Harnessing Her Passion for Women’s Health to Overcome Obstacles as a Non-Technical Femtech Founder with Olivia Orchowski

In this episode, I’m introducing you to an inspiring femtech founder, Olivia Ochowski. In a previous chapter, Olivia worked as personal trainer, women's health coach, and doula. Today, as the founder and CEO of Femtek, Olivia introduces the first Basal Body Ring designed for women's menstrual health; all while they sleep.

I absolutely loved Olivia’s story because it’s not the typical startup founder story, and it’s certainly not the typical story of a tech founder. Olivia’s entrepreneur story started as a personal trainer and owner of a gym which introduced her to a gap in the women’s health market, particularly in relation to cycle and body literacy.

In this episode we talk about the challenges Olivia has faced as a non-technical tech founder and how she’s overcome then, as well as how her years of working 1:1 with women gives her a competitive advantage. We also discussed the mistakes she’s made along the way, what she’d do differently if she could go back in time (and why she’s grateful this isn’t an option).

The podcast is shifting from weekly to biweekly episodes. You can expect new episodes on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month!

Find Olivia online:

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• Femtek website: www.femtek.co
• Olivia’s website: http://www.oliviaorchowski.com
• Olivia’s instagram: http://www.instagram.com/theliftingdoula
• Femtek instagram: http://www.instagram.com/fem.tek
• Olivia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-orchowski/

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Connect with your host, Dr. Melissa Parks, elsewhere:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissacparks/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissaparksphd

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissaparksphd/

Website: https://melissaparks.com/

Schedule a free 30 min. discovery call with Melissa to see if executive coaching with her would be a good fit: https://melissaparks.com/free-consultation-call/

Transcript

 Melissa  

All right, Olivia, thank you so much for coming on the show. I know you are a very busy lady. So I'm so happy that we were able to make this happen.

Olivia  

Thank you so much. I'm excited to chat to you.

Melissa  

So on this show, we talk about some pretty vulnerable stuff, right? It's, you know, fears and failures. That's in the the title of the show. But I'd always like to start off a little bit later by just hearing a bit more about your entrepreneur journey. How did you get started into the world of entrepreneurship.

Olivia  

I think this is such a long story. And I'll try and give you like the the Cliff Notes version. My family has my whole life, my parents operated a cake shop. So we're polish, my parents emigrated from Poland to Australia in the 80s. And my dad was a pastry chef, and we had a cake shop that they opened. So when I was younger, for me, you either were someone who owned your own business, who ran your own business, you know, obviously much smaller scale than startup life, but you either ran and owned your own business, or you were a professional. So you are a doctor, you are a lawyer, you are an accountant. And all of the jobs in between you just did until you either decided to open your own business or be a professional, like, that's just how it worked in my brain. And I don't care to admit that I probably would have been somewhere in my teens when I realized that's not the case that there's you know, people who are very happy in life, and fulfilled in a lot of different ways and happy to, you know, work in a grocery store for their whole life. And there's nothing wrong with that. And I was like, Oh, wow, okay, so they're not just doing this to before they get to something else. So that's been from a very long time, that's been my life. And I think just what was the norm for me, and, really, from there, there was a lot of in between period, which didn't really do anything interesting. You know, did work, a lot of retail did a lot of things just to and was really fulfilled outside of work. And then after that, I qualified as a personal trainer. And as you do you realize that it's not to help someone, they don't just need a weight plate and a barbell, you know, they need a lot more support and went back and further qualified and went back to university. And that was after that I opened Biron gym, and the gym was a huge achievement. And we opened in August 2019. And then in March 2020, COVID hit. And it was manageable enough for me, because up to that point, I really had a hybrid model of what I was doing with clients anyway, where I was doing online stuff, and I was seeing them in person. So when COVID hit, I just moved completely online. And that was okay. But now all of a sudden, it wasn't me working out of the gym, and not having to worry about rent and rates and all of the overheads and insurance and all the payments for the equipment. And so I'm in Melbourne, and if anyone knows anything about you know, all of the lock downs we had, you would know that we were the most lockdown city in the world. So for two years, we were closed more than we were open. And when we were open, it was under really strict conditions in terms of how many people could be per square meter, and it was just really, really hard. And we made the decision in the end of the years and now just turning to a blur in the end of 2021 started 2022 not to renew the lease and just close a chapter on that for quite a few reasons. You know, my business partner, she fell pregnant. And it was just, it was a good time to close that chapter off for the for the time being. And it was actually because of that during that whole period that I was able to give birth to Femtek. So my this this whole entrepreneurial journey is a little bit unconventional, a little bit different because I was really happy, you know, working with my clients doing what I was doing with my clients and I just saw that I had a need. And I wanted to help that need. And I wanted to create something that could help them. And I remember saying to my boyfriend, when I first had the idea for this, for the first time I had the idea for this was in 2019. And it's just a long road to get to here to launch. And I just said, I don't even care if this, you know, doesn't sell over the course of the next 15 years, money can always be made. And if it's just my clients that buy it, I don't care. And obviously now I'm singing a very different tune. But my, my kind of journey to this point was a little bit different. And I think it really was the fact that we had locked down. I don't wanna say helped, because that's, you know, really positive word, he's something so negative. But the lock downs gave time that I didn't have because I was obviously working face to face with a lot of clients still. And that all of a sudden gave time where I could start doing a lot of the backend work.

