In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with Eric Kau, co-founder and CEO of Climatic.

Climatic is commercializing L Max, a daily inhaled system that proactively supports lung function.

Before Climatic, Eric served as COO of Seed Health and was part of the foundational team at Chewy. Earlier in his career, Eric held growth and operational leadership roles across consumer, wellness, and e-commerce businesses, including Amazon, BoxyCharm, Target, and Best Buy.

In this interview, Eric discusses what it takes to build a consumer category that doesn’t yet exist, how Climatic approached clinical validation and consumer education simultaneously, and how early user behavior helped identify the company’s strongest initial customer cohorts.

Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things:

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If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Eric Kau, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like!

KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW

(02:49) - Eric’s path through Amazon, Chewy, Seed, and the consumer health experiences that led to Climatic
(05:49) - Why Climatic is treating lung health like hydration, sleep, or nutrition
(11:47) - How Climatic rapidly iterated on formulas, delivery systems, and prototypes to launch a product for a new category in under 2 years
(14:56) - Climatic’s approach to product design, which is built around gym bags, vanities, and existing wellness routines
(19:59) - How early users shaped both Climatic’s clinical strategy and its go-to-market focus on endurance athletes and biohackers
(23:56) - Why Climatic spent more time teaching consumers about lung health than selling the product itself
(34:07) - What investors needed to believe before funding a category that didn’t yet exist
(40:27) - How Climatic built a 15,000-person waitlist through Strava run clubs instead of paid ads

Creating Consumer Demand for a New Category: Interview with Climatic CEO Eric Kau

Medsider: Learn from Medtech and Healthtech Founders and CEOs

Creating Consumer Demand for a New Category: Interview with Climatic CEO Eric Kau