Most startup stories start with an idea. This one starts with a crash.

At 19, Ryan Chen met with an accident and lost the use of his legs. Today, he runs a business called Neuro with $100M of annual revenue. What happened in between is a masterclass in resilience, risk, and reinvention.

Along with his best friend Kent Yoshimura, Ryan co-founded Neuro, a brain-boosting gum and mint company that now pulls in nearly $10M a month and ranks among TikTok’s top 10 shop brands. 

Neuro is a company that creates healthy gums and mints that improve energy and focus. It has also featured on Shark Tank, and Ryan is a Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur. 

But this wasn’t a tale of instant success. This is about gut-wrenching lows, playing semi-pro poker to survive, being sued to the brink of bankruptcy, and still making it out on top.

The Fall That Changed Everything

Ryan Chen wasn’t supposed to end up in a wheelchair. He was a rising athlete, a national-level Kendo competitor, a cross-country state champ, the kind of guy who chased limits for breakfast. 

But at 19, a jump at a birthday party in Big Bear, California, became a turning point. He landed wrong. His spine shattered, and Ryan was paralyzed instantly.

That moment became the defining fork in the road. Months of surgeries and rehab followed. But the internal battle of depression, fear, and questioning his very worth was the real war. He wondered if he’d ever feel like himself again.

And slowly, thanks to friends and family, he did. 

One road trip with old friends flipped the switch. It showed him he could still live, still travel, still be himself, just with wheels. “You’re still the same guy, just in a chair chillin’,” a friend told him. That stuck. That perspective gave him fuel.

Two Nerds, One Dorm Room, Zero Clue What They Were Doing

Back in college, Ryan met Kent Yoshimura. The two bonded over video games and workouts. Ryan was training as a scuba diver for the Paralympics; Kent, for judo in Japan.

Ryan was studying Chemistry and Management Science - Economics at UC San Diego, while Kent was doing a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science (specializing in Neuroscience) at the same university.

That education laid a solid foundation of how they were going to collaborate in the future! 

They both shared a hunger for performance and a fascination with biohacking it. Together, they started mixing their own cognitive-enhancing pills in Kent’s dorm room using nootropics, creatine, and lucid dreaming ingredients. It was part science, part chaos.

Then came the scuba diving Groupon.

Ryan saw a deal and convinced Kent to go. On that trip, something clicked. They thought that they couldn’t exactly share their pills with strangers on a boat, but what if this stuff came in a mint or gum? Something chill, easy, social?

Boom. Neuro was born. A neuro-enhancement supplement that didn’t feel like a supplement.

Saving Every Cent, Betting Every Dollar

At 24, Ryan was working as a Finance job at Hulu. Kent, also 24, was in the creative trenches at Sony Music, working as a creative director. Neither was making big money, but both were quietly obsessed with the same question:

How do we push the limits of the mind and body, without spending too much on it?

Entrepreneurship is about solving a problem, and Ryan and Kent had found theirs. 

Developing an MVP

Every night after work, they’d link up at Kent’s cramped LA apartment. Whiteboards, wires, and supplement powders everywhere. Think Walter White, but legal and with gum instead of meth. 

They tested formulas with over-the-counter nootropics, caffeine derivatives, and calming agents like L-theanine, trying to engineer the perfect focus hit in chewable form.

The problem was: R&D costs money. And they had none.

So they funneled every spare cent into the business. Ryan, ever the all-in operator, cashed out his entire 401(k), a move most financial advisors would label insanity. 

Kent stretched his paychecks thin, pouring his rent money into packaging, domain names, and FDA-compliant manufacturing. They even skipped meals to save a buck.

Credit card debt? Piling.

Sleep? Optional.

Confidence? Shaky, but intact!

They did everything themselves: sourcing, shipping, labeling, design, and compliance. It was DIY entrepreneurship at its most unhinged.

Once they had a few prototypes, Ryan started bringing them into work. One of his Hulu managers downed four pieces in one day and stayed up until 4 a.m.

