When the business works but the Story Doesn’t: The Challenge of Scaling Complex Solutions-an interview with Justin Roethlingshoefer
You’ve built something truly transformative. It delivers real results. Customers love it. But the market doesn’t get it... That’s the story behind Own It, the high-performance health platform founded by Justin Roethlingshoefer. Designed for executives and entrepreneurs, it’s part functional medicine, part performance coaching, part custom-formulated supplementation—all unified through one integrated team and system.
It’s powerful. It works. Retention is 94%. But early on, scaling was a struggle.
“We had the antidote to what people were suffering from,” Justin says. “But I didn’t know how to package it. Nobody knew what box to put us in.”
That’s the challenge with category-defying innovation: if your audience can’t instantly understand what problem you solve and why you're different, they move on. And no amount of clinical results or founder passion can fix that without a clear story.
Here’s what Own It had—but struggled to articulate:
• A solution built for high-performing founders and execs who’ve deprioritized their health
• A fully virtual coaching team: functional medicine, nutrition, fitness, therapy—all integrated
• Daily communication and real-time adaptation to lifestyle, travel, stress, and goals
• Deep testing at the cellular level—plus custom supplements, not stock vitamins
• An experience designed to feel like a board of directors for your health
• Quarterly in-person labs and community events that build accountability and connection
“People asked, ‘Are you fitness? Biohacking? Concierge care?’ We were none of them—and all of them.” Once Justin clarified the story, Own It began to scale. With his wife (former EVP at Christian Louboutin) as CEO, the company now serves over 1,500 clients with a team of 50+.
The takeaway for founders and investors:
The more innovative your offering, the harder you must work to simplify the story. It’s not about dumbing it down. It’s about meeting your audience where they are—so they can run toward what you’ve built.
Listen in as Justin unpacks the story behind scaling something the world didn’t know it needed.