The Hustle - 🧘 The newest alternative therapy

Happy Trends Tuesday!

Today we’ve got:

• 1 trend alert

• 1 piece of operator wisdom

• 1 startup sector you should know

Let's get to it.

🚨 TREND ALERT

There’s a new kid on the alternative therapy block: salt-cave therapy.

Also called halotherapy, it is a relaxing alternative treatment for lung problems and involves breathing in air with tiny salt particles.

The practice has long been popular in Eastern Europe, and is now making its way westward — most Google search interest now comes from the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, according to Google Trends.

Here’s how to take advantage of the trend:

• Open your own salt cave or spa, complete with scrubs and facials. This can be a standalone business, or a great addition to something like short-term rentals to draw more bookings.
  
  
• Go DTC by selling salt products. monthly search volume for “halogenerator” increased 660% on Amazon in June 2022, according to Jungle Scout. Some popular products include:
  • Salt therapy lamp: $54k/mo. in revenue
  • Himalayan salt diffuser and humidifier: $36k/mo.
  • Himalayan salt-lamp bulbs: $18k/mo.

🖖 START SPLIT-TESTING CONTENT

🧠 OPERATOR WISDOM

Michael Plisco founded Modus in 2022, to help high-achieving millennials budget their time more effectively to fight burnout and track behavioral changes.

Mere weeks away from its January 2023 launch, Plisco and co-founders pulled the plug. The decision wasn’t easy, and Plisco was in the midst of his own battle against anxiety and depression.

He sat down with us to talk about his biggest lessons from the failure:

1. Get feedback from your users. Plisco spent the majority of his time ideating and building with his team rather than interacting with users. “Release something that’s smaller and come back to it,” he says. “Meaningfully execute and then keep moving forward.”
   
   
2. Avoid the “death spiral” which Plisco describes as: to fundraise, you need a product. To build a product, you need a team. To have a team, you need fundraising. Instead, solidify one component first, and use that as leverage to get the other two.
   
   
3. Understand VCs. Rather than looking at VCs as gods, understand that they’re business operators, too, and you need to prove how your business can help them to secure their money.
   
   
4. Become a skilled generalist. This allows you to understand what makes the company tick, have more constructive and respectful interactions with employees, and spot problems when they arise.
   
   
5. Learn from conventional wisdom. Pay attention to the information, lessons, and stories that are out there on how to release products, iterate, and account for user feedback. Stay humble and don’t assume you’re different from those who came before you.
   
   
6. Take care of yourself. Entrepreneurs need to be in tune with their emotions and know when to take a break or let it go.
   
   
7. Be a donkey. Ernest Shackleton, the famous polar explorer saved himself and his team from certain death, saying “better a live donkey than a dead lion.” It’s your responsibility to do what’s best for the company and your team. Don’t be afraid to pivot, modify, or start from scratch.

🔥 STARTUP SECTOR YOU SHOULD KNOW

We have good news and bad news.

The good news is that startups are innovating a new, sustainable protein source.

The bad news? It’s bugs. 

Before you fly off (sorry, had to): The edible insect market is expected to hit $9.6B by 2030 and a handful of tech-based farming companies are vying for a piece of the pie. 

Read the full article on The Hustle blog. 

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