A Chat with a Former Tech Guy Turned Functional Nutritionist
From getting punched in the head to diving head first into entrepreneurship
Andrew Hayes is the GM and Co-Founder of Alta Functional Nutrition, which combines functional nutrition with habit-based coaching to reveal what’s really behind their clients’ symptoms and work to change their health habits for good.
Andrew walked away from the glitter and glamour of Silicon Valley — free lunches at Twitter (before it was X), stock options at Apple, the illusion of “having it all” — after getting randomly punched in the face by a lunatic in downtown San Francisco made him question everything. Today, alongside co-founder Kat Best, he’s building a company rooted in science, personal health and wellness, and long-term prevention. In this candid Q&A, he opens up about the leap from corporate comfort to entrepreneurial ambiguity, what he’s sacrificed (and gained) along the way, and why he believes these are “the good old days” he’ll one day look back on.
Intro & Background
Where are you from and where are you living now?
I grew up in Essex County, New Jersey, some of the highest property taxes in the whole country. But I spent a few years out West when I was a kid and always knew I'd go back. So for the last 10 years I've lived in California and most recently Colorado.
Describe your earlier career or life. What were you doing?
My very first job was "ad trafficking." That is a fancy way of saying the technical grunt work to get a banner ad online… I know, sorry everybody! I learned as much as I could and got out, using my technical skills in digital media to move to San Francisco and work at some large tech companies… Twitter, Apple. Twitter in particular was the heyday of tech perks. We had on-site fitness, free breakfast and lunch, and so many more perks that don't even fit.
What I learned quickly was most of these "perks" were just productivity tools in disguise.
I would wake up in the morning, go immediately to the office, get breakfast or work out, start my day, eat lunch on site, and even go to work happy hours or other company-wide events. Most days, I spent at least 10 hours at the office if not more.
When I wasn’t in the office, I was traveling all over the country, mostly to "tier 2" cities like Boise, Kansas City, or Portland. It was a great way to explore the country.
But after all, I realized I had very few hobbies and I was exhausted.
And what are you doing now?
I’m the GM and Co-Founder of a Functional Nutrition Company called Alta. Functional nutrition is a massively growing space that looks at how your body’s systems work together, and what they need to function better, without relying solely on medication or supplements. We use all of today's technologies to better connect with people about their health (social media, app, async communication, etc.) but still root it in science and personal health, not blanket advice or fringe wellness culture.
What was the exact moment you decided you couldn’t stay on your old path?
For a few years I had been considering "making the jump" from corporate to the health space, but I never really wanted to be an entrepreneur.
One day I was walking to lunch in downtown San Francisco and a stranger punched me in the head for no reason. In broad daylight.
This was right after the "return to office"… I worked from home for almost 2 years during the pandemic, so I was already not happy to be back in cubicle culture.
I was okay, but it could have been worse. I told my manager I needed a day off to recover so I'd be working from home.
And then the next day, I got a call from HR that I wasn't going to the office enough.
It was the last straw. It also made me think about how if I was on my death bed and all I did for 40 years of my career was sell ads, I'd NOT be okay with that.
I wanted to make an impact.
Who was the first person you told about your plans? How did they react?
Of course my wife, who has been supportive from day 1. But also highly concerned about our family's well-being and finances, as she should be. This was the first of many lessons where I realized nobody will ever have the passion for a company that the founder does. And you just have to get used to it.
I ended up buying a ticket to a conference of other health and nutrition professionals right around this time and it changed me.
Instead of feeling the "odd man out" in my office, or even in my neighborhood, I was able to meet others with my same dream.
This conference introduced me to people from all over the world who were doing the job I wanted to do…
AND they were happy.
AND they were successful.
AND we had some of the most engaging conversations I'd ever had in my whole life, in just week 1.
That happened around the same time as the "punch" so those two events really put me on a path to start executing.
I also hired a mentor at that point since I knew I needed help and he kept me on track early on when I was still feeling like it was impossible.
