She showed up to a city she'd never been to, knew exactly one person, talked 30 restaurants into joining her event, went on live TV twice, and then coded a backup solution by herself two hours before the launch party when her developer bailed. The app didn't grow the way she wanted. She didn't quit. Lee Balcomb is the founder of Healthy Anywhere — a hyper-curated restaurant app that functions like having a holistic nutritionist, food writer, and data analyst on call, helping health-conscious travelers find meals that actually match their standards. She's been building it full-time since 2018, and the original idea? That came to her in January 2003. What she covers: → Growing up in Montgomery, Alabama on Little Caesars pizza, two-liter Cokes, and Krispy Kreme crullers — and being bloated and foggy as a kid because of it → Moving to California in her 20s and discovering vegetables that come from the ground, not cans — and never feeling better → Getting stranded in a barren Philadelphia apartment at 1am with nothing to eat — the exact moment in January 2003 that sparked the entire business → Locking herself in the house before a trip to Spain just to build a 78-restaurant spreadsheet with 14 columns covering wild fish, organic veggies, leafy greens, and healthy fats → Quitting a job she loved in 2018 after private equity bought the company and killed the culture — and needing six months just to decompress before she could build → Reading 60 books in a year, getting a holistic nutrition certification, and completing sustainable food systems studies at UC Berkeley to earn the "street cred" to build the scoring system → Nearly blowing up the entire pipeline by bringing on an AI contractor who quietly wrecked the data — and not discovering how bad it was until weeks later → Organizing the CEO's Healthy Week in Colorado Springs — a city she'd never visited — getting 30 restaurants to participate and over $2,000 in prizes, only to have her developer bail four days before launch → Coding her own QR/PHP solution solo until two hours before the launch party just so the event could run → Going on live TV twice, getting customers to drive down from Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins — and hearing from a woman who attended five restaurants in one weekend: "Who do you need? Because imagine what you could do with support." → The advice from an 84-year-old Silicon Valley angel investor: "No matter what happens, this is already been a phenomenal success." → Why she's bootstrapping and hasn't raised money — and why she believes she has to earn the right to keep building first → "It's not what I'm building. Ultimately, it's who I am becoming." 🔗 CONNECT WITH STU Instagram: @stu Website: https://startupswithstu.com 📌 CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro + How Lee and Stu connected at Laguna Beach [~02:00] – What is the Healthy Anywhere app? [~05:00] – The origin story: Philadelphia airport, 1am, nothing to eat (January 2003) [~09:00] – The 78-restaurant spreadsheet with 14 columns (a weekend in D.C.) [~12:00] – Why she left her job in 2018 and what happened next [~16:00] – 60 books, a nutrition certification, and UC Berkeley [~20:00] – The AI contractor who quietly wrecked the pipeline [~24:00] – CEO's Healthy Week: 30 restaurants, Colorado Springs, developer bails 4 days out [~31:00] – Coding the launch solo, two hours before the party [~36:00] – Why she's bootstrapping and what she needs before she'd ever raise [~41:00] – The 84-year-old angel investor's advice that she still reflects on [~45:00] – "It's not what I'm building. It's who I'm becoming." [~48:00] – Family, Jason, and what spousal support actually looks like #entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #healthyfood #bootstrapped #womenfounder #appbuilder #healthyanywhere #startuplife #solofounder
