Upgrade your self-talk

Self-talk is the secret sauce when it comes to personal development, and the world of sports is reaping the rewards of players’ mental fitness. Dailyhuman, founded by Kim Bach, ’97, and Josh Roenitz, ’97, has leveraged AI to provide personalized mindset training at scale.

The company’s flagship product, dubbed a “mindset lab,” uses text message-based reflections and AI analysis to help users gain insights into their thought patterns and mental capacities. “We’re trying to be that mirror on the road to self-improvement,” says Bach, who brings decades of corporate experience in learning and development to her role as co-founder.

Roenitz, a repeat tech founder who helped develop an early predecessor to FitBit, saw the potential to apply the “measurement is motivation” principle to mindset work. “Before Dailyhuman,” he says, “athletes didn’t have a tool to actually measure their self-talk or understand how others see them. We can become our own worst critics. We, Dailyhuman, upgrade self-talk. That’s what we’ve built.”

While Dailyhuman’s technology can be applied broadly, the company has found particular traction with athletes. Over 50% of its revenue comes from women’s sports partnerships, including work with the
WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. Dailyhuman also ran mindset labs for NFL draft prospects, 12 of whom were drafted in the first three rounds in 2024.

“It is widely accepted and embraced that to win in sports, mindset matters,” Bach says. “We are going where people gather who understand that mindset matters. Right now, that’s in athletics.”

Beyond player development, Dailyhuman is pioneering new models of fan engagement. The Connecticut Sun, for instance, offers fans the opportunity to participate in mindset labs alongside players and coaches. This approach taps into fans’ desires for deeper connection with the athletes they admire.

As they look to the future, Bach and Roenitz are partnering with the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine to measure the efficacy of their interventions. They’re also exploring applications beyond sports, including programs for teachers and health care professionals.

Dailyhuman is a business venture maintained by Spiders — its chief of staff is Amy Pierson Shuler, ’98. “This is more than a company we’ve started,” Bach says. “It all comes back to the trust and connections we built at Richmond.”

As they continue to expand their impact, these Spider partners are proving that with the right mindset — and the right tools — personal growth is limitless.