Andrea Giralt of Vessel: Improving Health and Wellness With Accurate Data

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, tacos and tech you know we got tacos and tech is on smash border green guacamole keeper captains counting beans Contador quentan frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping fire tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a crappy and coffee my coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing coronado eating tacos El gordo, the taco standing puesto lucha libre and sombrero Got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean Watch the sunset la Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside, the Tijuana esti be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach Tech leaders believe stars are within reach we interview and founders who be shooting for the moon SD Tecos with your host, Neil Bloom. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

Welcome to the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I'm your host, Neil Bloom and I'm thrilled to have you here. On the Tacos and Tech Podcast. We interview builders of technologies, of companies, of communities and we do it weekly, so thanks for tuning in. Every Tuesday a new interview and on Fridays we talk about what's new in the San Diego tech ecosystem from a news perspective. So make sure you join us there as well too. We also have a tech newsletter that comes out every other week@freshbroodtech.com you can subscribe to listen to it without further ado. Enjoy this episode and welcome back to the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I'm your host Neil Bloom and I am really thrilled to have on the CEO of Vessel, Andrea Geralt. Andrea, thanks for being on. It's a real pleasure to have you sit down and chat a bit about your background and vessel. Do you want to give us a quick overview of what vessel is?

Vessels offers a methodology to optimize your health. It basically is a lab that fits in the palm of your hand and our journey here is to make wellness accessible to everyone through at home testing and precise recommendations.

Okay. I know that is done through a variety of ways, both hardware, software and app, all the things. So we're going to dive into that in a moment. But I want to get to know your background because you have a Deep background of experience in operations, both in hardware and software. So I really would love to kind of get to know that. Where are you from originally, Andrea, and how did you end up down this route?

I'm originally from Spain. I started my career in Hewlett Packer Barcelona many years ago. And I had the pleasure of being the first person hired to start manufacturing of the high volume manufacturing of inkjet printers in Europe. And so that organization grew from one person to 3,000 in only eight years. So I had the opportunity to learn a lot and test myself in any every possible function in operation. And it was all about scaling and scaling fast. From there I basically transitioned to the US and I started, I continued my career there with Hewlett Packard in many different type of areas, managing printers, scanners, cameras, and my last capacity with them I was managing 2 billion in cost of sales sales and I was the head of operations of the consumer ink printer. And yes, I have a passion for technology and innovation and basically that is what pushed me to start my own consulting company. And in operations at that time there was a lot going on in the Internet of Things space. And I help a number of companies really unblock for rapid scale like 3 Robotics and other companies in that space. I also venture a little bit in nanotechnologies. Now I'm in more of the wellness and kind of like bio space, which is also very attractive. But yes, I do have a passion for innovation and technology and that is what really drives me.

That's fantastic. A wealth of knowledge and an exciting career. Did you come from a family that worked in technology or how did you know that was a path you wanted to go down?

No, my family. My father is a painter in his culture. I was born in an art studio and I was born in a moment where in Spain. There was a lot going on, transitioning from the dictatorship to democracy. So there was a lot of booming into the art space and understanding new ways of thinking. And I'm an explorer. So I very much like science and any kind of science and art. So I started studying physics, then I did economics, business administration, international management. And that is a little bit, you know, I'm a bit of an explorer. I like everything that is about culture, art, science and anything that transitions you to a different way of thinking.

I love that. I mean any background can lead to that and therefore saying how could things be done differently? Artists just as much lean into that as well too. Where artists needs to differentiate when they are the product that's pretty cool to be kind of around that and towards into this. The transition from Spain to San Diego must been unique. Was that planned to move your full time or was it that you were, you know, already working between HP's campuses between the two countries?

No, actually it had nothing to do with work. So I was very happy working in Barcelona and growing my experience in the world of outsourcing and, you know, moving manufacturing to the east look of Europe and Asia when I met my husband. And my husband was living in the us so after a few months there was this big question, okay, so transitioning.

From, you know, a whole other country, what was that like moving from Spain to San Diego was that kind of personal business and what was culture like at HP between the two?

