Mirte van der Nat and Geert Kruijswijk are the co-founders of “Due to curiosity”, a Brainport start-up with a social purpose, best known for its “Navigating stress” toolkit, which is a playful way for a serious conversation about stress and its impact on mental health.

In this Edition 13 of Ralu on Board, Ralu Nistor-Lustermans had the opportunity to hear from Mirte and Geert, about their entrepreneurial journey and how a Design Academy student project ended up becoming a market product with a purpose on shifting the conversation on stress and mental health from curative to preventative.

“Preventative solutions are not the sexiest, it is easier to buy pain killers than vitamins”, mentions Geert and despite this challenge Mirte and Geert are aware that their product is something that the society desperately needs, as the figures, around the cost of people falling out due to burnout or the cost of people leaving the companies because there is no attention to their development and well-being, are raising.

This podcast is packed with insights in the ups and downs of a start-up, on what it takes to gain visibility and market, when your ideas are ahead of the market, and how designing, analysing, realising, and adjusting to the market current needs while not forgetting about the bigger idea, needs to be balanced with dreaming and getting things done when you are an entrepreneur with a social purpose.