Former Evercore analyst quits to launch Ren, a health-experiment app

Josh Hou, a 22-year-old former investment-banking analyst at Evercore, decided to abandon a lucrative career after just a year to pursue a health-tech venture. While at the bank, he observed that sleeplessness was celebrated as a badge of honor, leading many colleagues to rely on caffeine or nicotine. Together with his best friend, Hou conceived Ren, an application that enables users to run controlled experiments on their bodies by tracking the effects of supplements, peptides and other interventions.

He resigned three months before his projected $50,000 bonus, guided by a regret-minimization mindset. Since leaving, the duo has attracted roughly 40 beta testers, primarily friends, and is iterating on feedback while preparing for an app-store launch. Their longer-term vision includes offering complete health-experiment kits, but the current priority is refining the platform and securing investor interest. Hou now balances sleep, workouts and marathon training alongside his entrepreneurial duties.