LEVELS – Inside the Company

Branding isn’t just about the visual identity of a company. In this episode, Ben Grynol talks with Nik Sharma, “The DTC Guy” who runs Sharma Brands and HOOX, about what it means to build a good brand in the direct-to-consumer marketing space. Nik points out the crucial thing to remember is that no one remembers your brand unless you’re one of the top global brands, so it’s best not to get overly invested in how your brand is perceived. It’s best to drive consumer awareness, be consistent in providing valuable content and products, and pay attention to how you talk to and pitch your audience. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🔗 Helpful links: Transcript: ⁠⁠https://www.levelshealth.com/podcasts/197-building-a-brand-in-the-direct-to-consumer-space-nik-sharma-ben-grynol⁠ Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

While recovering from a tragic car accident that caused Elena Schuber to go into a coma, Elena started to learn how to improve her physical health through dietary, lifestyle, and habit changes because she became well-attuned to her body’s responses to certain foods. Now a health and wellness practitioner, Elena advises her clients to monitor their blood glucose levels and be present with their own bodies. Listen as Elena shares her experience with Levels with Ben Grynol as she discovers how stress, food sequencing, and behavior changes affect her blood glucose levels. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations about metabolic health and how the Levels startup team builds a wellness movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. ⁠Transcript & Show notes⁠ 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

Figuring out the path to employee growth in a startup company requires experimentation and then execution. Rachel Sanders, CEO of Rootine, chatted with Ben Grynol to dig into our philosophy on team growth at Levels and how we think about it as a function within our growing company. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

Edie Horstman’s health journey contains orthorexia and PCOS—both of which she was able to overcome or put into remission as she tells Ben Grynol in this episode. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations about metabolic health and how the Levels startup team builds a wellness movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🔗 Helpful links: Watch the conversation: ⁠⁠https://youtu.be/YPP-X-ACWbY⁠⁠ Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

Mike Haney sat down with Sam Corcos and Josh Clemente to discuss one of our key principles here at Levels: Treat People Like Adults. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🎙 What Mike Haney, Sam Corcos, & Josh Clemente: (04:06) - Assume best intent (15:46) - Be open to other people’s ideas (20:50) - Address negative feedback immediately (29:53) - Make feedback transparent, but appropriate (33:44) - Test for usefulness (46:02) - Cultural alignment includes communication styles (50:26) - Hiring is an exclusive process (57:31) - Be intent on self-improvement (1:00:07) - Get rid of gossip (1:05:06) - Give people agency Transcripts & Show notes 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

Having good metabolic health can help you develop positive brain health and reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s or dementia. Emily Stong talks with Ben Grynol about how to take care of your brain and how using a CGM helped her throughout her pregnancy while living with gestational diabetes. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations about metabolic health and how the Levels startup team builds a wellness movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. ⁠Transcripts & Show notes⁠ 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

How would you approach your team members for feedback in a remote environment? Ben Grynol and Michael ‘Miz’ Mizrahi discuss how Levels team members give and receive feedback, the types of feedback we focus on, and suggest when to give feedback in real-time in a remote and async environment. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🎙 What Ben Grynol & Michael Mizrahi discuss: (06:19) - The importance of feedback (09:45) - Giving positive feedback (13:54) - Make feedback actionable and tie it to OKRs (17:41) - Subjective feedback (25:30) - Feedback timing (30:11) - When feedback isn’t getting through (35:46) - Determine if your feedback is necessary (46:19) - Nail your delivery ⁠⁠⁠Transcripts & Show Notes⁠⁠ 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

While your mindset can’t always improve a bad situation, it can change your outlook on life. When Levels’ Head of Member Success, Mike DiDonato, had an unexpected—and unnecessary—emergency surgery, it changed his mindset on a lot of things. In this episode, Levels Head of Growth, Ben Grynol, sat down with Mike to deconstruct some ideas about mindset and how choosing your mindset relates to some of the situations Mike has faced over the past month. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🎙 What Ben Grynol & Mike DiDonato discuss: (23:09) – You have to keep going (24:04) – Try to be still (24:53) – There’s always more to learn (29:20) – Resentment is distracting (31:08) – You are what you think about (35:02) – You’re responsible for your response (38:09) – Be the best version of yourself (39:49) – How to keep going (41:43) – Minimize your regrets (50:24) – Don’t project your expectations onto others ⁠⁠Transcripts & Show Notes⁠ 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

Weight loss and physical transformation are significantly more mental and emotional than we think; it goes beyond diet and exercise. Fitness trainer and creator of Fit2Fat2Fit Drew Manning talks about how self-love is the piece to focus on for natural habit changes that can bring physical change. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations about metabolic health and how the Levels startup team builds a wellness movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🎙What Drew Manning and Levels’ Ben Grynol discuss: (06:15) – Drew’s journey (08:10) – The mental weight of an unhealthy lifestyle (09:10) – Don’t let body issues define your self-image (10:52) – Transformation isn’t just physical (23:46) – Un-training your brain (25:45) – The emotional connection to food (31:03) – It’s hard to be healthy (41:57) – Diets aren’t always healthy (45:44) – Your physical health affects your relationships (53:38) – Be comfortable with being uncomfortable ⁠Transcripts & Show Notes 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