The best tips I’ve heard around that time were:
Don't compare your chapter 1 to someone else's chapter 20.
Start before you're ready.
If you don't quit, you can't fail.
Those three things still stay in my brain almost daily. That ambiguity of entrepreneurship never really goes away. You just get more comfortable with it.
How do your kids (or family/friends) describe what you do? Do they get it right?
To be fair we are changing our message constantly. My co-founder and I can barely keep up. Nobody questions their dentist. Most people don't question their doctor. What we do is just as important (short-term results, long-term disease prevention, etc.) but we are questioned constantly because we operate outside of the medical system. That makes everyone skeptical.
Most of my family and friends think I am a fitness trainer or a nutritionist. Which are not wrong. But it's kind of like calling an architect a handyman.
Life, Relationships & Lifestyle
How have your relationships or lifestyle changed with your new business?
I believe you can "have it all" with a lot of planning and some help. When I quit to work on Alta full-time, I also wanted lifestyle design to go with it.
I didn't want to be a burnt-out founder who never saw his kids or had time for his wife. That doesn't align with my values.
I walk my kids to school almost every single day, something I didn’t get to do for 15 years. It was always a nanny, or a rushed drop-off on the way to an office. Even if my business crumbles tomorrow, being able to see my kids every day has been worth every headache with the business.
My relationship with my wife is also stronger. It's been interesting watching the lines blur though. Instead of work being something that only came up on occasional good days ("I got a promotion!") or bad days ("You won't believe what my boss said today!"), it's constant. There's always something new and exciting to talk about, and she's so smart I often use her as a resource, so I am trying to be more intentional about when and how we discuss business vs. other parts of our life.
How did your sense of identity shift when you stopped introducing yourself as “XYZ” and started saying “ABC”?
It's funny you ask this question about identity, because it's one of the first things I EVER did and I recommend it to anyone.
I started Alta as a side business but I knew I wanted to be full-time, so I would "act as if" for almost 18 months.
It was my title in my Instagram Bio, it was how I introduced myself at parties or in public, and it's how I started to spend my free time. My podcasts, books, people I spent time with, etc. all started to revolve around nutrition and health instead of my old career.
This did two things:
Gave me a sneak preview of what my future life would be like. I loved it and it kept me motivated.
It showed me how easy it is to just make a decision and move forward. That is such a key factor in being a business owner, or a leader of any kind. You don't always know — you just have to go.
What have you sacrificed that you didn’t expect to in pursuit of your new path?
In the short term I've sacrificed a LOT of money. The plan is to get that back one day. But I tell you what — some of my unhappiest and least fulfilling times of my life were the times I had the biggest paychecks.
The other thing I've lost is the ability to connect with old friends. Some of my friends really support what I do, either by working with me or at least asking about it. Some of them truly can't be bothered to even talk to me, which makes it hard for me to keep in touch with them. I feel a lot of "one-way street" relationships, and with how busy I've gotten and how important this is to me, it just means I have to say goodbye to a few people from the past. But I have so many new strong relationships now.
What do you and your family do for fun? How is that different now versus in the past?
We do a much better job appreciating the small moments. In my tech days, when I was working 50+ hour weeks, we would spend money on wild trips or splurges on weekends.
Now we find so much joy just being together around town, exploring new neighborhoods, prioritizing our community.
When we're not hanging around town, we are traveling the country and the world. We visit a few national parks every year, travel to new states, visit family back East, and go to Europe or some other new country whenever we can.
Any vacations recently or coming up? Can you relax knowing you have a business running?
I did a 3-week trip this summer, where we saw both of our families for an extended time and went to Europe. The plan was to get the business in a good place so I could actually "check out."
About 4 days in I realized that wasn't happening, partly because of my work ethic and partly because it just isn't possible (yet).
But there's something satisfying about loving what you do and doing it on a train ride across Norway.
Ownership (or Career) Realities
What are the supposed positives about entrepreneurship that are misleading?
"If you do what you love you'll never work a day in your life" — This is one of the most accurate and also misleading phrases I've ever heard.
