Entrepreneur Ventures is an early-stage enterprise capital agency partnered with Entrepreneur Media that’s devoted to backing passionate and modern founders as early as day one. On this collection, we’re profiling the wonderful entrepreneurs Entrepreneur Ventures is working with to share their insights on constructing and rising a thriving enterprise.
For years, Camilla Sievers suffered debilitating interval ache. “5 days out of each month, I used to be fully out of order,” she tells Entrepreneur. Regardless of the very actual ache she was experiencing, physician after physician advised her that assessments confirmed that “nothing was unsuitable.”
When a buddy discovered her curled up on the kitchen flooring in agony, she supplied to carry Sievers to a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. “I did not know what TCM was, however I felt I had nothing to lose,” she says. “I went there, and I walked out with some herbs. After which, a month later, I had 70% much less ache. And two months after that, I used to be pain-free.”
This transformative expertise led Sievers to develop into the co-founder and CEO of Qi Health, alongside co-founder and CTO Nam Le. Launched in 2022, Qi Well being is a digital well being platform that gives ladies entry to pure and evidence-based therapies rooted in TCM. As the corporate prepares for its subsequent phase of growth, we spoke with Sievers about her plans to assist tens of hundreds of girls throughout the nation.
Entrepreneur: Please give us the elevator pitch for Qi Well being.
Camilla Sievers: The oldest medication on this planet is conventional Chinese language medication, which has existed for hundreds of years. Globally, 80% of the world’s inhabitants makes use of alternative medicine, but it surely’s actually not been introduced on-line in america. So we’re making an attempt to make it accessible, reliable and clear to assist ladies with power well being situations. We see an enormous want for ladies to seek out reduction from varied signs, so we’re taking the oldest medication on this planet and placing it into a contemporary framework.
What impressed you to create this firm?
Like so many different ladies, I used to be placed on hormonal contraception in my teenagers. After which, once I stopped utilizing hormonal contraception, I might get debilitating interval ache. I went to many specialists in Germany, the place I am initially from, and Austria, and everyone advised me the identical factor: “We will not discover something.” The interpretation is “We will not aid you.” So, I simply endured the ache. After TCM therapy, my power modified. My sleep modified. My look had modified. My cycle modified. It modified my life. And that made me need to be taught and do extra. Women’s health has simply been chronically neglected, understudied and underresearched.
Have you ever met resistance from prospects who aren’t aware of TCM?
We see ladies come to us after they’ve explored the whole lot that insurance coverage covers after which explored the whole lot that insurance coverage does not cowl. They pay out of pocket for therapies, but it surely nonetheless does not work. Then they are saying, “Let me attempt one thing various.” So we’re getting them on the very finish, they usually can generally lack belief that something will work. However after they do determine to have a session, their minds are blown. They see such quick outcomes after enduring 10-15 years of no outcomes and are actually grateful.
Credit score: Qi Well being
Are there any moments in your entrepreneurial journey that stand out to you?
After my private success with TCM, we did an in-house trial to see if my story could possibly be replicated. I assumed that it could not be this unicorn that magically works for everybody, proper? Properly, it did. What we discovered was that many ladies did not come to us with only one situation they had been hoping to heal, however on common, they offered with eight signs. So that you may come for interval ache or infertility, however you even have insomnia, evening sweats, unhealthy digestion, all of this stuff. And all eight signs had been healed inside a median of 4 months. Seeing individuals cry with reduction and studying emails they despatched saying, “You saved my life!” sticks with you.
What’s your recommendation to entrepreneurs who’re searching for funding?
Meet with very particular individuals. We initially spoke with generic funds that put money into the whole lot and realized that they won’t put money into ladies’s healthcare. It’s too area of interest — although we’re speaking about 50% of the inhabitants. Goal particular VCs who perceive your trade.
Are you able to discuss your objectives?
At present, the complementary and alternative medicine market within the U.S. is $29 billion. (Complementary refers to medication used alongside typical medication.) In 2033, the market can be $229 billion. That is as a result of 60% of Americans have one power situation, 40% have two, and the Western healthcare system is failing. Individuals are in search of one thing that is not failing them, so you are going to see this explosion. Conventional Chinese language medication is turning into an enormous market within the U.S. There are over 40,000 practitioners now — greater than the variety of yoga studios within the U.S. Our development has been by word-of-mouth for a very long time, and now our firm is positioned to carry TCM to the forefront.
What’s your recommendation for creating a neighborhood of consumers?
We have realized a lot by listening to our customers. We constructed our whole platform the way in which it’s as a result of individuals advised us, “I would love this and never this.” It is necessary to seek out your first 100 or 200 people who find themselves dedicated and constant and need you to succeed and hearken to them. You construct momentum and manageable development as they unfold the phrase. And also you’re getting all that nice enter to enhance your product and, for us, prepared for brand new partnerships that can unlock tens of hundreds of consumers.
Associated: All True Entrepreneurs Share This One Personality Trait, Says the Founder of Spicewell
What’s one thing aspiring enterprise house owners assume they want however really do not?
Plenty of funding. There’s a lot that you are able to do with so little cash. Beginning up has advanced a lot from once I began my first enterprise in 2014. You possibly can incorporate for only a couple hundred {dollars}. You do not have to construct your web site or app from scratch. There are such a lot of platforms, like Shopify, that allow you to keep lean, construct a prototype and begin testing your enterprise thought as quickly as doable. Do not exit and lift earlier than you actually know what you are constructing and who you are constructing it for.
Any recommendation for getting by the powerful occasions that entrepreneurship usually entails?
Being an entrepreneur is basically placing out fires all day lengthy. And for me, it is an excessive privilege. Once I get up, I take into consideration how privileged I’m to do that and concentrate on the positives. These emails and the testimonials saying how we modified individuals’s lives — for me, these far outweigh the struggles and make all of it price it.
