Bessemer Venture Partners launches STRIVE: A holistic wellness program for high-performance leadership
In collaboration with Exos, the human performance company, STRIVE equips entrepreneurs to enhance personal wellbeing and performance.
Byron Deeter, Elliott Robinson & Bessemer Partners
Published on Oct 29, 2024
There’s no disputing that scaling a company is challenging. For founders, it can come with intense pressure and is often at the expense of personal health and wellness. At Bessemer, we recognize that a CEO’s well-being directly influences business outcomes and company culture, which is why we are unveiling STRIVE, a holistic wellness program to support entrepreneurs, CEOs, and founders in achieving high-performance leadership. Developed with the elite coaching company, Exos, STRIVE empowers leaders to enhance both personal well-being and professional success.
We built STRIVE around six fundamental pillars—Sleep, Training, Regimen, Intake, Vision, and Emotional Health—that together form the foundation of a game plan customized for the goals and challenges CEOs face. The STRIVE program offers expert insights, research-based practices, community forums, one-to-one coaching, tailored wellness plans, and personalized guidance across these key areas, drawing from Exos’ extensive experience working with elite athletes and Fortune 500 executives. We’ve also brought on our first STRIVE-focused Operating Advisor—NFL athlete Arik Armstead—to advise and motivate Bessemer founders with best practices for peak performance, wellness, and operating with an athlete’s mindset.
"Building a business is the ultimate endurance sport."
“We are constantly reminded of how essential personal health and wellness is for operators to achieve a state of peak performance. Unfortunately, not nearly enough is said or done about this in our industry,” said Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “As a former entrepreneur, I experienced firsthand the physical and emotional toll it takes, and now as a VC, I see it from a different lens. We built STRIVE to offer a holistic approach that not only improves health, but also boosts decision-making, resilience, teamwork, and ultimately, overall company performance.”
“Building a business is the ultimate endurance sport,” said Elliott Robinson, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “STRIVE is more than just a program; it is a platform that deepens Bessemer's commitment to the leaders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and broadens our ability to support founders at every stage of their growth.”
Addressing the challenges of modern leadership
The pressures of running a high-growth startup have undoubtedly put mounting stress on today’s operators and leaders. In the spring of 2024, we conducted a comprehensive survey of our portfolio founders and CEOs on the state of founder wellness.
- 70% of participating CEOs reported struggling with anxiety, sleeplessness, and burnout with many contemplating stepping down due to the intense pressures of their roles;
- 57% of executives tell us they are doing 60-80 hour work weeks and a majority of CEOs work on weekends;
- 70% do not currently engage with a coach or therapist for support, despite these challenges.
Insights from the survey gave us further conviction to build STRIVE and provide entrepreneurs with the content, coaching, and community to address their personal goals and integrate sustainable, consistent habits that support their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing as they lead and serve their growing companies.
“The demands of leadership today are similar to those faced by high-performance athletes,” said Amanda Carlson-Phillips, chief performance innovation officer at Exos. “Leaders are expected to perform at their best under immense stress, and just like athletes, they need tailored strategies to reach peak performance and recover effectively. Our partnership with Bessemer and the development of STRIVE provides the tools and insights to make that possible for today’s founders.”
Get started with STRIVE
For CEOs, founders, and operators ready to take their performance to the next level, we’ve opened access to select resources on how to put STRIVE into play.
To get started with STRIVE, learn more at bvp.com/strive.
Contributors
Byron Deeter
Partner
Byron Deeter is a leading investor in AI, Cloud, Frontier Technology, and the Business of Sports. He co-authored Bessemer’s iconic 10 Laws of Cloud Computing, the Bessemer Forbes Cloud 100, the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index, and Bessemer’s STRIVE program for executive health and wellness. Byron works closely alongside many of the best founders in the cloud world, with 26 of Byron’s investments currently valued above $1 billion each, including 13 IPOs and counting.
Byron first raised a Series A with Bessemer back in 2000, as CEO and founder of Trigo Technologies. His company grew to be one of the first global SaaS companies, reaching profitability and was successfully sold to IBM. Byron foresaw that cloud computing would not only change the way people built new technologies but also how The Cloud would systematically run the world. In 2005, Byron returned to Bessemer, this time to help lead the firm’s global cloud practice.
Byron graduated with honors from The University of California, Berkeley, where he met his then college sweetheart and now wife. Byron is a perennial Midas List investor, past Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, partner/owner of the San Francisco 49ers and Leeds United, as well as an active board member/advisor to numerous causes including the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation, U.C. Berkeley Foundation, Pledge 1% and Cal Rugby. Although he’s a four-time Rugby Collegiate National Champion and serial Ironman finisher, he’s largely converted to leisure sports of golf, wake surfing, and skiing with his wife and three children.
Elliott Robinson
Partner
Elliott Robinson is based in the NYC office and a partner of the growth investment practice at Bessemer, where he focuses primarily on Cloud software investments. He co-authors Bessemer’s iconic 10 Laws of Cloud Computing and the annual State of the Cloud Report. He looks to partner with companies and management teams that are defining their market category while also maintaining a set of core values that will allow them to expand and solidify their leadership position. Elliott is currently a board member for Coactive AI, Databook, Hinge Health, Hyperscience, Imply Data, Netlify and Render. Additionally, he has led Bessemer’s investments in Forter, Statespace, and Canva.
Prior to joining Bessemer, Elliott was a partner with M12, leading investments in companies such as Livongo (IPO: LVGO), BlueVine, Trusona, and Cooler Screens. Elliott started his career with Syncom Venture Partners, investing in both early and growth stage enterprise software and frontier tech companies such as CLEAR and Iridium Communications (IPO: IRDM). After six years with Syncom, he joined Georgian Partners, investing in a number of successful growth stage software companies such as TurnItIn (acquired by Advance), Kinnser (acquired by Mediware), and eSentire.
Elliott earned his M.B.A from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Morehouse College. He is a board director of Venture Forward, BLCK VC, and a member of the Kauffman Fellows Class 22.
Bessemer Partners