Melissa  

You're not the first person I've interviewed talk has talked about this. Like, I guess it's like a silver lining, right of the pandemic that something? Yeah. You know, of course, we wouldn't wish this sort of horrific thing, a pen, a global pandemic, and this lock downs on on the world again, but you managed to take something positive out of it as well.

Olivia  

Yeah, yeah, I would like to think so.

Melissa  

Tell us more. And so what is it? Because Because listeners might not know too much about this product that you're developing? Can you share a little bit more about what it is? And what were some of those conversations you were having with your clients that that got the wheels turning for it?

Olivia  

Yeah, absolutely. So Femtek is the first menstrual health focused, smart ring. So we the basal body ring is a ring that it's worn on your finger overnight. So I have to I usually have to specify that when I don't have a photo because people think ring, where do women put a ring, so it's more on your finger. And so it's one overnight, and it's collecting key biometrics, and then it's track is sinking into a cycle tracking apps. So the cycle tracking experience is completely different to a software only model of a period tracking app, which needs the biometrics and inputs to actually be able to accurately tell you where you are a new cycle. And the hardware component is only worn overnight. So it's not something that you have to think about wearing all day. And the key thing is that everything from our ground up from the from day.is built on women. So everything to do with our research, our design, our thought process behind everything is surrounding women. And I think that's really key. Because when you actually look at the market, it's a heavily male dominated market in the wearable market. When you look at the research available, or wearables to create algorithms, you know, it's not anyone's fault. But we predominantly have men in all of that research. And when women are included things like their menstrual cycle phases aren't verified. The extent of it might be are you on the pill? Or do you have a normal cycle? And they might say, no, not on the pill, great tick. So everything from the ground up really is built for women, by women. That's, that's our catchy little slogan. And in terms of what the problems I was having with my clients, really, it was, there's only so much you can do without having access to data for clients of what their body is actually telling them. You know, although we can say to them, are you waking up in the morning? Can you make a fist with your hands? And if they're saying no, you're saying, Okay, well, you're waking up probably a little bit too sympathetic and stressed if you can't make a tight fist first thing in the morning. That heart rate variability data is so much more important. When we're looking at chronic stress, then can you make a fist and we'll just give them a little bit more information. And I think anyone who has worked closely with people as well knows that people often need black and white data in front of them to see the pixels on the screen before they change a habit. You know how many how many people know they're unhealthy, have unhealthy lifestyles, drink smoke, drugs, you name it, and they don't change anything until they go to the doctor. The doctor does their blood work and says, Hey, you have fatty liver, and all of a sudden, you know, they see that, that liver panel or whatever it may be that the doctor has told them in they change so I needed more information on my clients. I couldn't get them to take an oral temperature in the morning for the life of me and anyone who has tried to get get pregnant is all too familiar with the morning oral temperature. And the wearable market was just saturated with options that were built on men that were expensive, and also didn't make my job any easier with wanting to help these women. So I'd be getting screenshots from 50 different apps. And from my own perspective that how big of a drainer is that on my day where I'm trying to learn the interface of 50 different apps getting 50 different screenshots? Where did this client send this? Where did this client send that? So it was also a little bit, let's say, driven from a selfish place where I wanted my life to be easier with the same screenshot.

Melissa  

Okay, I love it. And how you just said like, I wanted my life to be easier, because it can also I don't know, I'm just talking to you to like, didn't it didn't? It hasn't made life easier yet.

Olivia  

I'm still waiting for that thing, three and a half years.

Melissa  

Did you come at this with any sort of a technical background?

Olivia  

No, not at all I am, I still look back and I go, if I had known, like, truly known what I was in for, I wouldn't have done it. And it's probably you know, a saving grace because there's definitely something women need. But if I'm really known just how hard how expensive because it was bootstrapped primarily for the first few years if I if I'd known all of these things I don't think I would have would have gone through with it or to just be like, Oh, that's a great idea. I'll think of something else eventually.

Melissa  

Yeah. Well, it's it's incredibly inspiring to hear your story because I think, I think a lot of people they wouldn't, even if they didn't have that, that knowledge base, they might say, oh, you know, I don't have it. So I'm not gonna go for it. But but this is, I think the hallmark of an entrepreneur often, right, especially a startup founder is, I don't know it, and I'm gonna go for it.

