In this episode, we sit down with Alexandra, Co-founder of Eight Sleep, a health and wellness company focused on sleep fitness. Alexandra discusses her background in marketing and communication and how she acquired her skills through hands-on experience. She then delves into the inspiration behind Eight Sleep, which was founded to address the lack of technology available to help people understand and improve their sleep.   Alexandra explains how the company's flagship product, the Pod, was created to bridge the gap between bad sleep and good sleep. The Pod uses sensors to monitor sleep and health biometrics and adjusts the temperature in real-time to create the perfect sleeping environment for each individual's needs in every sleep phase. The conversation also touches on the attention Eight Sleep has received from high-profile fans like Elon Musk, and Alexandra's excitement about the amazing team she has built at the company.   If your company is looking to scale its AI initiatives, head over to Tesoro AI (www.tesoroai.com). We are experts in AI strategy, staff augmentation, and AI product development. Founder Bio:   Alexandra Zatarain is the Co-founder and VP of Brand and Marketing of Eight Sleep, the world's first sleep fitness company. Eight Sleep has raised over $165M in venture funding and has helped hundreds of thousands of people get sleep fit with its hardware and digital products. In 2017, Alexandra was named by Forbes to the 30 Under 30 list in Consumer Technology, and in 2020 she was named by INC as one of the top 100 Female Founders. Alexandra is also an angel investor in female-founded companies. She was raised in Tijuana, Mexico, and now lives in Miami.     Time Stamps:   02:59 Alexandra’s background and professional journey with Eight Sleep 06:04 Benefits of technology for sleep optimization with Eight Sleep 08:45 What is Eight Sleep technology 10:41 Solving environmental issues through temperature control technology 13:01 Benefits of learning from experts, thinkers, and customers for entrepreneurship 15:39 Conversation on sleep and the evolving role of marketing in business 19:45 Benefits of early-stage brand marketing and technology infrastructure 21:32 Technology behind the most extraordinary sleep experience 24:42 Building a dev team: hiring strategies and expertise needed 27:11 Company hiring and retaining talent in a small company 33:25 Crowdfunding process and successful campaigns 36:31 The value of validation and networking 40:04 Finding the right investors for a hardware company 41:43 Value-added services provided by investors 44:31 Discussing board partners, reference checks, and product roadmap 45:32 What’s coming for Eight Sleep in 2023 47:01 How to get in contact with the Eight Sleep team   Resources:   Company website: https://www.eightsleep.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eightsleep/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@eight_sleep Twitter: https://twitter.com/eightsleep