YouSaid · the spoken record

Alyson Friedensohn

lines on the record
34
first
2020-09-04
most recent
2020-09-04
sittings or episodes
1
sources
podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “Interesting, you know, I think we're in the first inning of mental health as an industry and where it can go. We're at really like V1 of the things that we can do to help people with their mental health, both take a more proactive and preventative measure, but also help treat people who are struggling with things like depression, anxiety, and so forth. And what we're doing at Modern Health is really, as we're getting more and more people on our platform, is getting more data to be able to iterate our product to make it more personalized and make it a better solution for every single individual. And so we believe that five years from now, mental health will be the fourth pillar that every employee should have access to. So you've got medical, dental vision, we believe mental health is that fourth pillar. And so we believe modern health will become that fourth pillar for every employee across the board. And we're on track as arguably the fastest growing mental health startup out there. And so we believe in five years that modern health will be interchangeable with the words mental health and it'll be something that everyone has access to.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Couple things. One is, you know, tech can sometimes get a bad rap, and I think it's because to some extent we live in a bubble a little bit compared to the way that the rest of the world operates. And I think it'd be great to see is that people just be more vulnerable and be more human and know that it's okay for people to make mistakes and to give them the benefit of the doubt. I think if you just show up to work every day and show up being yourself and being honest and wanting to improve and really making a positive impact in the world, the rest will fall into place, but there's just this notion that everyone has to be perfect. And if anyone does anything wrong, they're a terrible person. And people start to get the wrong motivations and ulterior motives. And I think just going back to really what drives happiness is genuine relationships and being authentic. And part of that means being vulnerable. So I think one thing that I would love to change is about tech adventures just generally across the board, leaders, VCs, people being more vulnerable and being more human in front of people. And I think that that would go a long way.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “I'd have to go with one of my favorite cocktails, which is a painkiller, the one that's got some rum and some coconut milk and some nutmeg. And I think because I'd be really good, but I'd also be a pain in the ass.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Might be kind of a horny answer, but my mom, and I think the biggest takeaway from my relationship with my mom is that so she's a doctor, she's a primary care physician who owns her own private practice, which in this day and age is like a dinosaur. And she really just absolutely loves what she does. She's in her late 60s. She'll work till the day she dies. And she has always told me that if you love what you do, the rest will all fall into place. There's no amount of money that you'll make that will make you happy. It's really about coming to work and being so excited and passionate about what you're doing that ultimately will make you successful and will make you fulfilled.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Really, it's been wanting to move as quickly as possible and sprint when really you have to continue to remind yourself that it's a marathon and it's okay to take a deep breath and to be methodical and to slow down. So I think it's the desire, especially from a founder's perspective, it's almost like the need for speed and to want to move incredibly fast and even if that means breaking stuff, but having others around you to help slow you down. I think that's been the biggest challenge for me is just wanting to move incredibly fast and needing to slow down.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “So, my favorite book is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. And I would say because it has taught me the most everything from personal relationships to the business world, which ultimately is about really building relationships because you genuinely care and are interested in other people. And that's had an incredible impact in my life.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Gonna give a cop out answer. I'm gonna say it depends. So I think the biggest thing with relationships, at least that I've learned, is actually about finding fulfillment yourself before finding and partnering with someone else. And I know that's true for Matt and my husband as well. And for us, I think by doing that and finding fulfillment and whatever it is, whether it's your career or your aspirations, whatever it is that you want to do, then it just allows whoever you bring into your life to add to that. And people typically say like opposites attract. Matt and I are actually very similar in a lot of ways, different in a lot of ways, but very similar. And I think having that partnership is actually allowed for such a strong foundation with our relationship. And so I think my advice to you would be find and continue to do what really fulfills you. And then the person that you're meant to be with will fall into place and won't have to fit in the box.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “No, I mean, the biggest thing is just turning off, right? Especially someone who's running a mental health company. I think we both wake up in the morning and are like, oh my gosh, I thought of this thing, or maybe we should change our strategy to this or that. I mean, it's just very difficult to turn off when we're both so entrenched in what we're doing and it can be consuming running companies. It's not just a job. It's your life. And so it's a huge part of both of our lives. And so I think the biggest drawback to it is just being able to turn off. We might be in the most beautiful place in the world or getting married and still checking our email. We're just so entrenched in what we're doing. I think that's probably the biggest drawback.