Yeah. So the decision to move to the US was not work related. Right. So I was working in Spain at the time, really in my career path, doing a lot of outsourcing to the east bloc of Europe and Asia. Really focus on that journey, learning a lot, creating industrial parks and complex supply chain architectures. And I met my husband and my husband was actually living here in San Diego. And after a few months we had to make a decision around what are we going to do? And I love the unknown, I love challenges. And it was very difficult for me to say no to an experience, to move to a different country and try a new self. So I was the one moving to the US After a few months we got married and we are still married, we have two kids. So it was a good decision and yeah, it was an adventure. Basically I left my family, my country, my culture to come to beautiful San Diego and it's just an amazing city. So I'm very happy of that decision.

That's great. I mean, obviously San Diego being a pretty big spot for HP for the printing side, and from there you've helped a number of other industries you mentioned, and even on the manufacturing side, working into Mexico as well. What do you take away from this region as like a hardware area? Is it one of the hardware capitals around? Or what do you think about the hardware scene that you've been working in for manufacturing and innovation?

Yeah, I actually love San Diego because its size is really manageable and there's a lot going on. Right. If you think about the whole Tijuana, San Diego connection and what it really does in terms of growth with that amazing hub of manufacturing so close by and so specific. Right. So if you look at the different industries that you can find in Tijuana with the whole bio sector is just amazing. And I'm not sure how Much it's really understood of or common capabilities of the two regions. Right. So there's something fascinated, fascinating think that being so close to this important market here in the US as consumer market and also Mexico and the rest of Latin America, as you know, emerging consumer markets is just a great position and San Diego is uniquely prepared to really address that as well. So that collaboration between the two countries has been really rich in my career path and I love collaborating in that space.

Yeah, you bring up a great point around the skill sets that really exist here to be able to create the world's most innovative products, whether it's from cars to drones like you've touched. I know with 3D robotics and now this mergence between digital health, consumer health, biotech, life science, diagnostics and consumer data, which kind of brings us to vessel. Right. I know that it's a lot happening in the palm of the hand like you mentioned, how, how do you see the convergence of all these different technologies? Kind of use that to explain vessel what really what it's doing.

Yeah. So in terms of technologies, San Diego is just fantastic because we have so much industry here that can help you figure out how to innovate better and faster. Right. So that's a strength to be here located, to really take advantage of the unique positioning in that space. Right. About vessel, more specifically, vessel, to explain a little more about our company, what it offers is a methodology to optimize your health. And the process starts with a urine test that you can take at in the comfort of your home or whatever you want. Because it's complex, it fits in the palm of your head as you were mentioning, it's super easy. You just pee on the cart, you let it activate, then you scan it with your smartphone and immediately you have your wellness score and data. About 10 markers, you know, magnesium, calcium, sodium, UTIs, vitamin C, pH, hydration, ketone A, ketone B. And these are important markers of your wellness. Right. And from there it's up to you, you know, what is you want to do with that. It's important data and the way you improve that is through nutrition. And so we have an engine in the back that gives you food recommendations to the specifics of the things that you're lacking. We also offer personalized supplements which, which are uniquely made for you. Every order is made by hand for you specifically. And they you take basically the results of your test together with a medical quiz and with some idea of which are the objectives that you want to meet in terms of sleep or mood or focus. Then you get to that level of ingredient list that are, you know, that are going to be part of your personalized supplements or lifestyle changes. Right. So we have personalized programs as well that I've determined and uniquely prepared for you and all these three things. You know, the test with food recommendations, personalized supplements and lifestyle is a journey that helps you improve and optimize your health with the help of the nutritionist. So you can access nutritionists on chat, and the nutritionists are there to help you when you find any kind of situation that you need help describing. Like, for example, in my case, my dictionary, magnesium levels are really low for me. Right. So I need to really pay attention to that. It takes time to really get your magnesium levels really under control. And having that nutritionist on chat can really help you stay on focus and on the journey and achieve your goals. So this is a little bit about kind of like the process to optimize your health. It took me a long to really understand what this process is about. Right. It's not easy. You know, I'm a very healthy person and one thing is being healthy and another one is really optimize your health to feel that you have the energy, the focus, you're prepared, your vitamin levels are on par. So it's a. It's kind of like an interesting concept.

