Key Learnings From Tim’s Experience
- Building a brand as you build your company is crucial. To do this, put yourself in your customer’s shoes and analyze available data, such as forums, customer support logs, and other feedback sources. Develop a product roadmap that addresses any friction points you discover. Throughout the process, ensure your messaging is as clear and simple as possible.
- A brand is more than just marketing; it’s the foundation of your business strategy. Building a brand means creating an experience that connects with your audience. To achieve this, focus on what matters to your customers. Stay in tune with consumer trends, like the shift toward being more informed and empowered, and align your decisions accordingly. Make your brand strategy central to everything—from product design to business choices—to build loyalty and drive growth.
- Clinical evidence in OTC categories can help you create something that truly changes the game within your industry. Aim to build products that solve real problems in a measurable way. Invest in ongoing R&D to refine and adapt your solution continually and prioritize data accuracy and clinical evidence to gain trust and differentiate yourself from competitors.
Tim Rosa, CEO of Somnee, started his career in brand advertising, but things really took off when he switched to the video game industry, working with big names like SEGA Sports and ESPN Video Games. He was part of the team that launched NBA 2K, which he fondly recalls as “my baby that helped build my career.” After a decade in gaming, including time at EA and EA Sports, Tim received a call from a small startup: Fitbit.
At Fitbit, Tim became the first marketing leader, helping the company grow from a small venture to a global name in wearables. He was instrumental in Fitbit’s rise, taking it public, expanding its reach to over 100 countries, and selling more than 140 million devices. During all these, he also became familiar with sleep tracking technology—a wearable category that gained popularity very quickly.
Upon Fitbit’s exit to Google, and after Tim took some much-needed time off, he received another call—this time from renowned investor Vinod Khosla and Dr. Matt Walker, a leading sleep scientist and author of the book Why We Sleep. They introduced Tim to Somnee, a startup out of UC Berkeley that had developed a smart sleep headband using lab-grade neurostimulation technology. “I only work at a company if I'm the end customer and I believe in the product or I know I can improve the product,” Tim shares. Being an insomnia sufferer himself, he decided to give the technology a try, and it worked. However, he also saw several areas where the brand needed improvement. So he decided to join the company as CEO—on the condition that he could reassess everything, from the product to the brand architecture.
Now at Somnee, Tim is bringing advanced neuroscience through personalized technology to help people fall asleep faster and sleep better. Users wear it on their forehead for about 15 minutes before bed. The device uses EEG monitoring and neurostimulation to map the user’s brain activity, establishing a baseline and then personalizing the stimulation with AI and machine learning models to help them relax and drift off.
Looking ahead, Somnee is developing a new category of products that Tim describes as “wearable 2.0,” promising more accurate datasets and the potential to build an entire ecosystem around sleep.
Tim Rosa, CEO of Somnee, is leading efforts to improve sleep through personalized neuroscience. Previously, he was the CMO at Fitbit, where he played a key role in establishing the health and fitness wearables category. He built the organization’s global marketing function, contributing to the sale of over 140 million devices in 100+ countries. Additionally, he helped drive the company’s IPO and its eventual $2.1 billion sale to Google. Tim has also advised and worked with major brands like Electronic Arts, 2K Sports, ESPN Video Games, and Jasper Health.
Be the End Customer
When Tim took the helm at Somnee, he set out to rebuild the company from the ground up—revamping everything from the brand to the product itself. For Tim, brand isn’t just about marketing; it’s the core of business strategy, and it influences everything—product development, team recruitment, decision-making, and every touchpoint along the customer journey.
“There's definitely no silver bullet when it comes to giving a company a complete makeover,” he explains. “For me, I become the end customer.” Tim emphasizes, “No matter what industry you’re in—whether it’s consumer, enterprise, or healthcare—you need to understand who your end customer is and what their experience is like.”
He emphasizes, “It’s about understanding your friction points, eliminating them, and bringing delight and joy to the user experience. Sometimes it's as simple as beautiful design, communicating things in a way that's very easy to understand, and adding more in layers because obviously, you're going to have people that want more information.”
