How Two College Students Turned Personal Loss Into a Mental Wellness Company

Most entrepreneurs will tell you their business started with a problem they wanted to solve. For Nicholas Tropiano, co-founder of Yesterdays, the problem was deeply personal. After losing his older brother and watching his best friend and co-founder Andrew Bellina navigate the loss of his cousin, Nicholas kept coming back to the same realization: coping is something everyone does, but no one is ever really taught how. The platforms that promise to help often focus on a single technique and charge a premium for access, which felt out of step with what people actually need in their hardest moments.

That observation turned into Yesterdays, an all-in-one mental wellness hub that brings more than ten coping techniques together in one place. Nicholas and Andrew built it while attending NYU and Iona University, launched it on the Apple App Store in 2026, and have been splitting their days between classes and company-building ever since.

In the interview below, Nicholas talks about the late-night phone call that started it all, the challenge of getting people to care about something you’ve poured yourself into, the upcoming features designed to make the app feel more personal, and what grief taught him about building a business that actually helps people.

Tell us about yourself and your business.

I’m Nicholas Tropiano, and I realized pretty early in life that the world won’t ever really see the full depth of an emotional soul. That made me think there must be other people out there waiting for someone to recognize the depth of their own unique human emotionality.

I would have bad days, just like everyone does, and the things I turned to never seemed to provide a simple, natural way to feel better. I think this is part of what pushes people toward substances, escapism, and other coping mechanisms that don’t necessarily serve them. I’d be lying if I told you I’ve never fallen into some of those habits myself. It is human to do so.

My co-founder, Andrew Bellina, and I decided it was time for a change. So many platforms focus on a single coping technique, then charge you three arms and four legs to access it. We wanted to create something different. Yesterdays is an all-in-one mental wellness hub that brings together more than ten different coping techniques, giving people the freedom to explore what works for them. Our goal is to help people approach their tomorrows differently, regardless of what happened in their yesterdays.

Andrew attends Iona University, and I attend New York University. We go to school, then we go to work, because we believe people deserve a better answer, a simpler and more accessible way to cope.

Coping is something we all do, but no one ever really teaches us how. I think it’s time that changes.

How does your business make money?

Yesterdays is a digital product that currently operates on a subscription-based model, priced at $7.99 a month. We’re also working on introducing a free version that will give people access to coping techniques, regardless of whether they have a subscription or not.

I think that’s an important distinction for us. We’re building a mental wellness company with the goal of making coping more accessible, so what would we really be doing if we didn’t provide people with free access to some of those tools?

That’s also why we charge $7.99 a month instead of $24.99, like some of our competitors. We understand that we need to build a sustainable business, but I don’t think helping people cope should come with an unreasonable price tag.

At the end of the day, we’re trying to make coping more accessible. 

What was your inspiration for starting the business?

The inspiration behind Yesterdays came from two losses that changed our lives. Andrew lost his cousin, and I lost my older brother, Stephen.

I think grief is one of those things that nobody can really prepare you for. People can tell you how to handle it, what you should do, or how you should feel, but the reality is that everyone experiences it differently. What works for one person might not work for another, and sometimes you don’t even know what you need yourself.

Through our own experiences, Andrew and I began to recognize a problem much bigger than our individual losses. People are constantly trying to find ways to cope with what life throws at them, yet so many of us have never actually been taught how.

That’s where Yesterdays came from. Two people who experienced loss, recognized how difficult coping can be, and wanted to create something that could make it a little easier for others.

We can’t change our yesterdays, and we certainly can’t bring back the people we’ve lost, but maybe we can help someone find a better way to face tomorrow.

How and when did you launch the business?

Yesterdays actually started as an idea I had one night right before going to bed. I remember immediately calling Andrew because I knew this was something we needed to pursue. Andrew and I had tried to make something work in the business world together so many times before, and although those attempts didn’t necessarily go anywhere, we never stopped wanting to build something.

We were both home from school for the summer of 2025, and this time something felt different. We weren’t just trying to start a business for the sake of starting one. We had both experienced loss, and we saw an opportunity to create something that could genuinely help people.

We started with a simple website in 2025. Nothing particularly extraordinary, but it was a start. Over time, that little idea began to actually grow into something, and on August 12, 2026, we officially launched Yesterdays on the Apple App Store.

I think what makes me smile looking back is that something we’re dedicating so much of our lives to today started with a simple thought before falling asleep and a phone call to my best friend. Loss brings a beauty you have to recognize, and I’m glad I got to experience that with my cousin and best friend for life. 

Tell us about your team.

Most of what happens at Yesterdays is done by Andrew and me. Lucas Garcia is an intern with us, learning how we plan to market and grow the business. But he’s also building something of his own behind the scenes, and we always remind him that his own ambitions are more important. We’d be hypocrites if we didn’t. We run a mental wellness company, so encouraging Lucas to be creative and pursue his own passions is part of our job.

Juel Balaguel is our first content creator to join the team, and it’s been awesome having him on board. We’re a small, lean team

How are you funded? 

Yesterdays is privately funded, which has given Andrew and me the opportunity to focus on building something we genuinely believe in.

We’re incredibly fortunate to have the resources to pursue our vision, but I think having access to capital comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility.

