Turning Body Heat into Energy | Seth Casden

What this episode is about

Seth Casden discusses innovative technology that captures and harnesses body heat to improve health and wellness through textiles, highlighting its benefits for individuals with chronic ailments and pets. The approach merges physical science with natural minerals to enhance human physiology and optimize everyday living.

Key takeaways

• We're all 100-watt batteries, losing our energy—what if we could harness it instead?
• Infrared therapy's acceptance has surged; over 125,000 subjects studied may convert skeptics into believers.
• Harnessing heat not only cools our discomfort but warms our understanding of holistic health.
• Animals can't placebo, yet they show the same healing benefits—proof that science trumps skepticism.
• Skepticism is healthy—until over 10,000 papers transform doubt into demand for innovative healing technologies.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Daniel (Host) · 8 min speaking
• Seth Casden (Guest) · 12 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: infrared, Celli, salient knee brace, David Hornick
2. 5:00 – 10:00: infrared, dream pillow, Decathlon, Eon

Notable quotes from "Turning Body Heat into Energy | Seth Casden"

• Capture that heat. people have bad knee that take a leave every day and wear a salient knee brace and don't need the leave or people that are arthritic.

  about salient knee brace · at 0:13

• Kinds of responses when people hear about our technology that motivate me and get me out of bed every day. when I first heard about it, the inventor David Hornick, he's a…

  about David Hornick · at 1:20

• Having this conversation and that energy goes into the environment and it's basically lost. And so what Celli does is it's found a way to harness that. We capture that heat and…

  about Celli · at 2:28

• It's something I need. I really need to get the pillow. Like I really need to get I need the brace. I got bad knees. I got my knees are like Rice Krispie treats.

  about dream pillow · at 5:54

• And we've been fortunate enough to be in programs with Puma and Audi and New Balance, Reebok. And what we saw was despite really over a billion dollars at retail, very, very little.

  about Audi · at 7:08

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• David Hornick — Person · Referenced inventor · 1 mention · first at 1:26
  Identified as the inventor of the underlying technology Seth is commercializing; described as Seth’s friend and the origin point of Seth’s involvement.

Companies & orgs

• Audi — Company · Case study · 2 mentions
  Mentioned alongside other brands in programs with Celli, showing diverse partnerships.
• Decathlon — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at 7:03
  Another brand mentioned as working with Celli technology, showing international partnerships.
  Armour is really our largest brand or most maybe most well-known in the United States right now. we also work with Decathlon and Eon overseas.
• Eon — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at 7:03
  Mentioned alongside Decathlon as an overseas partner for Celli technology.
  Armour is really our largest brand or most maybe most well-known in the United States right now. we also work with Decathlon and Eon overseas.
• Puma — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at 7:08
  Mentioned as a brand that has been in programs with Celli, indicating past collaborations.
  And we've been fortunate enough to be in programs with Puma and Audi and New Balance, Reebok. And what we saw was despite really over a billion dollars at retail, very, very little.
• Celli — Company · 3 mentions

Products & tech

• Celli — Product · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 2:32
  A product that harnesses body heat and converts it into infrared light for health benefits, mentioned multiple times as a key technology.
• salient knee brace — Product · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 0:18
  A product mentioned as part of the Celli technology lineup, specifically for knee health and recovery.
• dream pillow — Product · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 7:44
  A product from Celli's sleep line, highlighted for its benefits in restorative sleep.

Concepts & topics

• infrared — Concept · Core topic · 4 mentions · first at 2:41
  Central to the discussion on health and wellness technology, explaining how infrared light benefits the body.
  It affects the body and interacts the body with the body. And you know infrared's just beyond the visible. So, it's not light that you see what you're normally like looking at…
• infrared therapy — Concept · 3 mentions

Places & events

• longevity fest — Event · Setting · 1 mention · first at 7:50
  Mentioned as the venue where Celli launched its sheets, indicating a focus on health and wellness events.
  So this year we started selling it sleep line. We started with the dream pillow and we just launched our sheets as well last weekend at the trade show longevity fest in Las…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 We're all batteries. We're giving off about a 100 watts of energy every second just having this conversation and that energy goes into the environment and basically lost. And so what salient does is it's found a way to harness that. We capture that heat. You know, people have bad knee that take a leave every day and wear a salient knee brace and and don't need the leave or you know, people that are arthritic.

