Home Health Is the Next Frontier
... and why you should care too
The average man applies about 85 ingredients to his body every day through personal + home care products. The average woman? More than 180.
These were some of the most alarming data points that led me to help co-found Cushy. We promised to take ingredient simplicity and efficacy more seriously.
There’s already massive consumer awareness around the toxicity of products. In our health bubbles, we obsess over diet, supplements, workouts, sleep scores…
But somehow, the environment we live in… the place we spend 90%+ of our lives barely enters the conversation.
That disconnect is no longer sustainable.
That’s why I’m excited to share that I invested in Nestwell, a startup focused on home and environmental health.
This investment didn’t happen overnight. It came out of months of conversations with Ben when we were co-founders building Live Cushy.
Whereas Cushy focused on what we put on our bodies, Ben kept circling one layer deeper: the “invisible” inputs shaping health outcomes long before symptoms show up.
He’d been thinking about this problem for a long time. When he first shared an early Nestwell landing page with me, it clicked immediately. After years in health & wellness, it felt inevitable.
The Problem We’re Overlooking
James Clear has a line that I keep coming back to:
“Our environment is the invisible hand that shapes behavior.”
You can eat clean. Train hard. Take the right supplements. Do all the “right” things.
But if your air is polluted, your water is compromised, or your home has hidden mold or chemical exposure, you’re playing a losing game.
I’ve been filtering my water and air for the past few years. This came from proactive curiosity, not crisis. But I have close friends who spent years chasing mysterious health issues, only to discover the root cause was mold exposure in San Francisco. No amount of optimization can override a toxic baseline.
What people are getting wrong about home + environmental health is simple:
they’re not thinking about it at all.
What Nestwell Does
Nestwell helps health-conscious people act in the place they spend the most time.
Nestwell empowers health-conscious consumers to take meaningful action toward making their homes healthier. Nestwell helps make the environments people live, sleep, breathe, and recover in be more aligned with their health goals.
Actionable clarity. This is where the next wave of health innovation is going: upstream - toward prevention, awareness, and better defaults.
We’ve seen this movie play out before:
Wearables redefined how we think about sleep + recovery
Clean food replaced ultra-processed diets
Ingredient transparency reshaped skincare
Home health is next. The data backs this up:
Indoor air can be 2–5x more polluted than outdoor air (we spend ~90% of our lives inside)
The EPA estimates indoor air pollution contributes to long-term respiratory + cognitive issues
Mold exposure is increasingly linked to chronic fatigue, brain fog, immune dysregulation
This conversation won’t be going away - mark my words.
Why This Fits My Investment Thesis
At Cushy our core belief is simple: what you put on your body matters. Ingredients matter. Simplicity matters. Transparency builds trust.
Nestwell extends the same thesis outward, from skin to space.
I also think about investing through a lens Mike Maples articulates clearly: great startups require two inflection points to align.
A founder sees a truth the rest of the world hasn’t internalized (yet)
The market is quietly becoming ready to listen
Ben has that conviction, and the world is catching up.
Working closely with startups at Google, I’ve seen what real category-defining businesses look like. They move upstream, simplify complexity, and educate without preaching. Nestwell fits that pattern cleanly. And with people struggling with a litany of health issues, they’re ready to put their money behind solutions.
A Gentle Invitation
If this resonates with you, here are a few simple ways to take action / follow along.
Assess your environment — air, water, materials. Just notice. (or sign up on Nestwell’s site and see how they can help you)
Get curious about what’s shaping your health behind the scenes when you’re not paying attention.
Read more thoughts from Ben as he builds tools for a healthier way to live at home.
The early launch for Nestwell has went well and there’s been continued interest from investors aligned with the space, so if you’re a strategic investor in health, are bought in on the future of healthier homes, feel free to reach out — happy to help coordinate a conversation with the team.
This is so well written!