What We’re Building Starts in the Mind
Why I’m betting on NESTRE—and why performance, recovery, and legacy all begin with brain health.
In 2020, I was back with the Saints when a teammate of mine, Kenny Stills, pulled me aside.
He said, “I know you’re into investing. There’s this company I think you’d be into.”
The founder was a former athlete.
Other NFL legends like Calvin Johnson and Julius Thomas were already involved.
The company? NESTRE.
The tech? Next level.
Kenny was right—it piqued my interest.
About a year later, I flew down to Lake Nona Performance Club in Orlando.
It’s a state-of-the-art wellness campus that feels like the future—self-driving buses, sculpture gardens, a 3-story rock wall, yoga studios, recovery lounges, massage therapy, a full gym and track.
Right in the middle of all that innovation?
NESTRE’s HQ.
I didn’t go alone.
I brought Ralonda with me.
I’d been raving about this place.
Now it was time to experience it ourselves.
We each sat through the other’s evaluation.
NESTRE’s process is simple: they strap a cap onto your head—and run a full scan in just three minutes.
Over well over 30 different cognitive metrics are measured.
No long assessments. Just data.
It’s like running a diagnostic on your car—except the car is your brain.
They looked at me and said:
“Have you ever had a concussion?”
I had. November 2015.
But I hadn’t told them that.
I closed my eyes trying to remember where the impact was—and before I could answer, they pulled up a visual showing residual damage on the right side of my forehead.
Exactly where I remembered taking the hit.
That was 6 years prior and they could still see the imprint.
At first, I was alarmed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we can train it.”
That moment changed the game for me.
For 13 seasons in the NFL, we were told we wouldn’t know what’s happening in our brains until we died—and they cut them open.
Every time I’d forget something or get irritated for no reason, I’d wonder: Is this CTE?
Now, for the first time, I had something better than speculation.
I had answers.
Then came Ralonda’s results.
She’s always been sharp, high-functioning, always-on.
But the NESTRE team looked at her scan and said:
“You don’t sleep.”
Not in the get-more-rest kind of way.
In the your brain is in overdrive and you’ve learned to cope with it kind of way.
That hit her.
Because that had just become her norm.
But now? The science was right in front of her.
And more importantly—it was trainable.
That first experience is why we invested.
Not because it sounded good.
Because we lived it.
And because we believe in what Dr. Tommy Shavers and his team are building.
Since then, I’ve listened to Tommy share his own story—how concussions ended his football career and forced him to find another way to heal.
I’ve sat in rooms with veterans dealing with PTSD and TBI, who say they’ve gotten their lives—and their families—back.
This isn’t a gadget.
It’s infrastructure.
NESTRE is helping people train their minds the way we’ve always trained our bodies.
For athletes. For veterans. For entrepreneurs. For creatives.
For anyone who wants to get better—and finally has a way to do it.
Last week, I brought the Malcolm Inc. team back to Lake Nona for our annual retreat.
Not just to plan—but to reset.
We went through the NESTRE process as a team.
Because this isn’t just about business.
It’s about building from the inside out.
We talk a lot about wealth, ownership, and legacy.
But if we don’t protect and train the one engine powering all of it—the mind—we’re building on shaky ground.
💭 Final Thought
The most overlooked asset we have is our mind.
NESTRE is helping us protect it, train it, and push it further than we ever thought possible.
If you’re in the performance world—sports, business, tech, or creative—this is a company you need to know.
If you could train your brain like you train your body,