It is because knowledge is power, but when it comes to health, sometimes people act like ignorance is bliss. And what this is doing is kind of retraining people to say more data is better and take action from the data. And I think, luckily it's not in a silo. There's a lot of examples of this from Fitbit and Apple Health where we're seeing more data about ourselves. Right. It used to be that we would just see it from the doctor and maybe that treadmill you run out on the gym. That said, hey, I think you burned this many calories based on some gross mass calculation for everyone who stepped on that treadmill. So I think it's really interesting of just like this quantified self moment we're going through right now with data and from a previous conversation, you know, we've had with the founder, John Carter, came from his own personal discovery of building a previous company in that regard too. I had a similar learning as you that when I was using some of the early vessel products, I found I had a really high vitamin C level and I was taking some supplements that was just giving me way too much vitamin C and was affecting my sleep. And I was like, all right, great. An immediate change that I can make off of one glaring thing in my face. But it's the over time trending piece that I think is really interesting. What have you seen now because vessels had a few years of data. What are you seeing around like long term change that people are doing based on seeing consistent data about themselves?

Well, we have different Personas that you. Right. So from the biohackers that are very much on top of their health and those really know how to change their habits into fine tuning every possible aspects of their wellness. Right. So to, well, other Personas that are more like you and me, you know that yes, we want to be healthy, we change a few things. Then we test again. Oh, we went off course, we need to do something about it. Let's start again with this level of energy. Then we start forgetting a little bit and then we test again, again and say, oh my God, I need to get on top of it. So meaning that it's a journey really to change behavior and it takes perseverance. Right. And what we see is that there is this two months where it is really recommended to test on a weekly basis. So that you see how changing some photo recommendations, you're maximizing your output, you're improving your data to a moment that you understand well what's going on in your body. And that at that moment you transition to a maintenance program where you only need to test maybe once a month just to check and see, you know, where are you if you have let yourself back to the old habits or what's going on. For example, for me, hydration, which it's super important for focus, it's something super difficult. I love coffee. If I have a break, I'd rather have a coffee. So I need to remind myself to drink. Right? Such an easy thing. But it's so hard to change a habit like that. So that's a little bit what we see. There is a kind of like an initial phase when you engage with vessel where you are learning about your body. It's kind of like the discovery phase. And once you kind of understand how your body works, you transition to some of a maintenance program where you still need to be on top of it. Right. Because otherwise you let your habits take you back. Right. And that is the learning. Also another important piece is supplements. Right. So we see a lot of people that are struggling really figuring out which supplement to take and they end up going into many different journeys buying these and Amazon and that in Amazon, you know, you don't know what all that thing together is doing in your body. So one effort that we are doing is we are launching this high premium supplements that are based on 56 ingredients that are. We've been studying them for two years, two years and a half. And they make sense altogether and they're specific for you. They read on the test scored and they also read on a medical quiz. And you know that everything that is in there is mixed together for you and it's compatible. So that's another big one for the.

Company that is big. There's a lot on the software side around that that can be built into starting to detect these trends. But also having a human in the loop is big. A dietitian who can really adjust and make a plan for. You gotta imagine the algorithm at some point is working towards even trend datas and pulling in more data of yourself. But take us through some of the hardware technology here because there's really is a lot that I think you kind of make look like magic. Right. You've got a bunch just the test strip itself. Take us through that, let alone how you collect that data into the app.

Yes. Again, one of the reasons really that I joined Vessel, right, Is innovation. So our test card holds like a number of assays that we develop. Some of them we develop ourselves in our lab, others we co develop with super important companies here in the US and they have a precision that we need for basically the proposition of Vessel. Right. So I'm telling you that because we really had to innovate in that space, it's not something that you can go and get a colorimetric out in the market in works. No, it had to have the specification that we needed with the different buckets that we needed to really be able to give you the detailed information about what is happening in your body and what it does when you balance it with food or supplement. Right. And then on top of that there's the whole argument of the scanning and the optics related to gathering that information. You know, have in mind that our test card is used in any kind of light conditioning and all kinds of bathrooms with good lighting or shadows or all that. So we invested years of research and making sure that all algorithms were really precise to gather the information. And we are, we're able to really read the information in an accurate way. So we are the only company out there in Consumer Direct that our product has third party validated accuracy testing that actually you can find in our website and read through it. So there are a fair amount of science is being put into the test card to make it really strong and suitable for the journey that we are embarking on.