Olivia  

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's like, I'll figure it out,how hard can it be? And then that if they if that's not like the peak of the Dunning Kruger, I don't know what is. So I'll not bullet Dunning Kruger I'm sure you'll say something more positive, where you're like, No, that's just, you know, this part of the journey and you work with it. But yeah, it was like, it can't be that hard. And it is that hard. It's, it's, I've, I'm currently in the TechStars program. And it's really exciting, because it's been the first one that they've launched in Australia, which is so exciting. It feels like you're on Season One of The Bachelor. And it is, it's like, I'm almost jealous of everyone else that's in the program, because they have software only models. So every single company in the program is software only and their biggest issue, obviously, you know, I'm generalizing here, but their biggest issue is just going to be software, right? And if the software stops working, where do we look, we look in the software. Whereas if something stops working with the ring, there's the hardware, there's the firmware, there's the software where we have to start looking to see where the problem is. And it's not only is it expensive, it's really hard. We have a great team now that works really well together. But for the first few years, we had a team, it just didn't gel either. And it was really hard to get them to talk to each other. You know, you had you had people on the team who thought they knew everything and didn't reach out and it just wasn't that pleasant. So yeah, it's, it's been hard, and I'm very jealous of the software only. But, you know, if software only worked, then apps wouldn't be as inaccurate as they are. So here we

Melissa  

are. Yeah. Well, I just want to go back to what you were saying too, about the importance. I mean, women's health, like I know, as a woman and also, as a woman, I have a child. I mean, we've had some fertility struggles in our family as well. And that really has taken me down the rabbit hole of all of the just the lack of research and they're the problems that we have in terms of women's health. So when I heard about you when you reached out to me and I heard about your product, I was just I felt so excited about it. Because we need we need more women like you who are out there like leading the way with this research with the these innovations.

Olivia  

Thank you, that's incredibly kind of you to say and it's, it's really funny because every single time I do a presentation or a pitch or anything, I will always have men coming up to me in the audience saying if I had money, I would just give it to you because I just went through this whole infertility process with my wife or my It took us 10 years to get pregnant. And I just I wish there was something I could have had for her. And it really lands, it hits really hard. And when you look at the statistics surrounding body literacy and cycle literacy, were a generation of women who really don't know anything about their bodies. Partly because we were put on the pill when we were so young. And obviously, all of that was suppressed. But also, it's part of the society where, you know, just troop on, it's just forget about your period, just take the pill, troop on, you know, it's work as hard as men keep climbing that corporate ladder. And I don't say this to come off, as you know, that hippie dippie women should be in the kitchen. But society as it is, and how we have we have progressed puts women in a really vulnerable place, I think, where a lot of the aspects of health we're just a little bit more delicate. And I say that with the utmost level of care, and that women aren't less capable, but our bodies are just a little bit more delicate. And unfortunately, we see that coming through with things like infertility with things like menstrual health issues. And it's yeah, it's hard to see.

Melissa  

Yeah, yeah. It's, I hear what you're saying that you're not Yeah, you're not I know that. You're not saying like women are less capable or anything, but it is, I do think we've been taught like, we're the same as men. And I think that's done us a really big disservice.

Olivia  

It has, it's, we could not be more different. From a physical perspective, we, our stress physiology is completely different. And then not only is our stress physiology different, you know, between male and female, but also, individually, how we develop how we go through puberty, how we go through childhood, our own capacity to deal with stress. There's so many good analogies in terms of like, you know, one person has a paper plate, and that's their capacity to deal with stress and other plate has a steel plate. And that's their capacity to deal with stress. There's the dandelions and orchids, you know, some some people are just orchids and very sensitive in anything that changes and, and they fall to pieces. And there are dandelions that you could throw rain, hail and shine at them, and they're fine. So everyone has their own capacity to deal with stress, and then factor in what your goals are, and any hormonal conditions. And that changes it as well. So that's, that's all built into the user experience for the femtek cycle tracking app. So you know, a woman who's trying to get pregnant. And that's that's her primary goal is her cycle tracking experience and the recommendations and her whole process is going to be different to a woman who just says, I just want to train and be happy and healthy. Like that's, that's my primary goal and I have PCOS, you know, her, her whole experience with the app will be completely different, because we are completely different between one another as well.

Melissa  

And I don't know the industry enough to know this. But that, that seems like a unique option. To me, the most of the apps I know do seem to kind of like Target the woman trying to get pregnant or to target, you know, like somebody's not training. Is that is that a unique feature?

Olivia  

It is it definitely is. So our the way that our whole user experience is built out in terms of life stages, hormonal conditions, goal, and if you're using a form of birth control, because we still see ovulatory cycles occurring for some women who do use birth control. All of that is completely unique. So for a really long time, women have been pigeon holed into either just trying to get pregnant, because that can be your only mission in life as a woman to get pregnant. It's obviously a huge one for the overwhelming majority of women. But there's so much more that that so many women want to achieve. And then the other my favorite other one is just trying to lose weight. You can't you as a woman, you're lumped into either you want to lose weight, or you want to get pregnant, those are your two options primarily in any software. So yeah, definitely looking at it from a very different lens in what we can do to support women.

