☁️🍄 Issue No. 016: Founder Chat - Retreat Guru

Welcome, welcome to the first-ever edition of our Headlines Founder Chat series! I had a ton of fun talking to Cameron and putting this one together (read: meme-making). Let’s dive in! 

In Issue 008: The Synthesis Saga, we covered the implosion of Synthesis Institute, a provider seen by many as the “gold standard” in psychedelic facilitator training.

In February, a week away from bankruptcy, Synthesis Digital paused all programs and left hundreds of students high and dry — facing the potential loss of thousands in tuition. 

Enter Retreat Guru. In early March, the company took over operations and pledged to continue training for students, effectively rescuing the program from near-certain demise. 

This week, I sat down with Retreat Guru CEO and co-founder Cameron Wenaus to hear how things have been going.

We talked about his background, explored the challenges surrounding the future of psychedelic facilitator training, and dug into what’s next for the company.

THE AIRBNB OF RETREATS

From ayahuasca ceremonies to meditation intensives, Retreat Guru is, in many ways, the “Airbnb of retreats.”

On the customer side, it’s a resource spanning 4K+ centers and 10K+ teachers, providing trusted reviews on transformative experiences across the globe. 

On the retreat side, the platform helps operators with online logistics, everything from payment processing to booking management systems. 

Origin story. But Cameron didn’t set out to create a retreat booking platform. In fact, its earliest iteration was a web development company for Tibetan Lamas. 

From 1993 to 2014, Cameron and his brother, co-founder Deryk Wenaus, attended over 200+ meditation and plant medicine retreats. They were profoundly moved by their experiences and began to help build websites for the centers they were staying at.

As the Wenaus brothers deepened their practice, however, a point of frustration emerged: There was no central resource for folks to find or share reviews for reputable teachers and experiences. In turn, it was extremely difficult to discover and book retreats online. 

Thus, the idea for Retreat Guru was born. Today, the platform has become the world’s foremost retreat marketplace, expanding across meditation, yoga, and psychedelic experiences, featuring top providers from Silo Wellness to Soltara. 

Fast-forward to 2023. When Synthesis went bankrupt in late February, Retreat Guru suddenly became responsible for nearly $1M in potential refunds to students. 

Synthesis had used Retreat Guru’s software for payment processing, and with the company about to go bankrupt, well… someone had to foot the bill. 

If every student had requested a refund at once, Cameron says, Retreat Guru would have been profoundly impacted. It had other options; the team could have gotten a loan and let the program fizzle, but they chose to jump in and ensure the continuation of training. 

WHAT’S NEXT 

Fortunately, a majority of Synthesis students have opted to continue training. Now, Cameron tells me, Retreat Guru has found themselves at the heart of a burgeoning (and complex) psychedelic training space. 

Navigating this new space—and answering to hundreds of burnt out, traumatized students and teachers—has been anything but easy for his team.

But Cameron’s experience—20+ years practicing and studying the Shambhala Buddhist tradition and attending retreats firsthand—appears to be serving him well. 

And as Retreat Guru steps into some larger shoes, it’s prompting him to ask some key questions.

For example, is someone actually ready to facilitate psychedelic trips after just one year of training — in stark contrast to the years or even decades for newer meditation practitioners to begin to lead sessions and hold space.

Another on his mind: are psychedelics themselves enough? What would it look like to weave training in with mindful practices such as meditation or even Buddhist-inspired teachings as a framework for developing more embodied healers? 

RAISING THE BABY

This whole affair, we joked during our convo, could be immortalized via the Superman meme (see above), swooping in last-minute to save the baby. 

But what people don’t realize, Cameron tells me, is that Superman can’t just drop the baby, in this case a newly orphaned one, off on some random doorstep. Superman now has to figure out how to raise that baby. 

That’s what’s on Retreat Guru’s plate now — how to properly care for this toddling new psychedelic training program. There are countless tricky questions, and the answers to those questions will play a crucial role in the future of psychedelic-assisted therapy. 

Closing thoughts: Retreat Guru is seated in an incredibly unique position, serving both existing psychedelic experiences around the world as well as the fledgling starts of a US psychedelic model slowly finding its footing. 

