Founders: The
@ycombinator
application deadline is 8 pm PT on April 7!
YC was only 9% female founders when I was in the S'21 batch. Let's get that to 20%!!! I'll write any woman or non-binary human who applies THIS WEEK (by Sun, April 2) a reco—DM me asap 🧡🧡
@chrissyfarr
Here's an equally valuable anecdote: I was breastfed for 1 month bc my mom is an OBGYN who went back to work IN 1 MONTH, and I went to Yale.
Take that "may impact" and shove it,
@CNN
.
Just met Simon of
@eatyourkimchi
on E Houston + steered him away from Katz's Deli towards Russ & Daughters. My ancestors are smiling in their graves 🐟☺️
Grateful for a powerful
@ycombinator
reunion. YC unites founders the world may not expect.
We're a maternity virtual care startup
@ruthhealthco
, trying to help end the
#maternalmortality
crisis.
@VLangs
powders breastmilk, immunologically active + lasts 6 mos.
We are YC, too.
I feel grateful for
@ycombinator
most days—especially today.
@ProfDumpster
@JupeInc
should be crowned YC community builder of the decade. Few dozen founders took a risk, flew to Hill Country TX, SENT IT.
Swapped strategies, 2 stepped, ate too much meat. Big founder love 🖤
Y'all I learned lots from this SVB s#!t show + media storm, but one biggie: as a woman founder commenting on breaking news, people say a hell of a lot about your appearance.
Your message is not heard if your image is not liked. I'll never forget who actually listened.
Women-founded healthcare companies of
@ycombinator
S23! Proud of this community 👇🏻🧡
Flair Health - A platform for doctors to grow their own holistic primary care practices
Simbie Health - An AI powered practice in a box for nurse practitioners in women’s health
Today is big for
@mraudreywu
+ me.
After 2 years building
@ProjectDioptra
+
@RuthWomxn
, we take home our first small paycheck. Venture fundraising is absurdly hard, injust, rigged—especially for womxn. But we did it.
NEXT UP: Ruth Health *GLOBAL* launches this month 🧡
If you have sleep, anxiety, or depression issues, there is one evidence-based thing you really must do:
Magnesium glycinate.
450mg/day.
Changed my life.
@digitald0ctor
@chrissyfarr
@CNN
I'd rather not valorize going back to work when someone is not ready or at the expense of bonding with baby. She ran her own practice, so she had no choice and no paid leave (bc America).
No mother should have to make that choice.
On
@joinClubhouse
tonight, I pitched
#RuthHealth
. A male moderator told me my tone was wrong, like I had "something to prove."
Sir, I have everything to prove. A female founder, gay? Tough odds. 2% of the year's VC goes to female founders. TY for the feedback :]
Ran a half marathon today.
It rained.
It hurt.
My time sucked.
Guess what? I don't regret it.
Spent 2 hrs outside w 9,000 ladies.
(Some even chased me ooh)
About to demolish some Domino's.
✨️Embrace the suck✨️
🎉Ready to take the stage tonight at
@UHC
Accelerator Powered by
@Techstars
Demo Day🎉
@mraudreywu
w
@RuthWomxn
expo sign.
And don't you worry, one of our slides contains the word "vagina."
Building in healthcare is so fucking hard.
If you're a healthcare founder, pls take 1 min (set a clock) right now to thank yourself for tackling a MASSIVE problem.
Could've taken on a smaller problem, built a B2B SaaS platform. Instead you chose this madness 🙃 thank you.
To the 105+ female/non-binary founders who asked for a YC reco: I will get to them! This will be my Sunday. Please be patient. Send me your HN info, company name, and a 2-3 sentence blurb about your co. Make it easier for me to help you.
Thanks + good luck 🖤
Closed a B2B deal today that brings
@RuthWomxn
to working moms/fams across two states.
CEO of the company has 4 kids, believes maternal care is partially his job as an employer.
Healthcare's changing. So friggin' excited to drive one iota of that change 🖤
@mraudreywu
Honored to see
@RuthWomxn
featured in
@FemTechAnalytic
'FemTech Industry Landscape Overview Q4 2021.'
