March 8, 2025 • 27 mins
What does it take to build a company that sells for $1.25 billion? More vulnerability than you might expect.
Shegun Otulana pulls back the curtain on entrepreneurship's glamorized image, revealing the gritty reality behind his journey from founding TheraNest to leading Therapy Brands through its billion-dollar acquisition. With refreshing candor, he confesses, "I never did think about quitting. The only thing I was worried about was my wife making me quit." This resilience, coupled with a systematic approach to business validation, carried him through countless difficult days.
The secret weapon in Shegun's arsenal wasn't just perseverance but strategic foresight—what he calls recognizing the "triple combo" of technology inflection, regulatory change, and shifting societal behaviors. When therapists were transitioning from paper to digital systems, when HIPAA compliance became mandatory, and when SaaS solutions were gaining acceptance, Theranest was perfectly positioned. Later, having telehealth capabilities in place before COVID hit created exponential growth when the pandemic forced therapy online overnight.
Perhaps most illuminating is Shegun's approach to acquisitions and leadership during Therapy Brands' expansion. "I saw what I was doing as me bringing you into a vision that I have, that I needed to explain to you and to treat you with dignity and respect through that process," he reflects. This philosophy guided him through integrating multiple companies while maintaining relationships with founders at different stages of their journeys—some eager to continue building, others looking for an exit.
Today, Shegun, channels his entrepreneurial energy through Harmony Venture Labs, creating companies that solve meaningful problems while giving back to Birmingham through education initiatives and neighborhood revitalization. His parting wisdom? "Vulnerability has a lot of empowerments in it that people don't think about...don't be afraid of failing, don't be afraid of being vulnerable. Step out there, go do the things you believe in."
Ready to embrace vulnerability as your entrepreneurial superpower? Subscribe now to hear more conversations with leaders who've mastered the courage to unmask themselves on the path to extraordinary success.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carol Park (00:03):
Hi everyone.
Welcome to the Courage Unmaskedpodcast, where we continue to
shine the light on vulnerabilityand the courage of
vulnerability.
I am super excited about ourguest today, shagan Archulana,
because I have known Shagan fora lot of years and his company
actually acquired their link atthe time, and so that's how I
(00:29):
got to know Shagan and reallygot to benefit, to be under his
leadership, his mentoring, andso I'm really excited y'all are
going to get to hear from Shagantoday.
So welcome Shagan to thepodcast.
Shegun Otulana (00:47):
Thanks Carol.
It's a huge honor for you toask me to do this.
I really appreciate it, and Ithink it's always great when
you've had an experience like anacquisition or something like
that with someone and you canstill because that process is a
very yucky, tedious process andyou can still be able to talk to
(01:11):
each other and have a goodrelationship afterwards.
I think that's a good thing.
So thank you.
Carol Park (01:17):
I totally understand that and I think that has to do
with who you are as a person,your character which again is
why I'm so excited that you'reon the podcast today.
And so, as an entrepreneur,before you became the CEO of
Therapy Brands, your brand wasthe first in that brand and you
(01:39):
became the CEO.
So prior to that, theentrepreneurship and the ups and
downs, the trials and errorsthat come with entrepreneurship
Was there a certain time, as youwere building Theranest and
growing that, that youquestioned and perhaps thought
about quitting?
(01:59):
Or is there a certain time thatit was hard and you thought
about quitting?
Shegun Otulana (02:06):
Oh yeah, it was hard.
It was very hard.
I'm not going to try tosugarcoat it because I know
these days entrepreneurship hasbecome this thing that we've now
assigned a lot of prestige to.
Everybody talks about founderslike they are the best things in
sliced bread.
(02:27):
And founders are great.
They create a lot of impact inthe world, they impact a lot of
lives economically and in somany other ways.
But I think sometimes it hidestheir hardship, the difficulty,
the pressure, the stress ofentrepreneurship.
So I'm not going to sugarcoatit.
(02:48):
It was hard.
The thing I would say is Inever did think about quitting.
At no point did I ever thinkabout quitting.
The only thing I was worriedabout was my wife making me quit
.
I was concerned that at somepoint she's going to be like
that's enough, buddy, let's goget a real job.
But she was a huge supporterthe whole time and that never
(03:10):
actually happened.
But while it was very, veryhard, many, many, many difficult
days, there was no quitting.
In all honesty.
Carol Park (03:22):
And what allowed you to stay the course, what kept
you going, especially on thosereally hard days.
Shegun Otulana (03:31):
I think I'm not sure I have 100 percent what the
answer is.
I do think some people have apropensity to do the
entrepreneur thing.
It's kind of how they're wiredand what that means is the
slightest amount of hope justgets them all fired up and they
(03:54):
don't live in the real world,they're living in this alternate
reality.
There's probably some of thatthat keeps you going.
I think for me there was also abit of a system to what I was
doing and I was learning alongthe way and that helped because
I felt like I was validatingthings as I was going and I had
(04:15):
done the entrepreneurship thingbefore and totally failed at it
and I felt like this time aroundI was doing it in a better way,
so that had helped a lot.
So it was hard, but I felt likethis time around I was doing it
in a better way, so that helpeda lot.
So it was hard, but I felt likeI was enjoying it and I was
learning and I probably wasn'treally gauging risk properly
(04:37):
also, but I also couldn't reallyenvision myself not doing it.
