Solving Stomach Issues and Sleep: How a P&G Beauty Boss and a Gastroenterologist Built YayDay | Ep 211 with Colin Walsh & Dr. Roshini Raj Founders of YayDay

0:00Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Founder Story. Today is a very important and special episode because we're going to talk through some topics that are very near and dear to my heart. skin care, skin health, building a business, and gut health. I mean, those are like maybe three things. And that's why I'm excited to have the co-founders of Yay Day, both the CEO, Colin Walsh and Dr. Roshani Raj. Thank you so much for joining us today. Let's just dive into first, how did the two of you team up to create this company? And why is gut health even important to you? A great question. I'll give a little bit and then of course I'll pass it over to the good doctor.

0:43So Roshani and I have our roots most recently together in beauty. And Roshani is the founder of Tula Skincare. And I'll let her tell that story from probiotics and skincare and how that works. And I've been in the beauty business for the past 20 years. And currently the CEO of Bestie Beauty at Procter & Gamble. And inside that division is the brand I was leading previously called Whey, a hair care brand, founder led, and Tula. So quite literally at a dinner about a year and a half ago, Dr. Raj and I sat across from each other talking about the dream of gay day and what it could be. So that's how we came together.

1:25Yeah, I'll jump in there. So exactly as Colin said, I, well, I don't know if he said it, but I'm a gastroenterologist. That's sort of my first love, first profession. But I ended up by a kind of strange and random root in the beauty world, co-founding Tula, which is a probiotic-based skincare line. And that came about really because I was just always passionate about the microbiome and this concept of good-for-you bacteria that was really new when I first learned about it almost 20 years ago, and then started to think about the connections between probiotics and skin health. met two of my now co-founders of Tula who were very experienced in the beauty world.

2:04And we decided together that this would be a great idea, you know, applying probiotic extracts to the skin with all the benefits that that could have. So that's how Tula was born. It was my first entrepreneurial journey. This was over 10 years ago. And then had an amazing ride with Tula, really learned so much about business and also just customers and, you know, marketing and packaging and colors and all these fun, creative things that I didn't really get to do in my gastroenterology life. And then we sold TULA to P &G, which is where Colin came in. And then I found myself thinking about what's going to be my next entrepreneurial step.

2:41And, you know, I really wanted to go back to my roots as a gastroenterologist and go even deeper back into gut health. And I was thinking about what is that going to look like? Is that a gut healthy beverage? Is it a food product? And then I met Colin and we started talking and he had already been thinking about and thinking about with his brother actually developing a next generation prebiotic fiber product that really addressed not only gut health, but the gut mind connection. So incorporating magnesium as well. And once we started chatting, I think it just immediately made perfect sense to both of us that we should join forces.

3:17We were kind of, it was like the perfect marriage or maybe the threesome marriage with his brother as well. and really get in there because we're all so passionate about gut health. And this is answering the second part of your question, why is gut health so important? You know, I have my book right here behind me called Gut Renovation, which I published a couple years ago. But really the entire inspiration for the book is how we now know how your gut microbiome affects every aspect of your health from head to toe. And that could be mood. It could be immunity. It could be metabolism. And for that reason, it's so important to optimize the balance of your microbiome and keep it healthy.

3:54And, you know, thinking about what things people can do to make sure they're having a good balance. Fiber and having an adequate fiber intake is probably the number one most simple thing you can do. And yet over 90 % of Americans are not getting the adequate recommended amount of fiber. So we thought this was a great first step to address gut health, microbiome, and also the gut-mind connection by adding magnesium, which we know is amazing for sleep, for mood, for stress, all of those things as well. Well, a lot of people don't know this about me, but when I was 22 years old, I had a colonoscopy.

4:27And it was very odd. When you're done with the colonoscopy, you have to let the gas out. Yeah. And all these young nurses are around me, and everyone else there was very old but me at that time. And I thought it was very embarrassing, but I've suffered from many gut health issues throughout my life. So I've had to learn about these things. I had to, you know, have Metamucil when I was a teenager. It was very embarrassing. But I am curious because I don't think a lot of people even understand, like, what even is gut microbiome? Like, what actually is it? And then I would love to dive into pre, you know, probiotics and everything else.