When Tim joined Somnee, he saw that the team was talented, but there was a lot of friction—especially in how they communicated the service. He knew that in healthcare, simplicity, accessibility, and clarity were essential. So, his first goal was to make the user experience simple and intuitive while explaining complex technology in a way that everyday consumers could easily follow, understand, and internalize. “I told them, ‘Look, my mom in Michigan needs to understand what we’re talking about.’ That’s the bar. It’s about communicating to everyday consumers without diminishing the science behind it,” he explains.
So, how do you become the end customer? Tim starts by analyzing data, identifying points of frustration, and then building a product roadmap to address these issues. With his OTC device experience, he immerses himself in customer feedback—reading forums, customer support logs, and other sources of user-generated information.
Tim stresses the importance of truly understanding the end customer as a foundation for any successful business. Whether you're an executive, a scientist, or in another role, it’s crucial to know your audience—whether that's a consumer, an employer, or another stakeholder.
It’s not enough to have groundbreaking technology; you need to marry it with brand and product experience to make a real impact. Tim believes that achieving this balance is what ultimately separates game-changing products from those that fall short. As he puts it, “You need to win hearts and minds.”
Win Customers With a Holistic Brand Experience
A brand’s purpose is to build an emotional connection with customers. Tim’s experience at Fitbit only serves to illustrate this important lesson—the company perfected the device’s user experience, which ended up driving word-of-mouth marketing and helped them build a loyal community.
Fitbit owes its success to the team’s decision to make the user experience simple and relatable. By focusing on featuring the simple and familiar goal of taking 10,000 steps a day, they created an easy-to-understand and motivating message. This approach helped them stand out against competitors like Nike, whose FuelBand used the less intuitive concept of "fuel points," which many consumers didn’t understand. As Tim puts it, the clarity and simplicity of Fitbit’s message gave them a strong advantage in the market.
To build a strong brand and business, Tim advises entrepreneurs to start thinking about PR early and to plan strategically. “I plan in three-year cycles,” he says. “Anything beyond that is just guessing.” He believes that having a clear vision and a structured timeline is crucial for building momentum and achieving long-term goals.
For Tim, brand is the foundation of all decision-making, from product development and engineering choices to recruiting a team and eventual go-to-market commercialization approaches. It’s important to make your brand the focus from the beginning, so that it guides all aspects of growth.
To win the hearts and minds of your customers, it’s essential to follow trends in evolving customer behavior. The shift has accelerated, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. One unexpected positive outcome for OCT devices was how it opened people’s minds to science and the validation of technology. In healthcare, there’s now a growing trend of empowered consumers taking control of their health. With the popularity of long-form health content and influencers like Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia, it’s clear there’s a strong demand for scientific information—provided it’s presented in an accessible way. This means companies must prioritize educating consumers with validated, accurate information that aligns with their health needs and experiences. Tim says, "I'm working to change how people think about neurotech and neuroscience because there's so much more education and research available now."
“The shift in healthcare is now focusing on the consumer. It used to be about securing deals with employers or healthcare providers, but today, you need the end consumer or employee to use and benefit from your product,” Tim explains. This consumer-centric approach is why he puts the brand at the center of everything.
When Tim took the helm at Somnee, he relocated the manufacturing. He reasoned that, from a business perspective, having manufacturing close to the U.S. offers advantages in speed, cost, and development, and allows teams to be on-site quickly. This decision also benefits Somnee’s image. Tim says, “Personally, if I’m putting something on my head, I prefer it not to be made in China—it’s just my preference. I believe the quality of working with contract manufacturers outside of China is noticeably different.”
How to Build a Category-Changing Product
One path to building a company is to launch a product that fits into an existing ecosystem. Alternatively, there are those who aim to change the entire industry with their solution.