So I think if there was noexternal force that made me stop
being an entrepreneur, I wouldprobably just have kept on going
until I figured it out.
Carol Park (04:52):
So yeah, yeah.
So just your mission, yourpassion, kind of coded in,
probably at a cellular level, tohave this drive to want to do
that.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour company that you built and
then the transition to youbecoming the CEO of Therapy
(05:15):
Brands and again I know thestory from that is Therapy
Brands went on to merge, beacquired and at a tremendous
gain, financial gain.
So tell us, tell us about that,tell us a little more about
your story.
Shegun Otulana (05:33):
Yeah, so I, I I restarted my entrepreneurial
journey as a consultant uh,software development consultant
but the reason I was doing thatwas because I was using it as a
vehicle to look for problems togo solve in the world.
I wanted to find an industry Iwould enjoy serving for 10 years
(05:53):
, plus interesting problems thatalso could take advantage of
technology inflections, and thatended up being the mental and
behavioral health space.
It was at a time when a lot ofmental health practices were
looking for that next step ofwhat should I manage my practice
(06:14):
with, and so that was what ledto the creation of Theranest,
and Theranest found success veryquickly.
It was hard at the beginning,but when things started working,
it really just started working,and a few years into that was
when I decided to create aholding company, because not
only did I want to keep drivingthe organic growth that
(06:36):
Theranest was experiencing, butI also saw it as a time to
consolidate some aspects of theindustry and go into even other
aspects of mental and behavioralhealth that were in just pure
therapy.
So I began to look for partnersthat I could do that with, and
I ended up partnering with acouple of private equity groups,
(06:58):
and then we created a therapybranch with Theranessas you know
the underlying company andtherapyess as the underlying
company and Therapy Brands asthe holding company, and that's
really what led to TherapyBrands.
And then, inside of TherapyBrands, we kept building
organically and throughacquisitions, which was what
(07:18):
ended up what led to theacquisition of TheralLink, when
we were looking for a platformfor the telehealth space.
Carol Park (07:31):
Yes, it's so interesting I know that you're
snowed in in Birmingham todayand I'm snowed in in Dallas
yesterday and today and thereflection on in 2013, when we
started building TheraLink andwe had a little video on our
website.
That was like certain timesthat you can't get to your
(07:55):
office.
But so interesting because, asyou are well aware, therapists
at that time, which waspre-COVID, really were not
interested in person and sotrying to convince people that
no, there's still a need for it.
You know, there are times it'snot.
(08:28):
Yeah, stay in your office.
And then COVID hit andovernight everybody had to have
a telehealth platform and, ofcourse, by that point in time,
we had sold to therapy brandsand thank goodness because the
need for telehealth overnightjust shot.
Shegun Otulana (08:44):
Yeah, it was crazy.
We experienced a crazy amountthe need for telehealth
overnight just shot.
It was crazy.
We experienced a crazy amountof need for that, but we were
positioned to take advantage ofit and the lesson there,
honestly, is the need to alwayslook ahead, look into the future
when you're building a company,versus just what works now.
(09:05):
Sometimes you have to thinkwhere is society going, where is
technology going, and you kindof have to position yourself to
be there before, not too early,because if you're too early then
it doesn't work out.
But having the telehealthplatform and being one of the
first to actually offertelehealth just set us up so
(09:27):
well when COVID happened and wewere able to still continue to
serve our clients and a lot ofpeople kind of came onto the
platform because of that event.
And it's just a typical story.
I tell entrepreneurs aboutthings that propel a startup
(09:48):
forward pretty significantly.
There were many things thatpropelled us forward, but that
was also one of it, andtechnology can really propel you
forward like a new technology,like we see AI doing today.
Even for Terranest.
A big part of what propelled usforward was SaaS, because when
we started building that waswhen therapists were beginning
(10:08):
to move away from paper.
They were beginning to moveaway from installing the
software on their laptop andtheir computers.
They were looking for aweb-based software.
So we were kind of able to ridethat wave.
And HIPAA was also a tailwindcoming behind us.
Everybody was trying to beHIPAA compliant and it was a
perfect combination of atechnology inflection, a society
(10:30):
and behavioral changeinflection all happening at the
same time and a regulatoryinflection.
It's like a triple combo wasreally what drove the growth for
Theranest and Therapy, brandRegulations, technology and
society change.
Of course, the big societychange that also came was the
telehealth society change,because overnight everybody
(10:53):
dropped their opposition totelehealth, including the
government.
The government also decided,yes, we will gladly reimburse
telehealth.
So that also just reallypropelled us forward.
And you know you can't gaugetiming, but you can have a
framework in your head that youuse to think about the future.
And when you think about thefuture, one of the frameworks
(11:16):
you have to have in your head iswhat is a major change in
society's behavior and what doesthat mean for what I'm building
?
What is a major change intechnology and what does that
mean for what I'm building?
What is a major change intechnology, and what does that
mean for what I'm building?
Even in the world of therapythat you and I found success in,
we know there will be thingsthat will continue to affect
(11:39):
that industry with artificialintelligence.
What does that mean?
What will be the repercussionsof that?
So I think those are the thingsthat I would just encourage
entrepreneurs and builders tokeep thinking about as they
think about the future.
Carol Park (11:52):
Yeah, that's fantastic advice, so I also know
.
