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Understanding the uniqueness of people around you is a key to success.
Shani Bocian - the CEO of Allermi - started her career as an art historian, curator, and educator, but discovered that her passion lived in helping people feel well! The spark came by observing the incredible relief and improvement in lifestyle that her father- Dr. Bocian’s - custom allergy formulations brought to so many people in her local area. Shani knew that she could help even more people across the US and set about the business of scaling this into a profitable business.
Her innovative approach to personalized prescribed nasal sprays captured the attention of patients and investors, but the road was not without its bumps. After many rejections and tough meetings, Shani absorbed the feedback and after some internal searching, came to understand how to effectively pitch her business. This shift in focus and being growth minded is the key point of every successful conversation with VCs, and Shani shares her recipe.
Shani’s passion for her father's popular and effective treatments ultimately led her to the telemedicine field - which provides the ultimate convenience for patients with minor issues. Getting approval to operate Allermi in 45 states was certainly challenging, but Shani is exceptionally passionate about her mission to help people get relief!
It just goes to show that the power of mission and determination can help to break barriers!
Notes:
🤧 Allergy season is in full swing, and Shani also had allergies. 02:45
👨⚕️ Shani’s physician father developed “Bocian’s Potions” for nasal sprays: Shani combined her dad’s work and the convenience of internet selling. 03:25
😍 When she realized she was not a teacher but an entrepreneur: she became excited about the idea of entrepreneurship and startup and fundraising. 06:27
💦 Allermi customized nasal sprays and benefits of having customized products: reinventing the nasal spray industry. 09:05
👃 The nose is the most inflammatory-prone area of our body. 11:10
📺 Telehealth is revolutionary: getting evaluated by a physician online for minor issues.14:47
💲 Funding for Allermi started with friends and family but grew to institutional and angel funding: the shift women need to make when talking to investors. 18:47
💰 Rejections and feedback from VCs helped Shani modify her pitch: investors require data and financial projections. 23:26
🫂 The demoralizing and hurt feelings that come when investors don’t understand your mission: having good support from people around you is crucial. 27:31
📱 Old Girl’s Club on Slack: professional women support group for $12 /month. 30:02
Links:
Notes:
🤧 Allergy season is in full swing, and Shani also had allergies. 02:45
👨⚕️ Shani’s physician father developed “Bocian’s Potions” for nasal sprays: Shani combined her dad’s work and the convenience of internet selling. 03:25
😍 When she realized she was not a teacher but an entrepreneur: she became excited about the idea of entrepreneurship and startup and fundraising. 06:27
💦 Allermi customized nasal sprays and benefits of having customized products: reinventing the nasal spray industry. 09:05
👃 The nose is the most inflammatory-prone area of our body. 11:10
📺 Telehealth is revolutionary: getting evaluated by a physician online for minor issues.14:47
💲 Funding for Allermi started with friends and family but grew to institutional and angel funding: the shift women need to make when talking to investors. 18:47
💰 Rejections and feedback from VCs helped Shani modify her pitch: investors require data and financial projections. 23:26
🫂 The demoralizing and hurt feelings that come when investors don’t understand your mission: having good support from people around you is crucial. 27:31
📱 Old Girl’s Club on Slack: professional women support group for $12 /month. 30:02
Links:
Connect with Shani: linkedin.com/in/shani-bocian-steinberg
Allermi Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/allermi
Instagram: instagram.com/getallermi
Website: allermi.com
Connect with Adrienne: www.sheleadsmedia.com
Get your tickets for the 10th Annual She Leads LIVE conference - NYC October 17-19 https://www.sheleadsmedia.com/she-leads-live-2024
Listen to podcasts for women by women on the She Leads Podcast Network: www.sheleadspodcasts.com
>> "I love ❤️ Adrienne and The She Leads™ Podcast!” If that thought crossed your mind at any time while listening to our special show, can I ask you to please take a moment and give our podcast some love? To do so, simply Rate, Review & Follow Us on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Taking this simple action helps my team and I to spread the word about all the incredible guests of The She Leads Podcast and contributes overall to helping women leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere! 🗺️ Also, if you haven’t done so already, please +follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!! XO -Adrienne <<
>> "I love ❤️ Adrienne and The She Leads™ Podcast!” If that thought crossed your mind at any time while listening to our special show, can I ask you to please take a moment and give our podcast some love? To do so, simply Rate, Review & Follow Us on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Taking this simple action helps my team and I to spread the word about all the incredible guests of The She Leads Podcast and contributes overall to helping women leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere! 🗺️ Also, if you haven’t done so already, please +follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!! XO -Adrienne <<
Creators & Guests
What is The She Leads Podcast: Real Conversations with Women Entrepreneurs?
