RO
case study
Launched in 2017 as Roman, Ro is a patient-driven telehealth company that powers an ecosystem digital health clinics, at-home diagnostics and testing infrastructure, and an affordable pharmacy – last valued at $7B. As one of the first employees, I worked with the founding team on media relations to boost the brand’s profile in the tech and healthcare industries, senior executives as thought leaders, and the organization as a great place to work.
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30 Under 30: These Are the Boldest Young Entrepreneurs You Need to Know in 2019
“Meet Inc.'s Rising Stars of 2019. They've kicked their companies into high gear--and they're younger than 30. They are only getting started but have built inspiring entrepreneurial careers.”
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Start-up behind erectile dysfunction website Roman launches health service for women
“Rory, launched by Roman’s parent company Ro, is a new ‘telehealth’ service specializing in treating menopause and its myriad of symptoms, including thin eye lashes, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, chills, night sweats and insomnia. It’s targeting the estimated 43 million American women suffering from perimenopause or menopause, offering treatments for the worst symptoms without the consumer having to leave home to go to a pharmacy.”
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Telehealth service Ro raises $88 million to help you quit smoking.
“But it’s tough to quit. Only 3 percent of the more than 50 percent of smokers who try to give it up are successful, and those who eventually manage to quit make on average as many as 30 attempts. Those sobering stats led New York-based telehealth startup Ro (formerly Roman) to launch Zero, an ‘end-to-end’ service that brings ‘the most effective smoking cessation practices’ into a single program.”
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COVID-19 is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Here’s how telehealth could help
“We can’t stop the spread of COVID-19, but we can find ways to slow it down and flatten the curve, giving doctors the time and resources they need to treat more people. This starts by keeping the ‘worried well,’ and those with mild symptoms, out of the ERs and doctors’ offices. The only ones who should be walking through the doctor’s door in the coming weeks and months are those who really need help. That’s where telehealth comes in.”
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Best Places to work NYC 2019 - Large Companies
“To compile the ranking, Crain’s again partnered with Best Companies Group, an independent research firm. More than 20,000 city employees were surveyed with a 76-question form that delved into workplace experience and culture.”
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“Inc. Best Workplaces awards the company cultures that thrive in the face of adversity. Cultures that, in response to a pandemic, redefine the workplace and continue to enrich it. Cultures that foster employee growth and advancement at all levels. Cultures that make their company truly worthy of being named one of Inc.’s Best Workplaces.”
ARTICLE
case study
Launched in 2013, Article is a leading direct-to-consumer home furniture brand. My focus working with this brand was to secure coverage in top tier business outlets about the company’s growth and overall success, as well as executive thought leadership.
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How Article Built A Leading DTC Furniture Company Without Tens Of Millions Of Venture Funding
“Aamir Baig, founder and CEO of Article has a simple philosophy for building a business. In his eyes, a business is not a business unless it has a profit formula that comes with it. That approach to business has allowed Aamir and his cofounders to build Article into one of the leading DTC Furniture companies without relying on raising tens of millions in venture capital.”
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“One thing that has helped Article thrive in the current environment is that it has developed its own fulfillment and logistics operation. It has its own fulfillment centers and delivery teams… Article quickly launched contactless delivery services in the spring of 2020 as lockdowns were going into place.”
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“So, they made convenience one of the company’s core values, alongside style and value. One key to delivering all three is proprietary e-commerce software that streamlines every possible process, from sourcing and purchasing raw materials to managing Article’s warehouses to checkouts, and allows these different functions to ‘talk’ to one another to find efficiencies and improve customer experience.”
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DTC furniture brand Article sees the outdoors as its ticket to growth
“Its new collection of outdoor furniture is prompting a wave of growth, the company told Modern Retail. Article already saw big growth in 2020, with sales up 70% year-over-year. But its latest outdoor furniture collection — which includes sofas, chairs and tables — saw sales grow 460% this past March, compared to the year earlier. The company added that despite it being the beginning of the pandemic, it also saw year-over-year growth in March 2020.”
