Meet Sançar Sahin, co-founder and CMO of Oliva

Sançar has spent years leading marketing teams at high-profile startups, including Typeform and Hotjar. Early in his career, he struggled to set work-life boundaries and lacked a clear understanding of his personal wellbeing needs and values. This, combined with the daily grind of startup life, was the perfect storm for a mental health crisis. After burning out twice, Sançar quit his job and sought support. But the endless search results and lack of clear information for anyone unfamiliar with mental healthcare and its nuances made finding the right therapist a long and drawn out process.

So, in 2020, Sançar co-founded Oliva - a platform that enables individuals to access tailored mental health support through work - to pave a clearer and faster route to support for as many people as possible.

Tell us about your experience prior to launching your business?

I’ve spent years leading marketing teams at the likes of Typeform and Hotjar. So whilst I am very familiar with all things that revolve around marketing and growing startups, I was much less in-tune with myself at that time. In those early years of my career, I had very little understanding of how to protect my mental health, my personal well-being needs, and how to set work-life boundaries. Yet, at the same time, day in and day out I was working long hours in intensely fast-paced and high energy environments. It was a recipe for burnout.

What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?

The onset of the Covid lockdowns erased my already blurred work-life boundaries, and came with a whole new set of professional pressures. Working ever-longer hours with little thought for my personal wellbeing, I finally crumbled. I burnt out twice.

Realising that something had to change, I quit my job and decided to seek professional support. But finding a therapist wasn’t so clear cut. Endless search results and lists of qualifications I’d never heard of made finding the right support like looking for a needle in a haystack - especially since, at that point, I wasn’t even sure myself what I was looking for or what I needed.

When I finally found the right therapist for me, the difference was transformative. I was able to rebuild the boundaries I needed to feel ready to start a new chapter of my career. Around this same time, a colleague introduced me to my now co-founder Javier, knowing that we had experienced similar mental health struggles. Together, we decided to create a solution for all those who, like us, have struggled to navigate the mental healthcare system. Knowing that we wanted to empower as many people as possible to access mental health care as quickly as possible, it became clear that convincing employers to foot the bill was the answer. So in 2020 we launched Oliva: proper mental health & emotional growth support for employees, all in one platform.

Do you have a morning routine or ritual to get your day started on the right foot?

Of course, starting the day at 5am with a workout and a green juice might look like the ideal morning on paper, and plenty of founders swear by it. But it’s not always realistic. I’m much more of a believer in basing my mornings on how I’m feeling that day.

I know that when I am in the mood to exercise, I feel good. When I lived in Barcelona, morning boxing classes on the beach always helped me to start my day feeling energised. Now I’m back in London, it’s much more likely that I’ll opt for a morning walk with my dog. But if I’m not feeling up to it, that’s fine -  some days I just need to snooze the alarm!

I’m also a big fan of listening to podcasts in the mornings. Whether it’s something lighthearted so that I can take half an hour for myself before starting to think about work, or conversations with successful business leaders or mindfulness coaches that I can learn from - either way, I’m never without my AirPods on my commute.

What is your day-to-day role with the company?

As co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Oliva, I oversee all things that involve commercial and brand. But no two days look the same. One day may involve meetings with investors or shareholders, the next day I could be workshopping ideas for our podcast, or working with our Chief Clinical Officer, Dr Sarah Bateup, to create resources around the various mental health issues affecting employees today.

What plans do you have for Oliva over the next two years?

Oliva is currently active in over 30 countries in the world, and has helped thousands of employees navigate everything from anxiety and depression to PTSD. We want to support even more workers. Over the next couple of years, we want to expand the business to become the go-to provider of trusted, timely and tailored mental health support for employees everywhere.

We're also working on expanding our self-guided content, which currently shares a wealth of expertise from business leaders, mental health experts, fitness instructors and more. Mental health is holistic. So by continuing to build out the Ted-style talks, podcasts and exercise videos which already populate this side of the platform, we’re able to ensure that users can access whatever support they might need most on any given day. One day that might be mental fitness classes or yoga courses specifically for anxiety, the next day they might supplement this self-guided support with therapy and coaching sessions.

How important is company culture and what is your top tip to get it right?

I can’t overstate the importance of company cultures which puts employee wellbeing first. Hustle cultures where staff are overworked and unsupported, and where mental health is considered a taboo topic, are a recipe for unhappy, unhealthy and disengaged teams - as well as high turnover.

