On Mother’s Day in 2019, five giant inflatable breasts – each with a different skin color – perched on buildings in London. Accompanied by the hashtag #FreeTheFeed, the campaign aimed to counter the stigma surrounding expressing milk and breastfeeding in public.
Tania Boler, founder and managing director of the female health tech (Femtech) company Elvie and the head behind the Free The Feed campaign, remembers that day with a smile. Since 2013, when she founded Elvie, Boler has led a team developing products – like quiet, cordless breast pumps that can be used in the office or on the go – that address neglected areas of women’s health and challenges the taboos that surround them.
Based in London and New York, Elvie has more than 200 employees and is one of the best-known names in the fast-growing femtech industry. According to Boler, the growth in the number of female VCs in recent years has effectively helped bring more money into the femtech industry, which is expected to become a $ 50 billion market by 2025.
Elvie has $ 80 million this year. It has also expanded into 10 new markets including Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, and is well on its way to reaching $ 100 million in sales this year.
Boler, 45, who has degrees from both Oxford and Stanford Universities and holds a PhD in reproductive health, saw an opportunity in the seldom-mentioned problems women face. “I realized that technology is actually what is needed in the women’s health industry. I thought if I can develop a product that women can use from home, more women will care about their pelvic floor health. ”
Working in this area meant that she had to develop a very thick skin as a manager. Her advice to other would-be femtech founders is, “Try to be the one in the driver’s seat. Prepare in advance for possible criticisms and lean against the challenges. Show these investors that their prejudices could be wrong. ”
Boler speaks from experience. She first turned to venture capitalists – mostly male – eight years ago. Elvie’s first product, launched in 2015, was a pelvic floor exercise (Kegel) designed to help women strengthen their internal muscles. “A lot of women don’t know what the pelvic floor is and how important it is to the body until they have a problem.” These muscles work with the abdominal and back muscles to maintain bladder control. They also play an important role in sexual sensation. Age, pregnancy, and childbirth can weaken these muscles. “The pelvic floor is still so taboo,” says Boler.
Many of the investors she approached had never heard of the pelvic floor or thought it was an important issue for women. “Some of them said, ‘Well, I’ve talked to my wife and she doesn’t think this is a problem,’ which was incredibly frustrating as they were judging from a personal story what a real commercial opportunity could be.” recalls. Boler would politely remind them that women make up 51 percent of the world’s population.
Learning to be brave to get your point across and build the business was critical. In her first investor pitches, Boler was shy about saying the word “vagina” out loud. You want people to raise their eyebrows across the table; That’s always a good sign because you want them to remember you. But you don’t want them to be too shocked either, ”she says of her reasoning.
Many barriers to investment remain: “I think we have yet to justify and explain the scale of the problem with the lack of technology available for women’s health. and [we have to] keep saying that this is not a niche market and that these are real problems even if they are hidden. ”She says. “There is still a lack of understanding on the part of investors.”
Boler described herself as a “non-technical entrepreneur” and put together an experienced team to design and bring Elvie products to market. Their first investor and co-founder, Alex Asseily, is now the chairman of Elvie. He previously founded Jawbone, a company that developed wearable health devices. Assely was able to advise on the hardware and help Boler build a talented team of engineers and designers.
The development process was demanding. The device had to be waterproof and able to transmit data through human body tissue. The decision about its dimensions was just as difficult. The product had to fit every woman comfortably, but there have been few credible studies of the internal anatomy of women. The Elvie team had to run a lot of “real world tests” to see if it could work for any woman.
Boler also knew that their product had to be more than just high-tech. It also had to be beautifully designed, something women would be proud to use and discuss with their girlfriends. The Elvie Trainer on sale today has a smooth, slender, egg-shaped head with a curved tail. It’s a game-like experience where the app walks each user through a series of exercises to earn points.
While the trainer sells for $ 199 (£ 126), it’s also a certified Class 2 medical device and available by prescription from the UK NHS – the latter is a conscious move by Boler to improve access to the product. “When you give women the tools to solve their problems, they will come to you. Mainly because people now have more control over their health problems, ”she says.
The team then went on to rethink the breast pump, a product that had seen little innovation for decades. “All technologies are badly designed for women, but nothing [was] as bad as the breast pumps category, ”says Boler. The pumps on the market before Elvie launched its first pump in 2018 “were similar to what farmers use on cows: They were big, with a noisy motor that had to be stuck to a wall”.
The Elvie Pump can be used inconspicuously by women during work, whether in meetings in an office setting or elsewhere. “We have had female pilots say they are pumping milk while flying planes, which is a very encouraging message. It’s like, ‘Look at me, I can do all these cool things while making milk for my baby,’ ”says Boler.
Elvie Stride, the company’s newest smart breast pump, launched this month in the United States, where 80 percent of breast pump sales are in the health insurance market.
Before founding Elvie, Boler worked for the United Nations and global NGOs for 15 years, including serving as global director of research and innovation at Marie Stopes International, which provides contraceptive and safe abortion services. “I’ve always been passionate about driving change in society, especially when it comes to neglected and taboo topics,” she says.
“You will never get people to talk or change their behavior when such negative connotations are associated with health problems.”
The author is the Germany correspondent for Sifted
Three questions for Tania Boler
Who is your leadership hero?
My father was a serial entrepreneur and he always made me believe I could do anything. He often reminded me of William Pitt the Younger, who became Prime Minister when he was 24, and said, “Tania, of course you can.” While that irritated me at the time, his support always pushed me beyond my comfort zone and encouraged me to set my ambitions high.
As for public figures, I’ve always admired Cindy Gallop [former advertising executive and founder of the MakeLoveNotPorn campaign] for her frank speech and tireless ambition to change the world.
If you weren’t a CEO / executive what would you be?
Had I stayed on my path to working in the charity and NGO sector, my ambition would be to become CEO of Oxfam. For decades it has made a difference what I saw first hand during my time in Africa. I agree with his conviction that combating poverty is synonymous with combating injustice.
What was your first leadership lesson you learned?
Don’t be afraid to hire people who are smarter than you!
My business partner encouraged this from the start and we hired top engineers from the start. Finding the right people to build your team is key to success. And when you scale, it’s the most important thing. You need to surround yourself with people who believe in the mission as much as you do and who are best at doing the jobs you need
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/19/elvies-tania-boler-lessons-in-overcoming-investors-resistance/
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