Members, that's huge. Where's. Can you give us a hint and a tease like where it's headed from here?

Yes. So our company, again, is in the space of personalizing and optimizing your health. Right. So we started with the P test. We are transitioning into this very specific, made for you unique supplements with the help of your nutritionist. We are now expanding into B2B. Right. So B2B is an area of growth for us. We find that our test card is so robust that and so engaging that actually can help other companies and with the attached rates of their own products to further customize their use as well. So we are working in the aspect of B2B and we are actually going for three different markets. Corporate wellness and brand partnerships, as well as getting into the space of the medical doctors, because for them, they also have a big problem in terms of understanding how to access these personalized supplements. So we have a lot to offer in the B2B space as well.

Really interesting. I think, man, Covid has really shown healthy people, you know, produce better work. Even if we are working from home, right now more than ever, the office should be looking out to make sure that our people are healthy. So it makes absolute sense to do the corporate wellness angle also at home. Diagnostics got a huge boost during COVID Right. We all were very comfortable sticking things in our noses, so why not get other. Other liquids and learn some things about ourselves? But also, the big rise is kind of this digital therapeutics or digital diagnostics that where a doctor can literally prescribe it, which I think is where you guys are headed. Right. Where a doctor can say, let's start tracking you more, and let's start making sure that over time, we're watching for health trends. So I think being able to not just prescribe someone with medicine, but to get ahead of it and say, let's start doing remote monitoring. I think that's really interesting to see where you guys are headed there.

Exactly. Yeah. And again, our test car is super simple. Right. And not invasive. So it's a very good element and window to your body. And again, yes, you were saying, you know, medical doctors, chiropractors, and there's a huge space of people that interact with humans that are really curious about how to get to a better health stage overall.

Really interesting. Well, really excited for where vessel's headed. I know I've got my membership that I just signed up for on Black Friday, so I'm excited. I just got the full kit sent to me, which was really nice. And I got to get my dietitian scheduled. So I'm looking forward to diving into the new experience. I think I, by the way, have every test card, well, every public facing test card you guys have produced. I have somewhere in my house which will be fun to keep them all and look back and see how they process over time.

That's beautiful. Thank you so much for doing that.

Of course, we're on the manufacturing side, which obviously you have a deep passion and experience in. Like, where do you see that part going? Where's the future of manufacturing going with all of this?

We are going to continue staying local and manufacturing in our area and expanding our manufacturing capabilities as we grow and scale. About the future of adding additional test tests to our journey. That's something that I will keep it secret for now, but we are expanding in the area of making personal wellness accessible to everyone and really affordable. Right. That thing of going to your functional doctor and having to spend so much money is fantastic. If you can afford it, if you have the time to do it. We want to just make it accessible to everyone.

That's great. Well, really excited for it. Congratulations on moving forward with this and in the new CEO role, which has got to be a whole new set of responsibilities for you. Maybe we'll have you back on and see how it's going in a year from now. Be fun as well too. In the meantime, we continue to hike together, which is fun on the founder hikes and maybe soon we'll embark on some tacos together. If we're going for tacos, where are you taking me? Where's your favorite spot?

Wow, there are so many in San Diego. But I like this place on India Street. It's called the Pluv Water Seafood Market. And what I like is that they have these amazing fresh fish and every day they, you know, I just. They bring the fresh fish. You can decide whatever is the catch of the day and they do it right there. And it's just an open market.

Oh, it's great. We love blue water. Kind of reminds me of the weekend tuna market that happens every Saturday that I need to go to not too far from off India street here. So. Yeah, I can only imagine the fresh fish they have. I have not had their tacos yet, so something we got to get queued up, but.

Well, that's awesome that you found a place that you haven't been.

I. I haven't, but it's definitely been mentioned on this podcast, so don't you worry it is in the taco database. So we'll go and add another check mark to that because we were tracking every taco spot that's ever been mentioned here on the podcast. Andrea, thanks so much for being on and for taking the reins and being the leader here of vessel health. We're really excited to change the way that people get to know themselves and better themselves. So thanks again. Appreciate it for being on the pod.

Thank you. My pleasure being here.

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