🎉In 2021, the global VC investment in FemTech crossed $1 billion FOR THE FIRST TIME🎉
BIG WIN for
@RuthWomxn
today:
1st Postpartum Pilot patient seen, billed, went home happy!
WAIT. She was home the whole time :]
TY
@ycombinator
for sparking this pivot. Birthing peeps need support after birth too; we're officially here to help🖤
@mraudreywu
MAJOR 2021 WIN:
I don't have a wife, haven't had a FT employer, and therefore haven't had good healthcare w a deductible under $8k for FOUR YEARS.
On Jan 1, because of the company we built
@RuthWomxn
, several of our employees + I will have real healthcare coverage in 2022.
Happy Lesbian + visible day.
Which is a weird thing to celebrate.
Pay Queers.
Hire us.
Back us.
And until you FUND us or FIGHT FOR us, "standing with" us is not standing up for anyone or anything but yourself 🖤
@AshleyGWinter
It wouldn't. This is why we're here in the inequity swamp first place!!!
Pro-dad bias, which leads to anti-mom sentiment.
Okay but were these strangers Boomers...
WeWork but for semi-retirees like my Dad.
"WeWorkSometimes." Designated space to read and yell at the newspaper. CNBC is always on. No kombucha ("is this just old tea??"), but a bowl of Tootsie Rolls. Half the staff is IT. Don't you dare offer stickers; nightmare to peel off.
It's YCombinator Demo Day for
@RuthWomxn
!
We do it for Jenny Eggers +
@4kira4moms
, who died in childbirth—avoidable tragedies.
For womxn like
@mraudreywu
, harmed by HCPs.
For trolls who tell me how to enunciate "vagina."
TY for believing in our impossible dream 🧡
-AG + AW
Female founders, DM me your elevator pitch this weekend and I'll consider a recommendation or a few pointers on applying to
@ycombinator
!
Time to beat that 10% of the batch mark.
Non-founders don't understand how painful, stressful (and yes, motivating) it is to look at runway, even if it's 15+ months, and wonder if you'll survive.
This is every single day.
It's like being told you have a year to live. What would you do with that year?
Happy
#MothersDay
+ TY🙏
@LauraPerlongo
@NevSchulman
for having us over to bring the Ultrasound to YOU—as it should be for all NYC expecting parents. With two lil ones already in the mix!
🖤🧡 s/o Cleo + Beau for the assist—but esp to our fav RDMS, Melanie Stampone!
DOES SOMEONE HAVE A BELL I CAN RING?
Overnight, we got
@ruthhealthco
:
1. VERY exciting PO
2. New patient acquisitions
3. Nearly full new product pilot
4. New referring doc
Traction is elusive. But sometimes, after the darkest struggle comes a spark of light ⚡️🌞
Keep going.
When you get invited to join a group of
#healthtech
founders and NYC's Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services to discuss the future of women's health 😍
1/ Our startup
@ruthhealthco
applied once on a whim + got into
@ycombinator
S'21.
@mraudreywu
+ I had been building a women's health co in a global (women's) health disaster. I didn't even know who
@mwseibel
was (sorry M! love ya now). We were convo AI experts with no chance.
🧡BIG NEWS🧡
Our innovation program
@ruthhealthco
w/
@SBHBronx
Hospital is live in The Bronx! 🙅🏻♀️ TY
@CrainsNewYork
.
All patients of St. Barnabas Health obstetrics now have access to our bilingual virtual
#doulas
for care navigation + patient advocacy.
**
#SXSW
@WomenInVoice
NEWS**
Mark calendars, Eventbrite for RSVPs + WiV newsletter item coming soon! Will you be in Austin? Can't wait to see WiV + allies of all genders for some BBQ + bot love👾
Big thanks to partners
@LaurenGolem
@voxable
+
@revanhoe
for the connect!
Lead of our Seed Round just offered a casual intro to one of my fav athletes on Earth and a pop star I sing to regularly.
Is it a VC thing to be casually famous-adjacent?
Being a founder in NYC feels glamorous, for example:
Got up at 5am to go to a conference in Boston. By 5:30, had already killed a cockroach in my bathroom sink with a pair of tongs.
