Hilary Quartner

Hilary is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Hilma, which makes natural, herbal remedies that are scientifically-backed. Hilma launched at the end of January 2020 with three medicine cabinet staples — Immune Support, Upset Stomach Relief, and Tension Relief. '

Hilma has raised seed funding from Forerunner Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Company Ventures, and BoxGroup, as well as additional angel investors.

On her morning routine.

I usually wake up between 6.15 and 6.30. I love getting up when I'm the only one awake and being in my space when it’s quiet.

I have coffee immediately, and on my best days I work out and then meditate, but most days I just meditate — it clears my head and helps me ease into the day in a positive way.

Meditating is a relatively new habit, which has coincided with the stress of launching a new business.

I’ve really felt a shift in developing this routine and look forward to it as very precious time. 

I recently moved to Brooklyn and I’ve discovered how important it is to catch a certain train and a certain car to avoid crowds — standing in a packed subway is most certainly not precious time!

On choosing investors.

My co-founders (Nina Mullen & Lily Galef) and I are all first-time founders, so determining what we cared most about in our partners took shape as we went.

The first thing we started noticing and valuing in investors is the ability to really listen and respond to us and our ideas, and not just redistribute advice.

Noticing patterns is very helpful and something investors are uniquely positioned to do, but we most value the people who are able to do that while genuinely being thoughtful about the position and moment of our business.

It can be a subtle difference.

The second aspect we appreciate in an investor partnership is the sense and spirit of being on a team together versus performing for each other.

We feel that we can think collaboratively with our partners.

Finally, we put value on the relevance and success of other brands and companies that they've invested in just because we look up to and aspire to have the same success.

Back to the concept of patterns, it's helpful to work with people who were along with the journey with those businesses and can apply the learnings in a new context.

On maintaining focus.

I live by my to-do list - I reference it throughout the day and log ideas and reminders that come to me when I wake up in the middle of the night.

As a team, we created a structure around setting goals very early on. We’re all disciplined in preserving that practice, which I think is a big part of what makes our team work.

As far as prioritizing, having had experience in another very early stage startup right before Hilma, I appreciate how important it was to know what not to focus on when there are a million things you could be doing.

It’s important to know when to push ahead and figure things out, and when to get help so that you can focus on the things that you are actually good at. 

When you want to be scrappy and move quickly, sometimes that decision can be very hard.

I think about prioritization all the time - it’s especially challenging when you and your team have a lot of ambition and energy.

On finding balance.

In the process of starting a new business, I think I actually may have clung tighter to routines.

Unlike the jobs that I've had in the past where there was relatively defined structure, often imposed externally, being an entrepreneur is mostly self-imposed and all-encompassing, taking up what feels like 100% of your brain space 100% of the time. 

It was important for me to protect certain rituals with my husband, friends, family, and just for myself — to keep perspective and maintain enough wholeness to do a good job.

I definitely feel refreshed being with or even just after a phone call with people who are important to me.

On moving to Brooklyn.

I was living in the East Village before and while it has great energy and is so central, we just needed a change.

So, we moved to Brooklyn Heights, which is incredibly beautiful with more trees and space, as well as fresh air as it’s close to the water. 

It's a novel, wonderful feeling to have entirely fresh surroundings in a city that I’ve lived in and known for so long.

You have the same, familiar views of the skyline, the Statue of Liberty, but from a wholly new angle. Beginnings like that are always fun - finding your places, starting to feel at home versus just visiting — and it makes me love and appreciate New York even more than I already do.

On her nightly ritual.

On an ideal day, the first thing that calms me down and gets me ready to sleep is tea — it’s a signal to wind down.

Also, I typically find myself taking a Hilma Tension Relief after a day looking at my computer.

My husband and I catch up on the day and I try to read before I go to bed pretty much every night, even if I only make it through five pages. 

Fiction or nonfiction, it is good to focus on something different than what I think about all day. I’m usually asleep by 10.30 but can drift to 11 sometimes.

Really aim for 7 — 8 hours.