really want to change this narrative about mental and cognitive capacity, performance, wellness, and really say, This is the first strength training that is a value to everyone when it comes to development, wellness, performance and desired outcomes.

What does your product cost and who is your target customer? We have a freemium subscription, and a B2B, B2C model from $9.99 to $79.99 annually. We also have a B2B partnership service model. We break our customers into three segments: the required performer, the desired performer and the everyday performing population. For us, its being able to target all three of these groups, whether it's someone wanting to recover their mental and cognitive dynamics or enhance their ability to perform better or just everyday performance sports individuals. The piece that's important for us is we really see life. Sports are performance. Everyday life is a performance. We're also leveraging the core aspects of sports, not just at the highest level, but at every level. That's how we break the world down into the world of performers because we're all performing on an everyday basis.

How are you marketing your product? We spent a lot of time over the last couple of years really building a strategic network. As we look at our go-to-market strategy, really leveraging our network relationships in the wellness, sports and performance world with Calvin Johnson and our other athletes that are investors. And, really, the halo effect of the relationships we have, with professional athletes to professional organizations, combined with strategic performance marketing and an organic growth strategy, is really how we're looking to get our product to market. We've been building that over the last couple of years, as we look to move that forward with some of these partnerships we have.

NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson, the former Detroit Lion known as 'Megatron,' is a key investor in NESTRE.

How do you scale, and what is your targeted level of growth? Were looking at 200,000 downloads by the end of 2022. We have a B2B, B2C hybrid approach, really scaling through our relationships in the sports industry, athletic programs, sports organizations, and then also with sports performance wellness clubs. There are opportunities for us to complement the values of where fitness, wellness and performance reside, in bringing this next level of wellness performance and fitness from the neck up.

Who are your competitors, and what makes you different? This may sound clich, but it's not. Were looking to leverage, educate and advance the science of neuroplasticitythat the mind and the brain can change. In one sense, we're rooting for everyone that's showing we can make a difference in bettering people's mental and cognitive ability. That's one thing. On the other hand, I'd say from a user journey, user-cost perspective, the siloed space typically is when you have Calm or Headspace that are typically in the mindfulness or the cognitive training aspects of it. In general, the wellness and cognitive training apps would really be considered where the level of competition would be at.

Whats the unfair advantage that separates your company? There are a couple of things we think really separates us in a unique way. The expertise and lived experience aspects of what we have. Our chief scientific officer is Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg. He's one of the foremost leaders in the areas of brain function, one of the early pioneers of neuroplasticity in cognitive fitness. Also, to the uniqueness of what we're doing in really personalizing the betterment experience, we believe that's what neuroplasticity is really telling us is there's an opportunity to truly personalize how an individual can get better. We've created our mindset profile, which we really believe separates us in a really unique way in that we're discovering users unique mental framework as they come into the app. Then, we're customizing their in-app experience. Think about going to a high-end or elite training facility or a personal trainer. The whole goal is how to train in a way that best fits your unique makeup to get the best outcomes. We're building that into the app experience. We really believe this is a differentiator for us, and as we help people get better, it allows us to get smarter and to continue to personalize better at scale.

After Dr. Tommy Shavers suffered severe cognitive decline from football head injuries, he developed NESTRE as a model for self-recovery.

What milestone have you recently hit or will soon hit? We'll soon have our first live Neuro-Strength training rooms up in the market in mid-to-late January in Orlando in the Lake Nona Performance Club. The app will be in-market in late February, early March. So, Im really excited about getting really close to launch.

In what ways have you adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic? Our original go-to-market was with our NESTRE Neuro-Strength training facilities, and with the vision of being the first to scale mental and cognitive fitness and strength training facilities across the country. We're still looking to do that. We were literally coming back from finalizing one of our partnerships with a professional sports organization in March 2020 when the world shut down. Our vision and roadmap really pivoted, and it gave us an opportunity to look at the world differently in the sense of, How can we add this value in the landscape that isnt limited to face-to-face interaction? Our digital solution was further down on our roadmap, and so it allowed us to really reverse that and to bring our digital solution to the forefront to allow us to move forward. As weve gotten a little more stable, it's really given us an incredible opportunity to actually bring all of our solutions to market our NESTRE mindset profile, our NESTRE app and our NESTRE Neuro-Strength training facilities, and market in an integrative and standalone way. COVID presented some really unique challenges, but it's also given us unique opportunities to really think about how we help people get better, considering the landscape of the mental and cognitive challenges people are dealing with either from COVID or the pandemic. In general, we really see that mental and cognitive health is and will continue to be a premium moving forward.

