Start-up Society #83: The Benefits Issue
Keeping the American Dream Alive
Welcome to the 83rd edition of Start-up Society! This blog highlights some of the most exciting start-ups in the country striving to keep the American Dream alive.
Make sure you check out the previous issue, if you have not already, here.
This week we are taking a look at two companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area that are supporting the physical and mental health of Americans. Our first company is empowering families with their step-by-step planning guidance for family support.
Our second company is focused on supporting employees at any company by giving them access to a variety of benefit providers. Most benefits employees receive are related to healthcare or retirement savings, but other non-monetary benefits can help retain talent and demonstrate empathy to the employee.
Cleo
HQ: San Francisco, California
Founded: 2016
Employees: 225 (on LinkedIn)
ABOUT THE COMPANY
- Cleo’s clinician-designed family support programs show commitment to help working parents and deliver improved health outcomes and savings, which is essential for an engaged, loyal, and diverse workforce.
- Cleo guides your working families every step of the way from the early planning stages, through expecting a child, to parenting children age 12 and beyond. Notable partners include Pinterest, Salesforce, and Pepsico.
MEET THE TEAM
Sarahjane Sacchetti, Chief Executive Officer
- Prior to joining Cleo, Sarahjane helped build Collective Health as their CMO, and has helped launch and build several startups in a variety of industries, from adtech to social media to energy and enterprise technology.
- Earlier in her career, she led political campaigns for healthcare and education districts across California.
- Sarahjane earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Communications from New York University.
Chitra Akileswaran, Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer
- Chitra Akileswaran, MD, MBA is a Board Certified Obstetrician Gynecologist and is concurrently the Vice Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Alameda Health System, a large safety net health system in Oakland, California.
- She holds a Lecturer appointment at Harvard Medical School. With a background in healthcare leadership and interest in care delivery innovation, Chitra established initial operations and Cleo’s care model. She was responsible for creating the role of the Cleo Guide and ensuring that trust continues to be the central tenet of the Cleo experience.
- She previously worked at McKinsey & Company. She received her undergraduate degree from Brown University, an MD from Harvard Medical School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is the proud mother to her son, Prem.
Mike Leonard, President & Chief Commercial Officer
- From his early career at Accenture and throughout 25 years in enterprise technology, Mike has helped to grow and scale high-impact startup companies serving Fortune 1000 customers.
- Mike was most recently Chief Revenue Officer at Vim, and prior to that, Chief Commercial Officer at Castlight Health and EVP of Sales & Marketing at Jiff (acquired by Castlight Health in 2017).
- Mike is a graduate of Lehigh University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and resides with his wife and their three active children in Boulder, Colorado.
Amy Kux, Chief Financial Officer
- Amy is Cleo’s Chief Financial Officer where she is responsible for Cleo’s financial functions, including accounting, audit, treasury, corporate finance and investor relations.
- Prior to Cleo, Amy was the CFO at Unbabel, an AI translation company. Previously, Amy was on the management team at Udemy and Cloudflare where she supported global expansion, built solid operational foundations to assist in billion dollar valuations, and helped raise over $200M.
- She has significant experience with venture-backed technology companies, ranging in AI, education marketplace, internet security and mobile gaming.
Yasi Baiani, Vice President of Product
- Yasi is Cleo’s Vice President of Product, where she is responsible for Cleo’s product strategy and innovation. Prior to Cleo, Yasi was the Head of Teladoc Health’s mental health product where she built the first integrated Livongo/Teladoc product, coupling digital solutions with teletherapy services.
- Previously, she led product and product teams at Fitbit, athenahealth, and Halo Neuroscience. At Fitbit, Yasi strategized and built new categories such as Female Health and Sleep that were used by millions of users and were some of the most engaged parts of the product.
- Yasi holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and has been recognized as a Top LinkedIn Voice in Healthcare.
THE START-UP SOCIETY ASSESSMENT
- For people to be their best at work, they need family support at home. Cleo is the only family benefit that supports parents with one-on-one, lasting relationships. Cleo Guides stay with families for their entire journey to help them navigate all the ups, downs, and complications of parenting.
GO DEEPER
Twic
HQ: San Francisco, California
Founded: 2017
Employees: 109 (on LinkedIn)
ABOUT THE COMPANY
- Twic gives employees the freedom to choose health and wellness options that are right for them. Businesses such as Microsoft, Twitch, Zoom, and Square trust Twic to provide the best benefits to their employees.
- Twic allows employees to gain access to 100s of vendors with preferred pricing and streamlined checkout. Their Twic card is intelligent, with no more guesswork or anxiety over reimbursements claims.
- For employers, designing and delivering a benefits program isn’t easy. Twic helps turn programs into a cohesive strategy with virtually no administration.
- The company addresses a diverse workforce, provides 20% more purchasing power, and 2x better engagement. Twic clients experience over 70% engagement rate, doubling the industry average.
MEET THE TEAM
Jason Fan, Founder & CEO
- Jason Fan graduated from UCLA in 2013, with a degree in Materials Science.
- Jason was a Product Manager and then Director of Product Management at Comfylife for nearly four years prior to founding Twic in 2017.
Max Hsieh, Co-Founder & CTO
- Max graduated from UCLA in 2013, with a degree in Computer Science.
- Max was a Software Engineer at NetSuite for nearly three years prior to founding Twic with Jason Fan.
THE START-UP SOCIETY ASSESSMENT
- With the millennials becoming the majority of corporate America and remote work becoming a norm, the traditional strategy for employee benefits is being challenged. There are benefits professionals struggling to keep up with the ever-changing benefits landscape and desperately trying to strike the balance between budgeting and employee needs.
- At Twic, a better way exists — one that meets employees where they are while providing employers with flexibility to adapt to change.
GO DEEPER
Thank you for reading this article! Feel free to leave a comment, clap, and follow. Stay tuned for our next write-up, posted every week.
Authors: Arteen Zahiri, Rumeer Keshwani, Julian Ramcharan, Hooman Dadkho
