Smoking is one of the hardest habits to break, and one of the most destructive. In fact, lifetime tobacco users will die more than 55 percent of the time from this behavior. Although lots of programs have been designed to help people quit, most of them aren’t very effective. David Utley, M.D., joins Startup Savant to talk about his startup Pivot, which uses proven techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy to help people ditch nicotine for good.
- Startup Savant is a business podcast that tells the stories behind up-and-coming startups.
- David Utley joins Startup Savant to talk about his startup Pivot.
- Pivot uses proven techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy to help people quit smoking once and for all.
Cancer Surgeon Turned Entrepreneur
During his interview with Startup Savants, David, a former head and neck cancer surgeon at Stanford Medical Center, said his job as a physician really drove home the dangers of smoking. “Tobacco use, [in] all forms… is the leading cause of preventable death and illness on the planet,” he said. “When I was at Stanford… for 11 years as a head and neck cancer surgeon, all of our patients used tobacco. And therefore, in mid- to late life, [they] developed advanced cancers related to tobacco. We operated on them and did everything we could to preserve quality life and extend life.”
The real tragedy, he said, is that all of the cancers he dealt with were “completely preventable if you had good upstream preventive services like tobacco cessation.” Unfortunately, David and his colleagues didn’t. Most existing programs “require that you join and set a quit date in the next two weeks and quit, and then they cut you loose,” he said.
The same scenario plays out around the country. As a result, three times as many people died from tobacco use in the past three years than died from covid. “We talked about the pandemic, and we talked about the Operation Warp Speed, and we talked about vaccinations for all, but we’re not doing anything for something that’s three times more mortal,” David said. “After building [Pivot] for the last seven years, we believe we can fix that.”
Evidence-Based Strategies
Pivot seeks to better inform people about their tobacco use and come up with more effective ways to kick the habit. “We’re trying to help people with evidence-based strategies learn about their tobacco use, because tobacco is not just smoking cigarettes,” David said during his interview. “It’s also inhaling vaporized nicotine and chewing smokeless tobacco, and there’s tons of [those products] around now.”
Pivot’s approach to helping people stop using tobacco is to treat tobacco use like any other chronic disease. “We believe that tobacco use is a chronic condition just like obesity, diabetes, mental health, musculoskeletal disease, cardiovascular disease, because it is,” he said. “It’s a lifelong condition. We need to help folks from day one through their entire journey when they quit, and then help them stay quit.”
To come up with its “tobacco cessation solution” called Pivot Breath, Pivot consulted Department of Health and Human Services guidelines to learn “exactly what works and why people quit.” The company offers trained coaches, Food and Drug Administration-approved nicotine replacement products, a mobile app that facilitates cognitive behavioral therapy, and other services to help clients stop smoking for good.
Startup Savant Podcast
The Startup Savant podcast is a business podcast created by The Really Useful Information Company (TRUiC) and hosted by Ethan Peyton, founder of StateRequirement. Listeners can hear the stories behind startups, as told by their founders, that are in the midst of growing their companies.
Hear from a variety of real startup founders from around the globe and with varying backgrounds, making their startup idea a reality. Learn from experts sharing their industry knowledge on venture capital, securing funding, and more on the Startup Savant podcast.
Final Thoughts
David Utley joins Startup Savant to talk about his startup Pivot. He explains how Pivot helps people quit smoking before the habit causes more serious health complications than it already has.
You can find the Startup Savant podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.