As they “raise the baby,” Retreat Guru is in search of value-aligned investors and angels to help them steward this process. And their goal for these funds isn’t to make millions or create huge returns (though that might happen). It’s chiefly to bring forth what’s always been their mission from the start — to create a happier, more wakeful world.

Want to connect with Cameron Wenaus and the Retreat Guru team? Feel free to reply directly to this email. And, if you or someone you know working in mental health tech would be interested in doing a Founder Chat, do reach out!

QUICK HITS

• My friend, the bot. Pi, a generative AI tool from the founders of LinkedIn and DeepMind, is designed to assist people with wellness and emotions. 

• Headspace report. Instability, productivity pressure, and rising expectations are driving feelings of dread in the workplace.

• Grand opening. Melbourne’s first psychedelics and cannabis dispensary opens its doors. 

• Fear not. Studies show shrooms may help reverse conditioned fear responses for those suffering from PTSD.

• Tripless trip. Delix Therapeutics just started its first clinical trials for studying nonhallucinogenic psychedelics. 

• New in neurotech. PsyMed Ventures’ market map of the landscape.

NEWS & TRENDS

1) Magic shroom therapy prices: too damn high 

Oregon has officially licensed its first-ever regulated psilocybin service center — EPIC Healing Eugene. And the hefty price tags have sparked outrage across the web. Starting at $1.8K for a full dose (and up to $3.5K for a high dose) with preparation and integration, the US’ first legal shroom therapy center isn’t exactly affordable for all. 

Still, the cost schedule isn’t stopping folks — there are a reported 80 people on the waitlist. And, as some point out, there are considerable costs and risks that these first service centers are bearing as pioneers in this space. One thing’s for sure: If costs stay this high, the next era of psychedelic medicine isn’t going to be the revolution it claims to be. → Read more

2) Ketamine and the power of ritual 

A recently published study from Stanford neuroscientists tested ketamine against placebo on participants with depression. Notably, the treatment was conducted under anesthesia (effectively ensuring double-blind design), and the results were astounding: Both groups saw a huge antidepressant response. 

That suggests that the preparation and aftercare in psychedelic therapy may be far more important than we realize, if not more so than the drug itself. Dr. Boris Heifets, the leading scientist on the study, wrote that some may even interpret “we could dispense with the drug altogether and keep the therapy… but having a focal event may be important… like every ritual ever!” → Read the thread

DEALS & DEBUTS

🎼 Octave Health Group, a behavioral health provider, raised $22M in new capital. The platform provides personalized mental health care, tuned to each person’s unique needs, with an evidence-based and outcome-driven care model. → source

🤕 Stella, a trauma treatment platform, raised $7M from Sterling Partners and opened a flagship PTSD treatment center in Chicago. The company offers everything from ketamine infusion therapy to dual sympathetic reset (DSR).→ source

🍄 Optimi Health, a psychedelic drug manufacturer, announced a CAD$1.2M ($889k) agreement for supplying psilocybin-based therapeutic drugs to a private entity.→ source

🤝 Creso Pharma, an Australian pharmaceuticals company, acquired Health House International, a medical cannabis and psychedelics distributor. → source

💊 Teva Pharmaceuticals, a biopharma company, is collaborating with two nonprofits, Direct Relief and the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, to expand donation of medications for anxiety and depression to seven new states. → source

🧠 NeuroFlow, maker of behavioral health integration software, partnered with Emory Healthcare, a Georgia-based healthcare system, to scale the company’s psychiatric services. → source

WHAT I’M READING

• Prevailing perspectives. From community organizers to therapists, investors to ceremony leaders, what do the people at the heart of the psychedelic ecosystem really think about the landscape? → Lucid News

All set, folks. Thanks for tuning in to the Headlines channel every week. 🎵 Much, much appreciated. 

Me? I’m really loving San Francisco as I get settled in here. Caught a windy beach sunset a few days ago that took my breath away. I hope you’re having a fantastic May too!

Til next Sunday,

-Mel