Starting a business often means facing real roadblocks. Dominick Fedele hit these head-on when building his brain training company. With no background in neuroscience and parents who never finished high school, he wasn’t the obvious person to create a high-tech cognitive training platform. But that didn’t stop him.

“I discovered that I thrived in managing general business operations—leveraging my strengths in strategic planning, team building, creative problem-solving, and scaling growth,” Dominick explains. This experience as CEO of a franchise organization gave him the foundation to spot an opportunity. While leading that company in 2021, he began developing Mastermind Cognitive Training as a small internal project, which eventually grew into its own business by 2024.

As you read about Dominick’s practical steps—from finding his first customers to building a team of experts who filled his knowledge gaps—you’ll see specific actions you can take with your own business idea. His story shows that you don’t need specialized training or a perfect background to start something meaningful. What matters more is taking one step forward, then another, and finding the right people to help along the way.

Early Beginnings

Dominick didn’t come from a family of entrepreneurs. “I come from a lower-income family, with neither of my parents graduating high school,” he explains. He pursued accounting because someone told him it was “the best degree for business”—advice he followed without fully understanding what it meant at the time.

Working full-time while attending junior college, Dominick eventually earned his accounting degree and landed at McDonald’s Corporation, where he rose to Regional Accounting Manager. This corporate experience proved valuable, but it was his later transition to education and operational leadership roles that revealed where his true talents lay.

“I discovered that I thrived in managing general business operations—leveraging my strengths in strategic planning, team building, creative problem-solving, and scaling growth.”

This background prepared him for his next role as CEO of a franchise organization. It was here that Mastermind began taking shape, first as a small project within the larger company.

Building Mastermind

Mastermind started in 2021 as a project within the company Dominick was leading. With limited resources and part-time focus, development moved slowly but steadily. The turning point came in January 2024, when Dominick and his team made a bold decision.

“We decided to spin Mastermind out and give it full-time focus and dedicated resources to finalize the program and bring it to market,” he shares.

Several factors pushed this decision. Dominick notes, “We were approached by schools, sports teams, corporations, and senior programs—all interested in brain training. People are beginning to prioritize brain health just as much as physical health.”

Another factor was the growing difference between the needs of the original business and Mastermind. “The skills required to support a tech-based cognitive training platform were vastly different from those needed for a physical, customer-facing program,” Dominick explains.

The company established its headquarters in Naperville, Illinois, which proved ideal for its cognitive training lab. The location’s top-tier school systems and high concentration of student-athletes provided the perfect testing ground for their brain training program.

Mastermind uses neuroscience-based protocols and cutting-edge technology to enhance brain performance. Their program combines eye-strengthening techniques with VR, tablet, and mobile technology to create a self-guided, gamified training experience.

“Our training helps improve cognitive performance in sports, academics, work, and life,” Dominick explains.

What makes Dominick’s story unusual is his lack of formal training in neuroscience. Instead of seeing this as a barrier, he built a team of experts who filled these knowledge gaps. This approach—finding specialists rather than trying to become one himself—proved essential to Mastermind’s development and shows how someone without a specialized background can still create a technically complex product.

Creating a Team

For Dominick, finding the right people was important. “We built the team through a combination of my professional network and intentional outreach to experts,” he says.

He didn’t just look for team members—he sought varied perspectives. “The most critical resource has been the third-party expertise we gathered through an advisory board and targeted collaborations,” Dominick shares.

“We intentionally sought varied perspectives—neuroscientists, eye training experts, tech developers, educational leaders, psychologists, and seasoned business professionals.”

This approach helped them cross-reference the latest developments in cognitive training with real-world outcomes. When hiring, Dominick looked beyond expertise alone.

“I looked for smart, passionate professionals who were not only experts in their fields but also versatile enough to wear multiple hats,” he says. “As a startup, we needed people who complemented my weaknesses and had the agility to operate across various areas of the business.”

By surrounding himself with experts, Dominick overcame his lack of a neuroscience background. He focused on his strengths—business operations and leadership—while trusting specialists to develop the technical aspects of the platform. This team-building strategy offers a valuable lesson for anyone starting a business in an unfamiliar field: you don’t need to be an expert in everything if you can build relationships with people who are.

Finding Customers

Unlike many entrepreneurs who conduct extensive market research before launch, Dominick took a different approach. He didn’t rely on formal research but instead leveraged his experience, industry knowledge, and direct customer feedback.

