Get lessons in leadership and setting boundaries from renowned health expert Dr. Drew Pinsky and serial investor Kim Perell on this episode of Entrepreneur Therapy.
00:00My friends would tell me, you know, if this business fails, it's because you're too nice.
00:04I suffer from the same affliction, and I had to go to therapy.
00:07I had to do treatment.
00:09What did they say? We're in entrepreneur therapy, Dr. Drew.
00:12But I had to go for a while.
00:13Being an entrepreneur is not easy.
00:16You might have people looking after your business, but who is looking after you?
00:20We are. Welcome to Entrepreneur Therapy.
00:23Presented by Amazon Business.
00:25In each episode, renowned health expert Dr. Drew Pinsky and serial investor Kim Perel will meet with small business owners looking for some advice.
00:33We're here to find out what issues still keep them up at night.
00:38Kim, I'm very excited to talk to our next guest because this is sort of a space that I'm familiar with.
00:43I kind of play in, and I feel like it's something that's going to expand rapidly.
00:47I am actually an investor in this company.
00:49So much the better. Amy, welcome.
00:51Tell me about the product and your business.
00:53I'm not familiar with the story, so for everyone else and for me, tell me.
00:56Yeah, so I had a lot of trouble conceiving, and it wasn't a timing issue.
01:01It was a, I wasn't ovulating.
01:03I didn't have enough hormone to support implantation.
01:06And so I felt like we needed a better solution in the market besides just timing.
01:12So I built a product that allows women to track their hormones over time.
01:16And so, yeah, trying to help couples get pregnant.
01:19This is the future. I really feel like home monitor, home testing, you know, I just think that is the future.
01:26So is it a blood test? Is it a, or how do you do it?
01:31It's a urine-based test.
01:32So you collect first morning urine, dip a strip, wait 10 minutes, and then the app actually scans it in.
01:38We read the hormone value for you, and then we tell the user when to test, and then we analyze the hormones at the end.
01:47And we give them key balance ratios, what we call a progesterone score.
01:51Now, it's complicated, right? A lot of science there, but easily manageable at home.
01:56That's the future, in my opinion.
01:58I love it. I love it.
01:59And are they solving that problem?
02:01Yes. I mean, so where is the business today?
02:04And how can we help?
02:05Exactly.
02:06So we make really effective products that help couples get pregnant.
02:10And sometimes we get them pregnant too fast, which is great for, you know, being a human and being, you know, nice and all that.
02:17But sometimes not so great with the business.
02:21So how can I create a sustainable business by getting more recurring revenue when my typical user only stays with us two months?
02:31So as a business owner, you're saying, I need a reoccurring revenue for basically the next 10 years.
02:37Well, this is one part of your journey as a woman, and fertility is one part.
02:43What are the other parts that you can consistently add to create additional revenue streams that will carry you and your business through the entire journey?
02:52Which brings up the whole question of therapeutics, right, or supplements or exercise plans.
02:58And to me, immediately when I read about your business, I was like, well, you need either a partner or something in there so we can actually take care of these problems you're identifying.
03:08Well, and I think you have to think of where the journey starts.
03:11So the journey starts at infertility.
03:13And how do you, what's the most adjacent step to infertility?
03:17You have to think really clearly about, you know, because fertility to menopause is probably a pretty big, pretty large timeline.
03:25The closest, you know, is it not?
03:27Not necessarily.
03:28So our core consumer is 35.
03:31Okay.
03:31Is average 35, 38.
03:33And this is exactly when the first symptoms of perimenopause are being seen.
03:38And a lot of our women are infertile because they have low progesterone.
03:42Low progesterone is actually the first sign of the perimenopause transition.
03:47And that's why we're like, you know, this is our core consumer.
03:49They're trying to get pregnant and they have these hormone issues.
03:51We're helping them get pregnant with progesterone.
03:54Now if they're waking up at 3 a.m., let's give them the same progesterone.
03:57I honestly think that if you can tap into that market right now, because it is, there's a tailwind right now on that market.
04:04And if you can quickly adopt and adapt to either having a partnership, creating something that yourself, I think you have to really look at that.
04:12I wouldn't try to do a lot of partnerships.
04:14Focus on one to two that will have the most value for your business right now.
04:18But if you could tap into that market, that is a game changer.
04:22What was the second question?
04:23When I was building this company, my friends would tell me, you know, if this business fails, it's because you're too nice.
04:30And I tend to trust people and just really, really genuinely want to help people and want to train them and, you know, make sure they give them a lot of chances.
04:41That can be really detrimental to the business.
04:44How do I balance being nice with running a successful business?
04:48I will let you answer that, Kim, in a second.
04:50But I just want to say I suffer from the same affliction and I had to go to therapy.
04:56I had to do treatment.
04:57What did they say?
04:58We're in entrepreneur therapy, Dr. Drew.
05:00I had to go for a while, not just 15 minutes.
05:03But essentially, you know, you're someone, as am I, who we experience ourselves through other people.
05:11That our self comes from others, our identity, our worth.
05:14A lot of people experience themselves first, right?
05:17We don't do that.
05:18We're going the other way.
05:18And as such, you know, if we get a lot of negative stuff back, we really, it gets in.
05:23So you have to learn how to be able to put boundaries emotionally around yourself.
05:28It's a hard thing to do.
05:29I similarly have the disease to please, but I have overcome that over time.
05:34And I think that's really just about, for me, was prioritizing and really making decisions based on asking myself the question,
05:42is this in their best interest, the company's best interest, or my best interest?
05:46My job is to create jobs for people and to create a business that's sustainable long term.
05:51And so I need to look after myself and the company first.
05:53I think that's a great little piece of advice, and it's diabolical, because the reason you have trouble asserting yourself is because you don't want to put yourself first, but you can put a business first that you're representing.
06:05That's kind of a, I see, I could make that move as a people pleaser.
06:08You can also use the excuse of, my board won't let me.
06:14Yeah.
06:14My board said no.
06:16And so you're taking it off yourself and putting it onto someone else, which will make you feel that it's an easier conversation to have.
06:23I'm going to use this in my life, not just with my board or anybody else.
06:26Yeah, exactly.
06:26I'm just going to use it generally.
06:27But it's easier, right?
06:28See if I can protect somebody else so I don't have to put myself first.
06:31So I use that when you're making decisions, when people are asking you for things.
06:35My board said that I need to do this, and unfortunately, it doesn't align to what you're asking for.
06:39That's amazing advice.
06:41It is good advice.
06:42It really is.
06:42You're on to something, from my opinion, in terms of this particular space.
06:47We're going to send you to Brad.
06:48Congratulations, Amy.
06:49All right.
06:51Amy, how are you feeling?
06:53Well, how was it?
06:54That was amazing.
06:55They had really, really good advice.
06:57Well, Amy, thank you so much for participating in Entrepreneur Therapy presented by Amazon Business.
07:01To say thank you, we're giving you $1,000 in cash.
07:06That's amazing.
07:07I love Amazon.
07:08We use it all the time.
07:09We know Prove's mission is to make healthcare easier for women.
07:13And as your reach grows, Amazon Business Prime's paid membership can help your team with advanced analytics
07:19and powerful procurement features designed to save your team time and money and drive its success.
07:25I mean, we do 60% of our revenue on Amazon because, you know, when you're trying to conceive,
07:29you need a test tomorrow and you need that prime shipping.