5:05but can you just give a simple explanation about what even is this? Yeah, 100%. So your gut microbiome is this community of organisms that lives within your gut. And when I say your gut, we're talking about your digestive tract, but more so I'm talking about your large intestine or your colon. That's where most of our bacteria reside. And so we have trillions of organisms living within our bodies. Many of them are good for us and beneficial. Some of them are not so great. And so you want to make sure that within your microbiome, you have more of the good ones, a healthy balance where the good bacteria outweigh the bad bacteria.

5:40So that is literally what your microbiome is, is community of organisms within your living inside of you. When we talk about what can throw it off balance, you know, one of the sort of more obvious ones is something like antibiotics, because that can really wipe out your good flora, your good bacteria, allow bad bacteria to grow, can really cause a disruption, what we call dysbiosis or an imbalance of your microbiome that can lead to not only digestive symptoms, things like bloating or bowel irregularity, but also more systemic issues like mood issues or immunity problems, all sorts of other things.

6:15So you really want to keep that balance, you know, strong and healthy. And that's where things like probiotics and prebiotics come in. So a probiotic is a beneficial bacteria. It's a bacteria that offers some benefit to your health. And you can get that through foods. So fermented foods contained through biotics, yogurt with live and active cultures, kimchi, miso, tempeh, sauerkraut. These are some common sources of probiotics. And then prebiotics, if you think about the good bacteria in your gut as beautiful flowers in a garden, prebiotics are like the fertilizer that you're sprinkling on those flowers to help them grow.

6:53So prebiotics, which are usually fiber-based, those serve as fuel or food for your good bacteria. So that's why with Yei Day, we created this prebiotic blend of psyllium husk, as well as oat fiber, flaxseed, many different types of fiber that really foster the growth of healthy bacteria. That's what a prebiotic is. Now, sometimes you might see a combination of a probiotic and a prebiotic in a supplement. That's referred to as a symbiotic. And then lastly, one term you may have heard is called a postbiotic, which is when you have the live bacteria and it's killed, but the active metabolites within it are released and they can still serve positive, healthy functions, those extracts are called postbiotics.

7:36That is the most thorough explanation I've ever had. So I appreciate that because I don't think, you know, sometimes we use terms and we take things, but we have no idea what it even really is. And we're too embarrassed to ask. So thank you for that Dr. Raj. And I want to point out one thing you said that struck me because this is also part of our motivation for Colin and I with Yay Day because you talked about taking Metamucil as a fairly young, you know, teen or in your 20s and how it was kind of embarrassing. And that's partly what we really wanted to do with Yay Day is reinvent this entire category of fiber, of gut health, of prebiotics, probiotics, because really, you know, currently a lot of the available products do have this kind of older, sort of boring, not fun, not glamorous, you know, aura about them.

8:27And I have so many patients that I recommend fiber to. And many times they don't follow my advice, either because it tastes terrible, it causes a lot of bloating, or they just feel like I'm not 90 years old, why do I have to take Metamucil every night, you know? So we wanted to make this something that seemed like fun, positive, you know, and just something more, more attractive overall as a, as an offering. And that was definitely part of our motivation. It definitely looks way more attractive than Metamucil. Thank you. But you won't, right? I do have to say your branding. Not any other brand, but thank you.

9:02Your branding. Yeah. Your branding is on point. So I am curious, Colin, from your perspective, Um, I would, I personally would say the beauty industry is one of the most competitive industries because so many people are doing it. Every celebrity, like everyone has a skincare brand or skin health. And then people are doing any, something related to health, maybe a supplement. So somebody from your perspective, how do you look at the market? Uh, knowing that the, the amount of competition is so fierce. It's such a good question. I think a couple of things from my standpoint. One, first and foremost, we wanted to have a product that we knew from an ingredient standpoint was based on science and performed.

9:45And that's where the dream I have is partnering with Dr. Raj to have that expertise and understanding that we can formulate like that. As both a customer, the other thing I was very passionate about is that we could get a result. so many things in the wellness space promise maybe you'll live longer check in in 10 years and let me know if that's true in so a lot of hyperbole we wanted real proven results ingredients that could deliver real results so with the promise of yay day quite immediately people feel the benefit of magnesium on that first night with a deeper sleep with prebiotic fiber and the digestive enzymes.

