🌱 Seed Spotlight #3 - Pollie

I am excited to present the third edition of Seed Spotlight! This edition features a conversation with an early-stage startup founder building in the healthcare space. I will dive into the company’s business model, the problem they are solving, and learnings from the founder.

Today’s edition features Pollie - a company building digital solutions for women with complex chronic conditions, starting with PCOS.

Company: Pollie, founded by Jane Sagui and Sabrina Mason.

Problem: 10% of women struggle with PCOS, which is the #1 cause of female infertility in the US.

Solution: Pollie helps women manage their PCOS symptoms through personalized, digital care. Each care plan is curated based on the patient’s lab results, goals, symptoms, and life stage.

I was introduced to the cofounder of Pollie, Jane Sagui, by last month’s Seed Spotlight founder, Manan! Healthcare is a small world.

I knew absolutely nothing about PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome) before talking with Jane. So, for those who also don’t know much about the topic, here is the TL;DR from Mayo Clinic:

This hormone imbalance can cause many issues including infertility, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, depression/anxiety, acne, and hair loss. PCOS is often exacerbated by obesity.

I admire healthcare founders who are patients first - it’s what drew me to Headway. From the start, Jane was very open with me about her struggles with PCOS. In her late teens, Jane struggled with acne, insomnia, anxiety, and many other common symptoms. After many visits to various doctors, she was diagnosed with PCOS. A diagnosis is a rarity when dealing with PCOS - 50% of cases go undiagnosed.

Over the course of the next few years and through college, Jane learned to deal with her symptoms. She found the best treatment was a holistic approach, focusing on hormonal health and wellness.

Fast forward to early 2020, when Jane and her college friend, Sabrina Mason, decided to launch Pollie. Jane has a background in healthcare management consulting and venture capital, and Sabrina has a background in public health and operating roles at health tech companies.

There are so many different ways to keep PCOS symptoms at bay, Jane shared with me - it’s just different for everyone. Taking a bird’s eye view, a care plan typically consists of targeted lifestyle tweaks, wellness coaching, and symptom tracking - nothing revolutionary, but such changes take work and structure, and it is confusing for patients to learn what really works for them without the proper support.

Pollie’s model is simple and easy to understand. Their care team interprets the patient’s test results, and uses that information to devise a custom solution. Here is the patient journey from Pollie’s website:

Pollie, which is going to have an accompanying mobile app, will launch mid-2022. You can sign up for the waitlist here!

Jane and Sabrina have their sights set on more than just PCOS care. There are several “complex chronic conditions” that affect women - Jane and Sabrina want to tackle them all. If Pollie can accomplish what Virta has accomplished for diabetes reversal, their limits are sky high. I am so excited to watch the whole-person care trend continue!

You can learn more about Pollie here. They also have great social media game on Instagram.

My name is Dan Cimaglia - I am the curator of Techstars Health Digest. If you know of any companies that should be featured in a future edition of Seed Spotlight, let me know!

If you enjoyed learning about Pollie, please forward this newsletter to a few friends! It would mean a lot to me to share these stories with a wider audience.

You can also follow me on Twitter @dan_cimaglia, where I post similar content about healthcare, start-ups, and tech!