Traction Podcast

Jim Donnelly knows how to build health empires. As the founder and former CEO of Restore Hyper Wellness, he scaled a cryotherapy and wellness franchise to hundreds of locations before stepping away. Then life forced him to start over. A near-fatal car accident, the loss of his father, and his own regenerative medicine journey completely changed how he thought about health.Today, he leads Humanaut Health, a network of advanced preventive clinics combining deep diagnostics, regenerative therapies, and personalized coaching to add 10 to 20 vibrant years to people’s lives. His mission goes far beyond biohackers and executives. He believes cutting-edge longevity care should be accessible to everyday high performers, not just the wealthy.In this episode, we cover:What a near-death experience taught him about purposeHow Humanaut uses more than 150 data points to identify root causes and reverse metabolic dysfunctionThe difference between regenerative medicine and traditional wellnessThe key protocols that drive the majority of the performance resultsLessons on building mission-driven teams and performance-driven communitiesHow to scale your company nationals and globally without losing qualityWhether you are a founder battling burnout or someone thinking about your long-term health, this conversation is a blueprint for combining entrepreneurship, healing, and performance.

Jason Syversen has spent more than 25 years operating at the highest levels of cybersecurity, venture capital, and applied technology.As a Program Manager at DARPA, he managed a $100M cybersecurity portfolio focused on advanced national security systems. He later founded and exited Siege Technologies, building a profitable cyber company in a highly competitive market. Since then, he has invested in more than 45 early-stage companies across AI and cybersecurity.After his exit, Jason donated the majority of his proceeds to combat human trafficking and poverty. Today, he helps fund initiatives that free individuals from modern-day slavery, often for as little as $100 per person.He is now the Founder and CEO of SportsVisio, an AI-driven sports analytics company using computer vision to automate statistics and highlights for athletes and teams.In this episode, we discuss:Managing a $100M DARPA portfolioBuilding and exiting a cybersecurity companyInvesting across 45 technology startupsDecision-making under risk at scaleSustaining physical and cognitive performance long termDeploying capital for measurable impactThe future of AI in sports analyticsJason SyversenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsyversen/

Silicon Valley legend Ed Baker, CPO at WHOOP and ex growth chief at FB and Uber, is our guest on this episode of Traction.Ed helped Facebook cross one billion monthly active users, joining after scaling and selling his 25-million-user startup, Friendly, to the company.He then became VP of Product and Growth at Uber, where he set weekly trips as the north-star metric and helped take the company's valuation from $17 billion to about $70 billion during his tenure.In 2017, Ed left Uber to rebuild his health. Within six months, he transformed himself into an elite triathlete and went on to win his first Ironman. Along the way, he became deeply focused on recovery, sleep, and performance data.In this episode, Ed shares how he applies the same systems thinking to business, athletics, and life. You will learn:What does elite performance look likeHow to scale without burning outWhy recovery is a leadership advantageChoosing a north star metric for your business and your bodyUsing wearable data and AI to stay in the game longerBuilding teams that execute without destroying your healthWhether you are scaling a startup or pushing your personal limits, this conversation offers a blueprint for achieving extraordinary growth without sacrificing well-being.

What if the reason most high-performance careers end early isn’t effort, but how performance is managed over time?In this episode, Dr. Wayne Diesel, elite sports physiologist and long-time performance leader across the NBA, NFL, Premier League, and international rugby, and Ray Walia explore how founders can apply elite athlete principles to build sustainable, long-term performance.After decades inside the world’s most demanding sports organizations, Wayne has seen firsthand why even the most talented athletes break down, and why a small minority build careers that last. His work focuses on load management, recovery, mental resilience, and decision-making under pressure.Wayne has worked with championship teams and elite athletes across three continents, helping design performance systems where longevity is a requirement, not a bonus.He breaks down the exact frameworks used in elite sport to prevent burnout, manage stress, and sustain peak performance, and why founders who ignore these principles pay the price over time.Dr. Wayne Diesel- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-diesel-3012122a/

