Beta.mn Blog

Alumni Spotlight - Peach Mindfulness

Written by Alex Skjong | May 25, 2022 7:11:19 PM

Here's an obvious statement — life is hard. Work stress, relationship stress, financial stress... there's plenty of stress to go around, and all of it can create some stormy thoughts in our noggins. But one BETA alum is focusing on meditation to help.

Peach Mindfulness delivers guided meditation directly to its users through text messaging. No app downloads here. By focusing on short, 10-minute meditative sessions, Peach is looking to help people develop a daily habit that can help lower stress, improve quality of sleep, and more. 

We chatted up with Founder Quyen Balter get some updates on Quill & Cue, some of her thoughts on the Minnesota startup ecosystem, and what's next for the company.

Hello Quyen! Tell us a little bit more about your company and its mission.

Peach gives you the simplest path to mindfulness so you are more likely to meditate everyday.

Sounds like a great mission. Everyone could use a bit more quiet time in the day. How did participating in the Spring 2021 BETA Cohort help strengthen that mission or change the way you do business?

I was able to tap into the BETA's great network of experts and entrepreneurs through events such as BETA Tuesday and Twin Cities Startup Week to get advice and opportunities to expand the business.

It's also great to get the mental support from mentors and other peer entrepreneurs. Our weekly cohort meetings create a great support place. Sometimes just listening to other businesses' wins and struggles gets me to reflect on where I stand and feel encouraged to keep going.

Sharing wins is huge! Since being a part of the BETA Cohort, how has your company changed?

We're expanding to provide more products in the mental wellness space and to B2B market, providing Peach to gyms, wellness centers and companies, and we're doubling our revenue every month.

Revenue doubling! We love to see it. How do you think the Minnesota startup ecosystem helped in these changes?

I think Minnesota is a hidden gem in terms of a place for startups to incubate and grow. There's great work-life balance here, and the stable local economy reduces the risk of starting up a business. People's mind are grounded in building sustainable businesses, so there's a lot support here mentally and financially. You never felt like you were left out. I got support from different local business communities. That's important as growing a business is a marathon and not a sprint.

In my experience, you have higher chance of success here, because you need the the long-term resources, mentally and financially to see the business to the end. A big shout out to the Minnesota Business Mentors network, Lunar Startups, and BETA. I got great mentors from there.

There's a ton of great support in the community, but there's always room to improve. What could be better?

It would be nice to see more collaboration to cross-promote products between the bigger and the smaller businesses in the health and wellness space and in general. In Minnesota, we (people) and businesses tend to keep things to ourselves. We already have great places such as tech.mn and MinneInno where we get news about local startups. It's nice to have a place where businesses can open up to more opportunities to collaborate.

What's one possibility you're excited about when it comes to Peach?

A few months ago, I realized that it was really hard to grow our revenue although our users were growing and people love Peach. So I tested a lot of offers in terms of product features and promotions and we figured out one that works. It's quite new so I don't want to mention it here yet, but I'm expecting a lot of growth in this area.

Exciting! We're coming to a close, but is there anything you'd like to add?

Our health starts with our mind, and in my personal experience, it has shown that no matter how many hours I spend at the gym, eating healthy and reading self-help books, the one activity that gives me the most rejuvenation is spending a few minutes or however much time I have in the day to sit, do nothing, breath and reflect. It's not to say that physical actives are unimportant, but to say that they can be done much more effectively when the mind is clear.

Thanks for your time, Quyen! What can you tell us about the next steps for Peach?

We're investing in tech and developing more product lines that help people with mindfulness, self-development, and mental wellness.

Don't miss out — follow Peach on social media!