It's accurate in that "work" feels different to me. I very rarely, if ever, dread opening my laptop or talking about what I do.
It's inaccurate because when you no longer have "work" separate from "life," it means it's because they're one in the same.
How I dress.
How I introduce myself.
What I talk about.
How I parent my kids.
How I look at the beach.
What I post on Instagram.
What I do with my free time.
All of these are tying back to my business, and my online brand, whether I like it or not. I am constantly "on" and that will never change unless I don't want to own a business anymore.
As for a W2, most people don't realize it's slowly killing them. I mean that literally and I don't say that lightly.
First of all, health insurance in the US is terrible and getting a job just for the benefits just means you maybe will have a cheaper hospital bill if you end up being rushed to the ER.
In the meantime though, most people are working way too many hours, running around high stress, and building horrible habits that are hard to reverse. Especially in the US, we have built lives that are largely sedentary, heavily reliant on packaged foods, and constantly mess with our hormones.
It's why we're the highest obesity country in the Western world (by a landslide) and why the numbers are only getting worse. Also more than half of all US adults live with a chronic disease (autoimmune, endocrine, gut disorder) made worse daily by our lifestyle choices. And our medical system doesn't help at all.
If you're unable to find time to exercise, take breaks from your desk, or even just get out of bed daily feeling your best... I encourage you to question if your W2 is as safe as you think it is.
With our health, we either pay now or pay later.
On the flipside, talk about the positives you see in keeping a traditional W2 job.
Absolutely. I would never shame anyone for having a W2 their entire career. I will probably go back one day.
The best thing about a lot of W2 jobs that I think most people don't realize is a guaranteed sense of community.
Seeing people every day in the office, sharing a common bond, going on work trips, working towards a shared purpose, etc.
Entrepreneurship is incredibly lonely, and it doesn't really change as your company grows either — you're still on an island and need to make up for that connection elsewhere.
Generally speaking, W2 employees get this amazing sense of community that is hard to find these days with the shrinking of religion, in-person fitness, etc.
What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve had to learn in running your business?
The most unexpected thing has been how much personal connection matters. I always idolized these big brands that I worked with in my advertising days (Nike, Volkswagen, etc.) but under the surface of all of these companies is just people connecting with people.
My business is growing with one person at a time, and I don't see that ever changing.
The hardest thing I've had to learn is how to continually invest back in the business and take new risks. Just when we think we're doing "well" we realize that we are in fact plateaued, and if you're not growing you're dying.
The only way we continue to grow is by investing in ourselves to grow our own skills, investing in our systems, and constantly pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone.
Take the simplest example. A lawn mowing business doesn't become a 7-figure business by mowing more lawns. Joe the lawn mower doesn't have enough time to do that himself.
It becomes a 7-figure business by figuring out new ways to grow, or taking risks. I believe every business is like that.
What number kept you up at night the most in year one?
Number of customers per month kept me up. Which was very stupid because all businesses are seasonal, especially ours. I've learned to project and look at larger trends, which really helps me from making stupid knee-jerk or emotional decisions just because we're having a slow week.
If your last few years were a movie, what’s the one moment you’d replay in slow motion?
Quitting my job.
I was working at Apple, and as much as I say now that I was frustrated, I appeared to have it all.
Great salary, benefits, stock options, great manager, and a company that likely wasn't going anywhere. Most people work their whole lives and never have a chance to work at the company I did at the time I did.
But I woke up one day, deciding I was quitting, and just did it.
Every action you do is one more step toward the person you want to be.
I had no idea how I was going to build a massive company revolutionizing people's health, I just knew I wanted to and the first step was quitting.
How do you know when it’s time to close up shop for the day?
I practice what’s called 4D Functional Planning. It's something we teach our clients. I list 1–2 things per week across 4 categories that HAVE to get done. Once they do, the rest is gravy.
Those 4 categories are:
business/career
health (gym, grocery store, etc.)
relationship/connection (date nights, friend trips, kid time)
personal growth (playing an instrument, reading a new book, etc.)
