Why We're Building Realize Me

Hello, my name is Ryan Lissack, I'm a technologist and health & fitness enthusiast. In June of last year, I decided to create a company.

I've always been fascinated by the interconnectedness of the systems in our bodies. I've been passionate about health and fitness since I was a teenager, so, going on 30 years at this point. I am also incredibly passionate about building companies and creating technology, and I've played a part in building multiple companies throughout my career that I'm incredibly proud of. 

A couple of years ago, I became much more data-oriented in my approach to my health and fitness endeavors. I started using wearables (Oura, Apple Watch), connected devices (Withings body comp scale and blood pressure monitor), getting regular lab tests run, following specific workout programs, and focusing on the details of my diet and supplementation (Thorne, Momentous, Athletic Greens). There was so much I was doing; I was making progress and seeing improvements, but it was still difficult to discern what specifically was working for me, what else I should be focusing on, and what else I could be doing. 

There is a plethora of health and fitness data, and the availability of that data is increasing every day. However, that data lives in siloes, and making even simple correlations across those siloes is hard. I started using spreadsheets to try and track all this data to glean more insight. I was able to start seeing some patterns, gain some deeper understanding, and use that to inform my actions.

It was a good start, but the effort to maintain my spreadsheets continued mounting, and I needed more capabilities than were possible with this approach. With technology being as advanced as it is today, this isn't what the extent of capabilities should be for people who are more advanced in their interventions and more data-driven in the actions they're taking to affect their health and performance. We need to see more than just the data that's correlated; we want to understand the efficacy of our actions. 

I had the classic, somewhat cliche thought—there has to be a better way to do this, and if I'm having this problem, there must be other people who are as well. The building blocks that would allow us to connect the dots exist today; the software just needs to be built. I decided to pursue a dream at the intersection of my passions, and Realize Me was born. 

At a high level, I think about what we are building as a platform for quantified humans. That doesn't mean just reducing people to their quantitative data; it also means capturing the important things about us that are more qualitative—how we're feeling, what our energy is like, how our mood is different this week than last week. This is a platform that enables the analysis of all that data and unearths the insights that allow people to live their best lives. To realize their potential.

I gathered a group of engineers I trust and set out on this pursuit. This blog is a place for my team and me to tell you our story.