Andrew RiesenCo Founder

United States - Seattle, Washington

I am an intensely curious entrepreneur and leader aiming to make a global impact on the betterment of mental health. I am deeply mission-driven and believe in fostering a customer-focused, collaborative, and diverse working environment. I believe in bringing your entire self to work and that heterogenous teams build the most sustainable and successful software products.

As a corporate venturer, I was trained in lean startup development by experts including Cindy Alvarez and corporate growth incubator, Mach49. I translated those learnings by working closely with global leadership to develop the customer development frameworks for PwC’s internal software incubator, New Ventures. After aligning the idea to MVP frameworks for the broader venture portfolio, I co-founded TaxVerse, an affordable, cloud-based app that provides an ongoing, state-by-state analysis of where, when, and why you need to collect sales tax.

My personal and professional achievements have been influenced and paralleled by my personal battles with mental health. I saw my first panic attack at the young age of twelve. As a sixteen-year-old, I put a Remington Magnum in my mouth at the bottom of a bout of acute depression. That next morning was the first time I saw a mental health professional. As a student, I almost failed out of college during my first quarter attending Spokane Falls Community college while dealing with overwhelming anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. As a thriving professional, I began to lose grasp of my mental well-being on the back of an entire three-years spent on airplanes and in hotel rooms.

As I levied to gain control of my well-being, I worked with my partner, a blossoming clinical psychologist, to find care for myself. A lifetime of pain and anxiety juxtaposed with deep self-work led me to ultimately make the jump from PricewaterWaterhouse to co-found Heard — marrying two of my greatest passions, mental health, and product development into one singular mission.

I maintain a radical openness about stories of my past and present mental health challenges. My goal is to help others see light in that, and help others let their elephant out of the cage. It makes me uncomfortable as hell, but I am tired of pretending these experiences don't exist and committed to taking away their power and stigma.