Miranda Nover is the Co-founder and CEO of Fort Health. Fort builds wearables that automatically track strength training for people who care about longevity.

This is a new format I’m experimenting with. It’s the first time I’ve had a Banana portfolio company founder on the show while they’re still at the pre-seed stage. When I surveyed my subscribers a few weeks ago, you were most interested in more early stage VC-backed founders, and I’d love your feedback on what you think of this.

Miranda is still very much working through the idea maze and iterating on the Fort product. We talk about the megatrends driving consumer health, why she’s building a company that helps people get stronger, and everything she’s learned getting a hardware company off the ground.

She’s also in the middle of the current YC batch, and gives an inside look at what it’s been like and if she’d recommend it to other founders.

Thank you to Numeral and Flex for supporting this episode.

Try Numeral, the end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance: https://www.numeral.com

Sign-up for Flex Elite with code TURNER, get $1,000: https://form.typeform.com/to/Rx9rTjFz

Timestamps:

(3:37) Importance of strength training

(6:34) Benefits of being strong

(10:37) Evolution of Fort’s hardware

(15:58) Automating workout tracking

(19:29) Two types of strength trainers

(25:30) Building the strength company

(27:26) How healthcare is consumerizing

(40:43) Lessons building batteries at Tesla

(44:56) Hardest parts about building a hardware startup

(51:01) Adventures in vibe coding

(57:54) How to use Twitter as a founder

(1:02:09) The launch video industrial complex

(1:08:03) What it’s like doing YC

(1:10:19) Selling paper crayons in 3rd grade, Lemonade stands

(1:14:41) Miranda’s best vintage finds

(1:16:44) How Turner evolved as a VC

(1:22:22) Turner’s early social media PMF

(1:28:53) Inventing shitposting

Referenced

Try Fort: https://www.fort.cx/

Follow Miranda

Twitter: https://x.com/mirandanover

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirandanover

Follow Turner

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/

The Health Metric No One Tracks | Miranda Nover, Co-founder of Fort Health

The Peel with Turner Novak