Beyond the pandemic, what obstacles has your company had to overcome? Just being a startup. One of the things that can't be overlooked is the data shows less than 3% of all funding goes to founders of color or female founders. The challenge of raising capital, we've been fortunate to have a great opportunity to do that. But also, the uniqueness of combining the things we're doing at a really high level. We're taking serious science, innovation and technology in the sports place, both live and digital. Your typical startup is taking one thing to market in a really concise way. We believe being able to have three stand-alone and integrated solutions has been a challenge on the front-end, but will give us incredible positioning, leverage and strength as we get in the market and move forward.

What are the values that are core to your brand? The first is people. Our vision is to help build a better world with humans in mind. Everything we do is about people, it's people centric. It's built off my own personal lived experience. We know if we're helping people get better and increase quality of life, then we're being true to our mission and core values. The second is integrity with everything we do. This is a personal value that has become an organizational value. It really means to be sound. We really want to be true to who we are, true to what we do, sound in every way possible as we move forward. The third is what we refer to as confident humility. What we mean by confident humility is its this interplay between having the ability and the confidence to see the future before it happens. Being unafraid of risks. Really having an entrepreneur and innovative spirit, in the sense that just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there, right? We're really looking to move things forward in ways that traditionally have waited for solutions that take years, when people are saying, How can you help me now? Were really anchoring in this. We're confident in doing things that haven't been done before and unafraid of taking those types of approaches. At the same time, having the humility to understand we don't know what we don't know. There's constant room for growth. We really want to be a smart company, with this vision of having applied solutions, that as we're helping people get better we're getting smarter as we grow. We always want to have this learners spirit and mindset in the balance between the two of those things. We're fearless and we're mindful at the same time.

What does success ultimately look like for your company? I go back to our vision. Our vision is to help build a better world with the human in mind. We look down the line, three, four, five years, really being entrenched as a pioneer leader in the space of human development, human potential and mental health performance. Being a known company, an organization that's on the forefront of moving forward the science and the solutions to help people get better. If we're doing those things, we're heading in the right direction.

What should investors or customers know about youthe person, your life experiencesthat shows they can believe in you? First and foremost, this is personal. It's been a lived experience for me. I know what it's like to suffer and experience mental and cognitive challenges. I also know what its like to perform at the highest level, both mentally and cognitively. This is a space that not only is near and dear to me. I also have a personal passion, and I'm uniquely suited to navigate this space and at a high level. Also, just the ability to lead, inspire and to work with incredible people, with the team we've developed and brought around us. It's important to know the kind of leadership and the kind of team you have that can move a company like NESTRE forward and do it at a high level. I love what I do. There was a point in which I was told I wouldn't be able to function in the way I do now. Defying odds is built into my DNA, and I look forward to taking on this challenge.

As Dr. Tommy Shavers puts it, NESTRE is a performance, not a pathology, company, committed to 'change the narrative and the stigma' about mental health.

How does NESTRE help with mental health? Its a core part of our work. I had six to seven concussive blows within a three-week span that ended my career. The mental health and cognitive health challenges I experienced and suffered, along with the impairment decline, is really the core foundation of why we built this. The reason why we refer to ourselves as a strength company is because what neuroplasticity is saying is, whether it's pathology or performance, there's an ability to move toward better and that comes from the ability to strengthen what's there. What we've said is were a performance--not a pathology-company. Were training, not a treatment company. Were really trying to change the narrative and the stigma around this idea of mental health, as opposed to mental strength, mental strength training, or cognitive health and cognitive strength and cognitive sprint training. What it's doing is it's bringing us all together in saying no matter where you are, we all have an opportunity to get better and placing the person struggling with anxiety or stress and the person that's in the top 1% of the performance in the same community really helps us all to realize the human side of who we are. It really begins to destigmatize the narrative around it. We stay in this training space by saying, We're here for everyone as an opportunity to be able to get better. Mental health is a huge part of that for us, from a day-to-day basis, understanding the challenges in the sports world, but also an everyday lived experience. Its unfortunate that the current narrative is typically said that in order to embrace this, you have to embrace being broken in some way. What we're saying is: That's not the case. Mental health and mental strength is a part of all of our lived experiences. Everyone deals with mental and cognitive load on a daily basis. We really wanted to place all those individuals in the same community moving toward the same goal of getting better.

Do you have a favorite quote about leadership? Everything starts with being a CEO of self. I use that a lot with our team and individuals. That means everything: Leadership, accountability, wellness, self-care values. Another one is not taking for granted the privilege and power of influence.

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NESTRE Believes Sport Performance Is From the Neck Up and Aims to Train the Mind and Brain Accordingly - SportTechie