10:24They have no bloating. They really help flourish that gut microbiome. And within a day or two, most people have a really incredible morning movement. And so I think from a customer standpoint, if you could optimize sleep and poop, you've really touched on some of the most magical, powerful things that I think can get lost in the chaos of the wellness industry. So wanting to have core benefits. And then to Dr. Raj's point, we wanted to approach the brand with levity, with joy, with empowerment. It's called Yay Day as this idea to help you live your best life every day. That's my selfish goal. It's our selfish goal as founders.

11:07We try to create that with our team. And that's what we want every customer to feel is that you can feel your best. You have the opportunity to then. Wow. I mean, I want to go to bed at night. knowing I'm going to have a great sleep and I want to wake up knowing I'm going to have a great poop. Those are things that I personally really think about. So, and I think a lot of people do think about that. Um, by the way, magnesium changed my life, really changed my life. I didn't sleep for many months. So I can relate to the fact of how important it is. Can you dive into what is it that, uh, like, why does magnesium have this impact on sleep?

11:43And then when I, when I took certain magnesium, I get the craziest, most vivid dreams. Sometimes I wake up, I'm not even sure if I was dreaming or if I was alive. No, it's interesting. I mean, magnesium and, you know, there are different forms of magnesium and some of them are better for things like constipation or other things. And some are specifically designed for sleep and magnesium glycinate is that is what we use. And that's the one that's best absorbed and best, most effective for a good night's sleep. It's not 100 % clear why magnesium helps with sleep. And there are some theories about how it may affect melatonin production or, you know, in terms of influencing your sleep cycle.

12:21But it has been shown to help with sleep, both inducing sleep and helping you maintain a longer duration of sleep. And it also has been shown to have a calming effect in terms of sort of anxiety and stress and that kind of thing, which can also keep you awake if you're feeling that before bed. So it has that dual effect on both sleep and mood, which we thought was so important. And we know that there is a sleep gut connection. So if you are having insomnia or disrupted sleep, it definitely can negatively affect the balance of your microbiome. There are studies looking at medical students, for example, who were on a three-week night shift.

12:59So they were working nights for three weeks. Of course, their sleep cycle was totally disrupted. and they did studies of their microbiome using stool samples before and after the three-week period. And they saw a significant negative shift in terms of where their microbiome was going after that sleep disruption. So we know that sleep and your gut are very interconnected. And so we wanted to really optimize it from both ends with Yades prebiotic fiber, as well as the magnesium component. literally both ends i really like this is amazing no i i i love the fact that you're you're combining multiple things because i feel like it used to be you had to get one thing for one thing one thing and then you have a whole drawer of like a million supplements it's just confusing and then you're spending money on a lot of things that probably don't work like you said colin um or we don't know if they ever work we're seeing a lot of studies or health information coming out recently around, you know, how, like you said, how maybe sleep can cause the impact on stomach and then stomach can cause the impact or gut can cause the impact on this.

14:04Why do you think we're seeing so many, I almost feel like it's like a, like medical connections where it used to be. I don't, I don't remember hearing so much about people, you know, connecting things together. Yeah, I think, I mean, at least I might be a little biased, but what I'm seeing the connections is being drawn are really around the gut and how it's connected to other parts of the body. And I think that's a result of just this explosion of research and information where, I mean, 20 years ago when I was training as a gastroenterologist, it was the first time I ever heard of the word microbiome.

14:37So this is a relatively recent field in medicine. And it's not like, you know, in beauty or other industries, there's like a hot ingredient one year and the next year is something else. But this is an actual, you know, seismic shift in medicine. The fact that we're discovered that some people think of it as another organ, your microbiome, because it has so many far-reaching effects throughout your body. And there's just so much active research going on between how the microbiome can affect everything from potentially autism and Parkinson's, you know, heart disease, many types of cancer. I think, and it's just going to continue to explode.