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “There's a lot of pros and cons here. I definitely think the pros that weigh the cons. Some of the benefits are well, first and foremost, I think we're the first married couple and founders found portfolio. So that's high up on the benefit list. But no, I think honestly, it's really about having someone along for the ride with you. Startups are roller coasters. And as I said before, they're really for every low, for every high, there's a low to match it or high to match it. And so having someone by your side who can really appreciate and empathize that. So celebrate your wins and help you through your losses is incredibly valuable. And it's almost like if you think about if you're going through something and you have a friend say, oh, you know, do it this way, or I get it. I've been there before and you're like, no, you haven't. You haven't done it. You haven't been there. Having someone next to you who really has and really gets it, it's almost like a comfort zone, right? It feels good to be around someone who when shit hits the fan can say, you know, I get it and it's really tough and I'm here for you. And so I think that that's probably the biggest benefit is really it's almost like we have each other as co-founders to support each other through running a company.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “From a product perspective or sales perspective, but by being very open and honest and vulnerable, I actually think that it almost puts you in a stronger position because by confronting any weaknesses that you have head on, you basically remove any surface area for folks to poke holes at you. You say, hey, here's everything, here's where we're at, like, here's all of it on the table. I'm going to almost allows you to be in a position of strength by doing that.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “For me, it's 100% yes. I think it might be hard for me to answer that if the company wasn't doing well. Like right now, of course, our company's growing incredibly fast. If anything, this whole pandemic 2020, everything that's gone on this year has been a massive accelerant for our business because as we all know, mental health has become even more in the spotlight. So it's hard for me to answer because I want to say 100% yes, but I've only been in a position where, okay, the company's doing well. It's growing. And so I can go in there and ask for real feedback and be vulnerable about certain things because overall the company is doing very well. But that said, I think that there's something about being vulnerable in front of investors that build a sense of trust that actually makes them want to work with you. So if you're sharing like, hey, this thing happened or shit hit the fan over here or we weren't able to close this higher. It shows investors that you really want to pull them in and get their help and be in it in the long haul with them. Whereas if you're hiding stuff or feel like you can't be that transparent, they might not trust really okay. How's this company actually doing? Is there something underlying here?”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Structure, structure, structure. So I think really putting a structure in place, having a template so that you can use for every board meeting, and then using your board meetings, honestly asking yourself, because a lot of people think, okay, a board meeting is I need to give these updates to investors, I need to present on XYZ, and yeah, that's helpful and investors want that to some extent. But really what I always check myself before board meetings is, okay, these people are experts. They see a ton of companies. How can I get their help? What is a specific thing that I could really, if I could be completely vulnerable, not afraid of sharing, like what would I love to get their help and feedback and advice on? And I make sure to always have that perspective going into my meeting so that way when I leave them one, it feels good, honestly, to just be totally vulnerable and totally honest. But then two, it feels good to actually be able to get their help, to get their advice versus just using it as a time to provide updates.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “It makes it exciting to go to board meetings. I've heard from other founders who dread their board meetings or are worried or nervous. I very much look forward to our board meetings. And I think that for me, that's been the litmus test for every investor I've evaluated is will I still be”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Yeah, it's a good question. I think the most important thing is making sure that you're finding people that you're bringing around the table that you'd be excited to work with. I think where founders go wrong is where they might optimize for valuation over who's actually going to roll up their sleeves and work with them and support them. At the end of the day, look, we're all human and we're all going to make mistakes and startups are for sure a full emotional roller coaster for every high, no matter how high it is, there's always always a low to match it. And so do you want someone on the other side of that table who's going to see you as a human, who's going to help you through that time, who's going to help coach you, going to set you up for success, help you get access to the resources you need, or who simply is just looking at you as potential return to their fund. For me, it's certainly the former, right? And so that's how we picked every person that we brought onto our cap table is making sure that we felt that we could really lean on them when we needed to and be honest and vulnerable in front of them. We wanted to work with people who believed in our mission. And I think that's really not only made an impact in the business, but just on the whole experience.