Levi Epstein (#003)

When you are passionate about the problem space and you love what you do, there is nothing better

Levi Epstein

Company: Inflow

Headcount: 6

Stage: Pre-seed

Tell us your story

I’m the co-founder of a mission-based, health-tech startup called Inflow; the first science-based app to help manage ADHD. 

I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and lived there until I finished high school. After that, I moved to the UK to study Economics at the LSE. I tried out a variety of different internships while I was there, everything from strategy consulting to urban regeneration, and realised that I was motivated by projects that aligned with my values and helped other people. 

I come from an entrepreneurial family so although the idea of starting a business excited me, I wasn’t sure how to get started. I looked at the bigger picture and identified tech as an important base for most of the industries I was interested in. I had never written a line of code but applied, and got accepted, to do a Computer Science masters at Imperial. This provided me with an invaluable set of skills. But it also helped me realise that I didn’t enjoy software development as much as I enjoyed thinking about the end-product and how it could solve a real-world problem. 

It was around this time that I attended the AWS conference where I heard Ali Parsa give a speech about his startup, Babylon Health. Ali showed off Babylon’s new AI chatbot and spoke about their mission to provide affordable and accessible healthcare through technology - I was so inspired that I applied for a job while I was in the audience! I remain incredibly grateful for the mentorship I received at Babylon and for everything I learnt during my time as a Product Manager there. 

After being immersed in such a motivating environment at Babylon, and becoming increasingly aware of the stigma and difficulties that people with ADHD face, I decided to forge my own path. I joined forces with a good friend of mine from the LSE, Seb Isaacs, who was also passionate about helping people with ADHD reach their full potential, and we founded Inflow: a science-based app to help manage ADHD. We teamed up with Dr. George Sachs, a leading clinical psychologist who specialises in ADHD, who became our third co-founder. 

It’s been an exciting journey since then and I have loved every second of it. We have built up an all-star team that is passionate about solving this problem, and we are busy creating a product for an incredible community that are incredibly underserved. We are currently running a successful 500+ person beta and working towards a public launch in the US in April 2021. 

Tell us a story that has really resonated with you

I recently listened to Jack Conte and Sam Yam talk about the story behind the company they founded, Patreon. Jack had a huge fan base in the late 2000s as part of the band Pomplamoose and was making thousands of dollars a month through iTunes. When Spotify and other streaming services took hold, this income dried up. So Jack called his college roommate, Sam, who was a serial entrepreneur. Together, they created Patreon; a membership platform for creators and artists to build a more sustainable income source through the support of their most loyal fans. 

I loved hearing about the different careers they had beforehand, and the fact they were college roommates reminded me of my relationship with Seb. 

One of the things I’m really focussed on at the moment is achieving product market fit, so it was also encouraging to hear them speak about how they knew they were on to something big based on the reactions of their early adopters. This is something we’re experiencing with Inflow at the moment and it makes me excited to see where it will take us. 

What can't you stop thinking about?

I can’t stop thinking about Inflow! I know it’s cliched, but one thing I have realised during the process of founding a startup is how all-consuming it is. Whether it is dealing with a small issue, thinking about how we can improve our product, or better serve our community, I find it difficult to switch off. But when you are passionate about the problem space and you love what you do, there is nothing better! 

If I could tell you just one thing...

Just start! It’s a shame to think about all the lost ideas, and all the impact they could have had, if potential founders had just started. 

I think taking that initial first step can be extremely overwhelming but try and think about the easiest parts to get started with and work on validating them. This might mean speaking to a potential customer or doing some desk research, even just meeting a friend a few times a week to discuss the idea is a step in the right direction. 

I won’t pretend that getting over that initial hurdle is easy, but I found the best way to manage it was to break each stage into smaller chunks. After that, you should start to see the power of momentum take over! Good luck. 

If you could get a warm intro to anyone in the world, who would it be and why? 

Yotam Ottolenghi. I am obsessed with food, whether it is going for a delicious meal or trying to cook myself. He is one of my favourite chefs, I love his restaurants and cookbooks. He is such a creative, interesting, and entrepreneurial character and I am hoping that if I get to meet him, I’ll also be able to eat some delicious food in the process. As a bonus, there is a really cool song called Ottolenghi, by an awesome musician and ADHD advocate, Loyle Carner.