0:23 I think that's the biggest thing I struggle with. I woke up last night every day there's like some new ailment. I'm like, I must be 150 years old.

0:31 Um, I also had some incredible experiences around animals, but horses, dogs and cats, dogs that, you know, have bad hips and then they start walking better. So, you know, there's no placebo effect.

0:45 So, Seth, always great to connect with you again. I was super happy that I got to meet you um what feels like a lifetime ago, right? I think it was almost a year ago. And when I heard about what you were doing, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I need that." Like, I've been looking for that for a long time. And that was specifically the pillow and what you were creating. But you are combining health and wellness through textiles. And I have to understand, how did you even get into that?

1:15 Yeah. Well, thanks for having me on, Daniel. It's great to reconnect with you also. And yeah, it's it's you know those kinds of responses when people hear about our technology that uh motivate me and get me out of bed every day. Uh when I first heard about it, the inventor David Hornick, he's a friend of mine and I was just fascinated by the intersection of uh physical science, human, you know, human physiology and also what natural occurring minerals can do. and then looking at how to improve and optimize the body and being a triathlete and really loving to be outdoors and wanting to live a long time. Being a dad, you know, you're always looking for uh how to optimize your body and uh you know, have a good healthy life. And when you look at what we do and our technology, we're basically delivering uh health and wellness to the body through through textiles, through everyday apparel and

2:03 bedding and sleep products. So, uh, it's been a it's been a great journey and I think the science is really there now and, uh, we're seeing people that get introduced to the technology having a similar response as you just had.

2:15 Can you tell me more about how does the technology work and what have you seen?

2:20 Yeah, of course. Uh, so really we're all u batteries. We're giving off about a 100 watts of energy every second just having this conversation and that energy goes into the environment and it's basically lost. And so what Celli does is it's found a way to harness that. We capture that heat and the minerals naturally convert heat to light and they put that light in the infrared spectrum back into our body uh which improves circulation and blood flow. And so you see we have 11 published studies now showing the benefits of salient and how it affects the body and interacts the body with the body. And you know infrared's just beyond the visible. So, it's not light that you see what you're normally like looking at a rainbow, but it's real and it goes up to four centimeters, you know, a couple inches into the body and uh provides these thermmore regulation benefits.

3:11 I have to say infrared, you know, red light therapy, all these things the last few years have just been dominating the health and wellness space. How was it when you started to talk to people? So, do you think you're at a time where people believe it more, understand it more, or are there a lot of skeptics?

3:31 Well, I I think when we started there were certainly a lot of skeptics. Uh people were a little incredulous that you could make these kinds of impacts naturally. Uh you know, this tends to be just healthy skepticism uh when something's new, particularly if this is something that is maybe not uh easy to see with the naked eye. Um but now I think it's really there's over 10,000 papers on photobiomodulation that have been published. Over 125,000 subjects have been studied. Um if you look at the whole universe of of uh using light and lasers to help people uh so I think now it's it's really got a stronghold and particularly with the biohacking and longevity community has embraced infrared and understands infrared. So, I'd say now we're we're at a um place of fairly wide acceptance, if not universal.

4:20 And so, when you when you started using this, I imagine you must have seen a difference or maybe someone that you know had also seen a difference, but what type of things did you start to see? And and I was reading a lot about, you know, recovery and sleep performance. I think like you said the biohacking is maybe those three things are the things that everybody everybody wants to achieve and especially us as entrepreneurs who work like 247 um we many times neglect those things.

