How Calm Became the World’s First Mental Health Unicorn (short version)

Calm’s one bedroom apartment office (January 2017)

22 months ago Calm had nine employees and was operating out of a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco. We took phone calls in the stairwell outside our front door and held external meetings in the Zetta Hotel lobby across the road because we were too embarrassed to let strangers see our cramped space. Last week Calm became the world’s first mental health unicorn with a $88M investment at a $1 Billion valuation.

It has been a dizzying and thrilling journey. One of the things I love most about startups is the speed at which you can go from obscurity to household name. On the flip side, one of the scariest things about startups is how fast a white-hot company can stumble and lose track. Alex Tew (my co-founder/co-CEO) and I have had experience of both trajectories and so we’ll be surfing this current wave with great care.

We’ve learned a huge amount and will share that in a longer post in the future but for now, here are a few examples:

• Roll lots of dice
• Done is better than perfect
• Hire 10X people
• Empower your team to make fast decisions
• Have a crystal clear vision
• Creative PR can be highly effective
• Hire by audition
• Maintain deep focus
• Master paid marketing and LTV:CAC but don’t become a slave to it
• Paid marketing is a powerful accelerant, not a firestarter
• The best marketing is a world-class product
• Stay humble and hungry
• Build a team of co-CEOs
• Be curious
• Read lots of books
• Research constantly
• Make something people want
• Solve real-world problems
• Don’t be afraid to raise prices
• Practice what you preach
• Get 8 hours sleep a night
• Breathe
• Doodle
• Respond don’t react
• Design matters, brand matters, creativity matters, storytelling matters, humour matters, content matters, community matters, timing matters, manners matter, luck matters and on and on.

The team (with a few key people missing) in our first proper office. March 2017

The stigma around mental health is fading but it’s not really been obvious that big businesses could be built out of this important shift in society. This deal hopefully shows that it’s possible to create tremendous economic value while at the same time supporting and improving people’s mental wellbeing.

We hope it will help encourage more people to work in the mental health tech space, more investors to make smart bets, and more entrepreneurs to start companies that change the world.

While a $1 Billion valuation is a big milestone, it’s just a step on a much longer journey. We still have a lot of work to do to hit our ultimate vision of creating one of the most valuable and meaningful brands in the world.

Entrepreneurs get lots of attention as a startup grows but behind the scenes there is an army of people making the magic happen.

Huge thanks to everyone who has played a part in this extraordinary adventure: the Calm team, investors, writers, narrators, friends, family, and the 40 Million strong Calm community around the world.

What a difference a year makes. Team Calm in January 2018

The team last week at Multiversity in Santa Cruz (February 2019)

The announcement led to over 200 articles around the world including Fast Company, CNBC, Bloomberg, WSJ, The Times, Inc, Entrepreneur, and Techcrunch. Here are a few of the articles to give a little more background on the Calm story:

A Haven of Mindfulness in a Digital Maelstrom, Calm Is the First $1 Billion Meditation App

Calm just became the first meditation unicorn with its $88M Series B

Relaxation app Calm raises $88 million, valuing it $1 billion

Meditation app Calm hits unicorn status with fresh $88 million funding