About "Founders and The City"

An unfiltered glimpse into the emotional reality of building a health unicorn, tackling challenges, myths, and the untold truths of startup life.

who am I?

My name is Jane Smorodnikova, and I’m the founder of Welltory Inc. — a company that aims to help millions of people take better care of their health before it’s too late.

In 2024, I was named Product Leader of The Year in Mobile by the Mobile Growth Association.

In 2–3 years, I plan to call myself the founder of a unicorn.

At the moment, we:

• Rank #15 in Health & Fitness Top grossing on the App Store. From time to time.

• Are #31 among California's fastest-growing tech companies, according to Deloitte.

• Have 10 million users, a 4.8 rating, and publications in Nature, MDPI, etc.

• Are profitable with 120 people in our team.

• Have 56% of our users still with us after three years.

• Deliver measurable results: our users sleep better, move more, and improve key health metrics like resting heart rate.

A decent startup, right?

But here’s the reality:

• We’ve been rejected by Y Combinator about five times.

• We’ve never raised venture funding from a VC.

• We’ve never made it into Crunchbase’s Top 50 Startups in Digital Health.

Profitability wasn’t a choice for us; it was survival.

But there’s something deeply satisfying about independence and freedom.

ok, getting back to the point…

I’m 42 years old.

I live by the sea, on an island in the middle of nowhere.

Our team works remotely across 24 countries and every continent. We’ve been remote-first since before it was cool.

I have degrees in information security and small-to-medium business management, and I studied innovation at MIT.

I love science. I sometimes develop algorithms for our product myself. I’m deeply into behavioral science, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.

I never had a mentor, adviser, sponsor, or role model. Of course, Steve Jobs is a genius, but I would never be able or wanted to succeed in his way.

why am I starting this blog?

For therapeutic reasons.

Founders and CEOs are expected to never talk about their weaknesses or struggles. Somehow, that’s considered "professional."

But you know what? That’s complete nonsense.

From a scientific perspective, ignoring emotions in business is utterly irrational. Most business decisions aren’t made rationally — biases, emotions, and gut feelings influence them.

And let’s be honest: a lot of this "stiff upper lip" behavior comes from the fact that most players in this space are men who like to pretend they’re emotionless robots making purely logical decisions. Spoiler: science disagrees.

I want to talk openly, to speak the truth — about challenges, failures, emotional and mental burdens, the science behind it all, and the practical realities.

Imagine if Carrie Bradshaw were an engineer who loved science. Instead of analyzing relationships between men and women, she explored the relationships between founders and the world around them.

types of posts you can expect

1. Stories from Welltory’s journey as a company and my own as a founder. We’re living through a constant stream of absurdly dramatic events, the kind of stuff Netflix could turn into a series. I want to capture these stories before they’re lost to time.

2. Debunking myths that founders are fed about what to expect and how to approach different stages of growth.

3. Exploring relationships — between founders, teams, investors, partners, and users. Acknowledging emotions and biases on both sides.

4. Insights and ideas that pop into my head and feel worth sharing. Feel free to steal any of them for your own business; my only request is that you credit me on your About page with "Based on an idea by Jane Smorodnikova" and link back to the post.

Expect a mix of insider stories, a bit of drama, a sprinkle of humor and sarcasm, zero fluff, a touch of scientific snobbery, a good dose of therapeutic acceptance, and a lot of honesty.

I hope to post weekly or at least monthly.

who is this for?

- Founders who feel isolated and want to know they’re not the only ones staying up at night thinking, “What if we’re doing everything wrong?”

- Investors who want to understand how founders see them and maybe learn how to be better partners in this tricky dance.

- Startup enthusiasts who want an unfiltered, real look at how startups are actually built — without the Instagram gloss.

community guidelines

First of all, I’m genuinely interested in your thoughts — additional research, arguments, perspectives, personal stories, or experiences.

But let’s be clear about what an opinion is:

An opinion is a point of view based on facts, logic, experience, or analysis, aimed at solving a problem, driving dialogue, or adding value.

An opinion is not the first thing that comes to mind (that’s usually a cliché or stereotype).

Please stick to the principles of nonviolent communication. If you’re familiar with the concept of Radical Candor, you’ll do just fine.

This is not a space for toxicity, sexism, condescension, or attacks. This blog is a place for open, intelligent, respectful, and adult conversations.

We’re here to talk about challenges, not weaknesses.

About bridging the gap between the map and the territory.

About biases, myths, and truths.

This blog doesn’t owe you anything. If you don’t like it, feel free to move on.

P.S. If you think money is the only thing that matters in life, this place might not be for you. I think when money is the only thing - it’s just a lack of ambition and/or imagination. Sorry.

is it free?

I do not have any paid perks and do not plan any. Yet. So, if you want to support this blog - that’s your choice.

Looking forward to sharing my journey with you!

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