15:14I think we're honestly just at the tip of the iceberg right now. We're going to continue to hear more and more about these connections that you're talking about and how they're real and how there's an opportunity for intervention, which is really exciting. Sorry, I was going to say, Daniel, what is amazing from my seat is I get to be a co-founder, but I'm also a customer. And I'm a customer that's traveled through this category in this space for years. It sounds like you have. Looking for solutions both on the sleep and the digestive front. And both being complicated, ineffective, and not cohesive in any way.

15:48Whether it was melatonin, which I always found I was too groggy from, from Ambien, which felt effective in short spurts, but that was a real deep sleep and then I would come throwing out of it. Or NyQuil's or those type of things. In finding magnesium, especially Dwissanate, that is so bioavailable and really calmly enables a great night's sleep, And then on the digestive front, that's been a battle. Just as a consumer, I think a lack of information, a lack of understanding of what fuels it, what your habits are from eating, drinking, time of day, to have something at the end of day that helps in this longest digestive window of your day, which is overnight.

16:34And that's where most people like myself, if you're taking fiber alone, often there's gas, there's bloating. and that's where the third element of the digestive enzymes to help reduce that created a product and so all that formulation and i credit dr raj in the most immense way of how we came together on the three ingredients and how they work i get to take it every night and that so if there's no other joy the thing that propels me is i know that i just i'm a stark raving fan and yes i may be biased, but I promise you, I just love the result the way I feel and why I would take it every night and have for almost a year and a half since we started formulating.

17:13I'm curious because you both seem to be very healthy. What does your daily nutrition look like? I can go first because I'm really boring. So it's an easy question to ask because I pretty much have the same thing every day with some exceptions if I'm traveling or going out or something. But I start with my Greek yogurt with probiotics, mixed berries, and I put some flaxseed chia seeds in there. I take my tula probiotic gummy, and that's my breakfast. I then for lunch generally have grilled salmon or tuna with a bunch of cooked vegetables. So spinach and eggplant, mushrooms, some cannellini beans or some kind of beans and red peppers.

18:06And then for dinner, it could be, you know, chicken or fish again, maybe some chickpea pasta or some cauliflower rice. That's kind of my routine that my kids tease me about because it very rarely changes. And then of course, yay day at night. And that's generally my, yeah, every day. And I'm, I'm maybe not as good. the gastro um so but yeah i am protein and vegetable focused i love eggs so i start most days with eggs and or some yogurt i'll find greens throughout the day i try to get a salad in there in the middle i love food i love restaurants so sometimes at night it could range from sushi to pizza uh i tend to not go wildly you know way off course but i'd certainly indulge.

18:53And that's almost the spirit of yay day. We want it as well. That I think sometimes wellness feels a lot like work. And the idea of it feeling fun was really what we want. We want people to live a great life and living a disciplined life or a restrictive life is really challenging for a lot of people. Being aware, being educated, doing your best, and then having some help when you need it. That's as simply as I could put our dream or mission around yay day. So yeah, And then I end every day with Yaday, which kind of clarifies a few sins and mistakes throughout the day. Yaday! Don't worry. Yaday!

19:30It's all good. So we always like to have guests share some tangible tips or strategies around business. And I think something that could be very interesting here is because this is such a competitive space. And you both, you know, Dr. Raj, you grew a skincare company for 10 years. And Colin, you've been in the industry for decades, too. And you've worked with many different organizations. I think it could be interesting to look at the marketing side. Because I think, you know, people can create a product. They have a vision. You know, you got you all have created an amazing brand. Like the brand looks amazing.

20:12And then the website looks great. but I don't know if everyone understands then how to market it. And I'm, you know, just from speaking to many people, I think a lot of people fall short. They put a lot of money in the first few aspects and they don't put enough money or thought and strategy into the marketing side. And we know if you can't market a product, doesn't matter how great it is, it'll go nowhere. So what are some tips, strategies, thoughts around not just, you know, what you're working on now, but maybe even things that worked in the past. Yeah, it's for me, the brand came to life. We were inspired by this incredible image of Elle McPherson.