So.
You started with Theranest.
Then you built this holdingcompany Therapy Brands.
You brought other therapyproducts platforms underneath
that.
So really, you went from, okay,you're the CEO of your own
(12:13):
company, now you're the CEO ofthis big brand that has all
these other companies, all theseother leaders.
What was that shift like as youwent from just managing
Theraness to all these brandsand the co-founders that came in
under those brands?
What was that like and how didyou manage that?
Shegun Otulana (12:34):
Yeah, that took some learning.
Some things I learned quickly,some things I took too long to
learn, because managing otherfounders and other CEOs through
an acquisition is very differentfrom the organic growth you
experience when you are theperson who had everybody on your
team.
And one of the things I wouldsay we probably didn't do fast
(12:55):
enough and in that context wasmaybe integration took too long.
We could probably integrate thecompanies quickly.
There was a core culturalawareness that we always took
too long to bring into the newcompanies, partly because even
(13:16):
at Theranist it was in theculture but it wasn't concrete
enough through rituals and whenI say rituals, rituals around
how you do things, how you hire,how you reward and everything
else and you just plug people inand you just plug people in as
people come in.
So the third one is they couldplug new employees in, but you
(13:39):
needed something that couldscale so that when we're adding
a lot of people at the same time, you could plug all those
people in at the same time.
So I think those were some ofthe areas with maybe
inexperience I don't know whatelse to call it would have
affected us in making thosedecisions.
But on the entrepreneur side,for folks like you.
(14:01):
I saw us going on a journeytogether.
I saw what I was doing as mebringing you into a vision that
I have, that I needed to explainto you and to treat you with
dignity and respect through thatprocess.
Starting from the deal process,right from the first
conversation, I felt it was myjob to be brutally honest the
(14:25):
good, the bad, the ugly.
I felt it was my job to bebrutally honest the good, the
bad, the ugly and to try tocapture your own goals for what
you were trying to accomplishand then see how the two could
fit together within what I wastrying to accomplish.
But then I also had investorsand what they were trying to
accomplish, so trying to balanceeverybody's needs.
(14:46):
And there were some challengesthere because everybody's needs
were different.
There were those who werecoming on the journey, that were
just willing to keep going, andfor them the journey was like
okay, now let's go do this bigthing together.
And there were those that kepton the journey and for them it
was like, look, I'm actuallykind of exhausted and I'm trying
to get off the train, so if youneed somebody to continue to
(15:07):
drive hard, it's probably notgonna be me, and then there were
those that were in between andtrying to balance all of that.
Obviously it was a challenge.
And then the other challengewas each person dealt with it
inside their own organizationdifferently and that also
affected how those people andthose organizations dealt with
(15:28):
us at the at the main companylevel.
Because if the founder and CEOwere totally honest with their
people and they carried themalong, it made our life easier.
If it was just like took atotal disruption and like left a
bad taste in the mouth of thepeople that were inheriting,
(15:50):
then we had to fix that.
So it was all across the boardand the thing is you just learn,
you just accelerate yourlearning process in that at that
stage in that journey, I dealtwith it the way I like to do
with everything, which is lookfor resources, look for people,
(16:15):
learn very fast, put yourself inthe shoe of the other person
and just be vulnerable and openand say this is where we are,
this is what we're trying to getto, and that's the journey
we're on and that's kind of howI dealt with it.
The thing I always made sure wasthat there was no point in time
where carol would look at meand say you lied to me about x,
y and z?
Um.
(16:35):
To me, that was the thing Ijust wanted to make sure didn't
happen.
I, I didn't promise you allthat anything would be easy, but
I didn't promise you allanything that I couldn't make
happen, but I just promised youso I could get what I wanted,
and and so I, I wanted to dowhatever I did, with a clear
(16:56):
conscience, um, but at the endof the day, we still wanted to
bring everybody together to gobuild this huge thing, which we
did end up doing together.
Yes, you did While stillcarrying along the investors
that I had not brought along.
Because the reason I broughtthe private equity guys along
(17:17):
into creating therapy brands wasbecause I knew there was risk
to go build this big thing.
I'd already taken a lot ofpersonal risk building Theranist
and I needed them to do twothings for me.
One I needed to sell some of mycompany to them.
So the way it works is and youguys know this because you guys
(17:38):
went through it I sold some ofterranist to them and then we
all kind of create therapybrands, uh, together.
Selling some of their ns tothem helped me secure myself
financially and my family beforeI went on this crazy, risky,
bigger thing which ended upworking out and you know, was
(17:59):
financially very, very rewarding.
Uh, but that that was kind ofhow that journey went and how
that came about.
But I didn't want to losemyself in the process, if you
get what I mean.
Carol Park (18:11):
Yeah, I know that of you and I think you have always
been a man of your word, thatyou have always had integrity.
Your insides match your outside, and so I think that was part
of what I started the podcastwith.
And so I think that was part ofwhat I started the podcast with
.
It was a real privilege to beunder your leadership, under
(18:35):
your mentorship.
And then I do know that thecompany Therapy Brands then did
a recap of correct me if I'mwrong, but I think it was $1.2
billion.
Shegun Otulana (18:45):
It ended up selling to KKR for $1.25 billion
.