In 2020, I am:
1. Designing + building a physical women's health product to manufacture
2. Raising $2-5 million
3. Recording an album
4. Continuing to advocate for
#equity
in
#AI
5. Trying to sleep 8 hours most nights
6. Going to fail a lot
LET'S GO. HAPPY 2020, FRIENDS 🖤
Thank you
@UHC
Accelerator Powered by
@techstars
for believing in
@RuthWomxn
, these two nerds, and our mission to lower the maternal mortality rate in America 🖤
@mraudreywu
I remember
@christinacaci
presenting on Vanta in a
@ycombinator
talk 2 yrs ago.
She gave me a lot to aspire to. Still does. Not because she's "rich," but because her mind is rich. Clearly a brilliant leader.
GO, Christina!!
@forbes
Hey female founders applying to YC: I've written about 50 recos on a first-come-first-served basis + need to get back to building
@ruthhealthco
.
May the odds be ever in your favor!
@FlitterOnFraud
@mikiebarb
Emily, you used my voice without my consent and then claimed that I am a rich person with tens of thousands of followers (untrue). You also cited tech bros as the victims of the bank collapse, when it affects women, POC, farmers, many others.
Do your research. Get some ethics.
4 million active registries. Over 7 million users. This is HUGE for us at Ruth Health.
Thrilled + grateful to announce our partnership with
@babylist
Offers + Freebies to bring accessible care to even more birthing people nationwide!
Thrilled to announce our new partnership with
@babylist
!
Create your registry and join Babylist Rewards for a free wellness consult on your pregnant or postpartum body.
Next learning from
#SVBCollapse
:
When your
@CNN
interview gets 1M+ hits in 23 hrs and name is Greenberg, the
#Antisemitism
gets ugly.
Not personally hurt (actually raised agnostic). But sad for this world. Why are we still in danger, hated for our history?
Women's health is probably perceived as a niche, in part, bc we are so collectively quiet about our rage.
Here's your space: what infuriated you last about your health or care?
The BIGGEST mistake I made as a founder in my 20s:
Choosing a massive problem to solve. Business success comes from choosing wicked problems—but not *too* enormous.
In
#healthcare
, most problems are just too big to scale solutions from seed.
About to meet a trusted advisor during an OOO.
Albanian beach hotel wi-fi came in clutch!
This is why remote work was + always will be crucial for leaders. CEOs can now take a damn vacation while still attending to business as usual.
Incredibly cool (after well over a year of our pitch being truly crapola) when a very senior healthcare executive tells us, "You sold me in 10 minutes and you're really on to something at
@RuthWomxn
."
🌶 take
@ycombinator
reunion 2023:
Women + femmes = 9% of YC founders. Bathroom lines say it all (sound up)
@garrytan
you can do better. I believe in you + will advise.
Vulva-owners interested in YC or building a biz:
Try it.
Nothing to lose.
Everything to gain in equity.
@conz
As important + connected deeply to mental health:
-Pelvic floor therapy
-C-Section Recovery
-Lactation support
-Prenatal AND postpartum doula access
We've got you
@ruthhealthco
🧡 would love to work w you, Conz! Thanks for your radical, beautiful l, heartbreaking honesty.
Thank you
@UHC
for welcoming us
@RuthWomxn
into the United Healthcare Accelerator Powered by
@Techstars
!
10 tech startups build innovative health solutions
Hey Ryan, your ego is showing.
I have one too. Womxn who have egos are villainized, while men who have them are celebrated.
Also, I don't want $$ from men. We have plenty from female investors :]
🎉50% FEMALE CEOs🎉 in our cohort of the
@UHC
Accelerator Powered by
@Techstars
.
This should not be remarkable people!
Time for all giants to follow the lead of the biggest health care company + tech accelerator in the world.
👋
@TheEconomist
, you’re perpetuating implicit bias in your super male CEO graphic below.
Luckily, 5 of 10 of our
@Techstars
cohort are kickass female CEOs like
@aehpalmer
&
@ALiS0NLAURA
And indeed, CEOs of all genders are indeed weirder than ever.
One of our heroes in womxn's health tech just signed up for our new Postpartum Pilot
@RuthWomxn
.
@mraudreywu
+ I feel the founder joy. Thank you for the chance, LSW!!! Hope we make you proud.