A panel at an RX3 event in Orange County brought together leaders from wellness, supplements, and beverages to discuss how they work with influencers and celebrities—and why authenticity and product performance remain central to their strategies.
Executives outline brand backgrounds and growth paths
Nate Raabe, managing partner at consumer growth equity fund RX3, moderated the discussion with executives from Prenetics, Cymbiotika, Therabody, and Pathwater. Danny Yeung, CEO and co-founder of Prenetics Global (NASDAQ:PRE), said the company spent 11 years building a life sciences and diagnostics testing business before pivoting into consumer health. Prenetics now owns 100% of IM8, a supplement brand he said launched on Dec. 24 with David Beckham as a co-founder.
Shahab, founder and CEO of Cymbiotika, emphasized the importance of founder platforms and entrepreneurial access, describing how he had once presented at the same type of event years earlier. Dr. Jason Wersland, founder of Therabody, recounted inventing the Theragun in 2008 after a motorcycle accident and building the business from early trunk-of-car sales to distribution in 75 countries with around 30 products, including beauty-focused products.
Shadi Bakour, co-founder and CEO of Pathwater, joined later and described Pathwater as a sustainable bottled water brand focused on replacing single-use plastic with a reusable, recyclable aluminum bottle.
Different celebrity models, same emphasis on authenticity
Asked how IM8 came together, Yeung said he met Beckham through his business network at a dinner in London and proposed building the brand together. Yeung said having Beckham as a co-founder from day one helped IM8 cut through noise and accelerate market entry by “at least two to three years.” As an example, he said a Today Show mention helped generate around 1,000 orders overnight.
Yeung also described IM8’s early positioning around ingredients and testing, including “NSF Certified for Sport from day one,” third-party clinical testing, and shipping to 31 countries. He added that IM8 aimed to avoid being “a one single celebrity brand,” and said the company later added ambassador relationships with tennis player Aryna Sabalenka and F1 driver Oliver Bearman, describing their involvement as adding credibility beyond a single celebrity partner.
Cymbiotika’s approach differed. Shahab said the company is intentional about not paying famous people to post products, instead requiring that celebrity investors be users first. He said Cymbiotika’s fundraising included a prerequisite that participants use the product before investing, citing names including Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, The Weeknd, J Balvin, and Zac Efron as examples of users-turned-investors. He said the company uses those relationships primarily for PR while continuing to position Cymbiotika as science-led rather than hype-driven.
Pathwater’s Bakour said his company’s strategy is to build a fundamentally sound brand first, and that celebrities who want to participate should invest rather than receive free equity or large paid deals. He argued that people value what they pay for, adding that some celebrity relationships can be valuable not just for social posts but for “back office” networking that opens distribution and channel opportunities.
Therabody describes athlete-driven adoption and a relationship playbook
Wersland said Therabody’s early growth was shaped by seeing athletes use Theragun at a Hollywood training facility and share usage tips with each other. He said that moment led him to pursue a model similar to Gatorade and Under Armour: putting the product in the hands of people who use it, know how to talk about it, and can credibly share results.
He described a three-step process: build a relationship of trust, support, and educate. Wersland said working directly with Cristiano Ronaldo as an ambassador demonstrated the impact of a single major post, which he said brought roughly 300,000 followers. He added that Therabody uses a “pyramid” approach, with a top athlete such as Josh Allen as a focal point, then expanding influence through the athlete’s ecosystem—trainers, coaches, and related networks—down to NIL (name, image, likeness) relationships.
Wersland also said Therabody made it mandatory in some cases to educate celebrities in person rather than simply shipping free product, and described experimenting with “tryouts” to evaluate potential influencer partners based on how they communicate and the engagement they generate.
Measuring ROI, structuring deals, and using equity
Yeung said IM8 tracks performance “from day one,” including return on ad spend and top-of-funnel impacts, and evaluates smaller influencers using discount codes and performance over a three-month window. If an influencer does not produce a positive outcome after three months, he said, IM8 does not continue the relationship. For larger ambassadors, he said IM8 prefers three-year agreements and screens for conflicts, including whether a potential ambassador endorses multiple supplement brands.
He also cited a single Instagram post that generated 233 million views and described a three-week, $25,000 “100% IM8 deal” featuring Sabalenka that he said created meaningful top-of-funnel demand and subsequent retargeting opportunities.
Shahab described a structure for new major partnerships that includes a minimum seven-figure investment and compensation largely tied to a change-of-control event, with meaningful payouts beginning at a $1 billion-plus exit threshold. He also announced onstage that Cymbiotika planned to partner with Gary Brecka, describing him as a “partner” rather than a traditional influencer.
Several panelists highlighted the use of equity as a tool. Yeung said Prenetics granted equity to Beckham and Sabalenka at earlier share prices, and said rising share value helped motivate ambassadors to share the brand with friends and family.
Product quality and science as the long-term differentiator
Throughout the discussion, panelists repeatedly argued that influencer impact is limited if the product does not perform. Shahab said Cymbiotika’s differentiation is absorption technology and said the company has conducted clinical studies, with more planned. Yeung said IM8 is “doubling down” on clinical trials and noted planned studies, including one with Mayo Clinic and others through a contract research organization, acknowledging that trials are expensive and outcomes are uncertain.
Bakour said Pathwater’s product integrity includes the bottle form factor and supplier relationships, and he emphasized that beverage economics create risk in “throwing money at marketing” without durable consumer repeat. Wersland similarly stressed that Therabody benefits from immediate consumer feedback—users feel the effect “now”—which makes authentic demonstrations and testimonials particularly valuable.
In closing advice to founders, speakers emphasized relationship-building and selectivity. Yeung said teams should avoid working with partners known to be difficult, while Shahab said character and alignment matter more than celebrity status and warned against building a brand’s identity around someone who is “not your brand.”
About Prenetics Global (NASDAQ:PRE)
Prenetics Global (NASDAQ: PRE) is a molecular diagnostics and genetic testing company that delivers a broad range of laboratory and at-home testing solutions. The company’s core offerings include next-generation sequencing (NGS) panels for hereditary health risks, pharmacogenomic reports to guide medication choices, and comprehensive consumer DNA testing services. In addition to genetic insights, Prenetics provides infectious disease diagnostics—most notably real-time PCR testing for pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2—through an integrated platform that combines sample collection, laboratory processing and digital reporting.
Serving both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets, Prenetics operates a network of laboratories and service centers across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North America.
