Zach Teiger

Passionate about Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship in Wellness

[Julie Yoo @julesyoo]

A few years ago, calling yourself a consumer health company in front of VCs was a virtual death sentence... but now, not only is consumer health being taken seriously, there are also some very serious consumer health businesses being built in the wild. This, plus other hot takes from @hollsmaloney, @ryu_alison, @KGSeidensticker and I at the inaugural Stanford Consumer Health Summit:

⚡ It's certainly possible now to build a large business purely based on cash pay + DTC acquisition. But playing nice with "The System" (e.g. B2B2C distribution, referrals from trad providers, taking reimbursement risk) still has its merits in helping one achieve even more durable scale and unit economics.

⚡ Sequencing of GTM motions matters: if you go "B2C first", you have the gifts of being able to fully control your product roadmap and swiftly acquire users - but it will be more expensive and potentially take longer to acquire them on your own. Going "B2B2C first" means you'll get access to large chunks of users in one fell swoop, but you'll have to pay a "product tax" to appease your B2B partner's requirements, not to mention needing to survive through long enterprise sales cycles. This sequencing choice informs your capital raising strategy in the early days.

⚡ A year ago, everyone was scared to say "AI Doctor", and now everyone is claiming to be building an "AI Doctor"!

⚡ To that end, will healthcare be dominated by an AI Doctor SuperApp as the front door, or will we continue to have fragmentation of apps by use case / condition / demographic? A large portion of consumers who don't have a PCP will find one in the form of an AI Doctor, and the best AI Doctors WILL be SuperApps that connect into a network of specialists and IRL clinical services through a single front door.

⚡ This necessitates a SuperData layer that allows for context sharing across all apps - and not just trad EHR data, but also wearables, genomics, non-traditional biomarker tests, information gleaned through ongoing engagement with AIs, patient-reported outcomes, health plan benefit design data info, etc.

The buzz in the room felt a lot like the early versions of the Health 2.0 conference in the late 2000's, BUT with companies that are really working and scaling this time around. Congrats to @ZHTeiger and his organizing team for bringing this community together - it's time to build in consumer health!

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

As Naval Ravikant shared: "When you understand something, you don’t need to memorize it". A step further - experience is often the best teacher, and through seeking experimentation and failure, we grow our understanding

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

Listen to "Building Relig-ish Movements in the Digital Age" by https://t.co/7LuQTzUucz. @Will_McKelvey and I breakdown how companies are replacing the gap of religion in our society. He shares a framework for evaluating companies based on this idea, as well as thoughts on AI's implications for business and society at large

https://t.co/p2GQKDngEx

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

Peloton now joining forces with Hyrox and offering Hyrox specific classes. Insane to see the momentum in the hybrid sports area:

https://t.co/YQA2SkXvZx

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

Interested in the future of how consumers will take care of themselves? I'm building the most comprehensive market map of companies in the space. Follow along and let me know if I missed any major ways.

This weeks focus: Perform - how we move, recover, and stay active

https://t.co/UwEGA987sr

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

Pilates continues to take the fitness world by storm, with Life Time and Equinox piloting classes at select locations

https://t.co/CPaLFSWY10

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

@mariojoze talks about the recent news behind Woebot, a mental health chatbot, that is shutting down this week.

Another case of where building in the regulatory environment that is the US FDA can be a challenge

https://t.co/9xmhhp1qmu

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

650,000 athletes. $140M in Revenue. 1 hybrid movement redefining fitness.

HYROX has been spearheading the charge of a broader societal movement towards hybrid athletes.

Read below on The Age of the Hybrid Athlete https://t.co/XcEyZ8qSAr

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

Exciting to see @function ranked in the top 100 most influential companies in 2025!

https://t.co/jNCxG2bbqK

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

The partnership announced between Oura and Maven is really excited. This feels like one of the first tangible steps to integrate the continuous data flow with provider recommendations

https://t.co/jIbeo2R2Oi

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

Here's one trend I'm confident will continue to grow in health and wellness: people getting back together in-real-life for connection and fitness.

What's interesting as I was reading @athletechnews 2025 state of the industry is that many major boutique wellness brands like @F45Training , @orangetheory , , and Xponential Fitness are eyeing global expansion as a means of growth. Does that mean the US market is starting to get too saturated?

https://t.co/ncyYq9oF0B

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

Health and wellness market expected to be worth over $10T in the next decade! Driven by a growing health consciousness, excited to see the innovation that gets produced

https://t.co/4JSxeGLwbS

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

A new acronym heard from the Human+tech summit that's a helpful way to remember some health basics: SMILE

S: sleep
M: meditation
I: intermittent fasting
L: Loving relationships
E: Exercise

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

Wondering what It Means to Be Human in the Age of AI?
I just came back from the Human+Tech summit, where we spent 3 days discussing that question
https://t.co/YBTsCg0SMQ

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

5. People still want people.
Trust remains a human interaction—especially in mental health, chronic care, and behavior change. Tools that combine data with human coaches or advisors are resonating more than purely automated approaches.

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

From Stanford GSB: 5 Hard Truths About Digital Consumer Health from 30+ interviews in the last 3 months https://t.co/NstmqFEHWp

[Zach Teiger @ZHTeiger]

4. The system isn’t built to reward innovation.
Preventive care isn’t reimbursed, providers aren’t incentivized to adopt new tools, and EHR giants (like Epic) make backend innovation nearly impossible. Many ideas we explored were technically feasible—but economically nonviable.