Melissa  

I love that. I love that. Well. Okay, so we're talking about how Women's Health like it's not, you know, there's all these problems in the field. What are some of the challenges that you found, like with just trying to kind of break in and innovate in that world?

Olivia  

Oh, my God, it's been. I feel like it's gotten a little bit better over the last year, you know, three years and whether that's because you're starting to get more women in a industry where there has historically been been more men. Or maybe I've just made enough mistakes where now I'm not making the same mistakes. I'm like, Oh, this is so much easier. I can't I haven't, I haven't done enough internal work to figure that one out yet. But the the mistakes up to this point, it has been hard, it has been really, really hard. And I think the challenging thing is that, really, when you look at what we're building with femtek, in the basal body ring, it's so unique. And when I first had the idea for it, no wearables were offering support for women. The the extent would be, obviously, there might have been some research that was done. The extent was that you could select what your sex was, excuse me. But there was no other support. There was no cycle tracking features, there was nothing. So when I first had the idea for this, there was nothing on the market. And I was like, Well, I can't just tell anyone about this. Because if you tell someone that has way more resources, way more money away, we'll know how that's something that they can just steal. And, you know, realistically, not knowing how hard it's been, I didn't think it would be this hard and expensive. That's probably not something just anyone can steal, you know, the resources they have to have available to them are probably a little bit more extensive than I thought. But I for a really long time, was scared to tell anyone. So even when I was trying to find the right team to come on i the filtration process of who I was bringing on wasn't as good as it should have been. Because I was just too scared to tell people because what if what if they software developers take it? What if these hardware developers take it? So that was the really challenging part, and for the first few years, because I'm a technically a tech founder, but I have no tech background. And I laugh about this all the time. Because for a tech founder, there are so many things in Tech where I just like, I can't get my Google Calendar, to sync sometimes. And like, I can't get my microphone in zoom to work. And I'm like, This is not something that technically should be a problem for me. But here we are. So you know, not not a huge tech background. And honestly, not something that I was hugely interested in, personally, either. My a lot of my interests still do lie in that biochemistry, in biology, in health sciences, if I'm reading a nonfiction book, that's what I'm intending to go to. And just wasn't wasn't something that I really ever, ever, ever saw my life being, you know, not not in a million versions of describing what my future could look like, did I think I would ever be doing this. So that non tech background has been really difficult, because there's been a lot of questions that I wasn't able to answer where a lot of mistakes were made, and potentially cost a lot of money. Because I didn't know how to answer because I was also scared to bring on people who probably could have answered it better. Because I also thought that not from like a control perspective. But I was, it was hard for me to relinquish aspects of control after a while because I could see, people weren't doing their job, the way they should have been doing their job, you know, from a software perspective, or from tech, whatever. And that became really hard because you've brought people on, and they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing. Well, they're not doing it well enough. And you don't have to have a tech background to see that. And now all of a sudden, you need to bring on more people. And you're like, Well, the last people I brought on, aren't making my life any easier. So why would I relinquish this aspect of control to wild, I relinquish this aspect of product management of technical management of marketing or whatever you want to say? So there's been a lot of challenges up to this point. And I think, had I had all of the experience the last few years has given me and then decided to launch this, it would be a very different launch, very different strategy, very different way of going around it. But, you know, I didn't know anything about raising capital around raising investors about anything. The first time I applied to, to have my pitch looked at with a VC. They were like, Well, why don't you just bootstrap it? And I was Googling bootstrapping. I was like, What is bootstrapping over So I was like, Oh, so you're just saying, you've given me a fancy word for saying, why don't you just pay for it? And I was like, been paying for it. Doing that. So it's already doing that. That's why I need you. So yeah, it's been very challenging. I think that non tech founder in our tech industry has been extremely challenging. And I still arguably think there's, there's not enough support for the non tech founders in tech industries. I definitely think that that's something that that needs to change. Maybe that's the next thing after Femtek. Who knows?

Melissa  

You Yeah, I love that. Definitely, yeah, just finding another hole hole in the market that needs to be filled. Yeah, but you know, the interesting thing is, I'm wondering too, if you're like, if, if you might have like, a kind of an edge, too, because sometimes I hear our founders who are too technical, so to speak, right? Like, they're fantastic engineers, and then they get into that founder leadership role. And they're just like, a fish in water that leads or fish out of water will say, you know, like, you know, like, Oh, my God, what, what do I do here? It sounds like you're missing the technical piece, which is important, right? But it sounds like you have a lot of those soft skills, so to speak, right and entrepreneur background that you weren't coming in with no completely empty handed.