4:50 Yeah. And and for me personally, I I had a Bristol procedure on my shoulder and had to have a rod put in and a cleat and using cell as a as a wrap and as um as like an insulation around the s the scar um I could really actually feel and perceive the increase in circulation blood flow. I was on the short end of the the healing spectrum. My doctor, you know, thought I had healed very quickly uh relative to what the average is. Um, I also had some incredible experiences around animals with horses, dogs and cats, you know, where there's no placebo effect. They don't really um, you know, have anyone to kind of bias them and seeing how they interact around the product was also very compelling. Uh and then yeah, you know, uh friends, you know, people that have bad knee that take an al leave every day and wear a saliant knee brace and and don't need the al leave or um you know, people that are arthritic. Um dogs that, you know,

5:44 have bad hips and then they start walking better. So, you know, those are all individual cases, but collectively and with the science, it starts to make a pretty compelling, you know, paint a pretty compelling picture.

5:54 It's something I need. I really need to get the pillow. Like I really really need to get I need the brace. I got bad knees. I got my knees are like Rice Krispie treats.

6:04 Yeah, it's great what you were saying about the pillow because when we go to sleep, that's really the longest period we have for recovery. And you know, it turns out that the only time the brain can really recover is when it's turned off, when it's asleep. Uh and so increasing circulation while you're sleeping um really provides a a wonderful benefit for restorative sleep and waking up feeling uh you know your best. That is the I think that's the biggest thing I struggle with. I woke up last night at maybe 3:45 a.m. and I don't know if I even went back to sleep after that. It It's definitely one of those things and then I started looking at my phone. I do like all the worst habits that I'm trying I'm trying to change. When you when you went into this model, I believe you were looking at licensing and now you're really going doing a lot with direct to consumer.

6:52 What was the reason for that model? Yeah, that's a great question and we've been fortunate enough to work with some incredible brands. You know, Under Armour is really our our largest uh brand or most maybe most well-known in the United States right now. Uh we also work with Decathlon and Eon overseas. Um, and we've been fortunate enough to be in programs with Puma and Audi and New Balance, uh, Reebok. And what we saw was despite really over a billion dollars at retail, very, very little brand awareness, very little, u consumer understanding of infrared and how it works and what the benefits are. So we thought the best way to to approach that is to really launch our own brand and tell our own story directly to the consumer to help raise the awareness and the level of education around infrared.

7:42 Um so this year we started uh selling it sleep line. We started with the dream pillow uh and we just launched our sheets as well last weekend uh at the trade show longevity fest in in Las Vegas. So, we're starting to um really have our own assortment of product lines in addition to like socks and wristbands and some of the other things that we give away uh typically. So, uh yeah, for us, I think it's really important that we can control the story and tell take that story directly to the consumer.

8:10 I need those sheets. I think the sheet the sheets sound incredible. When you look at how health and wellness is now being transformed into our daily life from watches, from rings that monitor now to your your clothing, textiles that can do things as well. How how do you see this whole I don't know if this is like a new industry? Maybe there's a new name for the industry, but how do you see this going forward?

8:35 Well, I think the longevity biohacking is exploding. It's billions of dollars now. There's literally dozens of of shows internationally that focus on this that are attracting tens of thousands of people. Uh and the science and our ability to your point to to measure things that 10 even five years ago we we couldn't really look at. Now that we can measure like mitochondrial health and we can understand these micro improvements and and what really um powers and fuels our our health on a cellular level and with supplements and nutritional support. Um I think you know a lot of these devices are measuring um our heart rate, our heart rate variability, our sleep um but we're just sort of quantifying and now we have something that you can use that'll show an improvement and so you can use these devices to actually see how you're improving. So I think that's going to really help us and I think just the more

9:29 uh the more science around this whole space uh really helps to lift us up and to show the consumer that you know this is part of u your routine. I mean, traditionally, we're told if you want to be healthier, you have to either change your diet, you know, change how you eat, work out more, or change your sleep. And all of those things will help. But this is also something you can incorporate into your daily routine without changing anything else, and you're going to see an improvement.

9:55 When you look back at your experience in business, did something that you did before this carry over? So for example, could be a job, it could be something that you did in school, but is there something that along the way, maybe, you know, lessons and leadership, something that really carried over to now what you use in business?