This keeps me balanced, never all-in on one category of my life.
There's always going to be more work, no matter what you do for a living, so you need to be ruthless about what is actually a priority.
Highs, Lows & Turning Points
Could you describe the lowest low and the highest high you’ve experienced?
Highest high was standing at the front of the room at a nutrition conference, the same one I went to 2 years ago, and BEING the person giving advice. Instead of idolizing the people on stage, I was one.
Lowest low was early on launching a bunch of products and seeing $0 revenue come in. It certainly felt helpless at the time, but I knew we had to keep going.
What almost crushed the business?
My W2 job.
It's so easy to say things like "But I need the money" or "I want to provide for my family" and those are true, but they'll keep you stuck forever.
I waited far too long to start this business and I would regret it for the rest of my life if I hadn't.
If you exited or quit tomorrow, what part of the journey would you miss most?
My podcast. I get to hang with my amazing co-founder every week, put out free content that helps people improve their health, and it's a medium I find comes naturally (I'm not a TikTok guy).
Check out Fitness Casual. We put a TON of research into every single episode, and it's one of the things I am most proud of.
I also had no idea what we were doing when we started it (still don't?) but we're now in the top 10% globally.
What’s the one story from your ownership years or your career that you hope people tell about you long after you’re gone?
When I was at Apple, I was accused of not working many times. I came in late, left early, worked out at lunch, and tried to never get stressed about new challenges.
Yet somehow (not a coincidence) I became a top performer on my floor.
Your capacity to earn, your ability to be happy, your patience as a parent, and overall your quality of life — are all tied to your health.
Burning yourself out helps nobody. Don't set yourself on fire to keep others warm.
I am glad people think I didn't work. It just means they were working too hard. I will die on this hill.
Inspiration & Admiration
Does anyone in particular inspire you in business?
I've always admired Conan O'Brien, as random as that is. He's just a genuinely good guy who prioritizes keeping good relationships, instead of letting fame and success go to his head.
And he seems to have an absolute blast doing it. He's also taken lots of risks (changing networks, doing live shows, traveling the world) instead of just collecting a paycheck.
Any companies (tiny or huge) you admire more now that you’re in the trenches?
Anyone who makes content on social media for a living. Hate on them all you want, it's a very hard job, has no boundaries, requires endless creativity, and is way harder than it looks.
Do you think entrepreneurs are born or made?
Absolutely not born. They're made. Having a strong "why" is all you really need to be successful at anything. Most of us need accountability along the way to get there though, which is why I've invested in myself constantly and I believe in coaches, mentors, programs, etc. to make big changes to your life.
Tools, Tech & Processes
Any interesting technologies, software, or processes you’ve recently adopted?
We use a tool to manage all our Instagram engagement, conversations, etc. Social media is a large part of how our society communicates, so you have to have systems in place for that just like in-person, or a call center.
We have airtight systems for our social media now which means better process for fans and customers, not just us. In particular, we use GoHighLevel (CRM tool) and have a full automation team in the U.K. helping us stay organized.
What piece of equipment or software has become oddly essential to your daily life?
Microsoft To Do. Very simple to-do list that syncs across all devices. Your head is for having ideas, not holding them.
All entrepreneurs, and arguably all people everywhere, have ideas spinning in their brains at all times. You have to get those out of your head and make sense and prioritize. A digital to-do list allows me to do it anywhere, anytime, and sync to all screens.
Do you think most tech/software/processes are overrated or underrated?
Overrated. So much of tech is people raising money, spending that money to inflate numbers, so they can raise more money, and repeat.
I've seen billion-dollar companies get half the results we do and then go out of business. I'm not flexing — that's just the truth.
You can build amazing companies with very little. Jeff Bezos shipped books out of his garage himself. Remember that.
Career Paths & Alternatives
Regarding W2s, you mentioned you’d probably go back one day. Talk about that.
When my kids are older and out of the house I could see myself going back to a W2 for that sense of community I talked about.
