"Happiness is a skill that can be practiced on a daily basis, just like playing the piano or learning a new language"
Welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview with Talia Soen, the co-founder and CEO of Happy Things.
Talia’s personal journey and passion for happiness led her to create an extraordinary platform that transforms happiness into a habit. Happy Things goes beyond the conventional approach, offering simple, science-based activities that take only five minutes a day.
Talia’s realization that happiness is a skill, rather than an external reward, fueled her mission to make happiness accessible and teachable to everyone. With hyper-personalized, AI-powered happiness plans, Happy Things acts as a personal happiness assistant, guiding users towards greater well-being.
Talia’s unique perspective on happiness, the power of habits, and the importance of individuality sets Happy Things apart from other wellness apps.
Join us as we delve into the insightful conversation with Talia, and discover how Happy Things is revolutionizing the way we approach happiness in this exclusive ValiantCEO Magazine interview.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Talia Soen: I’m the co-founder and CEO of Happy Things, the first platform that turns happiness into habit. Happy Things is the product of my own journey, after spending most of my life feeling that I wasn’t happy enough, and searching for ways and solutions that will help me live a happier life.
This journey led me to get a degree in psychology and various certifications in coaching, nutrition, fitness, and more. I was even a yoga teacher for a few years. I learned a lot during this journey, but the most important thing I learned is that happiness isn’t something external that happens to us, or a reward for our achievements (“I’ll be happy when…”).
Happiness is a skill that can be practiced on a daily basis, just like playing the piano or learning a new language. However, just like any other skill, the hard part is building the habit and sticking to it – and even though I was incredibly motivated to incorporate more happiness into my life, I found it very difficult to maintain.
I started looking for tools that would help me on my happiness journey – but couldn’t find any. Most wellness apps tend to focus on a single element of wellbeing (like meditation), and offer a one-size fits all kind of solution.
Yet studies show that happiness is multidimensional, it’s made of so many different things, and therefore it is also incredibly individual – what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another (fun fact: even as a former yoga teacher, I don’t meditate! It has never worked for me).
That was my personal “A-HA” moment. I have been dreaming about opening my own company since I was 12, even though I had no idea what I wanted that company to do…
When I started working in tech 10 years later, it became pretty clear to me that that company would be a tech startup, but it took me another 10 years to find a problem I was passionate about solving and uniquely fit to address.
Happy Things makes it fun and easy to practice happiness in just 5 minutes a day, with simple, science-based activities covering a wide range of topics.
We are working to create hyper-personalized, AI-powered happiness plans, tailored to each user, and to proactively suggest the right activity at the right time; practically, acting as your personal happiness assistant.
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Talia Soen: I like to think of Happy Things as “Duolingo for happiness”.
Using the same methodology of daily, bite-size practice sessions, our app changes the paradigm of what it means to live a happier life – from an almost unreachable goal, to a consistent, teachable skill.
That simplicity is our biggest strength, and the main reason why our engagement and retention is more than double than other apps in the health & wellness space.
Happy Things currently offers over a 100 simple, science-based activities, helping our users to practice happiness in just 5 minutes a day. The activities cover a wide range of topics and can be anything from “Listen to a song that brings up a happy memory”, “Give someone a compliment” to “Think of three good things that happened this week”.
We are creating a personal happiness trainer that will provide you with hyper-personalized, AI-powered happiness plans, and will proactively guide you to take action in real time.
Imagine having a super busy day, full of meetings, when suddenly you receive a push notification: “Hey there, we noticed the crazy day you’re having. We blocked 10 minutes for you to grab your coffee and head outside to enjoy the beautiful weather!”
Most importantly, our unique approach to happiness works. Our users experience a significant increase in happiness over time. Using an in-app happiness questionnaire, we see that after just 1 month of using the app, our users experience an increase of 17.5% in their happiness score, and after 7 months – a 57.2% increase.
What advice do you wish you had received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Talia Soen: I am really fortunate to have talented mentors and advisors who give me great advice along the way. Unfortunately, some things you can only learn from personal experience and yes, also from failures.