Carol Park (18:46):
$1.25, yeah, $1.2 billion, you ended up selling to
KKR for $1.25 billion $1.25billion and then, at some point
in your journey then you'vedecided to leave from that and
start something else.
So that entrepreneur spiritthat continues to be alive and
well in you, Shagan so tell us Ican't do anything else.
Shegun Otulana (19:08):
Carol, it's like , honestly, a lot of my energy
comes from building and being anentrepreneur, so I can't
imagine.
It's an addiction.
It's in your genes.
Carol Park (19:23):
It is in your genes for sure, so tell us what you're
doing now.
Shegun Otulana (19:27):
It is in your genes for sure.
So tell us what you're doingnow.
So you know I'm a I, I reallyI'm a background how I grew up,
you know, probably plays a partin this, but I'm a fundamental
believer in the power ofeconomic empowerment to change
lives.
I don't think money is the mostimportant thing in life, but I
(19:51):
do believe economic freedom,whatever it means, is a powerful
force in human nature, in humanlife, in human interaction.
In human nature, in human life,in human interaction.
And I think entrepreneurship isthe best path to economic
freedom, whether that's for theentrepreneur or for the people
that the entrepreneur bringsalong in the journey.
Not only that, it is what endsup creating a lot of what we see
(20:14):
today.
You and I are in this callbecause some entrepreneur
decided to build Zoom and on andon.
So it's always been fascinatingto me and I'm always looking at
the world and thinking in termsof what does the world need
that I can create?
And then the wealth that comesfrom doing that, what good can I
use to do in the world, andboth for me personally.
(20:35):
Obviously there are also otherbenefits that come with economic
freedom, but the art ofcreating, of carrying people
along of doing something in theworld that didn't exist before
you created.
It gives me a ton of energy.
So after Therapy Brands, Istarted HVL, which is Harmony
Venture Labs, and it's a venturestudio.
(20:56):
And a venture studio is reallyvery similar to a venture
capital firm, except that youalso create the companies.
So not only do you ideate andlook for problems in the world,
you also now create thosecompanies and you bring founders
along to build those companieswith you and you fund them and
you kind of go from there.
(21:17):
So that was the next thing Idid after Therapy Brands there.
So that was the next thing Idid after Therapy Brands.
I started HVL as a venturestudio, not only to do the thing
that I always now want to do,but I also felt like it could be
a catalyst for economic growthand venture growth in my own
city that I had found myself inAmerica Birmingham.
(21:37):
So that's what I've been doing.
And then out of HVL, we'vecreated several companies and
today we still work with manyentrepreneurs, we work with
corporations, we work withuniversities to try to find
problems to go solve in theworld and build companies around
.
Carol Park (21:58):
Yeah, that's amazing and I'm so glad your passion,
your purpose, is still out therein this world.
Can you tell us, even if it'sjust one aspect because I know
that you are giving back toBirmingham and so anything that
you can share with us of how youfeel like you're trying to make
(22:21):
a difference in the city ofBirmingham?
Shegun Otulana (22:24):
Yeah, so beyond just entrepreneurship and
creating companies, which alsocreates wealth for us, there are
other things we're doing, Ithink, for my family, the things
that give us energy, becausethey are the things that have
impacted our own lives educationand entrepreneurship.
So a lot of what we're doing isaround I would broaden
(22:47):
entrepreneurship to say economicempowerment.
So a lot of what we're doing isaround education and economic
empowerment.
So we do a lot withscholarships and just teaching
other entrepreneurs beyond justscholars.
When I say scholarships I'mtalking about like universities
and endowments and things likethat and then we also work with
(23:12):
entrepreneurs to help themcreate companies.
We have something called BlightFree.
That's also in Birmingham.
That's a company my wife Maryruns that is trying to give
people economic freedom throughhome ownership.
So we go into some of theblighted neighborhoods in
Birmingham and we try to removethe blight, either totally tear
(23:37):
down the homes, because a lot ofbad things happen in those
really, really blighted homes wefix them, we rebuild them and
then we're trying to turn morepeople to homeowners, primarily
first-time homeowners in some ofthose neighborhoods.
So those are some of the thingswe're doing, but there are
several things that we also getinvolved in as individuals and
(23:59):
other families.
That's important to us, but wealso believe in working with
other organizations, so we'repretty involved with the
Community Foundation here.
Mary is on the board of UnitedWay of Central Alabama, and
there are just many other thingslike that that we find
ourselves involved in.
That's really just aboutlifting other people up.
(24:21):
We've been very fortunate.
So have we picked the lane thatgives us a lot of energy?
Yes, because you can't doeverything, but in many ways we
also try to touch many otherlives as much as we can.
Carol Park (24:38):
I know you have done just that.
I know you have done just thatand, again, I'm just so grateful
for your time today, for theenergy, the love, the compassion
, the empathy, the leadershipthat you put out there into this
world.
I'm grateful to have known youand to still know you, and so
(25:00):
thank you, shagan, for being onthe podcast.
Shegun Otulana (25:08):
Any parting words for our listeners.
I think I would just tellpeople the title of your podcast
is a good way to choose to livelife.
To be courageous and couragesometimes does require unmasking
yourself, which means beingvulnerable.
Vulnerability has a lot ofempowerment in it that people
(25:34):
don't think about.
You can't see yourselfsometimes as well as other
people can see you, and if youcan find people that you can
really choose to be vulnerablearound you, get better for it.
