Introduction
In today’s fast-paced work environment, the struggle against burnout has never been more real. Jessica Corbin, the dynamic co-founder and CEO of SORCE, is no stranger to this battle. Drawing from personal experiences with burnout and her discovery of Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Jessica has embarked on a mission to address the human energy crisis. In this founder profile, she offers a deep dive into the ethos of SORCE, the importance of data privacy, and how her platform is bringing transformative changes to workplace wellness.
In your own words, how would you describe SORCE?
In 1-min a day, you can assess the nervous system of people, teams, and organizations to get upstream on mismanaged workplace stress.
All without a wearable AND keeping everyone’s privacy private.
For real.
What inspired you to take the leap and start Sorce?
I had a nasty habit of burning myself out. Started as a young athlete in Div 1 cross country and track at UCLA, which followed me into my first career as a TV Host and Producer for outlets like TechTV, E! News, and CNN. The worst of this habit caught up with me around the age of 30 when I was diagnosed with extreme adrenal fatigue and burnout. I had to move home with my parents, where I began to study the science of stress and found a revelation of information about Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and how you can objectively measure one’s capacity to handle challenges and demands so burnout can become a thing of the past. This understanding developed into a mission to solve the human energy crisis at scale, which is what we do at SORCE.
How do you mitigate privacy concerns around health data and sharing information with employers?
It is important to consider how often people’s personally identifiable information (PII) is used without permission.
Our privacy and security protocol is:
- No one ever enters their name or email into the SORCE App
- No PII is ever stored off the device, meaning we do not have PII stored in a cloud vulnerable to breach
- Team, department, and organizational data is anonymized and only taken in aggregate, with a minimum of 5 users needed for any points to plot.
Even with this level of security, we can discern power trends that help leaders to discern the signal from the noise in a way that creates vital cultures and saves money.
What is the human energy crisis?
The human energy crisis acknowledges that modern culture’s pace, complexity, and stimulation outpaces one’s ability to “keep up.” Over 75% of people have reported experiencing burnout. The human energy crisis encapsulates the 1 TRILLION dollar costs to the global economy associated with mismanaged stress, including healthcare costs, attrition, absenteeism, and lack of productivity.
Can you share an example of a client using your data and insights to spark change in their organization?
Absolutely. A client had deployed SORCE internally during an engineering sprint. In the data, we could see one team’s baseline unable to rebound from the challenge. When we leaned in, we learned this team was not only under the pressures of the sprint, but they were also tasked with performing quarterly reviews. With this information, the client could revise the deadline for the quarterly reviews, which would give the team the necessary space to rebound and not cause further friction. Making a simple and responsive shift not only allowed this team to complete the sprint successfully, but they collectively used the challenge to increase their objective baseline because they understood how to time efforts with more precision.
If we speak again in 12 months, what milestones will you have achieved?
500% growth in client roster; 500% growth in revenue; enhanced Regenerative AI/ML.
Sorce is raising funds on Wefunder.
