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PERSPECTIVES
MyHealthTeams
December 04, 2014
You probably know someone with a chronic condition--though you may not realize it. I personally lost a family member to her three-decade battle with multiple sclerosis. I have friends who've battled cancer, who won, and lost. I have colleagues who've had to adjust work schedules to be caregivers for spouses, parents or their children facing a chronic condition.
In each of these cases, these people have felt daunted and alone, as though they were having to reinvent the wheel when managing their condition. This is what drove me and Eric Peacock to start MyHealthTeams.com. We believe that the moment you receive a diagnosis, you should be able to find the best people around you to help, whether they are providers, or people who've been in your shoes. People are more engaged with their health and will have better health outcomes when they connect with others who've been there.
Our experience so far shows massive pent-up demand for stronger social ties with people sharing the same chronic disease. In just two years, MyHealthTeams has launched five social networks (in breast cancer, autism, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and lupus). In that time we have grown from 35 members at launch to more than 100,000 people today. And these people are actively engaged; typically 50% or more of the members are active on a regular basis.
Yet every week, I receive an email from someone with a chronic condition we haven't yet addressed, or who lives in a country we don't yet serve. Most of these people are women, facing diseases that disproportionately impact women, feeling isolated and alone in their battles. That keeps me up at night. That keeps me focused on how we grow to 50 conditions and 50 countries.
Because of a venture capital investment from Citi, we are able to accelerate development for more conditions, and support international expansion. We now plan to double our growth rate for the next three years. It's fantastic to have a business partner who believes in not only our business opportunity, but also in the positive social impact we are making.
It's been a journey getting to this point. When I first moved to San Francisco and was just cutting my teeth on the start-up experience, it was easier to use the web to find organic tacquerias at 1:00 a.m., than it was to find someone else who shared your diagnosis. That's all changing today. Healthcare is slowly moving from a physician- and pharmaceutical-driven industry, to a consumer-driven one. I like to think that we're playing an important role in that shift.