Vulnerability means that youdon't have to be the smartest
person in the room, and becauseyou're willing to get people
(25:55):
that are smarter than you aroundyou, you probably go much, much
further and faster and fartherthan you think you would.
So I would just leave peoplewith the message that don't be
afraid of failing, don't beafraid of being vulnerable.
Step out there, encourage, go,do the things you believe in,
(26:15):
that you really want to use yourlife for, and let serendipity
do its thing, and it's going tobe a wonderful thing at the end
of the day.
Carol Park (26:25):
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Thank you again, shagan, sograteful for you and wishing you
continued success.
Shegun Otulana (26:34):
Thank you.
Thank you, carol, same to you.
Commix.io (26:37):
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in to the Courage Unmaskedpodcast.
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Until next time, keep leadingwith courage.
Hi everyone.
Welcome to the Courage Unmaskedpodcast, where we continue to
shine the light on vulnerabilityand the courage of
vulnerability.
I am super excited about ourguest today, shagan Archulana,
because I have known Shagan fora lot of years and his company
actually acquired their link atthe time, and so that's how I
(00:29):
got to know Shagan and reallygot to benefit, to be under his
leadership, his mentoring, andso I'm really excited y'all are
going to get to hear from Shagantoday.
So welcome Shagan to thepodcast.
Shegun Otulana (00:47):
Thanks Carol.
It's a huge honor for you toask me to do this.
I really appreciate it, and Ithink it's always great when
you've had an experience like anacquisition or something like
that with someone and you canstill because that process is a
very yucky, tedious process andyou can still be able to talk to
(01:11):
each other and have a goodrelationship afterwards.
I think that's a good thing.
So thank you.
Carol Park (01:17):
I totally understand that and I think that has to do
with who you are as a person,your character which again is
why I'm so excited that you'reon the podcast today.
And so, as an entrepreneur,before you became the CEO of
Therapy Brands, your brand wasthe first in that brand and you
(01:39):
became the CEO.
So prior to that, theentrepreneurship and the ups and
downs, the trials and errorsthat come with entrepreneurship
Was there a certain time, as youwere building Theranest and
growing that, that youquestioned and perhaps thought
about quitting?
(01:59):
Or is there a certain time thatit was hard and you thought
about quitting?
Shegun Otulana (02:06):
Oh yeah, it was hard.
It was very hard.
I'm not going to try tosugarcoat it because I know
these days entrepreneurship hasbecome this thing that we've now
assigned a lot of prestige to.
Everybody talks about founderslike they are the best things in
sliced bread.
(02:27):
And founders are great.
They create a lot of impact inthe world, they impact a lot of
lives economically and in somany other ways.
But I think sometimes it hidestheir hardship, the difficulty,
the pressure, the stress ofentrepreneurship.
So I'm not going to sugarcoatit.
(02:48):
It was hard.
The thing I would say is Inever did think about quitting.
At no point did I ever thinkabout quitting.
The only thing I was worriedabout was my wife making me quit
.
I was concerned that at somepoint she's going to be like
that's enough, buddy, let's goget a real job.
But she was a huge supporterthe whole time and that never
(03:10):
actually happened.
But while it was very, veryhard, many, many, many difficult
days, there was no quitting.
In all honesty.
Carol Park (03:22):
And what allowed you to stay the course, what kept
you going, especially on thosereally hard days.
Shegun Otulana (03:31):
I think I'm not sure I have 100 percent what the
answer is.
I do think some people have apropensity to do the
entrepreneur thing.
It's kind of how they're wiredand what that means is the
slightest amount of hope justgets them all fired up and they
(03:54):
don't live in the real world,they're living in this alternate
reality.
There's probably some of thatthat keeps you going.
I think for me there was also abit of a system to what I was
doing and I was learning alongthe way and that helped because
I felt like I was validatingthings as I was going and I had
(04:15):
done the entrepreneurship thingbefore and totally failed at it
and I felt like this time aroundI was doing it in a better way,
so that had helped a lot.
So it was hard, but I felt likethis time around I was doing it
in a better way, so that helpeda lot.
So it was hard, but I felt likeI was enjoying it and I was
learning and I probably wasn'treally gauging risk properly
(04:37):
also, but I also couldn't reallyenvision myself not doing it.
So I think if there was noexternal force that made me stop
being an entrepreneur, I wouldprobably just have kept on going
until I figured it out.
Carol Park (04:52):
So yeah, yeah.
So just your mission, yourpassion, kind of coded in,
probably at a cellular level, tohave this drive to want to do
that.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour company that you built and
then the transition to youbecoming the CEO of Therapy
(05:15):
Brands and again I know thestory from that is Therapy
Brands went on to merge, beacquired and at a tremendous
gain, financial gain.
So tell us, tell us about that,tell us a little more about
your story.
Shegun Otulana (05:33):
Yeah, so I, I I restarted my entrepreneurial
journey as a consultant uh,software development consultant
but the reason I was doing thatwas because I was using it as a
vehicle to look for problems togo solve in the world.
I wanted to find an industry Iwould enjoy serving for 10 years
(05:53):
, plus interesting problems thatalso could take advantage of
technology inflections, and thatended up being the mental and
behavioral health space.
