As a former NFL player and lifelong high performer, Todd Anderson was obsessed with optimization. He'd tried every hack, supplement, and tool he could find. But when he began taking a closer look at sleep, he noticed a glaring gap in the wellness conversation.

That shift started when he began working with Dr. Jennifer Martin, a leading sleep researcher at UCLA. After learning he had mild sleep apnea, he began taping his mouth shut at night to encourage nasal breathing. The results, he said, "were life-changing."

What began as a personal breakthrough soon turned into a mission. After experiencing the effects of nasal breathing firsthand, Anderson launched Dream Performance & Recovery, which enhances sleep through products such as mouth tape and nasal strips. He joined me on the One Day with Jon Bier podcast to talk about how he built the brand from scratch.

Anderson had no background in business, just a personal breakthrough and a drive to build. But that was just fine.

"I think if I had all the funding in the world, I probably would've done it the wrong way. Instead, we had to figure it out, build slowly, and then scale once we knew it worked," he said.

With no outside funding, Anderson bootstrapped every step of the way. "We were writing checks........

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