How Lifesum is Building an Unfair Competitive Advantage in Wellness

Most health apps stay in their lane. They do one thing well and hope to retain users through that single value proposition. But Marcus Gners, Chief Growth Officer and co-founder of Lifesum, saw a different opportunity emerging from their 13 years of work and 65 million user downloads.

On the Levels Podcast, Marcus shared how Lifesum is transforming from a nutrition tracking app into a comprehensive wellness platform—and why their existing user base creates what he calls "super unfair competitive advantages" in whatever market they choose to enter.

The Revelation That Changed Everything

About 18 months ago, Marcus and his team came to an important realization. They hadn't just built an app—they'd built something more valuable.

"We have millions of users using us every month and they come to us saying, I want a better life, I want to be happier, I think nutrition is the route. And then we have built an app over many years, but realizing that we actually built a platform."

The distinction matters. An app is a product. A platform is an ecosystem where multiple products and services can live together, each enhancing the value of the others. But platforms require more than just technical infrastructure, they require user trust and demand.

Lifesum had both. Their users weren't just looking for a way to log meals. They wanted comprehensive support for their health journey, and they trusted Lifesum to provide it. That trust opened doors.

The Platform Strategy: Individually Good, Collectively Great

Marcus describes their approach with a simple principle: every product or service they add should be "individually good, but collectively great."

This isn't about creating a funnel where users are pushed through a series of upsells. It's about offering genuine value at each touchpoint while making the combined experience exponentially better. A premium Lifesum membership should deliver benefits that compound across multiple products.

The first major move in this direction was acquiring Lycon, Germany's largest at-home biomarker testing company. The acquisition makes strategic sense when you understand what biomarker testing unlocks.

"It's super interesting especially when it comes to breaking the void from the phone and you're actually going inside the skin and then from a user perspective the ability to get access to what's my starting points what's my midpoint and how am I actually progressing."

Blood biomarkers provide objective data about what's happening inside the body. Combined with Lifesum's nutrition tracking and recommendations, users can see how their dietary choices actually affect their health markers over time. This is healthcare, not sick care—tracking vitality rather than treating illness.

Why Supplements Are the Next Logical Step

Supplements represent another area where Lifesum sees clear opportunity, and Marcus's explanation of the market reveals why platforms have an edge over traditional supplement companies.

The supplement industry has evolved through distinct phases. First came the massive vitamin and mineral aisles in grocery stores—hundreds of options with little guidance. Then came branded supplements with names like "yoga bliss" that prioritized marketing over science. Now the market is shifting toward higher quality, better bioavailability, and more rigorous science.

But there's a problem: choice overload.

"It's like in the 500 meter long supplement aisle of thousands of supplement brands, thousands of supplements types, it's impossible for the user to choose and I think this is something that we can help with."

Consider someone who learns they should take magnesium. They head to their local pharmacy and discover seven different types of magnesium. Which one helps with sleep? Which has better absorption? Most people have no idea, and the sheer volume of options becomes paralyzing.

Lifesum can cut through that noise. They have the context (what users eat), the data (blood biomarker results showing deficiencies), and the trust (users already rely on them for nutrition guidance). When they recommend a specific supplement with clear reasoning, users don't need to navigate the overwhelming aisle themselves.

The Unfair Advantage of Owning Your Audience

Here's where the platform strategy becomes particularly powerful from a business perspective. Marcus frames it in stark terms:

"If we with what we built up during the 13 years allows us to do user acquisition cheaper or customer acquisition cheaper than other supplements companies then at the end of the line we will become the biggest supplements company in the world because no other supplements company has the user relationship and the data."

Traditional supplement companies have to spend heavily on customer acquisition. They're competing in crowded markets with high advertising costs and no existing relationship with potential buyers.

Lifesum doesn't have that problem. Their core TAM (total addressable market) is the user base they already have. They don't need to desperately hunt for new customers—they can start by serving the millions already in their ecosystem. The customer acquisition cost for selling supplements to existing Lifesum users is dramatically lower than what standalone supplement brands pay.

This same logic applies to biomarker testing, future wellness products, and partnerships. The platform compounds its own advantages: more products create more value, which strengthens user relationships, which makes launching additional products easier.

Integration Through Acquisitions

Not every move into platform territory works out. Marcus is candid about acquisitions requiring careful integration. When Lifesum acquires a company like Lycon, they don't treat it as a separate entity, they integrate it into one firm.

The goal isn't to bolt on disconnected services. It's to create a cohesive experience where each component feels native to the Lifesum ecosystem. Users shouldn't feel like they're jumping between different companies, they should feel like they're accessing different features of a unified platform.

Marcus applies similar thinking to partnerships. Rather than transactional relationships, Lifesum pursues "proper partnerships" where both parties work together toward mutual benefit. The distinction between "in-house" and "external" matters less than whether the collaboration creates genuine value for users.

What This Means for Scaling Consumer Products

For product teams building B2C apps with significant user bases, Lifesum's evolution offers a playbook:

Recognize when you've built a platform, not just a product. If users trust you and consistently come back, you have the foundation for something bigger. The question is whether you have the courage to expand beyond your core offering.

Start with your existing users. Your TAM isn't just the total market size—it's the audience you already have meaningful relationships with. Serving them well before chasing new customers creates sustainable growth.

Think about customer acquisition costs. Platform advantages compound. If you can acquire customers for a new product line at a fraction of what competitors pay, you have structural advantages that are hard to overcome.

Integrate, don't bolt on. Additional products should feel like natural extensions, not separate businesses. The user experience should be cohesive even when different teams or technologies power different features.

Trust is your moat. In Marcus's words, as production becomes easier across industries, "the game comes down to trust and taste." Build that trust carefully, and re-earn it with every new product you launch.

After 13 years, Lifesum isn't just a nutrition app competing with other nutrition apps. They're building a wellness platform with distribution advantages that traditional wellness companies can't match. That's what happens when you recognize the platform you've built and have the vision to expand it thoughtfully.

Key Points

• Lifesum realized they'd built a platform, not just an app—unlocking opportunities for multiple products and services
• Their strategy is products that are "individually good, but collectively great" rather than disconnected upsells
• Acquiring Lycon (biomarker testing) allows users to track how nutrition choices affect actual health markers
• Supplements are a natural fit because Lifesum can guide users through overwhelming choice with personalized recommendations
• Owning your audience creates unfair competitive advantages—customer acquisition costs are far lower than traditional competitors
• Core TAM is existing users, not just total market size—serve them first before chasing new customers
• Trust compounds over time and becomes your most defensible moat in crowded markets

Listen to the full conversation with Marcus Gners on the Levels Podcast to hear more about how Lifesum is expanding beyond nutrition tracking into a comprehensive wellness platform.