But I would come with a list of demands, including the ability to have solid work/life balance!
What would you have done differently, knowing what you know now, during your launch?
I would have given myself more time to enjoy it and not stress about revenue or customer numbers. If you care about the bottom line only, you're going to have a really hard time in business.
If you were to pursue another business, what sectors interest you?
I feel so blessed to be doing what I do now. I love changing people's lives and think the Functional Health space is just getting started.
But down the road I could see myself doing something with people 70+. I think they are largely ignored as a population unless it's life-saving healthcare. Their quality of lives could be improved if more companies listened to their needs. Not to mention they already are living longer and have more money than ever before.
Would you want your kids or mentees to follow in your path?
I would prefer they don't do the same thing I do. I think that's silly. I believe we all stand on the shoulders of giants, and they should do something I would never even think to do (or let's be honest — something I'd hate, because that's how kids operate).
Health & Personal Habits
What do you do to stay healthy/active?
4D Planning, set quarterly or annual targets for my health just like my business, and calendar block like a maniac.
Accountability is good too. Sign up for a race or a program, hire a coach, get a gym buddy, or a gym membership.
Is your personal life better, worse, same, or just different since business ownership?
Better. Although my friend circle has changed and likely will continue to. That's been hard and unexpected.
What’s the mantra or phrase you repeat to yourself most often?
“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.” That's Andy Bernard from The Office.
I think it's extra funny now because I see all the actors from The Office still clinging on to how amazing that show was.
I know I will look back one day on these times right now. The excitement of starting a company, seeing my young kids every morning who think I'm their best friend, and being in great health.
I don't know anyone who wouldn't be happy with that, but it's easy to get sucked into the revenue numbers or comparisons to other companies.
Money & Investing
Do you believe the best financial investment is in yourself?
Unequivocally the best investment is in yourself. It's the only thing nobody can take away from you.
I mentioned earlier that in business, if you're not growing, you're dying.
I believe the same is true for your body and your mind. Don't ever stop getting better.
Do you believe you've walked away from financial upside to pursue your path? Was it worth it?
I don't believe it, I know it. Ha. Look at my tax return from last year — it's staggering how much money I lost.
Absolutely worth it.
So many people spend their whole lives chasing more money and more success, only to get to the end and realize they were chasing the wrong metric.
Culture, Media, Material & Personality
What are some interesting products you bought recently? Any hobbies?
I recently got into golf. I know it's not earth-shattering that a white guy plays golf, but I love the ability to meet new people, hang with friends, be moving, and endlessly pursue a new skill — all at the same time.
What frustrates most people about golf is that it's hard, no matter how good you are (even the best in the world win at most once or twice a year). But to me, that's what makes it fun.
What has your interest or attention lately — a book, movie, show, podcast, or even a social media post? Why?
I've started to see and share more social media content around parents with young kids.
I can tell that these are the glory days by the way old people come up to me and ask about my kids, or how parents with teens/adults talk about how they miss these days.
In the immediate circle of parents with young kids, we have a tendency to commiserate and say how hard it is. And trust me it is. But I think on my death bed I will miss having little kids more than just about anything.
What projects, hobbies, or passions outside of work do you engage in?
Seeing family is a big one. I know that doesn't sound like a hobby but it is. I try to visit my family and plan meaningful engagements several times per year.
Otherwise, I'm slowly learning a foreign language. It's so hard, and I'm very bad at it, which is humbling.
Happiness & Outlook
What seeds are you planting now that you hope will bear fruit in 3–5 years?
Pro bono consulting for other people trying to start a business like mine. I could see me charging for those services one day.
Being involved in my community. I love the idea of in-person connection making a comeback (with the rise of AI, coming out of the pandemic, etc.) and I am excited to see that continue to grow as my kids age in our community.
All told, are you happy?
Absolutely. It takes practice to manage the stress of running a business, but I am beyond happy.
The secret to happiness is making a plan for what you want and achieving it. It's really that simple.
Don't live someone else's life.