Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences/stories that shaped your adult life?

I was born in NYC but moved upstate after first grade. I spent the rest of my childhood living in a very rural community – we lived on a dirt road, had a small pond, neighbors who hunted, a neighbor who used to give me raw milk from the local dairy farm when I’d come over. I loved growing up there and that really cemented by my insatiable desire to spend time in Nature even though I now live in NYC again to run Fisher Wallace – my wife and I plan on moving to a more rural location in the next couple of years.

What is something you wish you would’ve realized earlier in your life?

I wish I had not gone to college immediately after high school. I admire how Israelis serve in the military first – I think there is a lot of value in gaining experience outside of academia while you are still young. There is too much pressure to go to college immediately in the US.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

The typical recommendation for starting a business in healthcare is to begin by raising venture capital – that’s not always the best advice. There are ways to build a business, even in healthcare, with very little money, and to teach yourself the regulatory process which is not as complex as it seems from the outside. Today there are many other ways to fund a business – we have pursued equity crowdfunding on StartEngine which I think is a great model for many companies.

Tell me about one of the darker periods you’ve experienced in life. How you came out of it and what you learned from it?

Fisher Wallace was near bankruptcy several times in its decade-long history. That’s a stressful position to be in, but it also forces creativity – I think getting near bankruptcy is a great test of entrepreneurship. The first time, we solved it by partnering with telemedicine companies before that was a trendy thing to do. The second time, we realized we had an enormous untapped asset in our email database, and today a third of our revenue comes from email marketing. Today, we are in the midst of the greatest period of innovation and growth our company has ever experienced – thanks to all the lessons we learned along the way.

What is one thing that you do that you feel has been the biggest contributor to your success so far?

Boiling down everything about our business into the single most important thing that matters to achieve success. For us, that meant obtaining clinical trial data that once and for all validated our product. Everything else now stems from that.

What is your morning routine?

I wake up at 6:30 or 7 AM, help my young daughter get ready for school, get a cup of coffee and then head to the office. Basically, the same routine as a lot of other Americans! The only difference may be that once I’m at the office, I strap on my company’s brain stimulation device for 20 minutes!

What habit or behavior that you have pursued for a few years has most improved your life?

Using the Fisher Wallace device. It’s significantly helped manage my mood and sleep.

What are your strategies for being productive and using your time most efficiently?

Know when to say no. It’s so important. I don’t overbook myself, I don’t overschedule myself. I work out in the middle of the day most days. I often wear workout clothes and running shoes to the office so that I can go for a jog whenever I need to. No one should care if you are wearing sweatpants at the office if you are doing a fantastic job.

What book(s) have influenced your life the most? Why?

The Art of War by Sun Tzu. I spent 5 years adapting it into a graphic novel for HarperCollins before co-founding Fisher Wallace. I apply its precepts all the time as CEO of Fisher Wallace.

Do you have any quotes you live by or think of often?

“The principle on which to manage an army is to set up one standard of courage that all must reach.” – Sun Tzu