In this episode of Lifers, Maven Clinic founder and CEO Kate Ryder joins host Christina Farr to discuss her journey building the first unicorn in the women's health category. Kate reflects on the "wartime" mentality of the early years, the challenges of scaling to a $500 million company, and the resilience needed to face investors who initially dismissed the space as a "niche" market. They explore the industry’s evolution, from overcoming Silicon Valley “trolls” to leading the transition of digital health from niche point solutions into massive, integrated platforms. Dive into the Granola notes from this episode: https://notes.granola.ai/t/d2c2adc9-b014-415e-91ab-75716d5784fd-008umkv4

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Join Christina for an upcoming webinar:
* ⁠5/19 - What will AI do for employer healthcare and benefits with Garner Health - https://streamyard.com/watch/sQfWpwRzMqWE
* 5/21 - The case for building an AI native electronic health record system - https://streamyard.com/watch/RCVSNheSPePs
* ⁠⁠6/3 - Privacy, AI & the future of HIPAA with the former founding director of ONC - https://streamyard.com/watch/bzW4sh8WAPyS
* ⁠⁠6/23 - Not everyone can access the top 1% of physicians. Will AI change that? - https://streamyard.com/watch/qY9td6fhiXK3

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SPONSOR: Granola
Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://granola.ai/lifers with code: LIFERS
Interested in sponsoring the show? lifers@a16zstudios.com

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LINKS:
Maven Clinic: https://www.mavenclinic.com/
Sachin Jain on Lifers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvtakm7NMnI
Sean Duffy and Stephanie Davis on Lifers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLRmtmcQjP4

Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr
Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/
Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/
Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books

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FOLLOW:
Kate:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-ryder-87474933/
https://x.com/_KateRyder

Chrissy:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/
https://x.com/chrissyfarr

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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Lead In
(00:58) Intro
(02:09) Founder energy and motivation
(02:41) Which growth stage hurts
(06:42) Hiring for the stage
(10:19) Storytelling as a superpower
(17:12) Sponsor: Granola
(18:05) Selling change without fear
(21:16) ROI and aligned incentives
(23:57) What carve outs mean
(26:33) Point solutions to platforms
(29:23) Women VCs and fundraising bias
(36:17) How personal to get
(38:47) Consumer health comes back
(42:09) Gen Z parenthood and misinformation
(47:12) Wrap