10:16 You know, for one, I really like working with great people and small teams. And you don't really get that in the corporate world. I mean, maybe you can be fortunate to have some great colleagues, but having that like passion and that shared focus that you find when you're an entrepreneur and when you're working with small teams of like-minded people, to me, that's really fulfilling. And what you're making almost becomes secondary because, you know, every day, all day, year in and year out, you want to be enjoying what you're doing and what you're grinding away at. And so, for me, like finding the right the right team and then obviously a product that's that's bringing value and health uh to people. And you know, ultimately at the end of the day, if you feel better, you're going to be happier and just live a more enjoyable life. And so, you know, that really appeals to me. And you know, as far as like the path to get here, I

11:01 think this is my fourth company. So, you know, that perseverance, that understanding that like what some people might see as a failure is just, you know, another opportunity in a in a different direction. and um not really losing my spirit or my um my hope just because something that I started out initially didn't work or the work the way I wanted it to. Um, so I think like that tenacity and that perseverance I've carried with me and and certainly needed for this business um to succeed and thrive and um yeah. Yeah. I mean there's a lot of life lessons along the way about u just you know learning to see things with a broader perspective um maybe not such a harsh judgmental attitude of what fail failure and success looks like and um you know really being able to just move forward with whatever changes we need and course corrections and just keep going. when you think about I know you just

11:54 mentioned some traits but it is there a certain trait that you think every entrepreneur or every person really has to be a successful entrepreneur and the reason I ask is we had another guest on and they were talking about grit just because the ups and downs that they had to go through most people would have quit along the way. you have to be like hyper dedicated, but is there is there a certain trait that you think in order to really be successful, not to become an entrepreneur, like anyone can open a business, but in order to really be successful long term, is there a trait that you think everyone needs to have?

12:29 You know, I I'll answer that kind of maybe a little differently. I think there's a trait that you can't have and and that is just like a negativity disguised as um you know like a cynicism disguised as um a lot of people say oh I'm just being realistic you know like uh realistically that's not going to work or you know I'm just I'm just telling you how it is and um you know things never worked until they worked so you know just because it hasn't worked to that point uh isn't any reason to think that it can't be different in the future and and if you have kind of a fixed mindset, you're not open, and you tend to see the world as kind of half empty, the glass half empty, um you know, that's that's not going to work.

13:12 Um there's a lot of ways to make things work, but I can say that if if you have that kind of dismissive attitude, um you know, you're never going to be able to to see something that other people haven't done yet.

13:26 It's hard not to get sucked into that. As you know, there's great ups, but there's a there might be more downs in business than ups and moments like over time. How do you not fall into that trap?

13:41 Well, I'd say one I have over different times. You know, you get down, you get frustrated. I I I you know, be disingenuous to say I've never felt defeated at different points, but I think each time um you know, I pause, I gather myself, and uh and I I I keep going. And um I think a big part of that is the perspective. Like I don't I don't have my identity tied to the company, right? Like the company is its own thing. I care about it. I I you know, it's almost like a a child at this point. It's 25 years old. Um but it's just the company and what I'm trying to do and and I believe in it. Um but there's a there's a level of separation there. You know, my identity is who I am and the efforts that I put in. And I don't really measure my success from the output. I measure it from the input and what I put into it and the sincerity and the integrity of my work and my effort is kind of how I value my myself and the

14:35 results are, you know, a little bit to a certain extent out of my control. You know, maybe that is the the challenging part of what when people fall into the fact like this is my whole life. My business is everything. It's my life. Like it's it means everything. I like your separation of that. So then if something ever happens to the company, it's not like your whole world is then imploding with it. Um we see, you know, founders who exit or they raise money and their company is taken over and they're kicked out of their own company, which is always quite sad. But I imagine if you can disassociate yourself, you know that, okay, I could just go do something else at this point versus like, you know, never letting it go.

15:20 Yeah. that that's not a perspective I've always had, but it's certainly as I sit here today, the one the one I have.