Building a workplace where employees feel supported and empowered to speak up about their needs starts with their first day on the job. My top tip is to have new starters fill out what we call ‘user manuals’. The manuals all follow the same format, asking the employee to respond to a series of prompts such as ‘how best to communicate with me’, and ‘what others tend to misunderstand about me’. New starters then have the option to share a summary of their answers in our company update, and all manuals are stored safely online for others to refer to. This way we can understand how best to support new joiners, and empower all staff to work in line with their individual needs and preferences.

Encouraging teams to set healthy work-life boundaries is also key. Responsibility for this lies with senior management teams, who should be leading by example. This means not sending emails outside of working hours and using annual leave allowances in full, as well as keeping a keen eye on resourcing, capacity and any team members who might be struggling. Of course, enabling all employees to access professional mental health support is hugely valuable, too.

What’s the most important question entrepreneurs should be asking themselves?

“What's our mission?” “Do we have the right people to achieve that mission?” “Are we offering the right support to our team, to empower them to work towards our mission?”

At Oliva, we know that countless workers are struggling with their mental health and unable to access the support they need. Our mission is to connect them to the care that they need.

We also know that a company's success lies with its people, so it’s essential to build a team with the right skills and expertise to achieve your mission. For us, that includes Dr Sarah Bateup: a leading CBT therapist and Chief Clinical Officer at Oliva, whose clinical expertise informs every aspect of our care approach.

But it’s not enough to simply build the ‘dream team’. Only team members who are thriving personally will be able to thrive professionally. So offering the right support, building inclusive cultures and facilitating work-life balance is key.

How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?

Oliva answers to a severe lack of clinically grounded and tailored mental health support for employees. Mindfulness apps can be great. But they’re also generic, low-touch and likely to be of limited use to someone who is struggling with a mental health condition in the moment. On the other hand, therapy can offer individuals the personalised and professional support they truly need, but isn’t readily accessible to everyone. Oliva exists to change that.

Through Oliva, employees can access on-demand therapy paid for by employers. Individuals are matched with one of our specialists depending on their needs (our team includes therapists, counsellors, and grief and PTSD specialists), and our Chief Clinical Officer ensures that an evidence-based, patient-first approach informs every aspect of the support that they receive.

Working with a co-founder can be tricky, so understanding and compromise is important. How have you both found the process of building a business together? What makes it work?

Javier and I are both driven by very similar experiences of struggling with our own mental health. So our values and motivations were aligned from the get-go, and we have a mutual understanding and respect for each others’ personal boundaries and needs.

Otherwise, we come from quite different backgrounds. Javier has a background in product and innovation, and is the brains behind TravelPerk, whilst I’ve lived and breathed marketing at Typeform and the likes. This means that we’re able to draw from each other’s perspectives and skill sets, and complement one another's work. It’s also the reason that Javier and I each have additional roles as CEO and CMO respectively. This in itself also makes for a more cohesive co-founder relationship, as our responsibilities are clearly defined and there is a degree of separation between our day-to-day roles.

Do you prioritise self-care as an entrepreneur?

I haven’t always prioritised self-care, but I recognise now how essential it is to my mental and physical health. Beyond that, prioritising my personal wellbeing enables me to be a more effective business leader, and to nurture a workplace culture where our team feels empowered to do the same.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t occasionally work on the weekends, for example. It means that I set boundaries whereby I allocate a set amount of time for when I do work on a Sunday, ensuring that it isn’t seen by or negatively impacting anyone else around me, before promptly logging off and making time for that all important self-care. This way, when I do take the time to relax, I can fully enjoy it without my to-do list niggling at the back of my mind.

What routines have you got in place to ensure that you don’t ignore your mental health?

I struggled most with my mental health when I lacked clear boundaries between my personal and professional life - so now I make sure to build those boundaries into my daily routine. For example, I make time to go for a walk (usually with my dog) everyday without compromise. Walking unravels my brain and allows me to problem solve. I personally also find it useful to ‘time-box’ a couple of hours on a Sunday morning to catch up on work, so that I can fully switch off for the rest of the weekend and start the next week feeling prepared. Having said that, work-life balance looks different to everyone. Getting into a routine of working at the weekend won’t promote good mental health for everyone!