5HT #128: the right way to pronounce retatrutide, my fave community of health builders, and 3 more

I’ve been teasing this for weeks, but we finallyyyyy previewed Fixie Dust for the first time. 🥹

It happened last week at Founderland—which might just be the biggest CPG event of the year (watch out, Expo West). Friends Sean Kelly and Josh Wand (among others) put on the event, and back in June Sean asked if we could have the sticks ready. We weren’t launching until mid-to-late November, but I said, “sure,” 😅 and used that as a forcing function to get the sticks there.

… and we made it happen, yay! 

They put us in the Bodega, a grab-and-go area alongside Bloom drinks, Shameless Snacks, and Slate electric flossers. 

Going in, I worried people wouldn’t like the taste (despite spending 2 years getting it right) or would pour too much/all the powder into their mouths and, er, choke a little. Neither happened. (Phew!)

In fact, I was astonished at how much everyone liked it. Was it because I was standing in front of them? Maybe 🤷. But seeing reactions in real time—including from CPG royalty like Tero from Four Sigmatic and Loren from Sweet Loren’s—was awesome. I even met the person who runs CVS Health’s retail wellness and health offerings. (Could Fixie Dust be at CVS one day??? Here’s hoping!🤞)

That said, we learned a looooot about what needs to be Fixi-ed before launch:

Bottom line: I’m convinced this was one of the most awesome and low-stress ways to preview a product. Now we know exactly what needs work before our November launch. Let the countdown begin.

Over 20+ years of attending networking events, I’ve found there are basically two kinds of communities worth your time: ones with surface areas so large serendipitous encounters are to be expected and ones kept intentionally small so you meet the exact right person at the right time. 

My favorite example of the latter is Wellness Growth Mastermind (WGM), an under-the-radar, invite-only community of wellness leaders curated by my now-good friend Brian von Ancken. As a member and (as of recently) advisor 😎, I’ve been consistently struck by the caliber of community Brian has brought together. And I was pumped when Brian wanted to sponsor 5HT so I could rave about the community.

In addition to a solid Slack group (sometimes a Slack is worth membership dues on its own!), curated breakout rooms are my fave WGM perk. At each monthly meetup, you’re matched with 2–3 members and dropped into a Zoom room. Tbh, I was initially concerned they’d be a waste of time... I’m happy to report I was wrong. Every single time, I’m impressed by who I meet.

In my first breakout group, I met Liz Plosser, an absolute legend in the media space (and writes an epic newsletter). In another group, I met Jack Richardson, who runs strategic sales for Maui Nui—one of my fave healthyish meat snacks (I’ve written about a bunch before).

I also met David Sherman-Presser, who led creator monetization at YouTube before moving into consulting. Erica Bryers, whose co Ora Organics makes my favorite superfoods green powder. Jay Shek, who led CRO at Noom and now helps other health co’s. Sonja Manning, who led to Lineage Provisions sponsoring 5HT! The list goes on.

The point is: I look forward to these breakout groups every month, and given how bananas 🍌 my schedule is, that says something. If you think you’re worthy of being included, you should apply!

Oh—and if you’re in Austin like me, you can get the full WGM effect in person. We’re meeting on Thur., October 29 at Gevity for a panel on growth, curated breakout groups 🫶, and sauna time. Buuut the event is capped at 50 members (remember: intentionally small), so apply here to claim your spot while there’s room. Select a free 'member' ticket as my guest!

We already know rapid weight loss can lead to muscle loss. It’s one of the reasons people taking GLP-1s are often encouraged to get their protein and their reps in 💪. (Fwiw, I’ve prioritized both since I started to microdose GLP-1s.)

Now, it looks like drugmakers are catching up and developing treatments designed to support not just what you lose, but what you keep. 

It makes sense and (if doable, which seems likely given the recent reta data) it’d be another breakthrough to add to the growing list of these miracle drugs.

Fun fact: I recently learned everyone pronounces “retatrutide” wrong. Here’s the Eli Lilly CEO saying it. (Apparently it’s “Re-TAT-roo-tide” and not “Reta-troo-tide.” 🤷)

I’ve been taking you behind the scenes of building in consumer health for a while now. I’ve been mostly sharing my stories and experiences. Buuut lately, I’ve been asking other folks (especially WGM members!) for their takes on what’s worked to drive growth for them, and I wanted to share a few.

The first comes from Carrie Sporer, the co-founder at SWAIR, a haircare brand for people who workout, made by sweaty runners for runners to clean their hair quickly. 

On a recent WGM meetup, Carrie shared how she moved SWAIR’s paid acquisition fully from an agency to in-house… and used Claude and ChatGPT to make it more efficient than before. The move helped her team build an in-house performance marketing system without needing a freelancer or agency, which is pretty impressive to say the least.

In Carrie’s words: “I still manage the campaigns directly in Meta, but I use AI to analyze performance data, determine what to scale or cut, and structure creative tests.” She said, “It has been incredibly useful for connecting the creative side with the numbers to easily see which hooks, messages and formats are driving purchases and then using those learnings to inform the next round of creative.”

Sooo has it worked? Oh yeahhhh. According to Carrie, this move, along with others, has helped put SWAIR on track to end 2026 100% over last year’s revenue 👏. They were also recently on GMA and sold 10K bottles in 48 hours. (Go Carrie, go!) 

So if you’re thinking about (gulp) starting to do paid acquisition yourself, here’s at least one success story from someone it’s worked for. (And if you want to hear more tips like this and meet folks like Carrie, well, consider applying to WGM!)

Biiiig news in healthcare investing this week: General Medicine announced a $120M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), plus the one and only TJ Parker stepped into the CEO role. 💥

General Medicine, if you’re not familiar (and you should be 🫵), is a “healthcare store” where you can search for, compare, and buy care, see insurance and cash prices upfront, and get guidance from licensed clinicians. Their store includes nearly 3K products and services across medications, labs, telehealth, specialist e-consults, and select in-person visits and procedures. Basically, when you know what you need in healthcare, there’s no easier way to get it.

PillPack founders Elliot Cohen & TJ Parker (co-founders of General Medicine) previously sold their business to Amazon for $1B, and I feel lucky to call them friends, having known them since even before they started PillPack and became healthcare royalty. 

They asked me to get involved in the early days as they built their go-to-market approach at General Medicine, and I still help as an advisor today. The other co-founder, Ashwin Muralidharan, is likewise a beast, and I’ve loved working with him. Point is: great company, greater people, and the greatest ambitions.

Plus, I’m a very happy customer.

They’ve helped me do everything from getting a Tretinoin prescription to finding a great local cardiologist to help with what ended up needing heart surgery earlier this year. Because the experience is everything healthcare should be, but mostly isn’t: simple, convenient, and price-transparent. I’ve been working to fix this my whole career, and I’m thrilled General Medicine is going to make it happen. 👏

3 other healthyish things I’m into right now: 

Most clicked last week: Who knew you all were also Costco stans! Y’all really love Costco’s hydration packets.

👋 Who are you again? I’m Derek Flanzraich, and I’m in the business of healthyish. I founded two venture-backed startups–Greatist (👍) and Ness (👎)—and helped dozens of brands you know grow including Ro, GoodRx, Midi, BetterHelp, and LMNT. I now run Healthyish Content, plus a few other healthyish things (like Fixie Dust, launching this fall).

Every Thursday, I share what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s next in consumer health. (Disclosure: I invest in and advise companies in this space—when I cover one, I'll say so.) I sometimes add affiliate links, but they influence my picks zero.

See something smart, strange, or seriously overhyped? Hit reply, I respond to every email.