What sets Somnee’s device apart from the others in the market is that it’s a closed loop: it both diagnoses and treats. “There are very few products in the world that are closed-loop and provide this level of outcome,” Tim says. This is precisely what he saw in Somnee—a product that offers real, measurable results and can change the sleep industry. He envisions a future where, instead of doctors prescribing sleeping pills, they prescribe Somnee. Over 600 doctors have already recommended the device, and the goal is to move beyond consumer wellness products to healthcare solutions that physicians can formally prescribe.
On his way to eventual FDA approval, Tim is now focused on building a product based on reliable, precise data. He notes that while earlier generations of wearables like Fitbit, Oura, and Whoop raised awareness about general health, they often struggled with accuracy. “The painful part of 1.0 is bad data in, bad data out,” he explains. Whereas with Somnee, the focus is on delivering clinical-level data that consumers and healthcare providers can trust.
Somnee’s technology has been developed by neuroscientists over seven years. Unlike sleeping pills, which can affect various parts of the body and brain, Somnee treats sleeping problems without side effects. To be able to do that, collecting accurate data is paramount. Tim emphasizes that where you collect data matters greatly. For example, heart rate measurements are more accurate when taken from the chest. Similarly, for sleep, Somnee uses a headband because sleep is managed in the frontal cortex of the brain. By positioning the device on the forehead, Somnee ensures it captures the most relevant and precise data for neurostimulation. “We’re using clinical-level technology because we need that level of accuracy to perform the therapeutic neurostimulation,” Tim explains.
By prioritizing clinical evidence, Somnee sets itself apart from competitors and builds credibility. And to stay ahead, the company invests heavily in ongoing research and development. With four sleep labs in their California office, Somnee replicates the same technology used in Dr. Matt Walker’s lab at UC Berkeley. “We’re constantly conducting research and trials—whether it’s on personalization, different stages of sleep, or different consumer cohorts,” Tim shares.
For entrepreneurs, the takeaway is clear: staying innovative means committing to constant learning and adaptation. Investing in research, testing, and understanding your customer’s specific needs leads to more precise and compelling solutions. It also positions your brand as a leader in innovation and expertise.
Key Learnings From Tim’s Experience
- Building a brand as you build your company is crucial. To do this, put yourself in your customer’s shoes and analyze available data, such as forums, customer support logs, and other feedback sources. Develop a product roadmap that addresses any friction points you discover. Throughout the process, ensure your messaging is as clear and simple as possible.
- A brand is more than just marketing; it’s the foundation of your business strategy. Building a brand means creating an experience that connects with your audience. To achieve this, focus on what matters to your customers. Stay in tune with consumer trends, like the shift toward being more informed and empowered, and align your decisions accordingly. Make your brand strategy central to everything—from product design to business choices—to build loyalty and drive growth.
- Clinical evidence in OTC categories can help you create something that truly changes the game within your industry. Aim to build products that solve real problems in a measurable way. Invest in ongoing R&D to refine and adapt your solution continually and prioritize data accuracy and clinical evidence to gain trust and differentiate yourself from competitors.
Tim Rosa, CEO of Somnee, started his career in brand advertising, but things really took off when he switched to the video game industry, working with big names like SEGA Sports and ESPN Video Games. He was part of the team that launched NBA 2K, which he fondly recalls as “my baby that helped build my career.” After a decade in gaming, including time at EA and EA Sports, Tim received a call from a small startup: Fitbit.
At Fitbit, Tim became the first marketing leader, helping the company grow from a small venture to a global name in wearables. He was instrumental in Fitbit’s rise, taking it public, expanding its reach to over 100 countries, and selling more than 140 million devices. During all these, he also became familiar with sleep tracking technology—a wearable category that gained popularity very quickly.
Upon Fitbit’s exit to Google, and after Tim took some much-needed time off, he received another call—this time from renowned investor Vinod Khosla and Dr. Matt Walker, a leading sleep scientist and author of the book Why We Sleep. They introduced Tim to Somnee, a startup out of UC Berkeley that had developed a smart sleep headband using lab-grade neurostimulation technology. “I only work at a company if I'm the end customer and I believe in the product or I know I can improve the product,” Tim shares. Being an insomnia sufferer himself, he decided to give the technology a try, and it worked. However, he also saw several areas where the brand needed improvement. So he decided to join the company as CEO—on the condition that he could reassess everything, from the product to the brand architecture.