Olivia  

Although that's a lovely way to sugarcoat not having a tech background in the tech industry. So I'll take it. Definitely a lot of other skill sets that I do have, and a lot of other strengths that I do bring to femtech, the back end in terms of what how the ring interacts with the app. And what that tells the user, that obviously, was something that I developed in the start, that was something that has had a lot of advice, and advices come into it, but that was my baby, as well. So there had just been a Joe Schmo who, who had this idea was like, This is great and had money available to me, it would have cost a hell of a lot more, because I would have been paying someone like me to do all of the other work to do the backend work and to figure everything out. Whereas the advantage I have, and this is probably something that even companies who have 20 times more resources and money than than we do at this part of our journey, they can't replicate the experience that I've had with women, they can't replicate all of those hours. And I actually calculated them, it was for a pitch night. And it was over the last 12 years that I've been officially working with women and unofficially and then officially over the last decade. And that sounds like really shady and illegal, but it's just I had an interest in exercise and training. So when I was living overseas, I'd be you know, working with out with my friends. And let's do this. Nothing, nothing shady, I promise. So in the last decade where it's really been more official, you know that that's something that can't be replicated. And those hours, it's almost 30,000 hours, wow. It's like, I've worked a lot. And these were 6am to 9pm. Every single day of the week I was with clients, I was working hard, I was seeing their problems I was working face to face. And I think that's a key issue that a lot of a lot of researchers have as well, where they are so pigeonholed into research that they forget that real life is a very valid experience as well. It's not just research, you know, I can look at research and I can see what it's telling me. But I can also tell you that that's not true. When we're looking at working with women. You know, there was a research paper where they were did they did a systematic review of the literature for training with your menstrual cycle. And they basically said that from what we can find and you know, we can go into why. On a whole other podcasts I could talk to you about every single one of the papers, but they're just really really old, poor quality papers that went into review they shouldn't have gone into so what spat out is the result is just questionable. But they basically said that the menstrual cycle has no impact on women's performance and it's all psychosomatic and you and I was in then then you see those catchy Instagram videos where no the cycle doesn't mean patents like no, I promise you I promise you having worked with so many women. It does and it might not be to the extent where you know we're saying that through that later follicular phase when estrogen aisle is rising. We're more susceptible to knee injuries because we do have more estrogen receptors in our knees. And we do experience or ACL laxity through that phase. So we are more susceptible. Maybe there's not a whole heap of research or evidence to really concretely say yes, definitely we see this, although we know the theory of why it should be. But I'm telling you that I've worked with that many women, it's not psychosomatic, I can see what a lot of them come in feeling like during their period, I can see what they feel like when they're ovulating, I can see what they feel like when they're about to get their, their period. And that's not reflected in a research paper. Because these men, it's always men running these research papers, I promise I love men. I'm not I'm not Pooh poohing them. But these are researchers that don't have that lived experience of working with women that are looking at things very one dimensionally not not even two dimensionally, just very one day.

Melissa  

Just looking at the data, right, just running the numbers,

Olivia  

just the data, just the numbers. And that's it.

Melissa  

Yeah. And I hate the word psychosomatic. I mean, I'm, I'm trained as a therapist, and so I do appreciate the meaning behind it and everything, but it just becomes this label of like, it's like the, you know, Freud used to call hysteria. Right? It's just the woman.

Olivia  

God, it's, it's, it is insane. I in, you know, as a therapist, you would see how powerful the mind is, and how there are physical responses we can convince ourselves to have the mind is incredibly powerful. But to label that all women are just having a psychosomatic response to their menstrual cycle and how they perform is just, if that's not gas lighting, I don't know what is so.

Melissa  

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, what has been your experience? Like, then, you know, you said a lot of the time, in this world of women's health and femtech, a lot of the founders have been male, what is your experience been like coming in as a female founder?

Olivia  

It has been really interesting, because they still, you know, you'll have these conversations with them. And they still don't know. And it's not necessarily you're not asking them to narrow our struggles that we may go through as a woman, but just basic cycle literacy or body literacy. For women, they don't know. So I question or how do you how have you created something if you're the founder of something if this is supposed to be your brainchild and baby? And of course, you hire people to do things you you can't do but if this is supposed to be your brainchild? And you don't know anything about the menstrual cycle? What What else are you doing other than just paying a bill? You know, you're not, you're not really the founder. For me, you're just the bank, that everyone else is really, really doing everything else. And that that may be a little bit less of a conventional look on the role of the founder in a company. But yeah, I do find that aspect quite challenging. Where we have a lot of men in the women's health industry. And there's, there is the lived experience that's lacking. But there's also just the the experience of working with women and seeing how they respond to things. I think that's the challenging thing for me. But in saying that our whole engineering team is male. Our whole software team is male barring our UX designer. Yeah, I would love to hire some some women there, but we just haven't been able to find, find the right fit for that. So we have a lot of fantastic men working on Femtek. And they are phenomenal. And they are like sponges in terms of what they're trying to learn about the user experience and the cycle and not just looking at the code and what it needs to spit out but really trying to understand and try and also give great suggestions as well which is which is lovely. So there's a lot of positive men that have been working on this but that definitely has been a hard part as well. And I think also for you know, my probably my own ego in there, these these men who are working or founders in tech based Femtech based business, not my Femtek but the female technology based businesses. They probably have a skill set in the tech side of things that I don't have. So there is that that probably a little bit of bruising of I wish I had this as well had this knowledge as well, how much faster, how much better would have this been had I had this knowledge but You can't have everything, can you?