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Interview: Article Furniture co-founder and COO Andy Prochazka
“We identified this opportunity, which started out as this concept called ‘fill the container,'” Prochazka tells us. ‘We saw that there’s this huge price discrepancy between finished goods that are ready to be containerized and the price you pay for a product when you go to a store. It’s a 300% to 400% or more increase in cost. We put our engineering hats on and thought: there’s got to be a better way to do this.”
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Breaking from the DTC playbook, Article puts profit over growth
“Some DTC sellers opened stores, pursuing a model that looks a lot like the one they planned to disrupt; others have sold themselves to bigger players, and more than a few have disappeared. Then there’s Article, the Vancouver-based startup on the verge of celebrating its tenth year in business. It continues to boom, with its founders citing sales up more than 45 percent last year over the year before, new facilities both in North America and in Vietnam and the milestone of recently delivering its one millionth order.”
BALANCED
case study
Launched in 2021, Balanced is a digital fitness platform for healthy aging. I worked with the Balanced co-founders Katie Reed and Kelly Froelich to support the launch of the startup, their seed funding round, and general brand building in business, healthcare, and consumer media outlets.
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Healthy Aging For Older Adults Facilitated By Digital Fitness Program
“Baby boomers are redefining growing old as they turn 65. The pair found out that the new generation of older adults didn't want to be called '‘seniors,’ ‘elderly,’ or ‘retirees.’ They didn't like products aimed at them to have the word ‘silver’ in their names. The Balanced team is modernizing the vernacular they use and the look and feel of its services.”
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Meet 13 first-time healthcare founders who beat the odds to raise cash from VCs in a choppy market
“Reed and her cofounder and chief operating officer, Kelly Froelich, got the inspiration for Balanced early in the pandemic. Both Reed and Froelich saw their grandparents struggle to find fitness options that worked for them while they were isolated in their homes, searching for exercise tailored to their mobility and other health needs.”
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“Today’s CEOs are facing innumerable challenges: a global pandemic and a sea change in how and where employees want to show up for work, just to name a few. For leaders, the pressure has never been higher. How do they mitigate it? In our new series, we ask executives about their day-to-day wellness habits to gain insight into the tactics they use to minimize stress and maintain their well-being.”
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Thanks to layoffs, digital health’s talent market has shifted
“Reed has seen a shift in candidate behavior. Companies that have gone through multiple layoffs, which Balanced hasn’t had to do, might have a hard time recruiting talent. ‘It's only easier now, for us in early stage because the people with more seniority have more reason to start looking [at other companies],’ Reed said.”
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Fitness startup Balanced looks to keep older adults flexible, fit and strong
“The surprising response from seniors taking the startup’s strength, yoga and dance cardio classes: They wanted better production values. The older adults demanded the same professional look and feel offered by brands such as Peloton and others. Reed and Froelich quit their day jobs at the start of 2021 and raised $1.5 million.”
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Balanced Secures $6.5M To Modernize Workouts for Older Adults
“A digital-first platform, Balanced acknowledges that older bodies move differently than younger ones, and aging populations face a wide list of complicating factors, like MSK conditions, osteoporosis, arthritis, and other chronic ailments. But, those 65 and up don’t necessarily want to be pigeonholed into geriatric workouts.
Different from antiquated programming targeted toward adults in their autumn years, Balanced offers a modern community with inspiring content from energetic trainers — ones that are well-trained to keep their bodies moving.”
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Your All-Inclusive Guide to EMOM Workouts
“Since you're striving to power through all your reps as quickly as possible, maximizing the amount of time you have to rest before the next minute kicks off, EMOM workouts are generally high-intensity and fast-paced, adds Kelly Froelich, a certified personal trainer and co-founder of the digital fitness platform Balanced. There isn't a single prescribed workout time with EMOM-style training sessions either: You can design your workout to be anywhere from five- to 30-minutes long, says Froelich.”
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How To Do A Frog Jump With Proper Form To Get All The Frog Squat Benefits, Per A Trainer
“So, why are frog squats more effective than other plyo moves? ‘In comparison to other jumping moves, frog jumps have a unique focus on flexibility and mobility, specifically in the hips,’ says Froelich. ‘Other plyo moves may focus on the explosive portion of the movement, but frog jumps have a set up that focuses on hip mobility and an upright, stable core that takes the exercise through a fuller range of motion,’ she explains.”