2024 Fellow Focus: Nisala Kalupahana + baseline health
Tech-savvy healer, compassionate creator, mental health champion…2024 Fellow Nisala Kalupahana of baseline health shares more about his journey as a social impact entrepreneur.
What life experiences propelled you into the entrepreneurial space and made you decide to be your own boss?
I’m pretty much as far from a serial entrepreneur as you can get. Honestly, I feel like I became an entrepreneur almost by accident.
A few years ago, I was in an awful relationship that really hurt me. After it ended, I found that the journaling I did both during and after the relationship really helped me understand what had happened to me, and how I could heal. However, these benefits were difficult to get. The app I had used for journaling was terrible; in fact, the first iteration of my venture was just a data visualizer for this app! And whenever I recommended this app and others to my friends, they would have the same problems. So, I decided to make my own, and thus baseline health was founded.
What do you enjoy most about being a founder?
Hearing the stories of the people we’ve already helped, even at this early stage, is so incredibly gratifying. We’ve already helped people get through everything from bad relationships, to depression, to financial instability, to suicidal ideation, and beyond. Knowing that this product has already changed lives is motivation enough to keep working.
What do you wish someone had told you before you started your entrepreneurial journey?
I wish someone had taught me more about how networking worked. I’m a computer scientist by trade, and networking is not as much of a thing in that industry. I’ve gotten a lot better at it, but I wrote it off a lot in the early days, and I almost certainly lost some opportunities because of it.
Tell us about an experience you had as an entrepreneur or in starting your company that exemplified one of Camelback's core values: "Belief in Mission + Vision"; "Unafraid of Failure"; "Constant Learner"; "Humble + Hungry"; and "Give First."
[Belief in Mission + Vision] baseline is completely built around Mission and Vision. For-profit mental health services, especially those for pre-crisis help, aren’t at all aligned with their user’s best interests — and trust me, it shows. As a non-profit, we’re forging a new path in this space by putting intersectionally disadvantaged users at the forefront, instead of creating a service that puts our profits first.
Let's talk about your legacy. What is your vision for the kind of world you hope to create through your venture?
I hope baseline is able to create a new generation of people who are better able to describe their thoughts and emotions to themselves and others. I also hope our organization serves as an example for other non-profits to start working in the non-crisis mental health space. We need all hands on deck for this crisis, and that starts by showing non-profits that they can make and market tech products just like for-profits do.
What's your favorite book or podcast that you draw entrepreneurial inspiration from?
I don’t actually consume very much content about entrepreneurship itself, so I’ll use this space to recommend two pieces of reading material:
1. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, which has helped inform the way I approach medicine and mental health to this day;
2. It’s Not Just You - a 16-article New York Times series about the systemic nature of the mental health crisis
We know balancing the demands of entrepreneurship and life can be challenging. What are some of your favorite ways to prioritize your self-care?
As you might expect, I journal a lot. I’ve been using baseline every day for over two years now and it’s helped me tremendously.
To stay in the loop about the good trouble Camelback Fellows are getting into - sign up for our newsletter!