Andrew McConnell

I build companies and tools that help people close the gap between intention and action.

Currently, I am the Founder & CEO of Alively, the operating system for Healthspan. We are fixing the broken "Wellness Mall" model by using real-time biometrics and radical simplification to help the 80% of unengaged employees actually improve their health. We’ve also cracked the economic code, allowing employers to offer premium preventative care at a Net-Positive savings.

My background is in high performance and systems. I’m a former member of the USA Open Water National Team, a McKinsey alum, and a serial entrepreneur (previously Founder/CEO of Rented, acq. 2022). I also wrote a Wall Street Journal bestselling book on mindset, Get Out of My Head, and have spoken at TEDx.

Across all these efforts—business, athletics, and writing—my goal remains consistent: translating complex insights into simple tools that improve how we live and work.

Outside of work, I’m a father working to maintain a healthy dynamic equilibrium. I value deep connection, continuous improvement, and learning from people who are trying to build something that matters.

Mentor

As a mentor for Techstars, I help guide and nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs, particularly those dedicated to environmental sustainability and social entrepreneurship. This program, a beacon of innovation and community impact, aligns with my passion for leveraging business as a catalyst for positive change.

Key contributions and program highlights include:

•	Empowering Entrepreneurs: I provide hands-on mentorship to startups, sharing insights from my extensive experience in entrepreneurship and business strategy. My focus is on helping these emerging leaders refine their business models, enhance their market strategies, and scale their operations sustainably.

•	Fostering Social Impact: The accelerator is committed to driving significant community impact through innovative solutions. I contribute to this mission by mentoring companies that are not just commercially viable but also socially responsible, aligning with Cox Enterprises' vision of using business as a force for good.

•	Access to Resources: A key aspect of the program is facilitating access to funding and critical resources. My role involves connecting startups with potential investors and industry experts, thereby opening doors to opportunities that can accelerate their growth and impact.

•	Building a Sustainable Future: By focusing on startups in the environmental sustainability and social entrepreneurship sectors, the accelerator and my mentorship efforts contribute to creating a more sustainable and equitable future, aligning with global efforts to address pressing environmental and social challenges.

Volunteering as a mentor for Techstars Atlanta is an enriching experience that allows me to give back to the entrepreneurial community, fostering a new wave of businesses that prioritize both profit and purpose.

The wellness industry is splitting into two camps.

Camp 1: Track everything. HRV, glucose, sleep stages, resting heart rate, strain, recovery, steps, calories, macros.

Camp 2: Track nothing. The "over-optimization backlash." Ditch the wearable. Just listen to your body.

Both are wrong.

Here's the problem with Camp 1:

You can give someone 12 data points and 4 apps. They will open them for two weeks. Then they will stop. Dashboards are not outcomes. Information without action is noise.

Here's the problem with Camp 2:

"Listen to your body" is great advice for elite athletes who have spent decades building body awareness. For the average employee sitting 10 hours a day? Their body is telling them to eat a donut and skip the gym. That is the body talking. It is just saying the wrong things.

The answer is in the middle.
Guided data. Not more data.

Track the right metrics. Translate them into one action. Do that action.
Not 12 things to optimize. One thing to do today that will actually move the needle.

This is what we're building at Alively — and it's why our engagement numbers look nothing like traditional wellness programs.

The best wellness programs don't give people more data.They give people fewer, better decisions.

(See graphic below 👇)

Co-Founder & CEO Alively | Host of The Home of Healthspan Podcast | WSJ Bestselling Author | 3x TEDx Speaker | Advocate for Healthspan: Making It Easier For Everyone to Live Their Best Life Their Entire Lives

Everyone is asking how to get on GLP-1s.

Few are asking how to get off.

For the CFOs and HR leaders I speak with, this is the terrifying variable: "The Forever Cost."

The clinical data shows that without significant lifestyle intervention, most people revert to their starting weight once the medication stops.

That creates a lifetime subscription model for a drug that costs $10k+ a year per employee.

That is not a benefit. That is an unbounded liability.
So, how do we build an off-ramp?

We have to treat the medication as a bridge, not the destination.

The Off-Ramp Protocol requires three things while the drug is active:

💪🏼 Metabolic Defense: preserving muscle mass to keep the resting metabolic rate high.

🥗 Nutritional Re-Education: Learning how to fuel a body, not just starve it.

⚓️ Behavioral Anchoring: using the "quiet" period to hard-code new habits that survive after the prescription ends.

The drug opens the door. You still have to walk through it. 🚪

Saahil is dedicated to helping ambitious leaders and entrepreneurs scale their success without sacrificing their health, relationships, or inner peace. His approach to conscious leadership encourages individuals to redefine what achievement means, shifting from constant striving to intentional, fulfilling progress.

