Transitioning From Gymnast to Investor with Aly Raisman

a16z Podcast

a16z

Science, Innovation, Business, Entrepreneurship, Culture, Disruption, Software Eating The World, Technology

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2024

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Former gymnast and current investor Aly Raisman joins general partner Julie Yoo and investment partner Daisy Wolf of a16z Bio + Health. In this episode, Aly Raisman shares her quest for healthier living—physically, mentally, and financially—on her journey from gymnast to a business investor. Having transitioned from an intensely structured routine, Aly emphasizes the need for more open conversations about mental health and financial literacy. She speaks passionately about the gap in women’s health solutions and hopes to inspire entrepreneurs to create impactful businesses. Aly’s experiences as a patient, survivor, and global figure adds a unique dimension to her perspective as an investor. This candid conversation with Aly and Julie Yoo sheds light on Aly’s passion for more education within the investment space, offering invaluable insights for entrepreneurs, particularly in biotech and healthcare.

Transcript

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0:00.0	When you're competing at the Olympics if I'm jet lag or if I don't feel well it's not like the
0:04.9	judges care. So at eight years old it started to get really intense and I would spend six days in the gym I had Sundays off and I would train
0:14.9	somewhere between four to seven hours a day. When I was training for the Olympics
0:19.5	like if I was tired I felt like almost my coach was harder on me on the days where I didn't sleep well.
0:24.8	It took me so wanted to get diagnosed because doctors would say to me, well you just have
0:29.5	anxiety and depression and I'd say well I didn't mention anything to you about anxiety or depression why do you say that and they say well you know I've read your story in the news
0:38.6	What if you have an underlying issue that could have been fixed? What if there's an underlying issue that's
0:43.2	been a problem for 10 years. Building a successful business can feel like
0:48.2	landing a backflip on a balance beam which impressively enough some humans have figured out. One foot wrong and it all
0:56.2	comes tumbling down, but get it right and you might just see gold. With the greatest event in sports just weeks away, we're sharing an
1:05.4	episode that bridges these two worlds of elite athletics and elite entrepreneurship
1:10.6	straight from a two-time Olympic athlete herself.
1:14.6	This episode originally published on our sister podcast Raising Health features the one and
1:19.4	only Ali Raceman.
1:21.6	Ali has six Olympic medals under her belt and she's recently
1:25.2	pivoted her pursuit of excellence towards health and the many forms of it from
1:29.5	women's health and fertility to mental health. Here, Ali also discusses with a 16-Z general partner,
1:35.2	Julie U, and investing partner, Daisy Wolf, the parallels of being a founder and an Olympian,
1:41.9	both requiring consistent performance at an elite level, but also the
1:45.9	intensity of being judged against the best in the world.
1:49.6	And equally what it's like to transition from that lifestyle to investing so that she can scale her impact.
1:55.6	Now for more episodes just like this, don't forget to search Raising Health wherever you get your
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