Money can help you build a business, but it can’t make people believe in what you’re creating. That’s something you have to earn, and it’s what we’re working toward every day.

How did you acquire your first customers?

By simply asking.

I think people tend to overcomplicate acquiring customers, especially when they’re just starting out. Andrew and I didn’t have some elaborate marketing strategy or a massive audience waiting for us. We just started asking people to give Yesterdays a try.

Friends, family, and even people we barely knew. We reached out, explained what we were building, and asked if they’d be willing to download it.

I think there’s something really valuable about that process. You’re not just acquiring customers; you’re having conversations, hearing different perspectives, and learning what people actually think about something you’ve spent so much time creating.

It was human-to-human interaction, something we really value here. 

Tell us about your primary driver(s) for growth. What worked for you in the beginning? What’s working now?

Organic content remains our main driver of growth, but we are venturing into paid advertising as we speak. We personally feel building a movement begins with letting people hear your voice. Which is why we try to share the brand sentiment every day on one of our social platforms. For us, the big deal is breaking the stigma around people getting access to care, which is why it is so important to remind people every day that there is no shame in taking care of yourself, my friend. 

What has been your biggest challenge so far, and what did you learn from it? How are you dealing with this issue today?

I think our biggest challenge has been understanding that just because we believe the world needs something doesn’t necessarily mean the world is going to find it.

Andrew and I have spent countless hours developing Yesterdays, working on features, changing designs, and trying to make the experience as meaningful as possible. But something I’ve learned is that building a product and getting people to actually use it are two completely different challenges.

You can create something wonderful, but if nobody knows it exists, what have you really accomplished?

Today, we’re spending much more time understanding marketing, listening to feedback, and figuring out how to communicate what we’re building. I think that’s one of the most important lessons I’ve learned so far. You can’t expect people to care about something simply because you do. You have to give them a reason to.

Can you tell us about any upcoming developments we can look forward to?

We’re currently working on quite a few things, but one of my personal favorites is something we’re calling Cup of Joe.

Joe is a little coffee cup character we’re developing to help people find the coping techniques that might work best for them. Instead of opening Yesterdays and having to figure everything out yourself, Joe will ask you questions about how you’re feeling, what you’re interested in, and how you’d like to spend your time.

We’re also working on introducing a free version of Yesterdays, something that’s been particularly important to Andrew and me. We want people to have access to coping tools regardless of whether they’re paying for a subscription.

I think the future of Yesterdays will involve making the experience feel more personal; we want people to feel like they’re doing something for themselves

How do you see your business evolving in the next 5 years?

In five years, I’d love for Yesterdays to become a name people recognize when they think about mental wellness. Not because we’re the biggest company in the industry, but because we’ve built something that genuinely makes a difference in people’s lives.

I want Yesterdays to become a place where millions of people can explore their own emotionality through writing, art, reflection, and whatever other coping techniques we introduce along the way. I think there’s a tremendous opportunity to change how people approach their mental wellness, and I want us to be part of that change.

Of course, I want us to grow into a successful, sustainable business. I want to create jobs, build a great team, and keep developing what people actually need. But I never want us to lose sight of why we started.

If five years from now we’ve helped make coping something people understand, rather than something they’re forced to figure out on their own, I think we’ll have accomplished something pretty extraordinary.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken as a founder/entrepreneur?

I think the biggest risk I’ve taken is dedicating so much of my time to something with absolutely no guarantee of success.

Andrew and I are both college students. There are probably a thousand different ways we could spend our time, but instead, we go to class, come home, and keep working on Yesterdays.

I think entrepreneurship is interesting because you have to become comfortable with the possibility that something you’ve spent years building might not work out the way you imagined.

But I also think there’s a much bigger risk in spending your life wondering what could have happened if you had just tried. I’d rather fail at creating something I believe in than never give myself the opportunity to try.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

Losing my older brother was something I could never have prepared myself for. There isn’t a book, or a piece of advice that can tell someone exactly how to navigate loss; it sucks… It is getting even stranger now that I’m approaching the age he was when he passed. 

But I think our experiences, even the most difficult ones, can change how we look at the world. For me, grief made me think much more deeply about human emotions and the ways we take care of ourselves.

I don’t believe everything happens for a reason. Sometimes terrible things happen, and there’s no explanation that makes them any easier to understand. But I do believe we have the ability to decide what we create with the experiences life gives us, and turn almost any experience into something beautifully emotional. 

What is your favorite quote?

“Sit down and enjoy a Coca-Cola.” My Dad. He said it to me when I was struggling, and the point was that you can enjoy the little things; life doesn’t have to be grand or extravagant. 

I’ll never forget those words. Thank you Pops. 

What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?

Stop waiting for someone to tell you that you’re ready. I think so many people have wonderful ideas that never become anything because they’re waiting for the perfect circumstances. But I don’t think those guarantees really exist. Andrew and I had tried starting businesses before Yesterdays, and none of those attempts became what we hoped they would. But we kept trying, and eventually, one of those late-night ideas blossomed. I’d also encourage people to create things they actually care about. Not everything needs to become a billion-dollar company, and not every idea needs to change the entire world. Create for people, so people can live better lives. Changing one person’s life changes the world, my friend.