Now at Somnee, Tim is bringing advanced neuroscience through personalized technology to help people fall asleep faster and sleep better. Users wear it on their forehead for about 15 minutes before bed. The device uses EEG monitoring and neurostimulation to map the user’s brain activity, establishing a baseline and then personalizing the stimulation with AI and machine learning models to help them relax and drift off.
Looking ahead, Somnee is developing a new category of products that Tim describes as “wearable 2.0,” promising more accurate datasets and the potential to build an entire ecosystem around sleep.
Tim Rosa, CEO of Somnee, is leading efforts to improve sleep through personalized neuroscience. Previously, he was the CMO at Fitbit, where he played a key role in establishing the health and fitness wearables category. He built the organization’s global marketing function, contributing to the sale of over 140 million devices in 100+ countries. Additionally, he helped drive the company’s IPO and its eventual $2.1 billion sale to Google. Tim has also advised and worked with major brands like Electronic Arts, 2K Sports, ESPN Video Games, and Jasper Health.
Be the End Customer
When Tim took the helm at Somnee, he set out to rebuild the company from the ground up—revamping everything from the brand to the product itself. For Tim, brand isn’t just about marketing; it’s the core of business strategy, and it influences everything—product development, team recruitment, decision-making, and every touchpoint along the customer journey.
“There's definitely no silver bullet when it comes to giving a company a complete makeover,” he explains. “For me, I become the end customer.” Tim emphasizes, “No matter what industry you’re in—whether it’s consumer, enterprise, or healthcare—you need to understand who your end customer is and what their experience is like.”
He emphasizes, “It’s about understanding your friction points, eliminating them, and bringing delight and joy to the user experience. Sometimes it's as simple as beautiful design, communicating things in a way that's very easy to understand, and adding more in layers because obviously, you're going to have people that want more information.”
When Tim joined Somnee, he saw that the team was talented, but there was a lot of friction—especially in how they communicated the service. He knew that in healthcare, simplicity, accessibility, and clarity were essential. So, his first goal was to make the user experience simple and intuitive while explaining complex technology in a way that everyday consumers could easily follow, understand, and internalize. “I told them, ‘Look, my mom in Michigan needs to understand what we’re talking about.’ That’s the bar. It’s about communicating to everyday consumers without diminishing the science behind it,” he explains.
So, how do you become the end customer? Tim starts by analyzing data, identifying points of frustration, and then building a product roadmap to address these issues. With his OTC device experience, he immerses himself in customer feedback—reading forums, customer support logs, and other sources of user-generated information.
Tim stresses the importance of truly understanding the end customer as a foundation for any successful business. Whether you're an executive, a scientist, or in another role, it’s crucial to know your audience—whether that's a consumer, an employer, or another stakeholder.
It’s not enough to have groundbreaking technology; you need to marry it with brand and product experience to make a real impact. Tim believes that achieving this balance is what ultimately separates game-changing products from those that fall short. As he puts it, “You need to win hearts and minds.”
Win Customers With a Holistic Brand Experience
A brand’s purpose is to build an emotional connection with customers. Tim’s experience at Fitbit only serves to illustrate this important lesson—the company perfected the device’s user experience, which ended up driving word-of-mouth marketing and helped them build a loyal community.
Fitbit owes its success to the team’s decision to make the user experience simple and relatable. By focusing on featuring the simple and familiar goal of taking 10,000 steps a day, they created an easy-to-understand and motivating message. This approach helped them stand out against competitors like Nike, whose FuelBand used the less intuitive concept of "fuel points," which many consumers didn’t understand. As Tim puts it, the clarity and simplicity of Fitbit’s message gave them a strong advantage in the market.
