Personal Reflections On Why My SexTech Startup Failed: Lessons That Can Be Beneficial To Other FemTech Founders

One new activity I tried out last year was learning a new language, I really love Spanish and went for it.

Weeks into learning, I came across this quote that resonated with me because I am quite comfortable with failure.

“No tengas miedo a perder en la vida, porque así es como se aprende a ganar”

For non-Spanish speakers, it simply means “Do not be afraid of losing in life, because that’s how you learn to win”

In the first quarter of 2022, I made a complex decision to shut down operations at RevaginateNG.

It was a SexTech startup I launched in 2018 to make comprehensive sex education easily available to BIPOC individuals.

What Lead To The Failure?

RevaginateNG did not just fail unexpectedly, there was a visible decline over time and I thought we could deal with it.

While some of these factors leading to failure were beyond my control, some others could have been prevented.

Factors that I could not control

Health Crisis: No 25-year-old wakes up and typically thinks about how that pain they feel could turn out to be a life-threatening illness.

I lived quite healthily, worked out three days a week, fasted every Wednesday and took preventive healthcare seriously.

It was quite shocking to me when I received my diagnosis, everything went blank and I genuinely thought I had gone blind 😂.

It wasn’t funny at that moment I promise. But the desire to create change flew out the window and survival was my only priority, I just needed to live.

Restrictions: While this was something I could navigate, scaling my startup without these restrictions would have fostered better development.

For those who don’t work in the industry a little back story, in the SexTech industry we face three major levels of restrictions when running any business in the sextech industry.

Major restrictions include but are not limited to the following:

Advertising Restrictions: Running ads on the internet is like going for the hunger games, it can get very brutal.

You risk getting shadowbanned, disapproved by traditional advertising agencies, and even your app can also be taken off Appstore and Google play as some of the sextech applications are under prohibited categories on these platforms.

Some sextech businesses are even banned permanently from social media platforms.

Investment Restrictions: While the subject topic of sex seems like it’s gaining more attention it is still stigmatized.

It is also termed “taboo” so you typically wouldn’t see a lot of people investing in this category.

Government Restrictions: Registering a SexTech business is not as common as registering other businesses, in some countries businesses that provide sexual wellness solutions are not approved.

While in some other countries, only businesses that are registered under the sexual health category get approved.

This also increases the barrier of entry because sexual health is just one area of application in the sextech industry.

For businesses that eventually get approval, the payment system becomes an issue as some financial institutions do not approve some of these businesses to make payments.

It took Cindy Gallop four years to get a business bank account for her SexTech startup, you can read about it here.

Factors I could control but did not

Limited Study of The Market: The SexTech industry is still relatively new in Africa.

I went all in and didn’t study the market well enough to understand it, particularly for building a sex education platform.

I thought it was somewhat of a smart decision to study the success of the industry from the American or European market forgetting that the African market was a different ball game.

Lesson To Learn: Every market has similar growth opportunities in the sextech industry.

However, it is still important to understand that each market is unique and requires thorough research.

Inappropriate Revenue Model: People wanted to learn about sex, we received 200 calls barely one month after we launched our sex helpline.

The sex helpline made it easier for us to respond to critical sex challenges people were struggling with and when needed be referred them to queer and youth-friendly sexual health clinics.

While we assisted people the only way that we generated revenue was registration from the sex lab.

The sex lab was a live coaching session where we discussed all things sex and provided sex therapy alongside.

We had an excellent customer retention rate at the sex lab, but our operation model wasn’t good enough as it was a six months virtual program.

We realized that people who wanted to signup couldn’t because if they missed a session, catching up would require extra effort.

When I eventually started treatment, I couldn’t efficiently delegate as I also didn’t have an automated system.

Lesson To Learn: When one operation model doesn’t work, try pivoting.

The goal of every business is to generate profit while solving any challenge and finding a revenue generation model that works.

Long Decision-Making Time: In as much as I have become okay with failing, It still hurts me when I fail at something I put the effort in.

Closing my SexTech startup even when it was failing was a conflicting thought I had for a long period of time.

There was a period where I went all in again, using personal funds to run promotions and sponsorships.

I successfully created more brand awareness but what was the point when I had no solid revenue generation model?

I finally decided it was time to let go during treatment but it was way painful.

It felt like a dying person mourning the loss of their child but we eventually grow around grief, don’t we?

Lesson To Learn: While it is typical for a lot of entrepreneurs to have the “never to give up attitude”, it is important to measure how much you have lost.

Also, weigh the possibilities of recovering before the business becomes a nightmare that hunts you forever.

So, What’s Next For Me?

When I had a final meeting with the team, I dreaded asking them this question because I felt like I failed them.

They are doing amazingly well and were such an important part of my recovery journey, the support has been overwhelming.

Hera runs a social commerce store, started a career as a software developer and is still a medical student, I am really proud of her, a multitalented queen.

Tola graduated college with a B.A in English and she works as a freelance virtual assistant, you can connect with her here.

Nene owns an event planning agency and works in corporate finance, she always loved being a corporate lady.

Dr Tolu got married, started a family and is doing so well, our doctor strange is still saving the world.

For me, I am pretty much just living, I got a second chance at life and I am attempting so hard to do it right this time.

Maybe travel the world more, I created a death bucket list and I am still trying to achieve everything on that list.

Get my master's degree and keep dreaming, maybe I would succeed next time who knows?

Until I understand how it feels to succeed, I will keep failing and learning important lessons from failure.

Until next time,

Sana ❤️