Melissa  

Fortunately, no, no, no. And it sounds like you've definitely learned along the way. And I'm pretty sure you learned early on just the importance of reaching out to other people and building that team that you needed, or, you know, reaching out to people just for mentorship or things like that.

Olivia  

Yeah, it's, it's something I think I still am learning. And I'm definitely still learning how to be vulnerable with the right mentors, and to ask for help. It's getting a lot better, it's the first few years I really struggled with that. And I made a lot of mistakes that cost a lot of money, you know, wrong team working on a hat I just had the right team from the start, would have been very different probably would have been out to market a year sooner than we were. But we also learned what not to do. So all of this was built from the ground up. And it's, I actually had someone say to me, why didn't you just buy something off the shelf in China, or like a PCB that's, that's already like designed and done and buy that off the shelf like China or Alibaba and just rebrand it? And I was like, because I didn't know that you could do that. So that's, that's news to me two and a half years later. And after we've already redesigned the PCB on to four times. And after we've changed the mechanical design seven times, I didn't know that was an option.

Melissa  

But yeah, yeah, lots of lessons to learn along the way, right?

Olivia  

Oh, god, it's so it's one day, I'll put them all, all down, I probably should start writing them down as they happen. So I don't forget. But there's definitely been been a lot of lessons. I think the biggest lesson that I actually learned was how much I had over leveraged myself personally, financially for femtech. So not only had I exhausted all of my savings, everything that I'd worked years and years to save, so my partner and I could buy a house, not only did I exhaust all of that, not only did I then proceed to from my coaching, not even paying myself a wage for two years, because everything was going as a loan to femtech. Not only did I completely change our lifestyle, and decrease the quality of our life for those years, because we couldn't afford to buy the better quality food or go out to dinner, or just enjoy life. But then I made everything I could completely liquid and sold absolutely everything. So sold my car, which I absolutely loved and worked my butt off to get in the first place. And I think that's been the the biggest lesson where it was like, I didn't need to over leverage as heavily as I did. Because I for a really long time, the goalpost was at least just get this to launch launch. And then we can have orders coming in, build attraction, get social proof. And all of that will eventually correct itself. But as you have with tech, unfortunately, the hardware aspect has been quite tricky to get right. And we want to make sure that we get it right. And the launch was initially supposed to happen in March or May in 2022. And then that got delayed to August. And then that got delayed to October, and then it got delayed to December. And then it we finally launched at the start of January. But that was a year where I was over leveraging everything. So I think that was the biggest lesson where I didn't need to go to that extent. I definitely should have started that investor pipeline much sooner. But I also there was just this disconnect of what I think I realized I was doing like I didn't quite realize that this was a startup. It was just a business. You know, and it's like every startup is a business but not every business is a startup like fingers or thumbs or fingers. So for a really long time, there was a real disconnect for me as well of just the gravity of what it was I was working on. And it's only really this year that I've gone shit this is probably a little bit more than then I have previously given myself credit for but that was definitely the biggest lesson of over leveraging and selling that car. And that my car which I adored was sold to buy the last of the prototypes for the PCBs and it was supposed to be the last expense before we launch it. And I was like, it's fine, I'll sell this will launch, I'll be able to bring that money back and just buy by the same car. And then the PCBs didn't work. We did a manufacturing run. And there was issues with with one, once they were all assembled, there was issues with them. And I was like, I sold my car for this. And had it not been for one of my friends who had a spare car who saved my ass, I would have been Flint stoning for six months, I would have been walking everywhere. So she saved my ass tremendously by letting me borrow her spare spare car. But yeah, that was definitely I think, the biggest lesson where I go, I wish I just, I just wish I hadn't overleveraged us and sold the car, because I constantly thought that we were about to launch. And the problem was about to correct itself. Whereas now I go, Okay, there's, there's going to be more delays there, even from when we've launched now. And that's I think, at least that has changed. Because we launched in officially in January with a Kickstarter and pre orders. We were supposed to be out on fingers in May. But unfortunately, there was just been supply chain shortages. I'm sure anyone who's who's in the tech industry, we know there's been supply chain shortages, been hard to source parts. We wanted to make sure that, therefore we actually ordered components there, we're not wasting more money. And where it was, we're about to get those rings out over the next six weeks. But that's again, that's another three month or two months from from where I originally thought so. Yeah, it's, at least I've learned that lesson and put it into practice this year and stopped over leveraging us personally and started utilizing investors and that whole side of startup life.

Melissa  

Yeah, yeah. And is there anything like that you think was holding you back from starting some of those relationships with investors?

