Living Two High-Performance Lives

People often assume that I’ve stepped away from the pressure of professional sport by co-founding a startup. The truth is, I’m still training (a little less at the present due to it being the off-seaon) and competing as an elite Ironman while also building a company from the ground up. It’s a demanding balance that relies on discipline, routine, and relentless energy. But unlike sport, where the season has structure and recovery is scheduled, the startup grind rarely switches off.

I now find myself straddling two high-performance worlds: one in the surf, the other in boardrooms, pitch decks, and product meetings. Both demand peak focus. Both are unforgiving. And both are deeply rewarding, but only if you can manage the pressure and protect your energy.

The Real Juggle: Family, Business, and Self

I’m a proud dad to two young kids, including a newborn. My wife is my anchor. She’s endlessly supportive and the reason I can do any of this. But that doesn’t make the juggle easy. My days start early with training, followed by meetings, strategy, product reviews, and more, before switching gears to be fully present for bedtime and family time. Then it’s often back online once the house is quiet.

It’s a cycle that makes it incredibly easy to lose yourself. For a long time, I did what so many founders do: I absorbed the pressure, pushed through the fatigue, and kept telling myself I had to do more. But no one can perform like that forever.

Burnout Isn’t a Badge of Honour

There’s a glorified narrative in startup culture: if you’re not grinding 18 hours a day, taking no pay, and sacrificing everything, you’re not serious. That mindset is dangerous. I’ve felt it. I’ve seen it in other founders. And it never ends well.

Burnout doesn’t always announce itself loudly. Sometimes it creeps in quietly through poor sleep, short tempers, lost focus, or disconnection from the people you love. You lose clarity. You lose purpose. You start to feel like a passenger in your own life.

That was the turning point for me. I realised that performance couldn’t come at the cost of health. I needed a new system if I wanted to be a great founder, a present father, and still compete as an athlete. That’s where UAre came in.

Why We Built UAre

UAre was never just a product idea. It came from my experience and that of my co-founders, Marc Pasques and Grant Ellison. We all knew what it felt like to operate under pressure. We also saw that most well-being solutions were reactive, fragmented, or surface-level.

So we built something better. UAre is a human performance platform that combines behavioural science, longevity research, and digital tools to help people measure and improve the four areas that most influence their ability to live well and lead effectively: Movement, Mindset, Relationships, and Habits.

For individuals, UAre starts with a simple, intuitive app that lets users track their feelings in those four areas. It only takes a few minutes daily, with no wearables are required, but highly encouraged for richer data. Over time, it produces powerful insights. The app learns your rhythm, identifies patterns, and delivers personalised recommendations that support performance and well-being in a sustainable and meaningful way.

Behind the scenes, we use AI-driven insights, smart nudges, and access to world-class mentors. These aren’t generic health tips. They are real-time strategies based on data and tailored to each person’s unique context.

For me, it’s become part of my daily check-in. It’s just as important as training or work prep. I know how I’m tracking. I know when to push and when to pull back. I know how to recover faster and communicate better. It has helped me perform and sustain that performance over time. That is just the tip of the iceberg.

How UAre Helps Organisations

UAre isn’t just built for individuals. It’s built for entire organisations, where the fundamental shift happens.

We give companies a dashboard of anonymised, aggregated well-being data across their workforce. That means leaders can finally see the impact of their decisions. They can identify where stress is building, support is lacking, and how people are trending over time. It’s a game-changer for both culture and performance.

Instead of relying on occasional surveys or outdated HR metrics, organisations can take proactive, targeted steps to improve engagement, reduce burnout, and create real, measurable value from their investment in people. It’s not just about reducing sick days or turnover; we also help with that. It’s about building healthy, high-performing teams that drive long-term results.

We work with businesses in the sports, health, education, emergency services, and corporate sectors. Each has different needs, but all share one goal: to support their people more effectively and create a culture rooted in resilience, focus, and growth.

The results speak for themselves: increased retention, reduced absenteeism, stronger engagement, and higher ROI. UAre gives organisations the tools to care not just more but also better.

A Smarter Way to Perform

Founders are often praised for their endurance, but endurance without awareness is a dangerous game. I’ve learned that real performance (the kind that lasts) comes from rhythm, not chaos. You need recovery, clarity, and structure.

UAre gives me that. It has helped me reframe how I approach leadership, family, training, and rest. I’m sharper with my team, calmer with my kids, and more present with my partner. I’m still pushing hard, but no longer burning out in the process.

The Real Win

Startups are tough. Sport is tough. Parenting is tough. But doing them all together doesn’t have to come at the cost of your health. If anything, it means you need to invest even more in your longevity.

That’s what we’re doing at UAre. We’re helping people, founders, executives, athletes, and everyday humans build sustainable performance into their lives. It’s not just a platform. It’s a mindset. And it’s already changing lives.

I’m still in the race, in every sense of the word. But now I’m running it on my terms, with more awareness, purpose, and energy. That’s the version of success I want for myself, my family, and the people we support through UAre.

If you’re building something, especially if you’re building yourself, take care of the foundation. You are your asset. Protect that, and everything else will get stronger.