15:27 So, where do you how do you see where do you see the future of just for yourself when you look at okay I you know what do you want to do with the company like do you look at things in terms of I want to hold a company for a legacy for pass it down through generations. I want to exit the company. I want to advise companies. I want to invest. I want to, you know, I I want to do a new company. How do you look at things for the future when it comes to um you know, business for you?

15:56 You know, it's something I've wrestled with and think about from time to time. Uh certainly when you're when you're out fundraising, I think for me um you know, I don't have a predisposition. I try not to have an expectation and that tends to keep you open to more possibilities. Uh to the extent somebody else comes along and sees the same value that I see, um you know, explore that. if if nobody ever comes along and sees it as valuable as I do, then I'll probably just keep doing it myself. And you know, you end up offering friends and and um family and and and friends of friends help as as the more experience I have and and the more value um I can offer, then I don't know if that'll ever be formalized in a consulting role or not. But um you know certainly gathered a lot of uh a lot of life experience on this journey and a wide variety of uh of experience you know supply chain and and business

16:50 development and globally and uh the the the width of products that you know that we make that have our technology and all of the science behind it and the regulatory work and um you know there's a lot of uh of different touch points this company has. So, you know, all of that experience just makes makes for a little bit better u sense of purpose, I guess, and and provides a little more clarity as I get older and and so far it just reinforced that I'm doing the right thing and and feel good about it. So, um you know, try and stay open to what the future holds and and and take what's in front of me and and evaluate it as it comes.

17:28 I like the approach. I think that that I think that can make for a healthy approach because you're you just never know what's going to come. Back in 2018, somebody had offered to buy one of the companies that we had and I was quite insulted because at the time I didn't realize that you should probably sell if you get the chance to at a high note and then within a year that company no longer existed. So that was a a learning moment for me. Have you had any of these learning moments for you?

17:59 Uh, you know, nobody's come along with this company to offer me uh a big check that I turned away. But, you know, in another life, I was doing a residential real estate development and we had built a speck home and I think we had it listed for 5.2 million. We had an allcash offer for 4.3 and then we had another offer for 4.75 and that was contingent on them selling their their house. And so we took that offer because it was an extra 400,000 that ended up falling through. We went back to the person offering 43. They had gone on and bought something else. The house then sat on the market for a year and a half and we sold it for 3.8. And that was always something that I regretted not just taking the burden hand and the cash. And you know in p you know perspective it was barely 5% difference 10% difference in price and it would have been a home run to sell it you know as soon as we listed it. And um

18:57 that was something that I you know that I learned from and you know a lot of times it's about the better deal not not evaluated from more money but from more certainty.

19:07 That's a valuable lesson. I think most people would run on the money side, not the value side. And maybe that's where many people make that mistake cuz somebody could say, "I will give you the whole world, but if they can't give you the whole world in the end, then you're basically at zero, maybe even negative." But what a valuable lesson. Uh Seth, this has been amazing. If people want to get in touch with you, they want to find out more about the company, how can they do so? you know, reach out to our website and happy to answer any inquiries and and check out our gear and I'd love to connect with your community.

19:42 Well, I need to get the pillow and I need to get the knee brace. I need to get the sheets. I think I need to get everything. I I really do. I have so many ailments. I feel like I'm 80 years old. It's like every day there's like some new ailment. I'm like, I must be 150 years old in my body. So I I need to turn the clock backwards and you know I want to live a long healthy life like most of us do. But Seth, thank you so much for joining us on Founders Story.

20:11 Thanks for having me.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Turning Body Heat into Energy | Seth Casden"?

Daniel (Host), Seth Casden (Guest).

What is "Turning Body Heat into Energy | Seth Casden" about?

Seth Casden discusses innovative technology that captures and harnesses body heat to improve health and wellness through textiles, highlighting its benefits for individuals with chronic ailments and pets. The approach merges physical science with natural minerals to enhance human physiology and optimize everyday living.

What is mentioned in this Founder's Story episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Celli, infrared, salient knee brace, dream pillow, David Hornick, Audi. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Turning Body Heat into Energy | Seth Casden"?

The episode runs 20 min; the transcript is about 3,973 words in 39 timestamped sections.

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