Kat Schneider

Kat is the Founder and CEO of Ritual, a health technology company that is reinventing the products women use every single day.

To date, Kat has raised over $40 million in funding from Forerunner, Founders Fund, NEA, and Upfront Ventures, among others.

On her morning routine.

The first thing I consume every morning is a glass of water. I spend the first half hour in bed reading, breastfeeding, and playing with my daughters.

I make breakfast for my family, anything from buckwheat vegan pancakes to millet porridge. Then I head to my local pilates or yoga studio for a workout.

On protecting early mornings.

When you’re a founder, work time is all-the-time.

The moments that you feel like are your own, like when you’re on a run or meditating, an idea pops up that you think will transform your business.

The older I get, the more I try to make space and train my brain to be free of any Ritual thoughts even for a short period in the day. 

I really protect my early mornings. I don’t check my phone for the first 30 minutes of my day. I also make sure I work out almost every single day.

It’s the only time I have just to myself.

Also, I’ve also been doing my best to avoid reacting quickly. I like to sit with things before forming and voicing my opinion.

On her life’s motto.

“Less is more.”

We even trademarked it. Paring things down is important and it is also the hardest thing to do creatively in business.

John Maeda’s The Laws of Simplicity explains how difficult it is to narrow things down but how much more you gain when you do.

That key insight helps your company run and taking that extra time to find out what that is, is extremely valuable.

Simplify to do fewer and better things.

We scaled our company to the size it is today with a single product, but that was actually one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made.

On Ritual’s wellness culture.

Healthy snacks are one of the most obvious ways you can tell we are integrating wellness into our culture.

We have pantries filled with everything from marine collagen bars to medicinal mushroom hot chocolate powders.

Since our ethos is about understanding what’s going on inside our bodies, we gave our entire team genetic tests a few months ago.

With that, they can better understand if they have genetic mutations when it comes to the nutrients in our products like b12, folate, and omega-3s.

One of the things I’m most proud of when it comes to wellness is our quarterly “How’s It Going” survey.

It gives our employees a safe place to send feedback and also lets them know that we are constantly working to improve.

Beyond that, we have a “Wellness Wednesday” every week where we have yoga, meditation, and other fitness instructors come to the office.

On winding down before bed.

I have a skincare ritual that includes cleansing and hydrating oils and serums.

Taking time to take care of my skin makes me feel like I’m really taking care of myself and that impacts my emotional state for sleep.

When I get home from the office I’ll slip into my “home clothes” to shift gears.

To shut off my mind, I set my phone to sleep mode when I’m ready for bed.