In this episode of How I Built This, Guy Raz interviews Michael Acton Smith and Alex Tew, the co-founders of Calm, a leading meditation and mindfulness app. They recount their entrepreneurial journeys, beginning with early e-commerce ventures and viral websites like Million Dollar Homepage, before converging on the idea of Calm. The discussion covers their initial struggles to secure funding, the pivotal decision to focus on sleep stories, and the strategic use of celebrity partnerships to broaden their audience. Smith and Tew also discuss the challenges of balancing technology with mindfulness and their vision for integrating Calm into the healthcare system, highlighting the blend of luck, timing, and perseverance that fueled their success.
