{"id":3886,"date":"2023-10-01T15:26:12","date_gmt":"2023-10-01T15:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-alumn-nus.pantheonsite.io\/alumnus\/?p=3886"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:07:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T08:07:57","slug":"mind-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2023\/10\/01\/mind-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Mind Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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WHO HE IS<\/h3>\n\n

Entrepreneurship has been a lifelong passion for Mr Bjorn Lee. A chance to participate in the NUS Overseas Colleges programme inspired his decision to study Business at the University, instead of his parents\u2019 suggestion for him to pursue law. Early in his career, Mr Lee had a brush with poor mental wellbeing that eventually led him to start MindFi in 2017.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

For a sense of how mental wellbeing has become increasingly important in the corporate world, look no further than the expansion of MindFi, a homegrown startup that began with five employees. Their numbers have since swelled to 30, shares its co\u2011founder, Mr Bjorn Lee. There has also been steady interest in the MindFi app, which was launched in 2021 to provide access to virtual counselling and coaching, self-care content and exercises, and personal well-being tracking. \u201cBefore the pandemic, companies had little budget for their employees\u2019 mental health, and mental health wasn\u2019t openly discussed,\u201d he recalls. But three years of lockdowns and social distancing mandates took their toll, and both individuals and organisations started looking for tools to safeguard their mental health.<\/p>\n\n

Enter MindFi \u2014 the name stands for \u201cmind fitness\u201d and is also a play on the ubiquity of Wi-Fi. This ideal is something that Mr Lee hopes to bring to the community. \u201cMindFi is targeted at businesses and organisations because the workplace really is the frontline of stress and I hope we can tackle that through our app,\u201d shares Mr Lee, 42.<\/p>\n\n

A GROWING FOOTPRINT\u00a0<\/h4>\n\n

On this front, MindFi has secured corporate clients including Deutsche Bank, KPMG and Funding Societies, supporting some 100,000 employees across 35 countries in Asia Pacific. Its users are spread across countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, with services offered in 16 languages. In addition to personalised programmes, users can access masterclasses on various wellbeing topics, such as \u2018Happiness Starts With Good Mental Health\u2019 and \u2018Mental Health First Aid For Leaders\u2019. Human resource professionals can also use the app\u2019s analytics to gain actionable insights and refine the delivery of their wellbeing programmes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Mr Lee, who has faced his own mental health struggles, is proud of the impact MindFi is making. \u201cI was heartened to hear from a senior vice-president at a top tech company who told me the app helped him manage stress, especially during meetings,\u201d he shares. \u201cHe was most appreciative of our haptic breathing feature, where you breathe\u00a0 [in sync with your] phone\u2019s vibrations. He regularly uses this feature during meetings to regulate his blood pressure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

These anecdotes underscore what Mr Lee hopes to achieve through MindFi. \u201cI want to reconcile the ambition of business with calmness and wellbeing,\u201d he emphasises. \u201cIt can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

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MINDFUL MILESTONES<\/h4>\n
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  • 2006:\u00a0<\/strong>Graduates from\u00a0NUS with a degree\u00a0in business.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n
  • 2010:\u00a0<\/strong>Starts Stickery \u2014 an edtech company\u00a0funded by Google Ventures \u2014 which is eventually acquired in 2013.\u00a0<\/li>\n
  • 2011:\u00a0<\/strong>The stress of running an early-stage startup sparks a journey\u00a0into self-care;\u00a0Mr Lee travels to India for a 10-day meditation retreat.\u00a0<\/li>\n
  • 2013:\u00a0<\/strong>Takes on a two-year stint in product innovation and management at\u00a0Zopim, a startup\u00a0that is acquired by award-winning customer service company Zendesk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n
  • 2016:\u00a0<\/strong>Goes on a six-month sabbatical through Europe, where he spends time learning coding and speaking with psychologists and psychiatrists about the state of mental health in the modern world.<\/li>\n
  • 2017:\u00a0<\/strong>Starts MindFi.<\/li>\n
  • 2019:\u00a0<\/strong>Begins a part-time role as an entrepreneur-in-residence at WeWork, helping early-stage startups in product management, marketing, culture and wellness.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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    THE NEXT LAP<\/h3>\nIf you had asked Mr Lee more than a decade ago whether an alignment of corporate and wellness goals was possible, his response would have been different. Back then, he founded an education technology startup based in Silicon Valley, but the experience was vastly different. \u201cI was working 80- to 100\u2011hour weeks for almost a year, with poor sleep and no exercise,\u201d Mr Lee shares.\u00a0

    \u201cThe stress eventually got to me and I started feeling chest pains.\u201d Initially fearing a heart attack, he consulted a doctor, who identified his symptoms as the tell-tale signs of stress. \u201cHe advised me to seek psychological help at the Institute of Mental Health, but (due to the stigma), I asked for other options,\u201d Mr Lee reveals.

    The doctor then introduced Mr Lee to meditation. \u201cFunnily enough, my father was an ardent practitioner of meditation, although his practice was deeply linked to religion, which didn\u2019t appeal to me. But my doctor told me to give it a try.\u201d Six months later, Mr Lee went on a silent retreat in India to learn traditional meditation. He continues to meditate daily for 10 to 30 minutes each time.<\/div>\n
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    ADAPTING FOR TODAY<\/h4>\nMr Lee understands that not everyone can commit to long meditation sessions as attention spans are short and time is limited. Recognising this, some MindFi meditation sessions are just a minute long. \u201cWe want to get people into the habit of meditating or being mindful, which is why we start with short sessions.\u201d

    One of MindFi\u2019s strengths lies in its use of cutting-edge technology. The app boasts an AI algorithm that tailors recommendations to each user\u2019s unique profile, taking into account factors like activity level, sleep, mood and heart rate. Mr Lee credits his co-founders \u2014 Chief Growth Officer Mr Leon Leong (Computing \u201906), Chief Technology Officer Mr Gangeshwar Krishnamurthy, a former research engineer at A*STAR, and Chief Wellbeing Officer Ms Anita Sadasivan \u2014 for these innovations. Through their collective efforts, the four of them are amassing a library of mental health profiles that can train AI models for more accurate and personalised recommendations.\u00a0

    Investors have taken note. Last year, MindFi announced a successful $2 million seed funding round, attracting backers such as Y Combinator, iGlobe, M Venture Partners and Global Founders Capital. Angel investors include Carousell co-founder Mr Marcus Tan (Business \u201911), Carro executive Mr Kenji Narushima and Spin co\u2011founder Mr Derrick Ko.

    While encouraged by MindFi\u2019s growth, Mr Lee wants to proceed cautiously. For example, he continues to prioritise data privacy and security for the app\u2019s users. He is also keen to provide quality care instead of merely chasing user growth. \u201cAs a company, we want to stay focused on improving lives,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd that extends to our employees\u2019 lives as well.\u201d Perhaps, as they say, that\u2019s just good business.\u00a0<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Main photo by Kelvin Chia<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Mr Bjorn Lee (Business \u201906) uses AI to champion mental wellbeing at the workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-impact","category-startups"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3886"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6718,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3886\/revisions\/6718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}