The She Leads Podcast, hosted by Adrienne Garland, is the podcast for women leaders and women entrepreneurs who are sick of sugar coating what they say and how they say it. Each week, Adrienne explores entrepreneurial stories, businesses, and challenges that women entrepreneurs face with a wide range of guests who are open to sharing their authentic stories in a refreshing and real way. For far too long, women have been sugar coating our voices, thoughts, and opinions, but that stops here and now! The She Leads Podcast, formerly Sugar Coated, is the place where women leaders can express their brilliance without sugar-coating anything. This podcast offers a platform for super-practical, actionable advice for women to overcome challenges and to make a significant impact on our families, our communities, and our world. Adrienne Garland, CEO of She Leads Media - entrepreneur, media producer, and adjunct professor rejects the notion that women must be deferential to those currently in power and pull back our opinions. Join Adrienne as she dives into raw conversations with brilliant women leaders and entrepreneurs - sans Sugar Coating!
Adrienne Garland (00:01.819)
Hi everybody and welcome back to the She Leads Podcast. This episode is brought to you by the She Leads Podcast Network. It's the podcast network for women by women. So today let's welcome Shani Boshan to the podcast. Shani is the visionary founder and CEO of Alermy, a groundbreaking telehealth startup based in San Francisco that aims to improve the lives of chronic and seasonal allergy sufferers with
personalized prescription nasal sprays. Founded in 2021, Alermee has quickly garnered attention and funding for its innovative approach to combating allergy symptoms. I cannot wait to speak to you, Shani. Welcome to the She Leads Podcast.
Shani (00:50.542)
Thanks so much for having me.
Adrienne Garland (00:52.827)
I, it's actually like the perfect time to speak to you. So you're in California, I am here in New York and allergy season is in full swing. I mean, I teach at NYU and everybody in class last night was sneezing their heads off.
Shani (01:13.342)
It's so true. It's allergy season is here. It's here to stay for a while and it's getting worse every year.
Adrienne Garland (01:23.579)
It really is. So can you just sort of wind back and tell us about how you started AlarmE?
Shani (01:34.958)
So really the story of Alermi starts back in 1992, which is the year that I was born. My dad had just finished his fellowship at Stanford in allergy immunology and he started his practice and was prescribing treatments to his patients who couldn't breathe out of their nose and who were sneezing and had runny nose and were really struggling with their allergy symptoms. And he came up with a protocol that he actually became
relatively famous for that his name is Dr. Robert Botian and the protocol became known as Botian's potions because he would take nasal sprays and he would mix them together and he would create these like magic potions for nasal spray and give them to his patients and they worked so much better than anything that you could get off the shelf and people loved them and they used them every day and they didn't get side effects and their symptoms were totally controlled and people would come from all over the state to see him for these formulas but they were only you know limited to
his patients who came in to see him in his office, who went into his clinic. And so by the time I was in my 20s and I myself was an allergy sufferer who'd relied on my dad's formulas for many, many years to stay symptom free, I realized that there was a huge problem with allergy sufferers across the country. And I wish that they could have access to what my dad had been doing in his clinic for 25 years at that point.
So I had the idea to take what my dad had been doing in his clinic and make it affordable and accessible to people all over the country using the internet so that they could get access to his caliber of medical care and to the formulas that he'd created at a really affordable price and with a really convenient click of a button. So with that, we started Alermi and today we prescribe dozens of nasal spray formulas to tens of thousands of patients across the country in 45 states.
And people are able to get real relief, many of them for the first time in their lives, and breathe normally through their nose without worrying about suffering from symptoms.
