one of my worries about mental health startups and venture is that this type of capital implicitly and explicitly pushes for large scale, binary outcomes. How does the needs of the investor match careful, high quality growth for companies in this important area. Does it strand companies that could have been profitable, if smaller businesses, in the Series A-C gap of 'not growing fast enough but struggling to get off the venture curve' - what happens to those company's customers? It's a PITA when your expense software company goes under. It's worse when you've lost access to your real/virtual therapist/support group.
Excellent article. Mental health is not discussed enough as being one of the major negative effects of the pandemic lockdown. Without increased social acceptance of mental health as an issue AND accessibility to in-person and/or digital healthcare options, things could worsen. I certainly don't want that, but the growth in mental health problems continues to be a major problem.
one of my worries about mental health startups and venture is that this type of capital implicitly and explicitly pushes for large scale, binary outcomes. How does the needs of the investor match careful, high quality growth for companies in this important area. Does it strand companies that could have been profitable, if smaller businesses, in the Series A-C gap of 'not growing fast enough but struggling to get off the venture curve' - what happens to those company's customers? It's a PITA when your expense software company goes under. It's worse when you've lost access to your real/virtual therapist/support group.
great point, Hunter. I agree with you that venture capital funding is not the right path for a lot of companies tackling this problem.
Excellent article. Mental health is not discussed enough as being one of the major negative effects of the pandemic lockdown. Without increased social acceptance of mental health as an issue AND accessibility to in-person and/or digital healthcare options, things could worsen. I certainly don't want that, but the growth in mental health problems continues to be a major problem.
💯%, Kevin
Stitch fix model is definitely an eye-opener for many industries. Especially mental health
agreed, Aykut! it's a fascinating and unique company.