Nutrafol cofounder's anti-stress playbook: Couples therapy, better sleep, and daily exercise

Nutrafol cofounder Giorgos Tsetis thought he'd finally have a chance to breathe after selling his billion-dollar hair-growth company to Unilever.

"To be honest, I felt that after the acquisition, I would just relax," he told Business Insider. But that "definitely didn't happen," he said.

While the cofounder's day-to-day looks different after stepping down as CEO earlier this year, it comes with its own challenges. Tsetis is parenting two children, launching an investment platform called Great Things, and continuing his involvement with Nutrafol as a chairman.

Managing stress remains top of mind for Tsetis, a former model and engineer, who cofounded Nutrafol in 2014 after experiencing his own stress-related hair loss. Now the company says it has 2 million subscribers to its product, a supplement designed to fight a combination of hair-loss factors, including stress and hormones.

Here are the two areas he focuses on daily:

Prioritizing his home life — and couples therapy

Tsetis said he does everything in his power to make sure his household, including his relationship with his wife and children, is as peaceful as possible. The cofounder said he once asked a psychologist how he could optimize thriving and become a sharper version of himself, and the psychologist told him to "figure out" his household first.

That advice led Tsetis and his wife to couples therapy, which he said was a proactive and preventive decision.

He said family is a priority for him and helps keep him grounded, even if having young kids can sometimes come with less sleep and higher stress.

Optimizing for health and time in nature

Physical health is another major focus for Tsetis, and sleep plays a central role in that. When it's disrupted, he said, it can trigger a "downward spiral."

"You can bio-hack your body, you can eat healthy, you can do whatever you want," said Tsetis. But, if you're not getting good sleep, he said, "it all becomes an uphill battle."

To counteract the cycle of stress and poor sleep, Tsetis said he exercises daily. He said he used to run often, which was great for his mind. Tsetis, who recently turned 40, says he now prioritizes strength training.

Tsetis added that he makes time to "embrace nature" several times a month, whether by walking through the woods or spending time outdoors. He also gets acupuncture and massages, which he said some might consider a "luxury."

"For me, it's a necessity — it's an absolute necessity to just decompress," Tsetis said.

What Nutrafol's acquisition taught him

Tsetis is no stranger to stress.

The lead-up to the company's 2022 acquisition was the most intense period of his life, Tsetis said. He recounted juggling merger and acquisition meetings with companies like Johnson & Johnson and L'Oréal, while preparing for the birth of his child. He described his son's birth as "the most beautiful moment" of his life, but balancing both milestones at once was no small feat.

"I remember showing up in a meeting the day after my son was born with just no sleep, just ready to present to J&J," Tsetis said, adding that, ironically, he probably "lost a lot of hair during that time."

Now, faced with different stressors post-acquisition, Tsetis focuses on prioritizing his health and personal life.

"If that's not in order, then you can't necessarily optimize evolution, growth, impact, connecting with others," Tsetis said.

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