It was at a time when a lot ofmental health practices were
looking for that next step ofwhat should I manage my practice
(06:14):
with, and so that was what ledto the creation of Theranest,
and Theranest found success veryquickly.
It was hard at the beginning,but when things started working,
it really just started working,and a few years into that was
when I decided to create aholding company, because not
only did I want to keep drivingthe organic growth that
(06:36):
Theranest was experiencing, butI also saw it as a time to
consolidate some aspects of theindustry and go into even other
aspects of mental and behavioralhealth that were in just pure
therapy.
So I began to look for partnersthat I could do that with, and
I ended up partnering with acouple of private equity groups,
(06:58):
and then we created a therapybranch with Theranessas you know
the underlying company andtherapyess as the underlying
company and Therapy Brands asthe holding company, and that's
really what led to TherapyBrands.
And then, inside of TherapyBrands, we kept building
organically and throughacquisitions, which was what
(07:18):
ended up what led to theacquisition of TheralLink, when
we were looking for a platformfor the telehealth space.
Carol Park (07:31):
Yes, it's so interesting I know that you're
snowed in in Birmingham todayand I'm snowed in in Dallas
yesterday and today and thereflection on in 2013, when we
started building TheraLink andwe had a little video on our
website.
That was like certain timesthat you can't get to your
(07:55):
office.
But so interesting because, asyou are well aware, therapists
at that time, which waspre-COVID, really were not
interested in person and sotrying to convince people that
no, there's still a need for it.
You know, there are times it'snot.
(08:28):
Yeah, stay in your office.
And then COVID hit andovernight everybody had to have
a telehealth platform and, ofcourse, by that point in time,
we had sold to therapy brandsand thank goodness because the
need for telehealth overnightjust shot.
Shegun Otulana (08:44):
Yeah, it was crazy.
We experienced a crazy amountthe need for telehealth
overnight just shot.
It was crazy.
We experienced a crazy amountof need for that, but we were
positioned to take advantage ofit and the lesson there,
honestly, is the need to alwayslook ahead, look into the future
when you're building a company,versus just what works now.
(09:05):
Sometimes you have to thinkwhere is society going, where is
technology going, and you kindof have to position yourself to
be there before, not too early,because if you're too early then
it doesn't work out.
But having the telehealthplatform and being one of the
first to actually offertelehealth just set us up so
(09:27):
well when COVID happened and wewere able to still continue to
serve our clients and a lot ofpeople kind of came onto the
platform because of that event.
And it's just a typical story.
I tell entrepreneurs aboutthings that propel a startup
(09:48):
forward pretty significantly.
There were many things thatpropelled us forward, but that
was also one of it, andtechnology can really propel you
forward like a new technology,like we see AI doing today.
Even for Terranest.
A big part of what propelled usforward was SaaS, because when
we started building that waswhen therapists were beginning
(10:08):
to move away from paper.
They were beginning to moveaway from installing the
software on their laptop andtheir computers.
They were looking for aweb-based software.
So we were kind of able to ridethat wave.
And HIPAA was also a tailwindcoming behind us.
Everybody was trying to beHIPAA compliant and it was a
perfect combination of atechnology inflection, a society
(10:30):
and behavioral changeinflection all happening at the
same time and a regulatoryinflection.
It's like a triple combo wasreally what drove the growth for
Theranest and Therapy, brandRegulations, technology and
society change.
Of course, the big societychange that also came was the
telehealth society change,because overnight everybody
(10:53):
dropped their opposition totelehealth, including the
government.
The government also decided,yes, we will gladly reimburse
telehealth.
So that also just reallypropelled us forward.
And you know you can't gaugetiming, but you can have a
framework in your head that youuse to think about the future.
And when you think about thefuture, one of the frameworks
(11:16):
you have to have in your head iswhat is a major change in
society's behavior and what doesthat mean for what I'm building
?
What is a major change intechnology and what does that
mean for what I'm building?
What is a major change intechnology, and what does that
mean for what I'm building?
Even in the world of therapythat you and I found success in,
we know there will be thingsthat will continue to affect
(11:39):
that industry with artificialintelligence.
What does that mean?
What will be the repercussionsof that?
So I think those are the thingsthat I would just encourage
entrepreneurs and builders tokeep thinking about as they
think about the future.
Carol Park (11:52):
Yeah, that's fantastic advice, so I also know
.
So.
You started with Theranest.
Then you built this holdingcompany Therapy Brands.
You brought other therapyproducts platforms underneath
that.
So really, you went from, okay,you're the CEO of your own
(12:13):
company, now you're the CEO ofthis big brand that has all
these other companies, all theseother leaders.
What was that shift like as youwent from just managing
Theraness to all these brandsand the co-founders that came in
under those brands?
What was that like and how didyou manage that?
Shegun Otulana (12:34):
Yeah, that took some learning.
Some things I learned quickly,some things I took too long to
learn, because managing otherfounders and other CEOs through
an acquisition is very differentfrom the organic growth you
experience when you are theperson who had everybody on your
team.
And one of the things I wouldsay we probably didn't do fast
(12:55):
enough and in that context wasmaybe integration took too long.
We could probably integrate thecompanies quickly.
There was a core culturalawareness that we always took
too long to bring into the newcompanies, partly because even
(13:16):
at Theranist it was in theculture but it wasn't concrete
enough through rituals and whenI say rituals, rituals around
how you do things, how you hire,how you reward and everything
else and you just plug people inand you just plug people in as
people come in.