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “So, I think John Doore is one of the best, if not the best salesperson I've ever met. He has actually come to some of our sales pitches with me, and it's just incredible to see him in action. I mean, the guy hasn't missed a beat. It's just so amazing to watch and can learn so much from that. I think that's where we really let him play to his strengths and where we learn from him. So that's what we're asking him for help and feedback and advice. Whereas maybe on something specific to setting up our sales team quota or our operations or product development team, we're going to reach out and lean on other advisors for that. So I'd say in accepting everything he says as gospel, we push back and we brainstorm. And I think it really comes down to letting him play to his strengths and then taking any advice or feedback or guidance he has and making it our own and taking what serves us and leaving what doesn't.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Is where it comes back to team and transparency and openness. So let's say that we needed someone in a certain role and was a level above someone on the team, you'd be open with that person on the team and say, hey, this is a skill set that we need. Do we think that you could grow into that? Yes, let's work together to try to get you there and let's agree that if you don't get there, then let's bring someone in who can help you get there, but we'll also help us reach our goals. So I think it's really just about being super honest and transparent with your team. Everyone should be working together towards a shared goal. And the best teammates are selfless, right? They're going to say, of course, help me get there. Tell me what I need to do to get there. I'll do everything I can. And if I get there, please give me the opportunity. And if not, of course, hell yeah, let's bring someone in who we can all learn from and who can help push the company along and help us all reach the overarching goal that we're all working toward.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “They're really just looking for the specific skill set when really it's about finding okay what's the value that this person brings to the table, but also what value do they bring to our culture is really what makes a difference in the long run.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “What's hard, right, is when you think about looking for the cookie cutter resume, certain backgrounds, and I think really focusing on diversity is, as we know, incredibly important to building successful teams and finding people from different backgrounds. And I think where people can go wrong is when they get too focused on a certain skill set or a certain background, when really it's about figuring out, okay, what's the problem that we need to solve and who are the best people that we need to get on that bus to help solve that problem? And I think that that's one of the most important things in the early days of building a business is getting the right people on the bus. And part of what we look for is just general athletes, so people who embody these certain values, maybe they don't have the skill set yet, but they are someone who is really strong on taking action. And so we know that they'll be able to teach themselves or they're a self-starter or they're super efficient, right? There's these certain qualities that when you look for and kind of like a general athlete, if you will, by getting them on and bringing them on in the early days, you'll be able to help build a team around that and build that type of culture. And I think we're people can go wrong is when they just look at someone's resume.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Fits your modern health. People who are good fit for modern health who are so excited to make a positive impact in the world, but also are super grateful in the opportunity to do that along the way. And so it's almost like we attract a certain type of person and by having that embedded in our culture when we find people who embody those values, they're attracted to modern health back.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “So, I think the first thing is being yourself, like being authentic and being vulnerable about who you are and what your values are. I think for me, one of the things that I often talk about with my team, and it's one of our values at Modern Health, but it's about having gratitude and embracing the journey. Look, we live in a bubble. Not everyone in the rest of the world lives like we do here in Silicon Valley. I mean, we get catered lunch when we're in the office. We have kombucha on tap. I mean, we all know the rest of the world does not live like this. And it's about finding people who haven't lost sight of that. So they come to the office to the extent that we're in the office or remote or they show up at work and they're so excited and grateful for the opportunity to get to work on something that can make a positive impact on someone's life while getting paid well, while getting to work with some amazing people. And that is one of the biggest things that I look for. And when I find people who value that, they're immediately attracted to modern health because that's everything that we stand for. Whereas if someone else is like, no, I just want to work at a startup because I think there's big upside or XYZ reason, those people are not going to be able to.