4 Women’s Health Entrepreneurs Reveal Go-to-Market Strategies

You have the big idea. You build the product. Early adopters validate your vision, telling you it’s going to change the world. But encouraging words alone doesn’t translate into a successful business — a smart go-to-market (GTM) strategy does.

“As a startup founder, go-to-market is one of the most challenging aspects to figure out,” said Jessica Bell van der Wal, Co-founder and CEO of Frame Fertility, a concierge service that provides personalized fertility coaching and care. Bell van der Wall and three other female founders shared their GTM journeys recently at the SiS New York Women’s Health conference, held in May at Cure.

For each, their GTM path was anything but linear. They had try by trial and error, pivot and embrace unexpected markets that differed than their initially vision. They reflected on the lessons learned from their GTM experience, offering several key strategies for other healthcare entrepreneurs.

Go where the market takes you

For OOVA, an at-home hormone testing platform that uses urine to monitor hormones and help women better manage their fertility journey, the initial go-to-market plan was direct-to-consumer: The idea was that patients would test at home and bring the results to their doctors to determine a care plan.

“I estimated it would take five years to conduct clinical trials and gather the data that doctors could trust,” said OOVA founder Amy Divaraniya, PhD.

Amy Divaraniya, PhD, CEO and Founder of OOVA, Inc.

But just as clinical trials were set to begin, COVID-19 hit and fertility clinics were suddenly unable to see patients in person. Clinicians began reaching out to OOVA for samples of the test.

“Within two weeks of the shutdown, we built a compliant portal where clinicians could view their patients’ data in real time,” Divaraniya recalled. An Instagram Live from a doctor who raved about the experience set off a chain reaction of demand from other providers. Now, OOVA partners with fertility clinics nationwide, as well as providing their product direct to consumer.

“Our go-to-market strategy was flipped on its head,” Divaraniya said.

Educate to differentiate

Alessandra Henderson, co-founder and founding CEO of Elektra Health, a virtual care platform addressing menopause, emphasized education as an important part of any GTM strategy.

“Ultimately, no matter your model — B2B, DTC, or B2B2C, you are touching a patient at the end of the day,” she noted.

Alessandra Henderson, Co-founder and Founding CEO of Elektra Health

Elektra Health began as a direct-to-consumer company, offering telemedicine care for women going through menopause. Their services are now covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance.

In 2022, Elektra expanded into B2B, contracting with Mass General Brigham Health. Through this partnership, it markets directly to plan members. The company’s strong brand voice has been key to its success.

Henderson noted that while investors may advise to quickly churn out generic content using ChatGPT, “Women are smart, and they’ve been gaslit before.” So, invest in thoughtful content that supports your company’s point of view and mission. Be sure to include expert voices from clinicians to build your reputation as an authority.

Return to your roots

Bell van der Wal launched Frame Fertility in 2020, inspired by her own fertility journey. At first, the company tested its service direct to consumers, with the idea of bringing it to employers to offer to their workforce. But after six months trying to break in, that strategy wasn’t working. The company had to identify the pain points. The answer? A lack of providers.

“So many counties around the U.S. don't have a fertility clinic or even an OB-GYN,” Bell van der Wal pointed out. So Frame decided to diversify its GTM to reach provider types across the spectrum, including primary care, OB-GYN, and fertility specialists, to ensure its platform would be accessible to as many women as possible.

Jessica Bell van der Wal, Co-founder and CEO of Frame Fertility.

Define your metrics and pivot if necessary

After losing her mom to breast cancer and being diagnosed herself at a young age, Kaitlin Christine started Gabbi. The company developed a proprietary risk assessment platform that focuses on early detection of breast cancer specifically for women younger than 50, a demographic for which breast cancer incidence is on the rise.

Gabbi’s GTM started with payers, then employers, interested in cost savings.

“But what I learned going to market to both of those channels was that the sell was all about saving money. People want to make money even more,” noted Christine, CEO of Gabbi.

Kaitlin Christine, CEO and founder of Gabbi, Inc.

So Gabbi pivoted to health systems and providers, where OB-GYNs refer their patients to Gabbi to have their breast cancer risk assessed, and based on their risk level, Gabbi will send them for breast imaging, biopsies, and diagnoses — all profitable services for providers.

Christine’s advice? “Be ruthlessly focused. Pick a path, set metrics, and run at it like hell for a defined period of time. If it’s not working by X date, pivot. That’s how we were able to try three different markets without burning through our funding too fast.”

Use “failures” to justify your convictions

Bell van der Wal echoed the importance of being willing to pivot quickly, and to use the knowledge of what didn’t work to fortify a new GTM direction. When Frame realized employers weren’t the right market, it used that learning in meetings with potential investors.

“They would ask, ‘What about employer?’ I could pull up the slide with the data showing why it didn’t work, and they found it very educational,” she said.

OOVA's Divaraniya agreed with turning what doesn’t work into a positive. “Own that story, be confident why you've made that decision, and don’t let others shake you from your convictions.”

No matter your GTM, building trust among women is paramount

Rock Health recently put out a report showing that even though women trust their doctors, they still don’t feel they’re being heard. Bell van der Wal remembered her fertility journey, where her annual OB-GYN visit didn’t allow enough time to go deep on the topic, so she would instead scroll social media looking for answers.

“Fertility is a needy conversation, and your doctor’s office closes at 4, so you aren’t getting a response when you’re spiraling at night,” said Bell van der Wal.

Christine pointed out that when a patient reaches out to Gabbi, there's a voice on the other end of the line, and that human touch builds trust with patients. Consumer-friendly experiences that wrap around traditional healthcare models can bridge the gap in a system that isn’t able to address the full spectrum of women’s needs.

And whether you’re marketing directly to women or not, word-of-mouth about your product or service from satisfied customers can be a powerful aspect of your marketing strategy. Christine recounted a recent real-world example: A 31-year-old patient in Georgia had her risk assessed by Gabbi and was found to have a hereditary cancer mutation. This early detection likely saved her life. She told a friend in New York about her experience, and that friend had her own risk assessed, discovering she too had a genetic mutation.

As Christine noted: “Think about when you buy an incredible pair of shoes, what's the first thing you do? You tell your girlfriends. You do the same thing with health.”