Over the years, Saahil has coached and spoken at organisations such as HP, Dell, Bank of America, P&G, 24x7.ai, Petrochem, Summit Capital, Tata Group, Thomas Cook, TiE, EO, and YPO. As a member of Dr Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches, he contributes to a global leadership movement focused on clarity, purpose, and sustainable growth.

Saahil supports founders, CXOs, and next-generation entrepreneurs to navigate moments of transition, pressure, and uncertainty. His work helps leaders move from overwhelm to direction, enabling them to perform at their best without burning out or compromising what matters most.

His philosophy is drawn from lived experience. As a mountaineer, Saahil has climbed some of the world’s iconic peaks including Kala Patthar (5,644m), Mount Elbrus (5,642m), Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895m), and Chopicalqui (6,354m). The mountains taught him a principle that guides his coaching today: the journey should strengthen you, not exhaust you.

Specialisation
• Leadership clarity for founders and CEOs
• Strategic decision making during scale and transition
• Performance and productivity systems without stress overload
• Emotional resilience and awareness in high stakes environments
• Work life integration that preserves health and personal identity

What Leaders Gain from Working with Saahil
• A simpler mental model for leading under pressure
• Ability to prioritise what truly moves the needle
• Clear alignment between goals, values, and daily behaviour
• Stronger relationships with teams, families, and self
• Improved energy, presence, and long-term focus
• The confidence to step into a life without regret

Client Reflection
"Working with Saahil changed the way I show up to my business and my family. I achieved more in six months, with less chaos, and far more peace of mind. The shift was not in what I did, but in how I thought, decided, and related to myself as a leader."

Saahil also supports NGOs and social enterprises, applying the same leadership principles to expand their capacity to create meaningful change.

If you are ready to rethink success so that it feels aligned, energising, and sustainable, Saahil’s coaching and leadership journey can help you take that step.

Begin here: www.saahilmehta.com

Saahil Mehta

Pressure has a strange effect on people.

The moment it appears, the instinct is to rush. Respond quickly. Fix something immediately. Prove control.

Most decisions made in that state come from noise, not clarity.

I have learnt something different over the years. When pressure rises, the most powerful move is often to pause.

Give the situation a moment to settle.

Thoughts that felt urgent start arranging themselves. Emotions lose their edge. What looked complicated begins to reveal the simple next step.

Clarity rarely arrives in chaos. It appears when the mind stops reacting and starts observing.

Strong leadership is not about moving the fastest in moments of pressure. It is about creating enough inner space to see clearly before acting.

That small pause can change the quality of every decision that follows.

Let it settle.


#leadership #mindset #leadershipdevelopment #growth

Most people believe clarity comes first and action follows.
In leadership, it is usually the other way around.

You are offered a larger role and you hesitate.
You know a difficult conversation is overdue and you delay it.
You feel the pull toward something more aligned, yet you stay where it is safe.

The mind keeps saying, give it some time. Let me feel more certain. Let me feel more prepared.
Certainty is overrated.

Every meaningful leap I have taken, and every breakthrough I have seen in the leaders I coach, began with discomfort. There was doubt. There were unanswered questions. There was risk.

The shift happened when a decision was made.

The Zero Regret Life is built on that moment. The moment you choose growth over comfort. The moment you act in alignment with who you want to become, even if your emotions have not caught up yet.

Confidence is not a prerequisite. It is a byproduct.

If you keep waiting for the emotional green signal, you postpone the very experiences that shape you into the person capable of carrying the next level of responsibility.

At some point, you have enough information. You have enough awareness. You have enough inner strength.

After that, it becomes a matter of choice.

Leadership is not about feeling certain. It is about committing fully once the choice is made.

That is how you live without regret.


#life #leadership #mindset #motivation

The smartest investment I made at TED had nothing to do with the stage.
It was a conversation over coffee.

I went to TED expecting world-class talks. Visionary thinkers. Breakthrough ideas.

All of that delivered.

What shifted me happened in the margins.

I sat across from a founder building AI systems designed around human values rather than raw acceleration. Later that afternoon I spoke with a neuroscientist studying how attention is being reshaped by technology. In the evening, a discussion with an educator exploring how children should be prepared for a future none of us fully understand.

Each exchange stretched me in a different direction.

Running businesses has a way of narrowing your field of vision. You optimise. You execute. You focus on growth metrics and operational leverage.
Stepping into that environment widened the lens.

I could feel my thinking expanding beyond quarterly targets and short-term wins. The conversation shifted toward responsibility, ethics and long-term consequence.