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “I think it comes from being really open and honest and transparent with your team and especially the leaders on your sales team and being open with that. It's actually interesting that you brought this up because this came up this year where we have a very, very aggressive goal. And I actually raised to Hannah, I said, is this too aggressive of a goal? Like, I don't want you guys to burn out. We're in this for the long haul. This is a marathon. And so we need to go just as hard, if not harder next year and the year after that. So we can't go all out in one year if it means that everyone gets burnt out. And we actually had that conversation and she said, oh no, no, we're good. We can go after this goal. So I think what that means is actually finding the right people on the team who can set themselves up for success and who have that self-awareness of knowing what's something that's a stretch that they can push themselves to reach, but that's not such an impossible reach that they'd be really burning themselves out and getting there and unable to repeat it. And so that's what makes a really successful sales team is let's set a goal that's really a stretch for us, but we know that if we push it hard, we can get there. But we also know that we're going to be able”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Yeah, so I think the biggest thing is making sure it's repeatable. And so we've built a sales process, a sales playbook, and everything from how you onboard, how you train, how you're doing live demos with everyone on your team before they're able to actually hop on a call with a potential customer. And so we have a playbook and every single person that gets onboarded onto the modern health sales team has to go through every single step in that process in order to ultimately be let out into the wild and talking to potential customers.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Showing signs of being interested in your product, but you really need to stay diligent into the process you've put in place and not pass certain stages or not pass certain steps until you reach certain criteria.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Honestly, I think in the early days, the biggest challenge is you're getting feedback from your customers or potential customers and you're hearing different things and you almost feel like you want to chase the shiny object. So you have this idea and it's easy to get distracted and want to veer off course when you hear from one person, oh, they'd love for this thing to be built or you hear from another, oh, they'd love if this other type of feature or product existed. And so really taking that feedback and synthesizing it in a way that allows you to still stay on course, I think was one of the most difficult parts because in the early days when you only have a couple customers, if someone's saying, hey, I want X and you don't have that thing built, you're like, okay, we should go build it, right? We'd get that customer. But it's really about making sure you're pattern matching and getting as much data and information from your potential customers before you do that. And so I think that's one of the hardest parts. And then after that, I think it's about being really diligent with each stage in the sales cycle. So really the way that I think about it is we've got different stages and it's almost like, okay, don't pass go until you've checked these boxes. You can get excited when a customer's interested.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Margin for error and really build in operations around how you're pitching and growing and selling modern health. And that was just incredibly helpful from starting to use my strength as an operator and translating that into sales. And so that's really how we've built the foundation of sales at Modern Health is really what's the operations behind sales? How do we put all the pieces in place to allow the team to scale and allow to build a repeatable process that can grow?”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “My background is in operations, really. I knew very little about sales. I think in the early days, what was easy for me is because when you believe in something so badly and you have so much conviction in it, it just comes through, right? It's almost like you don't have to sell. You're just sharing your story and you're so passionate about what you're saying. You won't take no for an answer. So I think that in the early days, that helps when you're selling and pitching to VCs to your initial customers. But then one thing that I learned with sales that I think was incredibly helpful in setting a strong foundation is actually that sales is just like operations and setting up a good foundation from an operational perspective can allow you to scale a strong sales force. And so I was actually lucky enough to in the early days during our seed round, Mashmire Group Ventures marked invested in modern health. And he brought me in and said, okay, we're doing a five-hour sales boot camp and we showed up. He said, shut your computer and now pitch me on modern health. And then he had us do it again. And each time we had like a little bit of a different version of it. And he was like, you need to make sure that this is completely crisp, that there's no...”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “More important is figuring out product market fit. It's iterating on your product, it's speaking to your customers, your potential customers, it's learning from them and learning how to move fast and be on your toes. And so I actually think that as we go forward, the typical technical founder who as a CS undergrad and maybe dropped out is not actually necessary and someone who might be really strong in another area who has unique insight into the future and so has thought of this idea and is now executing on it. I actually think we'll really set those people up for success.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “So we went through y combinator, the accelerator program. And typically, when you're going through y combinator, they're looking for strong technical founders. And it's interesting because actually, as we know, most women are not technical. Majority of engineers are men. And so right away, that's to some extent would be saying that, okay, for women, you have to be strong on the technical side in order to found companies. But think about some of the best female leaders and founders out there. They actually are not technical by background. They might be strong in sales or operations or marketing. And so I think one of the most important things in starting a company is actually playing to your strength. So if you're an amazing salesperson or if you're an amazing marketer, and especially as a woman who tends to not fall into the group of being technical or an engineer, that's totally okay. If you're really strong in one of those areas, playing to that strength will really set yourself up for success. And the reality is in today's world, we can get access to development all around the world, right? So you can have someone help build the MVP of your app. You don't need to be technical yourself.