15 years of Sonic Boom Wellness

by Jun 27, 2022

June 13 marked our 15-year Boomiversary … the day co-founders Bryan and Danna sat under the stars at Zion and created the incredibly impossible idea of creating the engagement category of wellness. At the time, they had no idea how to do it, NO idea they’d be creating a software company, and nothing but (literally) stars in their eyes and a passion to create programs that people would love and WANT to engage in.

Sonic Boom’s company culture is like none other. So many Boomers are still with the company years later, and many have returned after exploring other opportunities. Our Sonic Boom crew has had the pride and pleasure of watching so many go through major life changes, including falling in love, getting married, having kids, and buying homes and cars. We’re like a family here, and that is reflected in the work we do and programs we provide for our clients. We operate fully in-house, which allows every single Boomer to connect daily across departments about anything, whether work-related or not. We’re proud of the culture we continue to work to create and maintain.

To celebrate 15 amazing years in the wellness space, here are 15 fun facts that make us who we are as a Sonic Boom family:

  1. Our founders frequently discussed the state of wellness in the mid-2000s and agreed that engagement was dismal because everything focused solely on biometrics, health assessments, and coaching. They knew there was a way to create exciting, stimulating programs that people would WANT to take part in … but had no idea how to get that done.
  2. The company name was literally birthed from our founders experiencing a sonic boom.
  3. Unbeknownst to them, Bryan and Danna weren’t just creating a company; they were creating an entirely new category of wellness centered around driving engagement through better programming.  Competitors followed our lead, and soon the category became referred to as the “engagement category” of digital wellbeing.
  4. Sonic Boom was the first wellness company to wirelessly and seamlessly integrate with an activity tracker. At that time, it was a device that we called the “Sonic Ped,” which was worn on a shoe.
  5. After selling their concept during the last six months of 2007, the founders were ready to go live with their portal on January 1, 2008. Little did they know, that year would mark the beginning of the recession.
  6. Three tiny clients launched in 2008.  They were so tiny that the combined headcount was about 300 employees.
  7. The company didn’t generate revenue for more than two years. During that time, Danna and Bryan personally funded everything. Other than the software engineer who built the platform, they were the only two employees for two years (think: member support, customer support, sales, implementations, data integration, operations, product innovation, and trash-taker-outer).
  8. With all the chaos and stress of trying to start a company during the recession, Danna and Bryan thought it was a good idea (LOL) to add to the madness by getting married in 2008. Cuz what could go wrong when a husband and wife try to work together?
  9. They tried to raise capital, but no one understood this new category of wellness, so no funding was received. Until Premise Health acquired Sonic Boom in 2021, the company grew organically. (Not even a corporate credit card!)
  10. The founders had an “audacious” goal of doing $1M in revenue “someday.”  In 2010, we hit that goal.
  11. In 2014, they made a radical move. Through a partnership with a device manufacturer, Danna and Bryan launched a proprietary activity tracker called the “Boomerang.” Everything about that decision was a nightmare.
  12. In 2016, the founders realized that coaching would be a tremendous offering to complement the “fun” platform they had created. So they created a department that not only continues to steadily grow, but it also continues to help members achieve amazing results.
  13. Sonic Boom was the first to have a fully customizable incentive platform, and, in 2010, created the ability to track and report on outcomes-based incentives (OBIs).
  14. In 2021, Premise Health acquired Sonic Boom. The synergies are rampant, and we’ve been working on developing integration that would be mutually beneficial.
  15. Realizing that many (especially large) clients have budgetary obstacles or may only be interested in an incentive-only platform, we launched Total Rewards by Sonic Boom (“TR”) in 2022.

We can’t wait to see what the next 15 bring! Are you interested in being a part of it? Request a demo or more information about our wellness programs here.