Travelling for gatherings like TED is intentional for me. It is an investment in perspective. You compress years of someone else’s experience into a single dialogue. You borrow insight that would otherwise take a decade to earn.
That kind of exposure sharpens ambition.

It forces you to ask better questions about the world you are helping to build.

If I am committed to living without regret, I must continually place myself in rooms that elevate my standards and stretch my worldview.

Revenue grows enterprises.
Perspective grows the person leading them.

That distinction matters.



#inspiration #life #passion #motivation #TED TED Conferences

You can do anything. You just cannot do everything.

This simple visual captures what I often speak about through my Zero Regret philosophy.

As leaders, we overestimate what we can carry at once. We assume we can give 100 percent to 5 priorities simultaneously. In reality, it looks more like this:
- 25 percent to the business
- 35 percent to expansion ideas
-10 percent to health
- 20 percent to relationships
- 25 percent to personal growth

On paper, everything is moving. In truth, nothing is receiving your full depth.
A Zero Regret life is not about doing more. It is about choosing consciously.

➝ Define the season you are in
➝ Pick the 1 priority that deserves full intensity
➝ Accept the trade offs without resentment
➝ Go deep instead of wide
➝ Reassess before you switch focus

Regret often comes from scattered energy, not from focused effort.
You can build anything when you give it 100 percent presence.
Trying to build everything at once leaves you partially invested everywhere.

Clarity creates power.
Concentration creates mastery.
Choice creates peace.

That is how you lead. That is how you live without regret.


#life #leadership #mindset #culture #growth #zeroregretlife

There is a moment many successful people experience that is rarely spoken about openly.

From the outside everything appears to be working. The business is growing, the recognition is there, the goals that once felt distant have quietly been achieved. Yet somewhere beneath that success there is a persistent feeling that something important is missing.

It is a confusing place to stand. The natural instinct is to assume the answer must lie in the next goal or the next level of growth. Another milestone begins to look like the solution.

Over the years I have realised that this feeling has very little to do with ambition and far more to do with alignment. Many leaders build extraordinary lives while unknowingly moving further away from the life that would actually feel meaningful to them.

The work I do with entrepreneurs and CEOs often begins with a very simple conversation. We step back from strategy and performance and look closely at the decisions shaping their life.

That is where the philosophy of the Zero Regret Life comes from. It is not about having a perfect life or eliminating mistakes. It is about making decisions that you can fully stand behind years later.

If you are curious about where you currently stand, I created a short mental performance quiz that offers a perspective on the patterns many leaders operate within.

You can explore it here - https://lnkd.in/dccHbMCQ


#leadership #entrepreneurship #growth #mindset #success #coaching

I recently stepped onto the TEDx stage to speak about something far more personal than any professional milestone.

For years, I believed being a people pleaser was a strength. I said yes to everything. Friends. Family. Work. I wore it like a badge of honour.

In 2008, that pattern caught up with me.

Driving home one night, exhausted from constantly overextending myself, I fell asleep at the wheel. The crash became a wake up call. My body had been carrying the weight of every yes that betrayed a deeper truth.

Nearly 49 percent of adults identify as people pleasers. Many of us chase approval, carry cultural expectations, or protect old emotional wounds. I did all three.

Healing began with three shifts. 
- I tracked what drained my energy each day. 
- I communicated with clarity and calm. 
- I accepted that authenticity reshapes relationships.

Rebuilding my bond with my father before he passed became one of the greatest gifts of my life.

If navigating boundaries and self worth feels complex, I hope this perspective serves you.

Watch the full talk here on YouTube:
https://lnkd.in/dyrHgXmC
If it resonates, I would value your support through a like, a review, or a share.



#Life #Leadership #Mindset #Growth #TEDx TED Conferences TEDxPrinceton

Open video: 3 reasons why people-pleasing is holding you back | Saahil Mehta | TEDxPrinceton on youtu.be

3 reasons why people-pleasing is holding you back | Saahil Mehta | TEDxPrinceton

The fastest way to evolve as a leader is to sit in a room where everyone challenges your standards.

Being part of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches community has reshaped how I see leadership.

This is a global collective of coaches and leaders who have already built significant careers. Titles and achievements matter far less than the shared commitment to growth and contribution.

Marshall’s ethos is clear. Leadership begins with self awareness. Influence is earned through service. Growth is a lifelong discipline.

What I value most about learning from him is his consistency. After decades of coaching CEOs of the world’s largest organisations, he still approaches the work with humility and curiosity. His central message lands every time. Do the work on yourself first.

That expectation shapes the culture of 100 Coaches.

Conversations go beyond tactics and frameworks. We challenge one another to elevate our character, expand our thinking and increase our positive impact on the world.

