WIN NYC Event Recap: WIN x BCGDV on Innovating for Women’s Wellness
Surprising fact: women’s health accounts for only 4 percent of the overall funding for research and development for healthcare products and services in the United States. At the same time, as we well know, women make up 49.6 percent of the total population, have a unique set of health needs, and drive the healthcare industry in terms of decision making and spend.
Estimated to be worth over $50B by 2025 globally, the women’s health market is rife with opportunity for change. Luckily, we live in a time when women are breaking boundaries, working hard, and innovating for other women by inventing new products, services, and experiences to ease women’s health journeys. Some of the most exciting developments include innovations that address the most common diseases like cancer, to easing challenges that come with conditions like menstruation, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause and post-menopause, and many more.
WIN NYC partnered with our friends at BCGDV to host an event on innovation for women’s wellness. The event kicked off with a panel moderated by Rachel Braun Scherl, self-described “vagipreneur,” Co-founder and Managing Partner of SPARK Solutions for Growth, and author of Orgasmic Leadership: Profiting from the Coming Surge in Female Health and Wellness, and featuring Adriana Vazquez, Founder of the Lilu bra, Katie Jaxheimer Agarwal, VP of Operations and Finance at Maven Clinic, and Martelle Esposito, President and CEO of Mothership. After a lively discussion with tons of laughs (Rachel is very funny), we divided into quick breakout groups to identify and discuss different needs and areas of opportunity for women in the wellness space.
Knowing WIN women are eager to make a dent in the femtech space, our featured entrepreneurs shared their top tips:
Be data focused: prove your proposition through numbers. For example, interview everyone you can and use that as a metric – how many people have you interviewed and learned from? How many people are on a waiting list for a potential product that doesn’t even exist yet? This helps attract both talent and investors. As soon as you have an idea, find a way to test it. Conduct surveys and interviews. Data speaks for itself.
Try, try, try. There’s no substitute for having done it.
Don’t be intimidated. There is so much yet to be done in the women’s health space, and it is not a zero sum game. Lots of leaves are yet to be turned over, so get started.
Be passionate about what you do. If you don’t love it, it will be hard. If you love what you do, nothing feels like work.
Surround yourself with amazing mentors and advisors. The best part is, you learn from them and build your credibility.
Huge thank you to our friends at BCGDV for hosting, to our panelists, and to our attendees. Enjoy some photos from our event!
Written by Emma Anderson & Katie Burwick. Photos by Katie Burwick.
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