Meet Matt Bennett

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt Bennett and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I never set out to be a tech founder—I was a therapist who kept losing sleep over one nagging question: “How do I know my work is truly helping people?” Then, in the early 2000s, my mentor introduced me to the Adverse Childhood Experiences research and how trauma impacted the brain and nervous system. It was eye‑opening, yet I still had no real‑time metric that showed whether my interventions were helping my clients experience post-traumatic growth.

The light‑bulb moment

While hunting for that missing metric, I stumbled across heart‑rate variability (HRV)—the tiny, millisecond changes between heartbeats that mirror how well the nervous system and body bounce back from stress. In lab studies, HRV was already the gold standard for measuring resilience, but in the real world, it was often hindered by expensive equipment and athlete-only apps. I remember thinking, “If we could capture this data in everyday settings, we could change how helping professions—and businesses—measure success.”

A three‑hour lunch that changed everything

So I did what any Colorado entrepreneur would do: I took a friend out to the local brewery, Grateful Gnome. Jeff Somers was a software veteran; I was the “psychology guy” with a wish list. Over three hours in a sunny Denver café in July 2019, we sketched a platform that would bring HRV to everyone.

From sketch to startup

Seven whirlwind months later, we launched Optimal HRV, bootstrapping and hustling our way to a minimal viable product. Our first customers weren’t elite athletes—they were nonprofits, occupational therapists, and research institutions. Word spread to hospitals, corporate teams, and even a World‑Champion sports franchise.

Why business leaders should care

In short, Optimal HRV was born from a therapist’s frustration, a tech friend’s curiosity, and a shared conviction that better data leads to better human outcomes—and better business results. Today, every time a leader tells me they spotted a brewing burnout or a client relapse before it derailed progress, I’m reminded why that lunchtime idea was worth betting the house on.

What should our readers know about your business?
Optimal HRV in a nutshell

Optimal HRV is a mission-driven health tech company that turns a deceptively simple biometric—heart rate variability—into an everyday tool for healing, performance, and equity. Our app pairs with inexpensive optical readers (and, later this year, a phone camera option) to deliver real-time HRV monitoring, biofeedback, guided mindfulness, and a web dashboard that lets coaches, clinicians, and team leaders track group trends at a glance. Features like resonance frequency breathing training, customizable reminders, and outcome analytics provide users with concrete proof that their wellness efforts or treatment plans are effective. (optimalhrv.com)

What sets us apart

1. HRV for everyone, not just elite athletes. Most HRV apps assume you own a high-end wearable and speak physiologist jargon. We designed Optimal HRV for therapists, teachers, nonprofit staff, foster parents—anyone who needs a trauma-informed lens and HIPAA-compliant data security.
2. Built-in coaching and education. Because science can feel intimidating, the app includes step-by-step training modules.
3. Social impact DNA. A portion of every subscription funds our nonprofit, Optimal Innovation Group, which supplies free dashboards and devices to programs serving people experiencing homelessness, addiction, or complex trauma.

How we got here

My career began with a nagging question: “How do I know if my work is helping people?” Standard checklists never captured the real-time nervous system shifts I saw in therapy or public health settings. Discovering the Adverse Childhood Experience Study in 2003 deepened my conviction that we needed quantitative ways to track trauma recovery. Years of reading neuroscience, running quality improvement projects, and (yes) pestering mentors finally led me to HRV.

After lunch with tech-savvy friend Jeff Somers, we decided to build the solution ourselves. Seven months later—March 8, 2020—Optimal HRV launched… on the same week the world shut down for COVID-19. The pandemic forced a strategic pause, but it also gave us space to write Heart Rate Variability: The Future of Trauma Informed Care, start the Heart Rate Variability Podcast, and recruit a powerhouse team (CTO Ben Riley, developer Vivian Lobo, and marketer Amy Hanwell). When Dr. Khazan joined on January 6, 2021, the vision expanded to include in-app biofeedback and mindfulness.

Was it easy? Not even close.

• Technological hurdles: Early HRV required lab-grade ECGs. We waited until optical sensors and smartphone algorithms were accurate enough to democratize the measure.
• Market skepticism: Clinicians wanted outcome data; athletes wanted recovery scores. We had to translate across both worlds while maintaining scientific rigor.
• Pandemic detour: Our target customers (schools, clinics, nonprofits) froze budgets overnight. We pivoted to free education and built a community until purchasing thawed.
We overcame those hurdles by staying obsessed with the problem, not the product, continually asking how each feature would close a health equity gap or make a helper’s job easier.

Lessons learned

1. Start with the right question. Shifting from “What’s wrong?” to “What happened?”—and then, “How can we measure change?”—was transformative.
2. Marry mission and tech. Cool features matter, but impact comes from aligning them with the lived realities of users on the margins.
3. Build in public. Podcasts, open webinars, and giving away two e-books created a tribe of “HRV nerds” who refine the product faster than any focus group.
4. Stay resilient. The same HRV tools we teach users helped our team manage pandemic uncertainty and startup chaos.

What we want the world to know

Optimal HRV exists to prove—objectively—that healing is possible and measurable. Whether you’re a clinician seeking trauma-informed metrics, a business leader tracking staff burnout, or an individual chasing better sleep, you deserve lab-grade biofeedback in your pocket. We invite partners who share the vision of HRV for Everyone to join us as we roll out camera-based readings, AI-driven coaching, and scholarship programs for underserved communities.

In short, we measure what matters—so helpers and the people they serve can thrive.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Absolutely—my shout‑out goes first and foremost to Dr. Inna Khazan. I discovered her work when I listened to an interview she gave on a podcast shortly after she released Biofeedback and Mindfulness in Everyday Life: Practical Solutions for Improving Your Health and Performance. The insights in that book resonated so profoundly that I reached out to her before I’d even finished Chapter 2.

We scheduled our very first call for January 6, 2021—a day when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol and the nation felt especially uncertain. Amid all that anxiety, I met not just a brilliant psychologist but an extraordinary human being who would soon become my friend, co‑author, business partner, and trusted mentor. Her calm presence and unwavering commitment to evidence‑based practice have guided me ever since.

Dr. Khazan’s encouragement also helped crystallize a frustration I’d carried for years: the lack of accessible heart‑rate‑variability technology for people on the margins—individuals experiencing homelessness, foster families, those battling addiction, and anyone facing systemic health inequities. Many in the biometric field never returned my calls about expanding access, but Dr. Khazan did more than listen—she rolled up her sleeves alongside me. Together, we began building the Optimal HRV app’s biofeedback and mindfulness functions with a singular goal: to make HRV accessible to everyone, regardless of income or social circumstance.

So, to Dr. Inna Khazan, thank you. Your support reminds me daily that innovation is most meaningful when it closes gaps rather than widens them, and that no one truly succeeds alone.

Website: https://www.optimalhrv.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/optimalhrv/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/optimalhrv/?viewAsMember=true

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Optimalhrv

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3ZZFn-22uRkxHc7ceuAl1FNYH7oDRSM2