So the third one is they couldplug new employees in, but you
(13:39):
needed something that couldscale so that when we're adding
a lot of people at the same time, you could plug all those
people in at the same time.
So I think those were some ofthe areas with maybe
inexperience I don't know whatelse to call it would have
affected us in making thosedecisions.
But on the entrepreneur side,for folks like you.
(14:01):
I saw us going on a journeytogether.
I saw what I was doing as mebringing you into a vision that
I have, that I needed to explainto you and to treat you with
dignity and respect through thatprocess.
Starting from the deal process,right from the first
conversation, I felt it was myjob to be brutally honest the
(14:25):
good, the bad, the ugly.
I felt it was my job to bebrutally honest the good, the
bad, the ugly and to try tocapture your own goals for what
you were trying to accomplishand then see how the two could
fit together within what I wastrying to accomplish.
But then I also had investorsand what they were trying to
accomplish, so trying to balanceeverybody's needs.
(14:46):
And there were some challengesthere because everybody's needs
were different.
There were those who werecoming on the journey, that were
just willing to keep going, andfor them the journey was like
okay, now let's go do this bigthing together.
And there were those that kepton the journey and for them it
was like, look, I'm actuallykind of exhausted and I'm trying
to get off the train, so if youneed somebody to continue to
(15:07):
drive hard, it's probably notgonna be me, and then there were
those that were in between andtrying to balance all of that.
Obviously it was a challenge.
And then the other challengewas each person dealt with it
inside their own organizationdifferently and that also
affected how those people andthose organizations dealt with
(15:28):
us at the at the main companylevel.
Because if the founder and CEOwere totally honest with their
people and they carried themalong, it made our life easier.
If it was just like took atotal disruption and like left a
bad taste in the mouth of thepeople that were inheriting,
(15:50):
then we had to fix that.
So it was all across the boardand the thing is you just learn,
you just accelerate yourlearning process in that at that
stage in that journey, I dealtwith it the way I like to do
with everything, which is lookfor resources, look for people,
(16:15):
learn very fast, put yourself inthe shoe of the other person
and just be vulnerable and openand say this is where we are,
this is what we're trying to getto, and that's the journey
we're on and that's kind of howI dealt with it.
The thing I always made sure wasthat there was no point in time
where carol would look at meand say you lied to me about x,
y and z?
Um.
(16:35):
To me, that was the thing Ijust wanted to make sure didn't
happen.
I, I didn't promise you allthat anything would be easy, but
I didn't promise you allanything that I couldn't make
happen, but I just promised youso I could get what I wanted,
and and so I, I wanted to dowhatever I did, with a clear
(16:56):
conscience, um, but at the endof the day, we still wanted to
bring everybody together to gobuild this huge thing, which we
did end up doing together.
Yes, you did While stillcarrying along the investors
that I had not brought along.
Because the reason I broughtthe private equity guys along
(17:17):
into creating therapy brands wasbecause I knew there was risk
to go build this big thing.
I'd already taken a lot ofpersonal risk building Theranist
and I needed them to do twothings for me.
One I needed to sell some of mycompany to them.
So the way it works is and youguys know this because you guys
(17:38):
went through it I sold some ofterranist to them and then we
all kind of create therapybrands, uh, together.
Selling some of their ns tothem helped me secure myself
financially and my family beforeI went on this crazy, risky,
bigger thing which ended upworking out and you know, was
(17:59):
financially very, very rewarding.
Uh, but that that was kind ofhow that journey went and how
that came about.
But I didn't want to losemyself in the process, if you
get what I mean.
Carol Park (18:11):
Yeah, I know that of you and I think you have always
been a man of your word, thatyou have always had integrity.
Your insides match your outside, and so I think that was part
of what I started the podcastwith.
And so I think that was part ofwhat I started the podcast with
.
It was a real privilege to beunder your leadership, under
(18:35):
your mentorship.
And then I do know that thecompany Therapy Brands then did
a recap of correct me if I'mwrong, but I think it was $1.2
billion.
Shegun Otulana (18:45):
It ended up selling to KKR for $1.25 billion
.
Carol Park (18:46):
$1.25, yeah, $1.2 billion, you ended up selling to
KKR for $1.25 billion $1.25billion and then, at some point
in your journey then you'vedecided to leave from that and
start something else.
So that entrepreneur spiritthat continues to be alive and
well in you, Shagan so tell us Ican't do anything else.
Shegun Otulana (19:08):
Carol, it's like , honestly, a lot of my energy
comes from building and being anentrepreneur, so I can't
imagine.
It's an addiction.
It's in your genes.
Carol Park (19:23):
It is in your genes for sure, so tell us what you're
doing now.
Shegun Otulana (19:27):
It is in your genes for sure.
So tell us what you're doingnow.
So you know I'm a I, I reallyI'm a background how I grew up,
you know, probably plays a partin this, but I'm a fundamental
believer in the power ofeconomic empowerment to change
lives.
I don't think money is the mostimportant thing in life, but I
(19:51):
do believe economic freedom,whatever it means, is a powerful
force in human nature, in humanlife, in human interaction.
In human nature, in human life,in human interaction.
