On a brisk Friday morning in the beginning of February, I attended the 2017 FounderMade Wellness Summit at Spring Studios in New York City. Although I have a background in business and finance, the architectural company I currently work for, Bright Architecture, has quite a few wellness clients in their client base so the conference was relevant and timely.

What is the FounderMade Wellness Summit?

The FounderMade Wellness Summit connects business and thought leaders in health and wellness who are paving the way for future trends in investing, distribution, technology, acquisition, and marketing. It helps entrepreneurs scale their business by making important connections, giving them ideas on target audience, what investors want, as well as how to scale their business.

Opportunities for Business Development

As the Director of Business Development at Bright Architecture, my mandate is to think about strategic relationships, be aware of the trends that impact our business, and consider the ways we can further apply our knowledge base for our clients. The FounderMade Wellness Summit gave me insight into some of the leaders in the fitness field, an opportunity to see innovative new companies, allowed me to talk to our existing clients, as well as make some new connections.

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What was the FounderMade Wellness Summit Like?

The day was jam-packed with panels of top industry founders, executives, and thought leaders, a Discovery Lounge composed of the most innovative companies and start-up retail products, and a “Shark Tank” style pitch competition in front of a panel of judges.

According to the FounderMade Wellness Summit website, “On average, attendees anticipate their organization will discover, partner with, or invest in a minimum of three companies based on their interactions at FounderMade.” I have to say it’s definitely true because I saw a great amount of interaction at the summit!

It addition, I found the speakers very insightful on building a business from those who have built businesses themselves. Sarah Robb O’Hagan, CEO of Flywheel Sports, gave a keynote speech about failure in business. Multiple panelists from incredible companies like MindBodyGreen, The Fhitting Room, and Caspar, all spoke about the struggles of their beginning and how they grew their business to the success it is now. Everybody had a slightly different path, from how they funded their business to their specific business models, but the dedication to their endeavors was impressive.

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The Takeaways from the FounderMade Wellness Summit

Sarah’s words as well as advice from other speakers like Morgan Radford, a reporter from NBC, and Jason Wachob, Founder & CEO of Mindbodygreen, really resonated with me as well. Overall, the summit was definitely a great way to gain more insight into these businesses and network with others in the wellness space. I was struck by the energy and innovation at this gathering and found it invigorating to be amongst this group.