Apr 7, 2020
Karan
Singh, Co-founder and COO of mental
health startup, Ginger, joins me in this episode. Ginger is one of the early
pioneers within the mental health tech space and it’s an honor to
have Karan join us to talk about the founding of Ginger, the mental
health startup space, and his advice to aspiring mental health
startup founders.
He tells the founding story of
Ginger, as well as how the business has evolved and grown into what
it is today.
Ginger has accomplished quite a bit in the last decade and has been
named one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare by
Fast Company, while also being identified by the World Economic
Forum as a Technology Pioneer.
He did his undergraduate studies at
UC Berkeley and got his MBA from MIT (Sloan School of
Business). He was
in the Harvard Medical School / MIT Health, Science and Technology
program, but left to build Ginger.
There are a number of ways
to connect with Karan including on social media which will be
linked in the show notes.
You can connect with Karan here:
LinkedIn, Ginger
Website, Karan on
Twitter
SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED
ABOUT:
- Karan walked us through his
bio/background including how he found his way into the behavioral
health space.
Karan’s journey into this space is a very personal one surrounding
his reaction to a loved one’s attempted suicide, years ago.
- What is the founding story
of Ginger and how has the business evolved?
Karan walks us through the founding story of
Ginger.
The business began as a tech platform that would support health
systems, using smart phones to measure mental
health.
At that time, and even still today, qualitative assessments make up
the bulk of how we measure mental wellbeing.
- What is Ginger
today?
Over the years, Ginger has evolved into an on-demand mental health
system. You can
think of it as a virtual clinic for your mental health. Members have access to a team
of coaches, therapists and psychiatrists. This multi-functional care
team allows Ginger to deliver assistance to their members in under
60 seconds, any time on any day in all 50 states and in 25
countries.
Ginger has partnered with employers to provide mental
health care access to half a million people to date.
These employers include numerous business in many industries
including tech companies, airlines, unions and more.
- How do
people find Ginger? Who can use
it?
Entry points onto the Ginger
platform include:
- Employers
- Health plans (Optum, Aetna,
Anthem, Kaiser, and others) for in-network covered care
- Karan explained that Ginger’s
definition of “mental health” is far wider than what people
normally think of.
It’s not just psychiatry, but includes sub-clinical problems,
depression, anxiety, and a number of other symptoms. For example, someone going
through cancer treatment, may not have an elevated PHQ-9 score, but
they likely require some additional emotional support, which is
where Ginger comes in.
- What is the opportunity
for Companies like Ginger in the mental health space?
Fundamentally, the mental health space is
broken.
There is a massive supply and demand imbalance.
Demand is going up.
Supply isn’t keeping up.
Ginger provides a set of interventions as a ‘virtual clinic’ that
consists of talking to a coach, to a therapist, to a psychiatrist,
and provides access to a library of helpful content.
In the long run, Karan believes the great opportunity
centers around preventative mental health.
The ability to catch people early, before they have a crisis,
leveraging technology, will allow Ginger to provide a higher level
of care than what has traditionally been achievable, without
technology.
- Where can aspiring
entrepreneurs go after in the mental health space now?
Karan explains that we need as many people as
we can to be getting into this space, it’s a massive
opportunity.
The supply and demand imbalance mean the current mental health
crisis isn’t going away any time soon.
We need integrated preventative approaches as well as ways to help
people far earlier (before crisis occurs) in a more holistic
way.
Connect with the Stigma
Podcast in the following ways: Website,
Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn, Email
Connect with host Stephen
Hays here: Stephen
Hays, Twitter,
LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental Health Venture
Fund)