What does it take to build a successful company? Is it incredible technology, a passionate mission or just sheer grit? Talking with Mike Halpert, CEO of Ver Coaching, on the Founder Shares podcast, it’s clear the answer is all of the above, plus a strong dose of support. Mike’s journey, which he describes as a “calling” inspired by his family’s entrepreneurial spirit, perfectly illustrates the resilience required for founders and top-tier athletes alike. His goal, he said, is to have a bigger impact on sports and education than they could even know.

Mike’s company, Ver Coaching, is built on the premise of training the muscles in the eyes. When athletes put on the VR app via an Oculus headset , they go through vision training exercises designed to improve hand-eye coordination. The core scientific idea is that we often assume our eyes work in sync, but research and years of work show that they don’t. The exercises blink targets one in each eye, which is how they train the muscles to cooperate. This training allows the eyes to pick up information sooner, process it faster, and better predict where the ball will be. My Hutchison law partner and former Division I softball catcher Anna Tharrington, who experienced the app on the podcast, noted that after a short session, she could pick up the ball further out and manage the room without needing the same intense focus, an experience she described as zooming out and seeing the whole landscape.

The results of this training are often immediate and tangible. Mike told the powerful story of a Duke softball player who, after naming that she struggled with the inside pitch, used the app and hit a home run on an inside pitch during a live at-bat. The short training sessions can be easily integrated into existing routines, such as part of a rotation of stations before practice or for a quick mental reset when an athlete is having a bad moment. Mike’s ultimate goal is for Ver Coaching to be so ingrained that it becomes simply “second nature” for athletes, much like how Gatorade started with college athletes before becoming widespread. He is working toward seeing the technology on the sidelines for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.

Mike is deeply passionate about the impact, but he is also honest about the difficulties of leading a company. He made it clear that being a founder is “tough” and that “I cannot be a founder by myself”. He credits the local startup community for providing an “absolutely incredible” support system. This support is vital because founders need to be okay with going through “way more failure than you ever will wins”. Mike himself is “really good at coming in second place,” a place where he realized he learned lessons he would’ve missed if he had won.

The advice Mike offered to new founders is identical to the mindset required of top athletes: embrace resilience and be coachable. You need a support group that knows what you’re going through and can also help you appreciate the good wins, because they will “flee”. While founders should be “coachable” and listen to advice from others, ultimately they must be their “own decision maker”. Mike’s advice, echoing his grandfather, boils down to a commitment to action: “if you have the knowledge to make the impact, do it… go all in”. The journey isn’t easy, but with conviction, community, and the mental toughness to learn from every setback, Mike Halpert is proving that a founder’s calling is a powerful force that can change the game, both on and off the field.