Investor Brief · Part 2
Findings from 79 in-depth interviews and 6 clinic shadows across 9 health systems. The product thesis is grounded in what clinicians and patients actually said — not what we wished they'd said.
Research scope
Provider themes
94% of providers
Average OB/GYN visit for a midlife woman is 12-15 minutes. Clinicians describe menopause as 'a 45-minute conversation we don't have time for.'
"I know what to do for these patients. I just don't have a workflow that lets me do it in the time the schedule gives me."
78% of non-specialist providers
Primary care and general OB/GYN providers report low confidence prescribing hormone therapy despite updated evidence. Most cite the legacy of the WHI study era as a lasting deterrent.
"Half my partners still won't prescribe HT. The guidelines say one thing, our risk-management training says another."
71% of providers
When providers do escalate, they often don't know who the right specialist is or whether the patient ever got in. Network leakage is unmeasured and high.
"I sent her to behavioral health, urology, and cardiology for what was almost certainly menopause. Eight months later, she came back worse."
85% of providers
Free-text fields, inconsistent templates, and no structured menopause assessment in the EHR. As a result, the same patient gets re-assessed each visit.
"Every visit starts from scratch. I wish there was a longitudinal menopause summary I could pull up in one click."
63% of providers
Providers describe a long history of dismissal in this cohort. Restoring trust requires that the clinical conversation feel personalized, listened-to, and evidence-aware.
"These women have been told it's anxiety, it's stress, it's perimenopause-go-home for years. The first 5 minutes of the visit matter enormously."
Patient themes
68% of patients
Most patients describe 2-5 years of bouncing between specialties before a clinician explicitly named menopause as the unifying diagnosis.
"I saw a cardiologist, a psychiatrist, two OB/GYNs, and an endocrinologist before someone said the word menopause out loud."
82% of patients
Patients track 8-15 symptoms across sleep, mood, cognition, vasomotor, and pelvic domains. Visits rarely capture more than 2-3 of them.
"I have a 6-page list in my Notes app. I never get to share more than two items in a visit."
91% of patients
Patients lean on social media, Reddit, podcasts, and DTC startups for menopause information. Clinical visits are perceived as too brief to add value.
"By the time I see my doctor, I've already done six hours of TikTok research. I just want her to validate what I already learned."
76% of patients with wearables
Patients have years of sleep, heart rate, and cycle data on their phones. None of it makes it into the clinical record.
"My Apple Watch knew I was perimenopausal before my doctor did. Why can't she just see what I see?"
74% of patients
Anxiety, rage, depressive episodes, and brain fog rank among the top three burdens — but are the symptoms least likely to be raised in visit.
"I cried in the car after every appointment because I never said the thing I came to say."
Product implications