Olivia  

I, first of all, it was the lack of knowledge in what that investor relationship looks like. That was definitely a huge thing holding me back, I just didn't know, I didn't even know what accelerators were, if I'd known what an accelerator was three years prior. And I think that I'm just saying that to try and really highlight that, like, I really had no idea what this world was like I really didn't. So there was definitely that and there was also the element of wanting to retain control of the company. But that was because I also didn't know how investor relationships work. And then when you really look at the statistics around founder's, by the time they've gone through, you know, series, A, B, C, they're really left with probably 10 to 15% ownership of their company, they don't they don't end up owning most of it. So I definitely think that those were the two contributing factors to me where I wanted to retain control. And I wanted to retain control, because I didn't understand. And I didn't know that you don't need to technically own the most part of the company to still be able to work on it and control it, so to speak air quotes for for anyone who's listening.

Melissa  

Yeah, yeah. Well, I think it's so hard to as a founder, I've heard so many founders descriptor companies as their babies, for better or for worse, but, I mean, you sound so passionate about what you're you're working to bring to life and bring to to the world. And I can imagine, yeah, it's difficult to let go of that even if it doesn't, you know, it doesn't mean that you lose, you know, say and how things like the major business decisions.

Olivia  

Yeah, it's 100%, it really is your baby. It's your brainchild. And I think also, because the experience was there, where I had the wrong team working on it at the start. I would there was also an aspect of fear for me of what if I bring on the wrong investor. And then there's someone tied to this company, which I can't get rid of them. And, and they have control and they're taking it in a direction where I don't want to take family take, I don't want to take this company. So that was that was also an aspect of it. But again, you know, there's there's ways to navigate all of those situations. And bringing on the right investors. It's it's a partnership, it's not a, you know, a tug of war for control. It's a partnership, you're working together, they want to see their investment, repeat returned, obviously. And you want to grow, grow what you can. So I definitely think those were the biggest lessons in terms of over leveraging and wanting to retain some control. And then I don't think I needed but all of that could have been fixed with more resources and more more knowledge.

Melissa  

Yeah, yeah. Well, what about me You know, this is a quite a marathon to be on right? And you've learned right from from the years that you sensitive. What what do you do for yourself to take care of your own physical health, mental health, all of that to, you know, practice what you preach, so to speak? Is there anything that you found to be helpful?

Olivia  

What the answer I'm going to give you is not the answer that my boyfriend would give you if you're single, it's I have found, I found it really challenging I got were in 2023. So this would have been last year about this time last year, I got the news that we had to redesign the PCB again, because one of the there was issues with it. So we had to redesign and I just got so stressed because I thought we were so close to launching in a lot of my hair fell out. And it quite quite, quite literally fell out where it was, you know, really receded through the front, balding through the sides, there was patches missing. And it was in that moment where I was like, I'm not managing my stress at all, if this is what has happened, there is no outcome independence, I realistically, if this, if this is going to happen, as outside of taking the precautions of hiring the right people to lessen the risk. If we needed to redesign the PCB, because ship PCB because I picked the wrong people to build it in, then that was always going to happen. You know, me stressing about it happening doesn't change that it's happened, it doesn't change the path that we have to have to go down. So that was a really pivotal moment where I actually had to start to learn outcome independence and, and really not not be tied to it definitely. In terms of what I do to look after myself having that health background, the I think the biggest, biggest saving grace, because as anyone who has worked in startups will say your time gets consumed by, by what you're doing. And it's really hard to justify stepping away from your computer for an hour to go to the gym. Or waking up an hour earlier, when you're so tired, because you went to bed so late because you're working on something there's is there there is no work life balance. It's like a work life pendulum. And that pendulum has just swung to work. And it's not swinging back to here. And so aside from the fact that obviously still do train and do weights, the biggest saving grace has been the quality of food that I continue to eat. And I think if it wasn't for the quality of food that I'm that I'm constantly putting in my mouth, I definitely think my health would have decreased significantly over the last three years. So really high protein diets. And looking for good quality Whole Foods where possible, minimizing packaged, you know, my partner, and I don't really eat out anyway. And even when we were in the thick of our food quality decreasing because we didn't have money, we were still prioritizing what we could. That was good food. So I think that's definitely been the biggest one. And then you know, the basics of we don't really drink, we don't smoke, we don't do anything that we know, has negative impacts on our health. So those would be the biggest ones. But it is hard to prioritize those things. I'll say that much. Because the option to just have a cup of noodles and be full. And continue working is a very tempting one.

Melissa  

Yeah, yeah. Well, I, you mentioned your partner a few times, it sounds like you have quite a great support system. I know having a supportive partner makes a big difference for founders.