"So… it works,” Ryan said.

The seed was planted.

Crowdfunding and Virality

They needed funding. So they turned to Indiegogo, a crowdfunding platform for entrepreneurs. Their goal: $30,000. 

Their plan: scrape together the best launch video they could, tell their story authentically, and hope someone out there believed in them.

It worked.

In 4 days, they hit $30,000. In weeks, they cleared $100,000.

This was 2015, and the internet also took notice.

• 📰 Time Magazine called it “smart drugs.”
• 📺 Dr. Oz featured it.
• 💬 Reddit threads exploded.

They had virality. But more importantly, they had proof: people actually wanted this.

The boys were broke, in debt, and still juggling full-time jobs. But now, for the first time, they weren’t building in the dark. However, they knew they were building something real.

The Warehouse Was Kent’s Apartment

With no budget for fulfillment, Kent’s downtown LA apartment became their warehouse. Together, they lugged 4,000 lbs of gum to USPS, box by box. Year one: $100K in sales. Year two: $750K. Year three: it was decision time. Go full-time or stay safe?

They chose chaos.

They left their jobs, gave up salaries, and lived off credit card points and poker winnings. There were inventory nightmares, shipping delays, and border holdups that lost them weeks of revenue. The hustle was ugly. But they trusted each other, and most importantly, the product.

The Breakthrough Shark Tank Moment

In 2019, investors told them to go on Shark Tank. Ryan was skeptical, but Kent pushed. They got on the show, pitched the product… and walked away with zero deals. But that episode? It changed everything.

Their sales suddenly spiked, and visibility exploded. And then…they got sued.

Legal Problems

A woman attempted to seize their trademark. Legally, Ryan and Kent had the upper hand, but not the money to defend it. Desperate for help, Ryan sent a cold DM to Daniel Lubetzky, the billionaire founder of KIND and a guest Shark on Shark Tank. 

To his surprise, Daniel called back that same day. For the next 18 months, he stood firmly in their corner, backing them with legal firepower, strategic leverage, and unwavering belief. The woman claimed she was worth $300M. Daniel calmly reminded everyone he was worth ten times that. 

Game over. Neuro was saved.

Now: $10M/Month and Still Growing

From there, Neuro rode a growth wave. Joe Rogan started talking about it. Steve Aoki became a fan. Andrew Schulz shouted it out. It wasn’t paid. It was real! TikTok loved it.

Customers came back in droves. Today, they’re pulling in $10M/month, and their employee satisfaction rate is a staggering 96%.

But what Ryan’s most proud of isn’t the money. It’s the bounce.

His dad once told him that success is measured by how high you bounce back from rock bottom. And Ryan? He bounced higher than anyone could have ever expected.

Final Thoughts: The Bounce Is Everything

Ryan’s story is proof that entrepreneurship doesn’t care about your situation, your credentials, or your starting point. It rewards the ones who take the shot. He didn’t have legs that worked, but he had a mind that wouldn’t quit. That was enough.

Moreover, Ryan and Kent’s journey with Neuro Gums was so linear and step-by-step. They were just two athletes trying to find a solution to have enough energy to keep up with college and sports practice.

Then they used their educational background in chemistry and neuroscience to find a solution to that problem and worked every day to improve it little by little. Slowly, they found a product followed by crowdfunding, while still juggling their jobs and their startup.

With rising sales, they quit their jobs, but a breakthrough moment came with Shark Tank. After that publicity, it took another 5-6 years of various factors coming together to create a company with $100M+ of annual revenue. Today, Neuro is available even in countries like India and is now a global product. 

No doubt, Ryan was resilient and consistent, but the product itself is quite innovative too. People loved it, and it met with a lot of traction on social media, whether carefully marketed or organically shared. 

It was more than a decade of journey, but in the end, we will just say this! If you're staring at a hard reset or wondering whether you're cut out for this... take the step. Bounce! 

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