What if you could extend your healthspan, sharpen your focus, and increase your stress resilience by decoding your DNA?In this powerhouse episode, Dr. Matt Dawson, ER physician and early longevity pioneer turned health tech founder, and Lloyed Lobo discuss how startup founders can optimize their health span while scaling high-impact companies.After years of watching patients suffer from avoidable conditions, Matt left traditional medicine to build companies that keep people healthy before things break.He co-founded and exited Wild Health, a genomics-based performance medicine clinic, and now leads TruDiagnostic, an epigenetics company that helps people measure how fast they are aging and how to reverse it.Matt breaks down the exact systems he uses with elite athletes, founders, and high performers to engineer long-term energy, recovery, and focus. TIMESTAMPS00:00   From ER doctor to healthtech entrepreneur03:12   Why emergency medicine can't fix chronic disease04:49   Treating health as a data problem09:24   Genetics vs epigenetics13:11   Why entrepreneurs age faster than everyone else19:42   Measuring biological aging36:36   Health trends that matter vs ones that don't44:16   Top health hacks you didn't knowDr. Matt Dawson, CEO, TrueDiagnosticTrueDiagnostic: https://www.trudiagnostic.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-dawson-75196040/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trudiagnosticofficial

Building a startup rewards intensity, not longevity.In this episode of Traction, Alex Bruyn joins Lloyed Lobo to challenge the founder playbook. Drawing from repeated burnout and serious health failures, Lloyed argues that hustle is not a badge of honor, it’s a structural flaw in how entrepreneurship is practiced.They examine how stress compounds over time, why founders are treated nothing like elite athletes, and how chasing momentum degrades performance. The conversation reframes success around endurance, relationships, and the shift from achievement to purpose.TIMESTAMPS:01:05 Why environment determines founder outcomes03:13 Early health signals founders miss05:34 Momentum vs gravity 09:32 How hustle culture compounds damage28:47 The role of AI and community30:07 The first mountain and the second44:32 Relationships as the strongest predictorLloyed Lobo- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloyedlobo/- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lloyedlobo/

Most startup stories focus on the win. Very few talk about what it costs to get there.In this episode, Lloyed Lobo sits down with Alex Bruyn, co-founder of Karak Creative, for a candid conversation about the realities founders rarely say out loud. From taking an unconventional path into tech to building a fast-growing company under constant pressure, Lloyed shares the parts of the journey that don’t show up on pitch decks or LinkedIn posts.They talk about momentum, stress, and the habits that quietly compound over years of building. The conversation explores why things can unravel after success, how founders end up running on empty, and what finally forces a rethink.Lloyed Lobo: https://instagram.com/lloyedloboStay tuned for Part 2. Releasing on January 7th, 2026.

The talent market has shifted in ways that make hiring harder for early-stage teams. In this episode, Melissa Kwan and Lloyed Lobo talk about why salaries jumped, why interviews often look better than the work that follows, and how these gaps slow companies down.They share what they’ve learned from hiring mistakes, how expectations changed after the unicorn wave, and what founders should pay attention to when building teams that can actually deliver.TIMESTAMPS:00:56 The current state of the talent market02:24 Gaps between interviews and actual performance07:22 Compensation expectations vs. capabilities21:23 Organizational impact of early mis-hires34:24 Building a team that delivers consistently45:03 Hiring for trajectory, not tenureLloyed Lobo:- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lloyedlobo- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lloyedlobo

Fake it till you make it is a phrase founders hear early and often. Ambition can drift past honesty faster than most founders realize. This episode looks at how pitching and fundraising expectations shape the stories founders tell and the pressure to appear further along than reality.Lloyed Lobo and Melissa Kwan unpack the pressure behind projections, user claims, and the instinct to present a version of the company that is not fully real yet.TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Fake it till you make it and where it breaks04:46 Values, joy, and building the company you actually want11:06 Realistic projections and the truth about TAM33:44 Investor updates that create real accountability35:53 Leading through communication and alignment38:34 The Wizard of Oz phase and early-stage shortcuts39:10 Confidence vs pretending you are further along42:06 Values, consequences, and building without collateral damageLloyed Lobo: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloyedlobo - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lloyedlobo

Building a startup together tests everything you believe about trust.In this episode, serial entrepreneur Lloyed Lobo and Melissa Kwan, CEO at eWebinar, unpack the cofounder confessions founders whisper but rarely admit: love turned liability, handshake deals gone wrong, and the quiet resentment that kills partnerships faster than failure itself.From equity fights to emotional burnouts, they dissect why cofounder breakups feel worse than divorces, and the principles that keep the right ones from imploding.00:41 Love, lies, and why 65% of startups fail from conflict02:06 Handshake deals and the myth of “trust over paperwork”05:46 The fairness trap: splitting equity before earning it14:20 Why vesting clauses save friendships and companies17:03 When one founder works harder and starts to resent it32:36 How to rebuild communication when it turns personal38:39 The truth about burnout, buyouts, and walking awayFollow Lloyed:- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloyedlobo/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lloyedlobo/