And I think entrepreneurship isthe best path to economic
freedom, whether that's for theentrepreneur or for the people
that the entrepreneur bringsalong in the journey.
Not only that, it is what endsup creating a lot of what we see
(20:14):
today.
You and I are in this callbecause some entrepreneur
decided to build Zoom and on andon.
So it's always been fascinatingto me and I'm always looking at
the world and thinking in termsof what does the world need
that I can create?
And then the wealth that comesfrom doing that, what good can I
use to do in the world, andboth for me personally.
(20:35):
Obviously there are also otherbenefits that come with economic
freedom, but the art ofcreating, of carrying people
along of doing something in theworld that didn't exist before
you created.
It gives me a ton of energy.
So after Therapy Brands, Istarted HVL, which is Harmony
Venture Labs, and it's a venturestudio.
(20:56):
And a venture studio is reallyvery similar to a venture
capital firm, except that youalso create the companies.
So not only do you ideate andlook for problems in the world,
you also now create thosecompanies and you bring founders
along to build those companieswith you and you fund them and
you kind of go from there.
(21:17):
So that was the next thing Idid after Therapy Brands there.
So that was the next thing Idid after Therapy Brands.
I started HVL as a venturestudio, not only to do the thing
that I always now want to do,but I also felt like it could be
a catalyst for economic growthand venture growth in my own
city that I had found myself inAmerica Birmingham.
(21:37):
So that's what I've been doing.
And then out of HVL, we'vecreated several companies and
today we still work with manyentrepreneurs, we work with
corporations, we work withuniversities to try to find
problems to go solve in theworld and build companies around
.
Carol Park (21:58):
Yeah, that's amazing and I'm so glad your passion,
your purpose, is still out therein this world.
Can you tell us, even if it'sjust one aspect because I know
that you are giving back toBirmingham and so anything that
you can share with us of how youfeel like you're trying to make
(22:21):
a difference in the city ofBirmingham?
Shegun Otulana (22:24):
Yeah, so beyond just entrepreneurship and
creating companies, which alsocreates wealth for us, there are
other things we're doing, Ithink, for my family, the things
that give us energy, becausethey are the things that have
impacted our own lives educationand entrepreneurship.
So a lot of what we're doing isaround I would broaden
(22:47):
entrepreneurship to say economicempowerment.
So a lot of what we're doing isaround education and economic
empowerment.
So we do a lot withscholarships and just teaching
other entrepreneurs beyond justscholars.
When I say scholarships I'mtalking about like universities
and endowments and things likethat and then we also work with
(23:12):
entrepreneurs to help themcreate companies.
We have something called BlightFree.
That's also in Birmingham.
That's a company my wife Maryruns that is trying to give
people economic freedom throughhome ownership.
So we go into some of theblighted neighborhoods in
Birmingham and we try to removethe blight, either totally tear
(23:37):
down the homes, because a lot ofbad things happen in those
really, really blighted homes wefix them, we rebuild them and
then we're trying to turn morepeople to homeowners, primarily
first-time homeowners in some ofthose neighborhoods.
So those are some of the thingswe're doing, but there are
several things that we also getinvolved in as individuals and
(23:59):
other families.
That's important to us, but wealso believe in working with
other organizations, so we'repretty involved with the
Community Foundation here.
Mary is on the board of UnitedWay of Central Alabama, and
there are just many other thingslike that that we find
ourselves involved in.
That's really just aboutlifting other people up.
(24:21):
We've been very fortunate.
So have we picked the lane thatgives us a lot of energy?
Yes, because you can't doeverything, but in many ways we
also try to touch many otherlives as much as we can.
Carol Park (24:38):
I know you have done just that.
I know you have done just thatand, again, I'm just so grateful
for your time today, for theenergy, the love, the compassion
, the empathy, the leadershipthat you put out there into this
world.
I'm grateful to have known youand to still know you, and so
(25:00):
thank you, shagan, for being onthe podcast.
Shegun Otulana (25:08):
Any parting words for our listeners.
I think I would just tellpeople the title of your podcast
is a good way to choose to livelife.
To be courageous and couragesometimes does require unmasking
yourself, which means beingvulnerable.
Vulnerability has a lot ofempowerment in it that people
(25:34):
don't think about.
You can't see yourselfsometimes as well as other
people can see you, and if youcan find people that you can
really choose to be vulnerablearound you, get better for it.
Vulnerability means that youdon't have to be the smartest
person in the room, and becauseyou're willing to get people
(25:55):
that are smarter than you aroundyou, you probably go much, much
further and faster and fartherthan you think you would.
So I would just leave peoplewith the message that don't be
afraid of failing, don't beafraid of being vulnerable.
Step out there, encourage, go,do the things you believe in,
(26:15):
that you really want to use yourlife for, and let serendipity
do its thing, and it's going tobe a wonderful thing at the end
of the day.
Carol Park (26:25):
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Thank you again, shagan, sograteful for you and wishing you
continued success.
Shegun Otulana (26:34):
Thank you.
Thank you, carol, same to you.
Commix.io (26:37):
Thank you, I appreciate you Thanks for tuning
in to the Courage Unmaskedpodcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe and
leave a review.
It really helps us grow.
Follow us on social media forupdates and a look at what's
coming next, and a big thank youto our sponsor, comixio, for
supporting this journey.
Until next time, keep leadingwith courage.
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