EP 26 - Finding Flow as a Founder with Valerie Bures-Bönström

The Most Awesome Founder Podcast

In this episode, we introduce Valerie Bures-Bönström, mother of three, cofounder of Mrs. Sporty Fitness Clubs, founder/CEO of Pixformance Sports, and now, founder/CEO of interactive fitness mirror company, Vaha. In addition to her entrepreneurial endeavors, Valerie is also pursuing her Ph.D. in Computer Science.

We’re discussing Valerie's founder journey, her passion for the fitness industry, the analogs between athletics and entrepreneurship, and one of Gerrit's favourite topics, flow.

Valerie is an incredibly successful and driven founder who undoubtedly has that Midas touch! Her passion for entrepreneurship, technology, health, and wellness is absolutely infectious. And her ability to switch between technology, business, fitness, and family makes her one of those rare founders that seem to be able to do everything.

Hope you enjoy it!

Part 1: Valerie Preview (00:04)

Part 2: Introducing Valerie (02:10)

Part 3: Valerie’s founder journey (02:22)

Part 4: How Valerie went into building fitness studios after her PhD in Computer Science (06:54)

Part 5: The parallels between sports and technology in terms of flow (09:36)

Part 6: Flow as Valerie’s approach to making work not feel like work at all (12:54)

Part 7: The driver of Valerie’s incredible motivation and passion (16:30)

Part 8: Breaking large challenges down as a key to get into flow in entrepreneurship (19:48)

Part 9: How Valerie brings flow into her companies (24:00)

Part 10: Valerie’s learnings on how to prepare for and find flow in stressful working life (27:27)

Part 11: Valerie’s recommendations on creating energy for you (33:21)

Part 12: Where does Valerie find time to rest and recover? (39:26)

Part 13: “Let Go!”. What Valerie would tell his younger self (44:11)

Part 14: What book is Valerie currently reading? (45:28)

Part 15: What is cycling on Valerie’s playlist? (48:03)

Outro Gerrit (53:57)