20:51It's this very famous, and I apologize, I don't remember the photographer, a black and white photo of her naked on a toilet reading a newspaper in high heels. And it's this awesome shot. And it was really this spirit and style that we saw of, oh my gosh, that's our inspiration of how do you redefine gut health and wellness and have a conversation about digestive health in a fun, provocative, modern way, and certainly influenced by our beauty background. So that's the birth of this brand. We had billboards last year in New York in the summer with our shot of a very similarly inspired image with the poolala tagline of really elevating.

21:32But one of the things that I would tell you is both true and humbling. I think the brand is really unbiased. I think it's beautiful and disruptive and really remarkable in its own right. And in the wellness space where you're asking someone to digest something, there's credibility that's certainly from Dr. Raj's expertise, but there's trial. We just celebrated our first year anniversary. So there's time where people need to see you over and over. You need to have reviews grow. You need to have customer reviews grow. You have to be able to publish results of perception studies and results people have had.

22:10So all of those things, I think you have to be able, it's wonderful to create a beautiful brand. And I certainly come from that space. And my brother is the third co-founder who lives in the design and marketing world, but it also has to critically work, deliver results. And that's the trust capital you've got to build. And I think there's no fast way to do that in the wellness space. You have to be patient, sincere, and deliver a product that actually can go get those results for you. So that would be my thoughts. Yeah. I mean, my first answer would be partner with someone like Colin or with someone like my previous co-frienders who were great at marketing as well.

22:48But one thing that I learned through Chula and now through Yeti, it's just, it's funny when you first start a brand, you know, you tell your friends you're starting this company, you're kind of trying to like get them to try the product but then very quickly once they try it and they like it then they're asking you for the product you know the roles reverse where they're actually begging for it whereas before you were begging them to try it and that was my experience with Tula where once you got into enough hands people just loved the product and they wanted more and it's been amazing to see the same thing with EA Day where you know you'd have a few friends try it they're almost doing you a favor and then they're like wait I love this product how can I get more.

23:27And so I think to me, one of the keys is just getting your product in as many hands as possible when it does have a tangible result, which thankfully we do in a short period of time. So we have travel packs or trial kits, which are seven days of the product as opposed to our full 30 day canister. So that's a great way to kind of sample and, you know, have people, as many people as possible, try it. That's, you know, the challenge and the opportunity that I think we're exploring right now. Yay. This is amazing. It's all really fun to say. My last question is around the exit. I think this is very interesting.

24:07Most entrepreneurs I talk to in the U.S., they're looking to exit at some point. Outside the U.S., interestingly enough, we see a lot of times it's like legacy brands. But in the U.S., at least it's the exit. And that's like most entrepreneurs I talked to, that's their dream. They want to exit at some point. So what do you see in terms of when a company wants to acquire a company, what are they looking for? And then when you are the one exiting from the company, what do you have to do to get into the space to successfully exit? A great question. And certainly, Dr. Ash and I can speak to it individually.

24:47I've been very, very lucky to have been through two exits, previously with Divacurl and then most recently with Way. And those exits, I would tell you, everyone is completely unique in terms of what a buyer is looking for, how it fits in their portfolio or their strategy. They're ultimately looking for growth and runway. Do they think there's something remarkable that can be much bigger. The whole idea of the exit is that they think they can make it much bigger than you have. So it has the seed of greatness and just isn't fully expanded. That's why they pay multiples and why they think they can make it great.

25:27In my experience has been, they are absolutely buying a leadership team very often. People that have been able to make that brand grow dynamically and show that it has a place in the market and it's earned the interest of someone willing to spend multiples and buy it. So very, very often a buyer is also interested in that leadership team being able to continue to add capabilities and scale. So those brand, team, and ability to expand is the things that I've seen be most important when considering an acquisition. Yeah. And I think from the founder, and Colin has seen both sides of it now, which is a really interesting perspective.

26:13For me, from the founder perspective, I think, just like you said, every situation is unique. There are some founders who are ready to sell and completely wash their hands of the company and never look back. And there are many others like myself who've stayed involved. I've stayed involved with Tula. I'm still, you know, the face of the brand and very involved with it, which makes me so happy because it's like my baby. I don't want to just give it away completely. And then there's some founders who are even more involved and are still running the companies and, you know, CEOs continue after exit.