Behavior change as a product: why does Marie Kondo raise a $ 40M round with Sequoia Capital?

Do you know such a book “Magical cleaning” (Eng .: “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”) by Marie Kondo? This is an extremely popular book among housewives (but not only) about behavior change disguised as a set of essays about cleaning and organizing your home.

If in a nutshell, Marie drowns in order to throw all the excess out of your life. But unlike the minimalists, who decided to go to hell with getting rid of things due to career burnout, Marie has a clear method of how to organize her life: start with clothes and things, then do it with objects, furniture, books, telegraphs, train stations and more. by the list. The key idea: to throw out from life that which does not bring joy, and organize the rest in such a way that life will be more slender, collected, gracious.

A couple of months ago, Marie launched the eponymous super-popular show on Netflix. This is a big mallstone: the reach of the Internet giant is over one hundred million viewers. In her show, Marie shares tips on how to organize life, and although her focus is always the home, Marie doesn’t stop at everyday issues.

I would say this: the idea is that in an era of constant distractions it is very difficult to find your centering practice. For many people who are not ready to hire coaches or go to spirituality, Marie fills a niche with something accessible and simple: working on her own habitat.

This week it became known that Marie raises the round, the lead investor is Sequoia Capital, we are talking about the amount of $ 40M. What is surprising is that we are talking about a personal brand, about the history of one person who decided to scale up his practice. Most likely through technology.

This is not the first time that people use a personal brand to scaling their ideas and creating a product to change behavior. A couple of years ago, Arianna Huffington announced that after leaving the Huffington Post, she opens her startup Thrive Global , aimed at introducing a more informed and healthy lifestyle in the corporation. In total, Arianna raised $ 50 + million .

Another story is about ABC News news presenter Dan Harris, who once was so angry that he experienced a panic attack during a live broadcast. After that, Dan, an eerie skeptic, thought a little, meditated, and called his friend, a well-known practitioner of awareness, Joseph Goldstein, to make the company "10% Happier" together (with the eponymous book , application and all the things).

Harris focused his influence and fame on teaching meditations to complete skeptics — those who would never dare to sit in the lotus position and begin to focus on breathing. In total, Harris raised $ 5 million in venture capital. According to AppTopia analytics , self-help applications are growing by leaps and bounds: Calm and 10% Happier grew 80% from 2017 to 2018.

Where does all this go? I think that we have come to the point from which it has become obvious that without a qualitative change in how we live life, things only get worse. Hashtags: stress, anxiety, depression, total loss.

It is gratifying to see that ideological leaders like Kondo, Huffington, Harris and many others are trying to change something with the help of technology. Guys like me make it 1: 1 through coaching / behavior change programs, but the interest in making it massively available in the community of professional coaches is huge.