You always hear that entrepreneurship is an emotional rollercoaster. But it’s not until you actually experience countless ups and downs – sometimes within a 24 hour period – that you really understand what it means.
Thankfully, I learned pretty early on that after every low – there will be a high (or at least a “back to normal”!). Sometimes, when things get overwhelming, all you need to do is take a break. Step away from your computer, take a walk outside or have a dance party in your living room.
Let your brain go into “idle” mode. More often than not, these breaks turn into spurts of inspiration and motivation. Building on the experiences and lessons I’ve gained so far, in the next quarter I aim to make significant strides in both our company’s growth and my personal development as an entrepreneur.
This means honing our strategies, fine-tuning our processes, and assembling a dynamic team that shares our vision as we scale. By focusing on efficient scaling, we can reach more individuals and make a greater impact on their happiness.
On a personal level, I am committed to continually improving as a leader. The emotional rollercoaster ride that comes with entrepreneurship has taught me the importance of self-care and stepping back to recharge.
In the coming quarter, I plan to seek opportunities to enhance my decision-making skills, foster a positive company culture, and nurture the talents of our growing team, keeping in mind mine and my team’s well-being.
Here is a two-fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Talia Soen: Well that’s an easy question to answer! The book is “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin. Rubin starts by describing her “lightbulb moment” – she realizes that life is good, but she’s not as happy as she wants to be (sounds familiar?).
She decides to dedicate one year to her happiness project, test-driving lessons about happiness from philosophy, current scientific research and popular culture.
I’ve heard the cliché “happiness comes from the little things in life” a million times, but not until I read this book did I truly understand what it meant, and the impact that simple, daily activities can have on our lives.
I was so inspired when I finished reading it that I immediately got a notebook and started writing down all the little things I could incorporate into my life that would increase my happiness. And then… life happened. Work, home, errands.
New habits are really difficult to build and maintain. That’s how the idea of Happy Things came to life – building a simple framework to help people (and myself) practice happiness on a daily basis.
I don’t usually gift books, but the book I probably recommended the most is “You are a Badass” by Jen Sincero. It helped me believe in myself, find my inner badass and step out of my comfort zone.
Combined, these two books pushed me on my entrepreneurial journey, so thanks Gretchen and Jen!
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Talia Soen: Since we are currently gearing up towards raising our seed round, I would say that that is our main challenge. While fundraising is always a challenge, the current market dynamics in the tech industry make it a bit more challenging.
However, we are determined to navigate this obstacle by showcasing the unique value proposition of our product and demonstrating its potential for substantial impact in the lives of our users.
What helps us the most in the face of adversity, is the belief in our product. This belief serves as a motivator for us to continuously push boundaries, refine our strategies, and stay resilient.
We are confident in our ability to successfully raise and grow with a product that genuinely makes a difference in the lives of individuals seeking happiness and fulfillment.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Talia Soen: Being a CEO is a very lonely job. You can have the greatest co-founder, family and friends (which I’m incredibly lucky to have), but at the end of the day, you’re still the CEO – the weight of responsibility rests on your shoulders, and the fate of the company depends on your judgment and decisions.
It’s so easy to look at the companies that make headlines (for example, after raising a ton of money), compare yourself to them and start doubting yourself.
That’s why I’m grateful to participate in a CEO forum – a group of like-minded CEOs facing similar growth stages in their companies, who meet once a month to talk about how we’re doing and our challenges, support each other, and sometimes just vent.
It’s calming and reassuring to hear that other people are going through the same things that you are, get their advice and learn from their experience.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Talia Soen: Wow, what a great question. If I had the ability to pick a superpower, I would choose time manipulation.
Just imagine the possibilities! I could freeze time during crucial negotiations to carefully consider my next move, or fast-forward time to see the outcomes of different business strategies before implementing them.
Need more time to meet deadlines? No problem! I’d simply stretch time to create extra hours in the day. And if things get chaotic, I could rewind time and undo any missteps or mistakes.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Talia Soen for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Talia Soen or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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