Communication and communication platforms – specifically in a work setting – can lead to increased productivity, or can unfold as a distraction mechanism for urgency. Unfortunately, for most companies, the latter is often true. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠ In a world of constant connection and notifications, the expectation around professional communication is often positioned as "the faster, the better". However, is it the platforms or the way in which teams use specific platforms which encourages and enables this behaviour to take place? The entire Levels team values deep work and asynchronous communication, and we're constantly trying to get better at it as we scale our team. Sam Corcos, co-founder and CEO of Levels, and Miz (Michael Mizrahi), Head of Operations, spent time thinking about platforms that would encourage a healthy communication cadence, and productive communication etiquette for our team. Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🎙 What Michael Mizrahi & Sam Corcos discuss: (03:29) - Modern communication tools are designed to be addictive (04:06) - Traditional communication tools often lead to burnout (10:31) - Avoiding a culture of shoulder taps (10:50) - Not all text based communication is equally asynchronous (12:28) - Using tools to wean the body off notification dopamine (13:30) - Communication systems should be needs based (15:18) - Setting clear expectations for response times (23:33) - Why we banned Slack (28:01) - Switching tools in search of a better way (44:40) - How the future workforce will communicate ⁠Transcripts & Show Notes 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

Deciding to prioritize preventative healthcare can be a way to proactively manage your health. In this Member Story, Lauren chats with Ben Grynol about how small habit changes in her lifestyle empowered her to take better control of her health. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations about metabolic health and how the Levels startup team builds a wellness movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🎙 What Lauren & Ben Grynol discuss: 05:26 - Prevention is better than cure 07:22 - Figuring out personal risks 16:09 - The mean is not always a good thing 17:40 - “Just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s normal.” 18:45 - Challenge yourself to do better 25:41 - It’s okay to feel overwhelmed 32:02 - Lauren’s takeaways 37:49 - You need to fully control of your body 46:27 - It’s not healthy just because it’s vegan 52:40 - Changing one step at a time Transcripts & Show notes 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: ⁠https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

Every team must build trust and confidence with peers, but remote teams face a greater challenge because of the lack of face-to-face interaction. At Levels, we work to assume positive intent of our teammates, which supports our core value of “confidence is earned.” Both values are tied to work performance, and in order to build confidence and trust, a team member must do great work as well as learn how to communicate that work effectively, especially in a remote environment. Listen as Levels founders Sam Corcos and Josh Clemente discuss how confidence and trust need to be earned over time. Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. Transcripts & Show Notes 🔗 Helpful links: Become a Levels member: https://levels.link/itc Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

It’s possible to be athletic and physically fit but metabolically unhealthy. Listen as Cole Sager, eight-time CrossFit Games athlete, and Josh Clemente, Co-Founder at Levels, discuss the distinction between physical fitness and holistic metabolic health, and Cole’s realization that his health wasn’t in great shape according to his bloodwork. Cole shares his experience as a sports enthusiast, Spirit of the Games awardee, and Levels member and his journey toward metabolic health. Cole and Josh talk about determination, consistency, and advocacy for a metabolically healthy future while keeping athletic performance at the forefront. Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠https://levels.link/itc⁠ Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🎙 What Cole Sager & Josh Clemente discuss: (3:21) - Cole’s college football experience and how it helped him transition to CrossFit (11:51) - The distinction between acute physical fitness and holistic metabolic fitness (16:13) - The reality of the discomfort it takes to be physically fit (24:18) - Cole’s secrets behind athletic determination and consistency (26:45) - How Cole applies the principles of CrossFit in marriage, fatherhood, and life (30:38) - Winning The Spirit of the Games Award (34:50) - Cole’s mission is to help people achieve better health and fitness (39:18) - Food bridges the gap between acute physical fitness and overall metabolic health (45:25) - How high-intensity training triggers big glucose spikes (56:14) - How the CrossFit community approaches the metabolic theory of health and wellness Transcripts & Show Notes 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

How many times do you get clear about your priorities, and then get distracted and focus on something completely unimportant because it feels productive? This is what we at Levels call “bikeshedding,” and here we talk about how it happens in companies, and how people can think in order to avoid it. Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on Levels - Inside the Company, where we have in-depth conversations about how the Levels startup team builds a movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. 🎙 What CEO and Co-Founder Sam Corcos and Head of Growth Ben Grynol discuss: (03:19) - The idea of shaving a yak (06:41) - What is Bikeshedding? (08:35) - The hard things are not hard, they're just easy to avoid (11:35) - The Eisenhower Matrix (13:27) - The Bike Shed effect (15:47) - Get out of the weeds (31:16) - Focus your actions around your core values (34:13) - Stay true to your mission (40:56) - Sunk costs are the currency of bikeshedding (43:47) - The responsibility of leadership Transcripts & Show Notes 🔗 Helpful links: Become a Levels member: https://levels.link/itc Learn about metabolic health: https://levelshealth.com/blog Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1 📲 Connect: Connect with us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/levels Connect with us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/levels Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/levels-health Connect with us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@levelshealth

Using a CGM helped a seasoned registered dietician understand what was going on inside her body, gain blood sugar control, and be metabolically flexible so she could further advise her clients looking for weight loss and energy management. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations about metabolic health and how the Levels startup team builds a wellness movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. Sign Up to Get Your Ultimate Guide to Glucose: levels.link/itc 🎙 What Levels’ Head of Growth Ben Grynol and Member Julie Cottrell discuss: (03:13) - Julie’s background as a registered dietician (08:53) - Julie’s biggest struggle (10:06) - Everybody needs protein (11:20) - Eating windows (14:39) - Trying the low carb approach (18:58) - Give your body time to reset and regenerate (21:56) - Low carb plan (28:13) - The connection between habits and diet (34:02) - The benefits of fasting (43:35) - The importance of reading labels Transcripts and Show Notes Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/XMsV8cYVwPg Dietician Julie Cottrell experiments with CGM to help her clients better understand nutrition: https://www.levelshealth.com/blog/dietitian-julie-cottrell-experiments-with-cgm-to-help-her-clients-better-understand-nutrition