In 2020, the global stress management market accounted for USD 18.6M and has seen exponential growth ever since. While stress has emerged as a significant problem in modern society, the existing solutions in the market offer a rather fragmented approach, with some focusing on mental resilience while others follow the pill route. Our Corporate Partner identified a need for a more holistic solution that combines both the gut and brain in a unique combination to build stress resilience. They reached out to build this innovative venture that combines a probiotic supplement with a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) mobile application.
Building a venture in the US came with its own set of obstacles. In the last year, we not only managed a diverse remote team throughout Europe but also ran our logistics in the US smoothly. This was done without making any large capital investments in warehousing and logistics. Moreover, handling customer service requests from a different timezone was done asynchronously. Beyond our everyday operations, we developed a regulatory framework that is completely compliant with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards.
Our unique offering combines a physical product, probiotic supplements designed to build stress resilience, and a digital component, a CBT-based mobile app - something that hasn’t been tested in the market yet. This comes with its own unique challenges to identify a strong product-market fit. Hence, remotely obsessing about our US-based customers was vital to further sharpen our proposition.
What we did
In the US, the FDA regulates health and consumer protection guidelines. Unlike, other countries, the FDA is not a governing body but an enforcing one - it focuses more on ‘how to sell’ rather than ‘what to sell,’. Meaning, that there are specific requirements for communications and terms of use when bringing a health product to market. We partnered with our American legal team with access to a list of topic specialists and experts to ensure full compliance with the law. Through regular check-ins and ad-hoc meetings, we established the correct terms and conditions to trade in the US. Moreover, this tight integration of legal experts in the project team enabled us to launch the app on both iOS and Android in under 12 weeks, which filled all legal requirements. Beyond the FDA's guidelines, data protection was key to having a trustworthy business. Our technical leads were always in very close contact with our legal team to ensure the highest level of data protection - especially considering the very personal and sensitive nature of health-related data.
We partnered with various service providers and automated the fulfillment processes to ensure efficient operations. To store, pick, pack, and ship the supplements, we leveraged an API-based fulfillment center in the US. For our subscription management and payment, we incorporated a scalable off-the-shelf payment solution that fits our aggressive growth ambitions. Additionally, we created an FDA-compliant customer service workflow and hired a customer support team to create the best possible user experience. We established a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 24 hours, meaning we have responded to all our customer requests within a day. By utilizing APIs and digital tools, we’ve automated our processes as much as possible to keep the venture running even with the timezone difference.
While building the platform, we established various user interaction points - a contact form native to the app and website, dedicated customer support, regular email communication, and automated responses. We conducted over 200+ feedback sessions and 80 survey interviews to allow continuous iterations of the product. Based on this feedback, we have launched 4 app releases with product development and features, including updated user journeys. Moreover, we organized diary studies with test users in the US to gain deeper insights into how our customers interact with our product. Ultimately, allowing us to generate rich and qualitative feedback from users in the US.
Value delivered
A Health-tech Venture offering a unique blend of probiotic supplements through a CBT-based app to build stress resilience
Stitch is an ideal example of remote venture-building done right. Built to combat growing stress, it offers a unique mix of physical products in the form of probiotics with a digital component through a CBT-based app - something entirely novel in the healthcare space. The MVP Factory team and our Corporate Partner not only built the MVP in under 12 weeks in unfamiliar territory but also ensured that the platform followed all regulatory and data security standards.
While it was online - Stitch had 2500+ customers across the US helping them boost their stress resilience holistically. Building this venture showed that it’s possible to validate and implement new ideas in distant markets. The team has generated great learnings in this process and is ready to build the next international venture success.
I am so excited to be on the stitch Journey. I have had amazing customer care service (this has to be my most loved feature). I also enjoyed so much the app, I am on it every day. If you have an iPhone > set a morning focus with the app right in your face and it make it your ritual to go in there. At night I use the reflection login and read some of the useful articles they have in the learning tab. Don’t skip this amazing service that is so simple to use and so affordable. Thanks, Stitch!
The humans behind this project
