Founder’s Story Featuring Movement Genius Co-founder Correy O’Neal
Movement Genius is a digital wellness platform that provides live and on-demand classes designed to help subscribers improve their mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
In this lively and intentionally interactive session, co-founder Correy O’Neal shares how she and her co-founder sibling, Alyson Stoner, are building a B2B (business-to-business) company that offers predictive, prescriptive, and personalized tools to make personal transformation accessible, affordable, and relevant to everyone.
Correy welcomes questions from an engaged audience of entrepreneurs and others representing Ohio’s startup space. Rev1 Advisory Partner, Greg Pugh, moderates, sharing insights from his experience and role with Movement Genius and the company’s founding team.
Highlights and Tips from Movement Genius
Pivot toward market opportunities without losing your way.
Movement Genius was originally conceived as a solution for B2C (business to consumer) markets; however, as they started presenting their solution, businesses saw a product market fit as a problem-solving tool for pain points, including low performance, high turnover, inter-personal conflicts, high sick days. Companies that might not yet be thinking about prevention of mental health issues still have related problems they want to solve.
Disruptive startups must educate the market on how their untraditional solutions add quantifiable value.
In conversations with business leaders, Movement Genius observed that their solution felt abstract. They created their corporate wellness series featuring free quarterly workshops. The company’s network of vetted content providers spread the word. The result? Leads to early adopters and engagements with national brands.
Leverage every connection that you have to build your company.
Correy O’Neal is a media executive and business strategist. Alyson Stoner is an actor with a 20+ year career in movies and television and a million followers on Instagram. Theirs is a different type of network than advanced technology founders usually have, but they are using their know-how and connections to reach decision-makers and launch pilots in hospitals and corporations across the country. These two founders are specifically seasoned in building revenue streams through brand partnerships. It’s more than just networking abilities. They know how to turn network connections into B2B customers.
Be intentional about early hires. Hire problem-solvers who can help take the business to the next level.
Many job applicants present well. Movement Genius does a deep dive with every applicant. From presenting applicants with a specific business problem to solve, to asking interviewees to talk about how they have invested in others at some point in their lives, Movement Genius identifies problem-solvers who share the company’s values—not people who want to join a startup to get rich.
Words of advice for first-time founders and entrepreneurs.
With a startup, many well-intended people offer opinions—about the audience, the distribution approach, marketing. People want to help—and that creates a lot of noise. Develop a process to hear, but not necessarily act. Figure out your product market fit through research—don’t ask your family. Don’t ask your friends. Be smart and strategic before you spend. Don’t raise too much money too soon. Whether it’s a grant or a $5 million Series A, the money will be spent.
And last, but first, take care of yourself.
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