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “It's a really interesting question. I think it stems from the idea that when we think about mental health, we think about people in crisis mode. We think about people who are struggling with depression, who might not be able to work. We think about people who get to that point where it's the flashing red light and they're in a crisis. But really, and this stems from what we believe at Modern Health, mental health is this full spectrum. Everything from green, yellow, and red. So think about your mental health and that it ebbs and flows at different points in your life. And what's really interesting about that is that mental health doesn't necessarily just mean you're in the red. It doesn't mean you're in crisis mode. You can have great mental health, but because for years, for decades,”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “Allows you to reach your potential, and whatever it is that you're wanting to do in life, and ultimately that will allow you to be fulfilled.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “An interesting question, and it's part of what modern health's mission is and vision is overall, which is really about reaching your potential. And everyone reaches their potential in different ways. It's not measured by how much money you make or what school you go to, but it's you reaching your potential and is that allowing you to be fulfilled? And one thing that I think I've learned from playing sports I played lacrosse at Johns Hopkins as a division one athlete on a scholarship, learning how to balance getting up at 5.30 in the morning and having a four-hour practice and school and class and studying for tests and what you endure from a physical perspective, it's difficult. And so that helped build a lot of resilience for me and also learning to be on a team. Might be in high school that you're the best player on your team and then you get to college and you might be the best player on the bench. You have to learn these different roles and also put the team first and learn that it's not always about you as an individual, but it's about reaching your potential. And that might be how to be the best teammate. And that might be how do you support your team in a way that you haven't before. So I think for me, when I think about resilience, it's how do you build the resilience that ultimately allows”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “Part of modern health and the inspiration behind it is how do we give folks the tools to build that resilience so when things do happen whether it's getting laid off, whether it's this pandemic, whether it's Black Lives Matters movement, all these things that happen in our life that are challenges and put us at higher risk for things like depression and anxiety, how do we give ourselves the tools to when those things do happen we can overcome them.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “That I spent every dollar I had on got ruined. Me and my team got laid off, and then my boyfriend at the time broke up with me. So it was kind of the trifecta and I laugh about it now, but at the time it was an incredibly difficult time in my life. I completely uprooted my life. I thought, why the heck did I move all the way out here and really like uproot everything and feel like I had to start over? And so it was in that moment where I decided to seek out getting help from a therapist. And it was just such a terrible experience. I mean, I must have called 50 different therapists and eventually got connected to someone who agreed to a sliding scale rate that I could afford until I got a job and my feet under me and I still see that person to this day. And part of the inspiration behind modern health, I tell the story because we all know it's hard to get access to therapy and that's part of what we're all trying to solve in the world of mental health. But I think one of the biggest things here is that I had the resilience to keep going and it's really about everything that you do in the tools that you create for yourself as you're working up to those moments of adversity and how you work through them.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “So, I grew up exposed to the medical environment. My parents are physicians, and so I thought I wanted to be a doctor. So I went to Johns Hopkins for my undergrad, and I think as I got older and maybe started to understand the economics behind med school, I realized I wanted to find a different way to make an impact in the healthcare space. And so I ended up working in healthcare consulting for a while after college in Washington, D.C. And I had always wanted to start a company. I think it's something that had been in my DNA since I was a little kid, and I was told I had to move to this place called Silicon Valley. which I of course knew very little about. So I said, okay, I'm going to move out there. I'll come up with some idea. I'll start a company. I'll raise money and I'll move back because of course my whole family and friends were on the east coast. So I booked a one-way ticket about six years ago to San Francisco and it was a complete disaster. I showed up and within two weeks of arriving, the apartment that I moved into that I spent every dollar I had on a security deposit because we all know San Francisco is crazy expensive flooded so I literally had nowhere to live the whole building had to move out.”

    2020-09-04 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source