Being surrounded by leaders who are serious about contribution recalibrates your internal benchmark.

Ambition sharpens. Responsibility deepens. The focus shifts from personal achievement to meaningful influence.

Growth stops being individual. It becomes shared.

When leaders raise their standards together, the impact compounds far beyond what any one person could achieve alone.

For me, this community is more than professional development. It is a commitment to collective evolution.

If I am serious about living with zero regret, I must choose environments that stretch my character and elevate my purpose.

The rooms you commit to shape the leader you become.



#leadership #coaching #growth #impact

Mountains have a way of revealing truths about decision making that are easy to ignore in everyday life.

When you are climbing at altitude, there is a strong temptation to keep moving forward no matter what. The summit is visible, the effort invested is enormous, and the idea of turning back can feel like failure.

Experienced climbers understand something very different.

They know that pushing forward at the wrong moment can carry consequences that last far beyond the climb itself. Weather, timing, energy levels, and team dynamics all have to align. When they do not, the wisest decision is sometimes to step back and reassess.

Leadership often presents similar moments.

Many entrepreneurs believe progress must always look like acceleration. In reality, some of the most intelligent decisions I have seen leaders make involved pausing long enough to observe what the situation was truly asking of them.

Strength in leadership is not always about momentum. Sometimes it lies in the ability to step away from the noise and see clearly before choosing the next move.

That awareness is what prevents regret later.


#leadership #mindset #motivation #inspiration #success

One of the sources of exhaustion for leaders has very little to do with workload.

It often comes from the number of unresolved decisions they carry each day.
Every decision that is postponed continues to occupy mental space. It sits quietly in the background during meetings, conversations, and moments that should otherwise feel simple. Over time this invisible weight builds into what many people describe as stress or overwhelm.

What they are really experiencing is the pressure of unfinished thinking.

Clarity has an extraordinary effect on the mind. 

The moment a decision is faced honestly, even before the outcome unfolds, a surprising amount of mental noise disappears. Energy returns because attention is no longer divided.

This is one of the ideas at the heart of the 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. 

It is not about making flawless decisions. It is about making them consciously and standing behind them fully.

When leaders begin operating from that place, their companies often begin to move differently as well. 

If you can resonate with this, let's connect - https://lnkd.in/db4JCp2A

#leadership #life #growth #mindset #zeroregretlife

“On paper, I’m at 90%. So why does it feel like 60%?”
That’s what David said to me.

-Revenue up 35%.
-Team grown from 4 to 11 in 18 months.
-Working 55+ hours a week.
-Sleeping 6 hours a night.

From the outside, he looked like he was winning.
Yet he told me, “I feel switched on all the time. Even when nothing urgent is happening.”

When we unpacked it, the issue was not performance. It was accumulation.

Over the past 3 years:
• Zero proper breaks longer than 5 days
• 100+ decisions a day
• Constant Slack, email and WhatsApp inputs
• No structured mental reset

He had built external growth at 120% speed while maintaining his internal clarity at around 70%.

That gap is where tension lives.
You can operate at 70% clarity for a long time. Most founders do. The problem is that you start believing that 70% is your normal baseline.

Sharper thinking drops. Creativity narrows. Patience shortens. Strategic vision becomes reactive.

Nothing collapses. It just feels heavier than it should.

The turning point for him was not another productivity hack. It was awareness.

He needed an honest read on where his mental state actually stood.

That is why I created the Mental Well-Being Quiz.
🧠 It takes 3 minutes.
It gives you a snapshot of your current mental clarity.

The real question is simple:

Are you operating at your full internal capacity or have you normalised the drop?

Take the quiz and find out - https://lnkd.in/dDAshHAj

During a recent conversation with Brady Sticker, an observation stayed with me.

Regret rarely comes from action. It almost always comes from avoidance.
It appears in the opportunities you nearly said yes to but stepped away from. 

The room you considered entering but decided you were not ready for. The conversation you postponed because the timing did not feel perfect.
Over time those moments accumulate quietly.

Many high performers assume failure is the thing they must guard against. In reality, hesitation tends to leave a deeper mark. The mind moves on from mistakes far more easily than it moves on from possibilities that were never explored.

A Zero Regret Life is rarely defined by dramatic leaps or sudden reinvention. It is shaped through small decisions made with honesty and courage.

Saying yes when something feels meaningful.
Speaking when silence would be easier.
Stepping forward even when certainty is absent.

Those choices may appear modest in the moment. Years later they often become the moments that defined the direction of a life.


#life #leadership #zeroregretlife

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taplio

The Battle

Andrew McConnell

Saahil Mehta

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Andrew McConnell's LinkedIn Performance

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