Insider Insight: Hélène Guillaume, founder and CEO of WILD.AI

Hélène Guillaume is the CEO and founder of WILD.AI, an app that helps women track, train, fuel and recover every day to reach peak performance.

What is your morning routine?

I have a newborn so right now very different than old “morning performance” one. I wake up, feed my baby in bed, cuddle, read a book while pumping and eating breakfast in bed. I know, lavish. And ultra performant: nourishing a whole human.

Then I drive five minutes to the beach, jump in the water; back home, shower, open my notebook with my day (ideally) planned the evening before.

Which technology could you not live without?

Right now, my breast pump. I feed exclusively my new baby with my body, and by feeding her some of my morning milk in the evening, she sleeps through the night. So it brings me sanity and joy.

How do you relax?

Jump in the sea, surf, swim. Wild Water Baby. Then read a book in the evening, write, and laugh.

Which quote resonates with you?

What you do everyday is what makes your life. I took many big life decisions based on that: living  five minutes away from the sea, in the countryside vs. city, reminding myself to write, regularly, because it compounds, to get out of my comfort zone, as it makes me feel alive.

What is the best thing about your job?

I help myself through the vision of our company to provide women of all age, life stage and ethnicity with the tools and knowledge to perform. I wasn’t ok with the status quo, hearing that being a woman, in sport, is basically shitty. And seeing, through our work, the impact we have on so many women, hear their feedback, have our team excited by our mission. I love it!

What keeps you motivated?

Having the feeling – and the feedback – that we really have a tangible impact on the people we work with. Seeing the passion in the people we work with and our investors. It’s heartwarming and means the world.

What is the most important lesson you have learned on your start-up journey?

Resilience. Like a mean honey badger. Continue, and persevere.

Whatever storm happens in your face, keep the cape and move forward.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Produce. Instead of consuming, produce. Whatever it is, I would have learned more, on the way.

What is something you wish you could experience again for the first time?

Giving birth. It was such an incredible, strong, hard, and beautiful experience. I had a 80 hours labor – and like climbing a mountain, it wasn’t easy – but I loved it.

What is your greatest achievement since establishing your company?

Building a really meaningful product that close to 50k women use and love, and becoming the leader in our market, while other players emerged, proving the deep need of what we are building.