To build a strong brand and business, Tim advises entrepreneurs to start thinking about PR early and to plan strategically. “I plan in three-year cycles,” he says. “Anything beyond that is just guessing.” He believes that having a clear vision and a structured timeline is crucial for building momentum and achieving long-term goals.
For Tim, brand is the foundation of all decision-making, from product development and engineering choices to recruiting a team and eventual go-to-market commercialization approaches. It’s important to make your brand the focus from the beginning, so that it guides all aspects of growth.
To win the hearts and minds of your customers, it’s essential to follow trends in evolving customer behavior. The shift has accelerated, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. One unexpected positive outcome for OCT devices was how it opened people’s minds to science and the validation of technology. In healthcare, there’s now a growing trend of empowered consumers taking control of their health. With the popularity of long-form health content and influencers like Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia, it’s clear there’s a strong demand for scientific information—provided it’s presented in an accessible way. This means companies must prioritize educating consumers with validated, accurate information that aligns with their health needs and experiences. Tim says, "I'm working to change how people think about neurotech and neuroscience because there's so much more education and research available now."
“The shift in healthcare is now focusing on the consumer. It used to be about securing deals with employers or healthcare providers, but today, you need the end consumer or employee to use and benefit from your product,” Tim explains. This consumer-centric approach is why he puts the brand at the center of everything.
When Tim took the helm at Somnee, he relocated the manufacturing. He reasoned that, from a business perspective, having manufacturing close to the U.S. offers advantages in speed, cost, and development, and allows teams to be on-site quickly. This decision also benefits Somnee’s image. Tim says, “Personally, if I’m putting something on my head, I prefer it not to be made in China—it’s just my preference. I believe the quality of working with contract manufacturers outside of China is noticeably different.”
How to Build a Category-Changing Product
One path to building a company is to launch a product that fits into an existing ecosystem. Alternatively, there are those who aim to change the entire industry with their solution.
What sets Somnee’s device apart from the others in the market is that it’s a closed loop: it both diagnoses and treats. “There are very few products in the world that are closed-loop and provide this level of outcome,” Tim says. This is precisely what he saw in Somnee—a product that offers real, measurable results and can change the sleep industry. He envisions a future where, instead of doctors prescribing sleeping pills, they prescribe Somnee. Over 600 doctors have already recommended the device, and the goal is to move beyond consumer wellness products to healthcare solutions that physicians can formally prescribe.
On his way to eventual FDA approval, Tim is now focused on building a product based on reliable, precise data. He notes that while earlier generations of wearables like Fitbit, Oura, and Whoop raised awareness about general health, they often struggled with accuracy. “The painful part of 1.0 is bad data in, bad data out,” he explains. Whereas with Somnee, the focus is on delivering clinical-level data that consumers and healthcare providers can trust.
Somnee’s technology has been developed by neuroscientists over seven years. Unlike sleeping pills, which can affect various parts of the body and brain, Somnee treats sleeping problems without side effects. To be able to do that, collecting accurate data is paramount. Tim emphasizes that where you collect data matters greatly. For example, heart rate measurements are more accurate when taken from the chest. Similarly, for sleep, Somnee uses a headband because sleep is managed in the frontal cortex of the brain. By positioning the device on the forehead, Somnee ensures it captures the most relevant and precise data for neurostimulation. “We’re using clinical-level technology because we need that level of accuracy to perform the therapeutic neurostimulation,” Tim explains.
By prioritizing clinical evidence, Somnee sets itself apart from competitors and builds credibility. And to stay ahead, the company invests heavily in ongoing research and development. With four sleep labs in their California office, Somnee replicates the same technology used in Dr. Matt Walker’s lab at UC Berkeley. “We’re constantly conducting research and trials—whether it’s on personalization, different stages of sleep, or different consumer cohorts,” Tim shares.
For entrepreneurs, the takeaway is clear: staying innovative means committing to constant learning and adaptation. Investing in research, testing, and understanding your customer’s specific needs leads to more precise and compelling solutions. It also positions your brand as a leader in innovation and expertise.
