The Idea: In 2018, Dan Murray-Serter was falling apart. His previous startup, Grabble - once the top shopping app in the UK with millions of users - had burned out without ever turning a profit. The stress had caught up with him. He developed chronic insomnia, crippling panic attacks, and anxiety so bad he tried everything: therapy, medication, sleep clinics, even alcohol. Nothing worked. Then a dietician prescribed him high-quality supplements. Within 6 days, he was sleeping like a baby. RADICHE The revelation hit him hard - millions of people were throwing psychological fixes at what was really a physiological problem. His co-founder and best friend Joel Freeman was battling the same realisation from a different angle, with stress-induced gut issues that cleared up once he understood the gut-brain axis. Rather than immediately launching a product, the two started a newsletter called "The Sunday Supplement" - translating complex neuroscience into a digestible three-minute read City AM - to build an audience before they built anything else. This was the beginning of Heights.
The Execution:
- 2018: Dan and Joel start building a community around "braincare" through a newsletter, eventually growing to 10,000 engaged readers before a single product exists Blueprint - the same audience that will become their first customers.
- 2019: After exploring more than 50 ideas, they partner with Dr. Tara Swart - an Oxford-trained neuroscientist - and leading dietitian Sophie Medlin to develop their flagship "smart supplement" RADICHE, committing to fully plant-based, additive-free formulas that suppliers initially struggled to produce.
- 2020: Heights launches in the middle of a global pandemic - their "office influencer" strategy (betting people would display the iconic bottles on their desks) wiped out overnight by lockdowns. They press on anyway. They raise a $2M seed round via Seedrs crowdfunding, with angel investors including the founders of New Look, WeTransfer, and Shazam. TechCrunch
- 2021: Two years after founding, Heights hits $500K monthly recurring revenue with a fully remote team Starter Story, earning the #1 rated supplement ranking on Trustpilot globally - all without a single retail shelf.
- 2022-2023: Heights achieves B Corp certification, launches their Biotic⁺ gut health probiotic, and reaches 30,000 monthly subscribers and £10M in annual recurring revenue, hitting a £35M valuation. Yahoo Finance
- 2025: Heights doubles in size year-on-year. They surpass £20M in annual recurring revenue, close a new £2M funding round in just one week, and are valued at £57.8M - with ambitions to hit £50M in annual sales. The Grocer
The lesson? Dan and Joel didn't start with a product - they started with a point of view. Two years of newsletter writing, audience building, and scientific credibility before a single capsule shipped. In a market drowning in snake oil, they understood that in supplements, trust isn't a nice-to-have - it's the entire product. Build the audience first, then build the thing they're already asking for.