It has been a decade since Eight Sleep became the world’s first sleep fitness company…but I assure you it still retained some “magic in the moonlight” after all these years! But for those unfamiliar with Eight Sleep, it’s a sleep technology company that focused on reimagining what a mattress can do by asking “what if it could help you sleep better, recover faster, and even improve your health?” Eight Sleep essentially started as a consumer hardware company, selling “high-end sleep systems” that are loved by top athletes, scientists, and billionaire tech leaders…but also everyday “high-performance lifestyle consumers” that can oftentimes purchase products not only “for what they do” but also “for what they mean.” But the Eight Sleep stated mission is to fuel human potential through optimal sleep…and fulfilling that ambitiously difficult mission means selling “high-end sleep systems” is only the initial step of a powerful flywheel strategy that eventually ends at it becoming a powerful predictive health platform. So, how can Eight Sleep achieve that flywheel strategy end-goal? its “high-end sleep systems” are packed with A LOT of health-grade sensors and attached to a central computer system with connectivity to its paid subscription app. And those “sleep system attributes” are what unlocks the next steps of that flywheel strategy. Since the Eight Sleep form factor is large (especially compared to other wrist or finger wearables), and user adherence is both absurdly high and longitudinal…the immense amount of data collected becomes even more powerfully insightful over time. Furthermore, Eight Sleep doesn’t just want to track data…but use it to adjust conditions (and measure those outcomes for further improvements). And if the Eight Sleep system can facilitate heating and cooling actions (or base positioning changes) in real-time to create the ultimate personalized environment for deep, restorative sleep…it will acquire more customers, which will feed the algorithms with more data, and will generate more profits. So, what does the predictive health platform ambitions of Eight Sleep have to do with the emerging and intersecting CPG categories of functional foods, functional beverages, and nutritional supplements? Eight Sleep has decided to utilize a portion of that improved cash flow position to expand the product line…recently launching Sleep Elixir, a supplement formulated by analyzing the immense amount of data collected by its high-end sleep system. In a world of passive one-size-fits-all sleep solutions that usually include mattresses, pills, and wearables…Eight Sleep has injected its predictive health platform to actively improve sleep in a personalized way. So, this isn’t just another supplement…it represents the first step in a new era of sleep solutions that evolves alongside a customer with the help of the Eight Sleep system, insights from sleep tracking data, and ongoing research (in collaboration with its scientific advisor Dr. Peter Attia). By combining tech-enabled consumer hardware with an ingestible functional CPG product, all tracked through its app, Eight Sleep is taking an integrated approach to redefining sleep fitness…one that will be improved across every modality as it collects more data and refines its understanding of individual sleep needs.