“We found our first test customers by leveraging local connections, including friends, family, schools, sports teams, and businesses,” he says. “Many were excited to participate—some dedicating over five hours per week to training.”

The team gathered pre- and post-assessment data showing measurable improvements in reaction time, focus, attention, and memory, confirming the program worked as intended. But the most powerful validation came from real-world success stories. Dominick recalls, “A firefighter credited Mastermind with jumping from 15th to 3rd on his promotion exam; a student-athlete showed significant academic and athletic gains, and increased confidence.”

These personal stories convinced Dominick they were creating something truly valuable—something that data alone couldn’t capture.

Developing the Mastermind platform wasn’t without hurdles. “Mastermind is a complex platform featuring 39 cognitive training games, five eye exercise protocols, a six-part assessment process, auto-leveling algorithms, self-guided training modules, and subscription/reporting portals,” Dominick explains.

The team faced a significant technical challenge early on. “We made the mistake of throwing ideas at our developers without a clear, end-to-end product vision. This led to inefficiencies, programming bottlenecks, and user experience issues.”

“The turning point was when we started viewing the platform as an integrated program rather than a collection of features.”

They also learned valuable lessons about user experience. “We learned the hard way that a great product still needs great UX,” he says. “Seeking feedback early and often, even if it costs more upfront, is critical.”

This shift in thinking brought clarity to their development process and significantly improved the overall user experience.

Overcoming Challenges

Starting any business comes with emotional challenges, and Mastermind was no exception. “My biggest fear has always been failure,” Dominick admits. “I feel a deep sense of responsibility to our team, investors, and my family.”

He describes the startup as an “emotional roller coaster,” with moments of doubt during tight cash flow periods, harsh feedback, or failed deals. To manage this stress, Dominick developed practical coping strategies.

“I’ve learned to keep negative thoughts short-lived by leaning on my network, taking time to reflect, and celebrating progress,” he says. “I also know when I am becoming too stressed and force myself to go for long walks to clear my head and be creative.”

This self-awareness is critical. Startup founders often hide their struggles—studies show over 80% don’t openly share their stress and fears. By acknowledging the emotional challenges, Dominick has found ways to maintain his well-being while building his business.

Drawing from his experience, Dominick offers practical advice for aspiring business owners:

“Start selling early—even before the product is finished. Talk to people, build interest, and start forming relationships,” he urges. “Do not wait for your product to be market ready to start selling.”

When it comes to pricing, Dominick recommends a flexible approach. “Initially, we benchmarked against competitors and ran profitability analyses. From there, we expanded our approach by having candid conversations with potential clients to better understand the perceived value.”

Dominick admits to making numerous mistakes along the way. “I could probably list over 100 missteps that I made,” he confesses. One critical lesson: involve user experience experts early. The team initially created overly complex onboarding processes that frustrated users before they even started training.

Looking Forward

Today, Mastermind is in launch mode with several exciting developments ahead. A major user experience upgrade launches April 1, 2025, making the program easier to use for both consumers and business partners.

This summer, they’re introducing new wellness features, including guided meditation and breathing control. They’re also wrapping up a research study with the University of Bedfordshire, examining how their program affects academic outcomes and brain function in 168 school children.

“A startup can be the most exciting, rewarding, and impactful part in a career,” Dominick reflects. “It allows for great creativity, dramatic learning, and each day is never boring.”

But he’s equally frank about the challenges: “A startup can also be the most frustrating, unpredictable, nerve-wracking part in a career.”

For those willing to navigate those ups and downs, the rewards can be tremendous. As Mastermind continues to grow, Dominick’s story shows how turning an idea into reality requires persistence, adaptability, and a willingness to learn from both successes and failures.

The path Dominick took from accountant to brain training company owner shows that you don’t need to be an expert in your chosen field to start a business there. His practical approach—surrounding himself with specialists, starting to sell before the product was perfect, and gathering feedback from real users—offers a straightforward method anyone can follow.

His experience tells us that finding good advisors with different skills matters more than trying to know everything yourself. By creating a team with experts in different areas, Dominick could overcome his lack of a neuroscience background and build a successful brain training platform.

Most importantly, Dominick shows that staying focused on what really matters each day prevents getting lost in small details. His habit of setting clear weekly goals helped move the business forward consistently, even when facing the dozens of distractions that pull at every business owner’s attention.

To learn more about Mastermind Cognitive Training, visit mastermindtraining.com