Justin Seidenfeld

Justin is the Founder & CEO of Doris Dev, a product development company based in NYC and Hong Kong that's helped develop & launch a number of consumer product brands including Blueland, Pattern Brands, Lalo, and Great Jones.

Justin also co-founded Canopy, healthy skin's best-kept secret. Canopy launched its re-engineered bedroom humidifier last October and is on a mission to bring optimal humidity to the home for better health.

On his morning routine.

I’m up between 7 and 7.30 every morning. 

I’m in an interesting spot because we have a ton of work that overlaps with Asia at Doris Dev, and so most mornings, I jump straight into calls with our Hong Kong office.

However, I do try to block out 2 mornings a week where I don’t have any calls or meetings in the morning. On those days, I like to go on early runs to clear my head. 

A big part of my morning routine is iced coffee. I am an iced coffee guy all year round, and recently I’ve gotten really into Jot. Highly recommend.

On balancing his mental state.

On days where I wake up to meetings and work fires, I’ll need some time to decompress. There will typically be times during the day where I turn off my email, full stop.

It’s my way of refreshing and making sure that I’m up to speed on what’s going on outside the fires. 

Especially over the past year of ideating and launching Canopy, I’ve been living in a constant state of firefighting across the manufacturing and supply chain worlds. 

It’s been an ongoing rollercoaster for the past few months, but I think this is just a stage in life. Once we get through the holiday season, I’m going to try and work more on resetting and forming a more sustainable routine around firefighting!

On his methods of decompressing.

Running is definitely my go-to outlet these days.

My other go-to is doing crossword puzzles. It’s funny, my parents send me a little envelope every other week with cut-outs of the wall street journal crossword puzzles, and I try to get one done every day.

I also do enjoy consuming information on all different forms of media, but I’m not as good of a reader now as I used to be. 

Lastly, I enjoy keeping up with news on startups, commerce, and venture — mostly short-form content or podcasts.

It’s both necessary for work and entertaining at the same time.

On liquid stimulants.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been drinking a lot of iced coffee during the day.

Whether I want to admit it or not, it’s become somewhat necessary for my day-to-day operations.

I don’t take any coffee after noon, however, because I realized that it keeps me up later at night if I do. I’ve also almost completely stopped drinking alcohol during the week. 

I used to be a pretty avid drinker, especially a fan of the post-work cocktail, but I think cutting booze has been wildly helpful for my mental clarity during the week.

On his nomadic lifestyle.

It’s been energizing to live in new surroundings and to explore new places. From a meta-perspective, it’s just a lot of fun. 

Most recently I’ve been living in Austin and Charleston, which have both been amazing. It’s incredibly calming to take long walks and discover foreign neighborhoods.

That being said, being nomadic pushed me to establish a clear safe space for productivity, to allow myself to work and focus when I need to.

Drawing those boundaries is key.

On winding down at night.

Most nights, calls go anywhere from 8 to 11 PM because of our Asian counterparts. 

I do, however, try to keep up with my crossword puzzles every night. It’s what I use to decompress as I get into bed. 

I’ve also been using the Canopy humidifier religiously, making sure that my tank is full, and refilling it every night to set it up with a nice scent overnight.

It’s become a surprisingly relaxing ritual every evening that I’ve enjoyed integrating into my life.