Founder Diaries: Joanna Strober, Founder & CEO of Midi Health
On women’s health, hormones, and improving access to care
Like many other industries, healthcare has experienced its fair share of transformation throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Case in point? Telehealth. The now-ubiquitous alternative to in-person care wasn’t covered by insurance companies pre-pandemic, but now it is — and it’s here to stay. It’s also the reason that Midi Health exists — because without that stamp of legitimacy, founder Joanna Strober says she wouldn’t have been able to take the plunge.
Midi specializes in midlife women’s healthcare, which probably sounds like a synonym for menopause, but Strober says they’re excited to help anyone who is experiencing hormonal challenges, which can start as early as your 30s. “Our goal is to scale our expertise so that everyone can get care where they first see you as a woman, not just a person,” she says.
At K50 Ventures, we take a holistic approach to investing across various problems in healthcare and digital health. We look at care delivery, payments and insurance, tools to empower providers and physicians, and other models for improving access, affordability, and quality of care within health. One of the solutions we continue to invest in is the vertical care model– the objective being to reduce the cost of care while increasing the quality of delivery through specialized providers, products, and services centered around data-driven outcomes.
Specifically, we looked at many different founders and approaches to address menopause and hormonal health for women 40–50+ years old. There are ~45M women in the US who seek care for menopause symptoms, but don’t get any treatment. There’s a lack of resources and information and a major shortage of equipped providers with only 500 certified menopause providers and more than 80% of OB/GYNs claiming they’re not trained in menopause. In fact, 97% of women in midlife (40–65+ years old) don’t have an OB/GYN.
As we explored different opportunities, there were a few crucial elements we were looking for:
- A brand built for the consumer and by the consumer that would resonate with and represent the demographic.
- An inclusive take on care that catered to patients looking for both Eastern and Western medical practices, represented by both products and provider training.
- A distribution channel that would reduce the costs of acquisition and was affordably scalable to reach the masses.
When we met Joanna it was clear that she had all of these elements in mind and more, and our team was immediately drawn to her vision. Her digital health experience, empathy, understanding of both B2B and B2B2C distribution channels, as well as her ability to surround herself with top talent made it evident to us that she had the wherewithal and motivation to lead a category defining company.
Midi Health is solving for democratizing access to hormonal care as the only virtual care clinic for menopause that’s covered by insurance by providing access to expertly trained practitioners, coaching, and personalized care while collaborating with providers and various digital health partners. As a national clinic, they’re able to reduce the cost of care through access to commercial insurance rates and multi-state licensed clinicians while delivering higher quality care through expert care protocols, training, and a nationwide brand.
Newly launched and prepared to take on a healthcare industry that Strober says has a dearth of “trained practitioners who understand women’s health and who can help them throughout this 15–20 year journey of struggling with health concerns,” Midi is poised to make waves. On that note, let’s jump into our chat with Joanna.
Where in the world are you?
Palo Alto, California.
…And what are you working on right now?
I’m building Midi, a platform for women’s health.
Describe your working style in three words.
Efficient, direct, curious.
How has your life transformed since founding a company?
At the time of founding MIDI, my children also left the house, so I now have more time to work because I have fewer responsibilities. But I definitely miss family dinners!
Most surprising thing about life as a CEO?
The amount of ups and downs are pretty different from any other job. There’s a lot of adrenaline and a lot of highs and lows every day.
Team building philosophy?
At Midi, we have this incredible group of super experienced people who are passionate about our product. It’s a passion project for everyone. I’m building a team of people who care really deeply about what we’re doing and the problem we’re trying to solve, and that’s my number one priority in terms of hiring people — that they’re really passionate about the problem. We have an environment that’s very collaborative and independent at the same time, so we need to attract people who like that.
Favorite part about your job?
I just love what we are building. I am so excited to be able to offer this to the world and the feedback I get from people who use our service is incredibly rewarding.
Midi focuses on women in and around menopause. Why that demographic?
Menopause is a funny word; it means the end of your period, but symptoms can start in your 30s. It means that your hormones are changing. Women don’t know when these things are happening to them that it’s even related to menopause, but there are not enough trained practitioners who understand women’s health and who can help them throughout this 15–20 year journey of struggling with health concerns. It’s a very broad range of issues that come up — from sleep to anxiety to migraines to painful sex to joint pain — and because women don’t understand that they are related to their hormones, they don’t often seek the right care.
The right care would probably be provided by OBGYNs, but most OBGYNs do it because they want to deliver babies, not because they want to take care of women after babies. And 97% of women, after they have children, don’t even have an OBGYN. So they just don’t have a place to go. But at Midi, we have a collective of practitioners who are really knowledgeable in this area of women’s health. Our goal is to scale that expertise so that everyone can get care where they first see you as a woman, not just a person.
The problems with our healthcare system came into sharp focus during the pandemic. What was it like launching Midi during that time?
The pandemic created our opportunity. Prior to the pandemic and laws for telehealth changing, you could not have started Midi. Only in-person visits were reimbursed by insurance, which made it really hard to start a scalable company in this space. But because of the pandemic, telehealth visits are now reimbursed the same as in-person. That change in laws enabled our company to get started.
Who can access care from Midi?
Starting around 35, women start going through hormone-depletion issues. And many women go into early menopause because of hysterectomies or ovariectomies or other cancer treatments. We have an entire body of expertise to help those women who go into early menopause. Anyone who thinks they are experiencing hormone issues, we are here for you! That’s really what we’re creating — it’s not a hard rule at 40, it’s about the symptoms you are experiencing and how we can take care of you considering those symptoms.
What’s your hope or vision for the future, both for Midi and for women’s healthcare more generally?
Between the new laws and technology, what I’m excited about is that you can scale expertise. Expertise no longer needs to be local. Right now, if I live next to a premier health system, I can get access to those practitioners. If I don’t live near them, I need to fly to go see them. But I don’t think healthcare needs to be so localized. I am hopeful that experts will get licensed in multiple states, and you will be able to access great care no matter where you live. That breaking of barriers is really exciting to me.
Is Midi only providing virtual and telehealth services?
Yes, and then we’ll partner with healthcare systems for in-person services when appropriate. But 90% of what women need is to talk. If I need to talk about my anxiety or my moods changing, I don’t need to take off their shirt and go sit on a table somewhere. There’s actually some really good research that shows that doctors do a better job listening when they’re on video versus when they’re in an office. Most of what you need is to talk and listen; we’ll send you other places to get the in-person care that you need. That is the way that care should be delivered in the future. The expensive real estate should be used for tests and things like that; it’s not necessary for us to have a conversation.
Advice to future founders?
Start with a problem that you know how to solve, or that you think you know how to solve. It’s much easier to start solving a specific problem that you have a good understanding of.
K50 Ventures is a pre-seed venture fund backing founders who are building a better future for the 99%. Across health, finance, work, we’re committed to improving affordability, opportunity, and access. Have an idea that’s going to change the world? Reach out to us by filling out this form. For more founder-focused content, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter.
