What's Supp?

Hi, I'm Steve Martocci. You may remember me from such startups as Splice, GroupMe, and Blade, but what you might not know is that my health has always been a struggle.

While I always loved being the tallest in my class at 6'5", I was also one of the heaviest. I would make the sports teams because of that height, but I'd end up being a huge disappointment. Even after a full season of football practice, I couldn't drop the weight and never seemed to get any stronger.

Medicine failed me as a kid. My mom knew there was something wrong. She had hypothyroidism, so she took me to an endocrinologist, but my results came back on the “low end of normal,” and I was told they couldn't even try to prescribe me anything.

My weight continued to be a struggle through college, topping out at 299 pounds. I'm sure I crossed 300, but I never let myself see it. After college, I was in full-on startup mode, building, partying and treating my body like shit. I would go through periods of progress, but always regressed back.

In 2010, the 13-month journey from GroupMe's inception to its sale to Skype brought on some rough patterns. I was working crazy hours and drinking when I wasn't working. Workouts weren't a thing. By the time we sold I was back up to around 267 pounds. In so many ways, I was happy, and in so many I was not because of how I looked and felt.

I decided that I needed to not just commit to diet and exercise again, but get deeper, to the roots of the issues that held me back. So I found a functional medicine doctor who changed everything for me and helped me take control of my health journey. His name is Joshua Trutt, and we began doing quarterly labs so we could identify what specific things would help me achieve my goals, personalized to me, and keep track of changes. This allowed us to experiment and see which combination of interventions would work best. The experience has been transformative, and we continue to work together along with some amazing specialists to tackle all the issues that come up as I age. I'm the happiest and healthiest I've ever been, and if I hadn't taken things into my own hands, I don't think I'd ever be here.

Everyone in my network - friends, family, colleagues - noticed the change, and one of the most frequent questions I was asked was, “What is your secret?” People knew it couldn't have just been diet and exercise (these are things I'd tried - and failed at - before). So they wanted to know, What medications and supplements are you taking?" (This was all happening 10 years ago, long before the whole world started taking Ozempic.)

When they asked, I'd share this spreadsheet - what I called my supplement “stack.”

The spreadsheet evolved over many years, and my health remained strong, even as I was working around the clock as the CEO of music creation platform Splice. I spent ten years at Splice and led the company through the pandemic, which was one of the most challenging things I've ever had to do in my career, as I know it was for many.

After a decade, I needed a break, which I took after hiring my replacement. With Splice in good hands and a fully recharged battery, I felt the urge to once again roll up my sleeves and immerse myself in the nuts and bolts of coding and building a product. So I began a new chapter, one I call Steve 4.0.

During my downtime I continued to be focused on my health and starting a family with my wonderful fiancée, Kelly. As we prepared for the arrival of our first child Jaxson, the “stack” was top of mind again. Kelly was researching what to take for pre/post natal and I was trying to get ready for the rough sleepless months ahead. For Kelly, our biggest concern of course was that we needed to be certain that Jaxson (still growing in her belly) was being given everything he needed-- but also wasn't being given too much of anything. We spent a lot of time adding up the ingredients on different bottles-- something I'd been doing myself for years, but with a tiny baby on the way, checking those labels suddenly took on greater significance. This kept me coming back to the idea of managing my stack - that bulky, complicated eyesore of a spreadsheet - and I thought, there must be a better, cleaner, more accessible way for people like me to put together an optimized “supplement stack,” track everything, and share it with others. So I jumped in, brought some familiar faces on board, and began building. I've really enjoyed this past year being heads down in code, finally getting to play with the latest tools (I love Svelte/Sveltekit and Ruby on Rails still), all without the world watching. But today that changes.

Today, I'd like to introduce you to SuppCo, a new way for you to build, optimize, share, and stick with a supplement stack that aligns with your lifestyle and goals. Whether you're already a biohacker with a hard to track stack, have a new fitness milestone to hit, or are just ready to get started with supplements to fill some essential gaps, SuppCo is for you.

SuppCo is part of a growing self-directed health trend and gives you the structure and resources to direct your supplement journey. As much as I love supplements and have seen them work for me, I also know there's so much complexity and lack of transparency in the space which can make it feel daunting and inaccessible. At SuppCo, we envision a path to something transformative. Our mission is to simplify the intricate world of supplements, empowering individuals to take control of a key pillar of their overall health journey. SuppCo aligns with the growing movement of self-directed healthcare, providing the structure and resources that guide individuals toward greater health agency.