Still, he hints that the holdup is with the stable of 10 sneezers. “We kind of just check in with them about whether or not they’re sick, and it is beneficial for them to be sick, of course,” he says. “It’s just enough people that at least one of them is always sick.” That’s not a sure bet, though, and sometimes, people just aren’t sick. “That can, like, halt production,” he says. “Say we’re ready with our tissues and we don’t have somebody who we feel is sick enough or sick at all…retaining more people than that is kind of a tall order for a startup.” Niessen will not say whether or not he pays the sneezers. “I would rather not address my relationship with those people,” he says.
