Executive Interview Series: Dan Freed of Stasis on the Brain Chemistry Behind Confidence

Confidence shows up in how you carry yourself, and the people who invest in their appearance understand that looking your best and feeling your best are connected. For this installment of our Executive Interview Series, we sat down with Dan Freed, founder and CEO of Thesis and the creator of Stasis, the first supplement system designed for people who take stimulants. Freed has spent years on a question most people never think to ask: how your brain chemistry decides whether you feel like yourself.

You built Stasis for a specific group of people. Who is it for, and why did it need to exist?

I built it for myself first. I was diagnosed with ADHD at six, kicked out of preschool, and I dropped out of high school at sixteen. For years I thought the problem was me. It wasn’t. I later scored in the 99th percentile on the GMAT, earned a degree from Yale, and an MBA from INSEAD. Intelligence was never the issue. Brain chemistry was. Stimulants finally let me focus, but they sent a bill: the afternoon crash, anxiety that would not switch off, sleep I could not get. Adderall, Vyvanse, Ritalin, and Concerta raise dopamine and norepinephrine, and for a lot of people they also raise cortisol and oxidative stress. Nothing on the market addressed that. So I built Stasis, a precision-formulated supplement system designed to complement stimulant use, for the people who take their medication and still want to feel like themselves.

How does Stasis actually work? What is the science behind it?

Stasis targets three pathways that stimulants disrupt: dopamine support, cortisol regulation, and oxidative stress defense. We formulate around premium branded ingredients at meaningful doses. Shoden Ashwagandha and SalidroPure help regulate the stress response, Venetron supports calm and sleep, and CuminUP60 curcumin with UbiQsome CoQ10 Phytosome handle antioxidant defense. The system comes in two adult formulas, Daytime and Nighttime, plus a Stasis Kids Daytime gummy. We have a randomized controlled trial registered on ClinicalTrials.gov and an active fMRI study underway at Brown University.

You also founded Thesis. How does that fit, and what did building it teach you?

Thesis came first. Thesis is recognized as a pioneer in personalized brain supplements, built on deep scientific research and a data-driven approach to formulation. The tagline is “Own your mind,” and the premise is simple: brains are built to change. Over nine years we tested more than 127 ingredients and ran 30-plus beta tests to build four formulas, Clarity, Motivation, Stress Reset, and Neuroprotection, each one targeting a specific outcome. Thesis taught me that the most useful thing you can do is match the right ingredients to the right brain instead of guessing. Stasis grew out of that same discipline, pointed at one very specific problem.

Your work is about how people feel on the inside. Harris Plastic Surgery helps people feel confident about the outside. Where do those two meet?

Closer than most people think. The patients who come to a practice like Harris Plastic Surgery are making a deliberate investment in themselves, and that takes self-awareness and intention. I respect that. My work lives one layer down, in the brain chemistry that decides whether you walk into a room as yourself or as a flattened, jittery version of yourself. Looking your best and thinking clearly come from the same place: a decision to stop accepting trade-offs you were told were normal. A surgeon helps you align the outside with how you want to feel. I am trying to do that for the inside.

If someone is investing in looking and feeling their best, where should the brain fit into that plan?

Treat it like any other part of the plan. People will research a procedure for months, then run their brain on four hours of sleep and a crashing stimulant and wonder why they feel off. Confidence is not only what you see in the mirror. It is whether you feel steady, rested, and present. For people who take stimulants, that means addressing the crash, the cortisol spikes, and the oxidative stress at the source, which is exactly what Stasis was built to do. Feeling like yourself is the foundation everything else sits on.