CEO (Patreon)

Excerpt from "Zoey Sullivan’s Sparks Profile | Woman, Symbol & CEO"

“I founded a company that makes entire cities fit in the palm of one’s hand. I can empathize with people looking at me with a sense of curiosity.”

Entering Brax Coffee in Downtown SF on a Saturday morning, we could have been forgiven for passing by Zoey Sullivan, Co-Founder & CEO of Nano Inc, and not realizing who she was. Sat by the shop’s window, Zoey (as she asks us to call her as we sit down) doesn’t draw attention to herself. Sipping on a mocha in a casual outfit, she’s the establishment’s typical patron. It feels like a perfect analogy to describe Zoey Sullivan’s relationship to the public since her company became Silicon Valley’s hottest commodity.

Born in Scotland in 2002 of an American father and a Scottish mother, Zoey left the United Kingdom at ten to go live with her dad following her mother’s passing.

“It was tough - losing my mother and leaving the only place I’ve lived in behind. Both grounded me very early in life. I remember my first day at school in New York, some kids had a hard time understanding my accent. It still shows up once in a while when I’m tired or when I get mad. But yeah, being the new kid in a new country sucked. Fortunately, it got me to focus on work and that’s when I found my passion for biosciences. I couldn’t get enough of it - discovering the dynamics between every living thing and how they influence each other. Physics was my second favorite. I had a wonderful teacher in 7th grade who just opened my eyes to it. I haven’t been able to close them back since!”

When asked about her time at MIT, Zoey isn’t as willing to share details with us, remembering the period as troubled for her and the project that would end up becoming Nano Inc.

“I’m not a fan of talking about my time at MIT. I’ll start oversharing, MIT will get mad at me and I’ll have to spend a couple hours on the phone with the dean to make sure they keep sending students to intern at Nano Inc. My time there might not have been the brightest but it’s still the best place in the country to find talented engineers. Still, it holds an important place in my path to right here and now. Without MIT, I don’t get to meet Chloe and John, Nano Inc’s other founding members. The company as it stands today probably wouldn’t exist. Nor would the tech powering it.”

Zoey declined any further comments on Chloe Vargas and John Darcy. The current legal battle between Nano Inc’s CEO and her former associates being unresolved, she is not at liberty to express herself about them in the press.

“Our business isn’t size alteration. It’s opportunities to change people’s lives for the better.”

Officially founded in 2020, Nano Inc has since become an integral part of Silicon Valley’s most influential and fastest growing companies. Built upon Zoey Sullivan’s revolutionary resizing process, Nano (as it’s more commonly referred to) has transformed the world’s perception of what a human being is and can be. Leveraging the age-old experience companies like Cadco had in inorganic goods’ resizing, Zoey was the first to build and commercialize an organic application, offering the opportunity for animals, but also humans to be reduced in size. Nano’s first commercial success was the Pocket Zoo released in 2021, offering everyone a chance to have their own collection of miniature animals.

Seven years later, Zoey Sullivan and Nano Inc don’t seem ready to slow down. A few months ago, they revealed their most ambitious project yet, codenamed Greener Tomorrow.

“Greener Tomorrow, or New Life as we revealed the final product last month, isn’t like anything Nano has made before. We’ve taken a bold approach to many different things folks encounter issues with in today’s world. Between the state of the planet and the economic crisis that will both keep on deteriorating, a lot of people shared their interest to trade what they’d consider normalcy for a better life. That’s New Life. The opportunity to start anew, based on the hard work done in one’s life, while helping the world get better.”

Behind the marketing pitch, New Life is the latest in human resizing programs aiming to reduce carbon footprint. Nano Inc promises safe environments and uninterrupted support for the next 150 years for people who decide to partake in the initiative - guaranteeing  a comfortable and safe life for participants but also their descendants. Still, Nano Inc’s inability to provide with a reversal solution for participants who decide to get resized is raising a few eyebrows - especially in Washington, where the constitutionality and general legality of the program is put in question by some.

“Taking someone’s natural mass and making it smaller is simple. Ish. Taking someone’s natural mass and making it greater. Much harder. Now taking artificially reduced mass and bringing it back to its old natural state? I don’t want to say it's impossible, but the reality of it is that I won’t see it done in my lifetime. Our goal with New Life is to make sure that participants never even have to ask themselves that question. Our cities are 100% safe, regulated, monitored and supplied to last for the next 150 years minimum. Once people go through the resizing process, they barely get the chance to realize their body has changed. We aim to limit reduced individuals' contact with unreduced people as much as we can to avoid any sort of distress that could erupt from seeing someone 900 times their size. Everything has been done so that our clients never feel like their size has changed.”

Despite our insistence, Zoey doesn’t feel the need to go into the details about what the resizing and integration processes are for participants.

“That’s something unique for each of our clients. We wanna make sure each person has their needs and desires understood prior to signing a New Life contract, so that everything is perfect when they wake up after the process. We have a 98% satisfaction rate after 6 months and we’ve made considerable efforts to reinforce the assistance offered to the remaining 2% who have encountered issues since being reduced. Being small just makes opportunities to enjoy life bigger for the people joining us.”

Despite Zoey’s reassurances, when discussing the possibility for her to join this program herself, she remained vague.

“Joining New Life is not like buying groceries or taking a holiday. It’s a commitment for people who find value in it. Could I ever join New Life? Sure, why not. But not now, there’s just too many things going on in my life and I’m not ready to leave it behind just yet. Though the idea has crossed my mind before, the stars haven’t aligned…”

Read the full interview in this month’s Sparks.

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It started as the simplest shot but I just kept adding to it. Let me know what you think!