When Max Grossenbacher co-founded Resilient in 2017, most of us hadn’t heard of the term ‘burnout’. Just five years later, it’s all over the news and research suggests that 50% of workers are affected. Max tells us more about his company’s solution and shares advice to help fellow entrepreneurs avoid burnout.

Tell us about the journey that led you to found Resilient.

I spent 10 years studying business, neuroscience and psychology in Alberta, Canada. In parallel to my studies, I started my first business importing and selling cars. The business was successful: that was where my journey as an entrepreneur started.

After graduating, I worked in finance in a team that was very poorly managed, where I saw how unhappy people can be because of their work. So, when I moved back to Switzerland and did an MBA with a thesis in digital health, I started to focus on stress and burnout – and how wearable technology can help. The thesis I worked on for my MBA eventually led me to co-found Resilient in 2017.

What is burnout?

Burnout can mean a number of things: that you’re unhappy in your job, you’re overworked or you’re physically drained. It can range from mild burnout, expressed through low productivity, to very severe burnout, significantly impacting a person’s health and leading to a complete break in productivity. Someone who’s burned out might read a paragraph but immediately afterwards not recall what they’ve read, as their brain hasn’t absorbed the information.

How does Resilient aim to help?

We’re developing a tool for organisations to prevent burnout among their employees. This involves a conversational agent – run by AI technology – that anonymously monitors the well-being of team members. It packages the questions a psychologist would ask in a user- friendly, digestible way, allowing it to identify problems and find solutions to prevent burnout.

We also use a range of other tools, including wearable watches provided to employees to anonymously collect biometric data (like physical activity and heart rate) and data from their mobile phones (which might show, for instance, that notifications lead to constant distractions). When you combine all this data, we have a good picture of a person’s mental state and can work on problems before they manifest. Our technology might detect, for instance, that someone has trouble sleeping, relies on alcohol to relax or feels physically drained, and will provide advice to help solve the issue.

What about the role of the organisation? How do they fit in to this?

A report will be automatically generated to let the organisation know whether, in a particular department, employees are in, or at risk of, burnout. The information aims to help them prevent burnout. If there’s a problem, the company’s occupational health department or a medical doctor can have a meeting with everyone in a team and let them know what can be done. The data needs to be 100% anonymous, so we can only work with teams large enough to ensure it can’t be traced back to a specific person.

Did you come across any major challenges?

Quite a few! Today, the term ‘burnout’ is everywhere. But when we founded the company in 2017, people didn’t know what we meant. That was one challenge – recognition around the term changed regulation and we had to be highly adaptable with our business model. Another was technology: wearables at the time couldn’t do what we needed them to do, so we started with chest belts. There were also privacy concerns and we initially received a lot of ‘nos’ when we contacted companies asking them to take part. All of this meant it took a bit longer to get the project off the ground, but we kept going as we knew that burnout would become a widespread problem.

What point are you at with this technology?

We were lucky that two of the biggest clinics in Switzerland, as well as a leading psychiatric practice, jumped on board to help finance the project. We’re at the point now where our framework is set up and we’re testing our system, with the aim of launching the first version by the end of 2023. It still won’t be for sale at that point but our corporate partners will be testing it and giving us feedback.

It’s often felt that tech can contribute to burnout. Is there resistance to the use of technology as a solution?

Not at all. If technology helps, that’s all that matters to people. And in fact, one of the first things our platform advises users to do is to dial down their use of tech when it’s not needed. For instance, by turning off notifications on our phones that lead to constant distractions and unproductivity. It’s a bit like an app on your phone that tells you to go for a run. The technology is a prompt to encourage a healthy lifestyle.

You know how much hard work goes into building a company. What are your top 3–5 tips for entrepreneurs to avoid burnout?

1. Learn to work in sprints. I sit and focus for 45 minutes, then have a 15-minute break. Not because I feel tired, but because I accomplish more by working in this way.
2. Avoid jumping from meeting to meeting. Instead of booking meetings that last a full hour, tell people it’ll be 50 minutes and take ten minutes before the next one. Your brain needs time to process what you’ve just heard.
3. Do physical activity. It doesn’t need to be intense sport. Get up, go for a walk, get some sunlight.
4. Create a healthy routine. Having predictable elements in our day avoids the stress of the unknown and helps keep us grounded.
5. Categorise tasks using the Eisenhower Matrix. It takes time to do it but it’s useful when you’re very busy.

When do you feel utterly relaxed?

After finishing a workout. It’s hard to find the motivation to go to the gym, even for me knowing all the benefits. But once I start training, I get into it, and afterward, I feel relaxed and accomplished, and I take a few minutes to appreciate this feeling.