Olivia  

He's, he's, he's he's fantastic. We've been together for a long time, but he everyone laughs because I never post him on my social media. You know, my social media is my business. I don't post anything personally. So every time someone hears I have been with my partner for nine years, they're just like, what, what do you mean, I didn't even know you were dating that one. But he's fantastic. He's a great support network. And he is definitely the picture of what what you would think a really strong man behind a woman who's wanting to achieve her goals is he's incredibly supportive. He has a very strong masculine energy about himself as well and he is also he's, he's definitely much smarter than me and much more perceptive and probably knows me better than I know me. And he's very Caught up in those situations where I'm flopping around like a fish and don't know what to do in just realigning a little bit more and, and being that Northstar of right now this is what you need to focus on, take a second and come back. So he's he's very supportive and I'm extremely lucky to have someone like that in my corner because there's not a lot of a lot of people in life who gets to experience that, let alone in business where it's, you know, I completely uprooted our lives and and changed the trajectory of it for the last three years. And he's just been going with it. So three and a half years now, actually. But he's just been running with it. So he's a fantastic support. And I wish that every founder could have one of him

Melissa  

Replicate him and yeah, distribute

Olivia  

Yeah clone him. 

Melissa  

Yeah, I think just the partners and the families of founders don't get enough credit. But you know, they're there behind the scenes and support.

Olivia  

They do. It's, I'm incredibly lucky to have the partner I have the family I have. My brother is the smart one in the family, who is the aerospace engineer, and he's currently working as the mechanical engineer. So it's been incredibly great. It for a lack of a better word, to just be able to go to him and say, Hey, this is what the problem is, with the engineers. What do you think? Or this is the current problem? What do you think it's been fantastic having him as that support, my parents are wonderful people who are very family orientated and they have whatever I've needed, they've, they've wanted to, you know, provide that for my whole life, not not just in this period. But you know, I've gone to Sydney for three days for the start of this program. And my parents were coming over a few days prior with food, to make sure that the we're all fed. And we've got that support, because we know that the my partner we laugh about he can't can't look after himself, I promise. But there's nothing like like mom's home cooking to tide you over for a few days, but very supportive, very lucky. And they all partners and families just a huge, huge shout out for for all of their founders. I definitely, definitely think that.

Melissa  

Yeah. What Olivia, I always ask people, you know, if we could go back in time to when you were just starting this journey, you've already shared a lot of things you learned. But is there anything else? Like just any words of encouragement, you would want to tell yourself those three and a half years ago when you were just starting?

Olivia  

Isn't it the the most cliche response to say, Don't do it? No, I definitely would just go back and say you need to, I think you need to just plan for probably a few more scenarios than you think are going to play out. I think the roadmap of what you have planned. Should you should just have the roadmap of what happens in outcome B, what happens if it's not outcome? B, what happens if it's outcome? C? Have you mapped it out? I think that was definitely the the the downfall of what I was doing. And that that led to obviously that scarcity mindset that led to me selling things that led to me just over leveraging because I hadn't planned out. Well, what happens if there's a delay? No, we're launching? No, this is the date we're launching. And then there was a delay and then shit, what do I do? It was I hadn't planned that. So I definitely think that that would be something that I would go back and say and just just plan out a few potential roadmaps of what happens if there's delays or if it doesn't go to plan, because I didn't think that it would be this hard. I I thought that as a you know, you see so many companies popping up with active wear, and I thought well, they work with their manufacturers, the designs, they say here's what I want, I sent them samples and no one quote me on this because it's three and a half years later so I promise I've learned from here, but I just thought it would be kind of the same way you would work with a manufacturer to design your PCB and it's not and that has obviously being the lesson so yeah, I just thought it would be a lot simpler ticket to get to market then then it was definitely

Melissa  

well, and I don't know I'm sure some of that like naive naivety, like probably really helped you, just not knowing what you're getting into. I always find this question is like, at the end of the day, like, it's interesting to think what would you go back until your younger, your younger self? But like, Would you really want to do that? Because would you, you know, would you still do it? If you knew everything you do now. And I, you know, people are gonna benefit from your product, I think are really happy that you've gone through everything you've gone through.

Olivia  

Yeah, this was this. I was talking to one of the mentors at TechStars yesterday. And I did say this where I was like, I just if I'd known, I wouldn't have gone through with all of this. And she was like, it's probably better that you didn't know, because women need what you're making. And if you didn't know, then they'd still be this gap. And they'd still be that lack of support. So it's probably better that you didn't and I was like, damn it. You're right.

Melissa  

Yeah, yeah. Well, we have to wrap up our conversation for today. But where can listeners find you if they want to get in touch with you or learn more about femtek?

Olivia  

Absolutely. So the Instagram for femtech is at f e m dot t, e k, and that's because some bastard stole the one without the dot and I'm still trying to get it. And then my personal Instagram is the lifting doula. So you can find me at those two places, and we're still doing pre sales for femtech for the basal body rings, so depending on when this when this episode launches that might not be in pre sales anymore, but you can have a look at FEM tech.co. So Fe m t k.co.

Melissa  

I will put all those links in the show notes so it's easy for people to find and they don't confuse that Instagram account. Either one. Pay better. But it's just been so wonderful to learn from you. I would love to get you back on the show in the future so we can just follow along with with him next journey and just you know, hear more hear what what other lessons you've learned and hear more about the people that you're helping down the road.

Melissa  

Thank you. I love that. Thanks Olivia.