Adrienne Garland (03:39.227)
That is absolutely incredible. And potion potion is so awesome. That isn't it funny how like, it's just, I don't know, it's like the universe or something, right? Like, Fata Complete that our names like indicate what our lives are going to be. It's hysterical. Wow. So is, I have to ask, because I'm in New York, is,
Shani (03:45.454)
Hehehehe
Shani (04:00.206)
I know, it's so true.
Adrienne Garland (04:08.187)
Is Alarmy in New York available in New York? All right. Okay. Okay. that.
Shani (04:10.926)
Absolutely. yes. We have thousands of patients in New York who suffer from springtime allergies, summertime allergies, winter allergies, you know, when you're locked inside and it's cold out and you're stuck with your pets and your dust mites and your molds. So.
Adrienne Garland (04:27.259)
Yes. that is so, so amazing. So tell me a little bit about you. So did you study the same type of undergrad and grad and doctoral study that your father did? Tell me a little bit about your educational background.
Shani (04:49.582)
Actually not at all. I wanted to be a doctor. When I was a little kid, I dreamt of it, but as soon as I got to college and I tried to take chemistry, I was like, this dream is over. I can't do that. So I ended up studying art history, which I absolutely adored. And I thought I wanted to be an art historian and a curator. I actually did work in a gallery for a couple of years and absolutely loved it.
Adrienne Garland (04:59.803)
Bro, I get it. I get it.
Adrienne Garland (05:16.763)
Yeah.
Shani (05:16.91)
I ended up getting my master's in education from Brown University and went on to teach art history to high school students. And it was great, but it got to a point where I was thinking about alchemy every day and I was thinking about it more than I was thinking about my work as an educator. I would come home and the first thing I would do is call my dad or go to the drug store and kind of stand in the allergy aisle and talk to people or buy things and mix up formulas in my sink at home, make them for my friends.
Adrienne Garland (05:20.635)
yeah.
Adrienne Garland (05:46.243)
my God.
Shani (05:46.286)
And I just became obsessed with nasal spray and with this idea of taking what my dad had been doing and making it into a big company. And the idea of entrepreneurship and startup and fundraising was all so exciting and appealing to me. And so finally, my parents were like, you need to start this. We'll support you. Move home. They opened their home to me and my boyfriend at the time, who's now my husband. And they were so generous. They were my first investors. And...
Adrienne Garland (05:49.755)
Okay.
Shani (06:14.702)
They really, in many ways, are the reason why Alarmy became what it is today. And I don't regret studying art history and education. I loved every moment of my studies and my work in that field. But ultimately, it just became clear that I was meant to be an entrepreneur and not a teacher.
Adrienne Garland (06:33.403)
gosh, I love that so much. I actually teach entrepreneurship at NYU and I think, you know, I true, yeah, and I'm a huge advocate of entrepreneurship. And, you know, I think that no matter what we do, it all in some ways and forms our ventures. So I'm sure that whatever it is that you learned, you are applying in some
Shani (06:39.598)
Wow.
Adrienne Garland (07:01.819)
shape or form to allermy. And even if it's not obvious right now, I'm sure that something is going to surface where you're going to be like, that is why I studied art history. And that is why I taught, right? There is going to be something that pops up. Yeah. Wow. That is so amazing. So, so you, right now you provide these formulations is what is sort of the,
Shani (07:17.87)
yeah. Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (07:30.587)
the future outlook for Alarmy.
Shani (07:35.498)
So, Alermi is the world's first customized nasal spray. And what that means is that we take multiple active medication ingredients and we combine them into one single bottle so that when you take a spritz of nasal spray in your nose, you're getting multiple medications to target multiple different symptoms. So there's one to target runny nose, there's one to target sneeze, there's one to target inflammation, there's one to target stuffy nose, and they work synergistically all together to get you the best possible relief. And then on top of that,
We adjust the percentages of those medications. So someone with a lot of runny nose will get more of the medication for runny nose. Someone with a lot of swelling will get more medication for inflammation, and so on and so forth. And so what this amounts to is a nasal spray that's so much better than anything that you can buy off the shelf because it's customized for you and it contains all the medication you need.
And so with that, I believe that this is the next era of nasal spray, which you think is like such a random and niche category, but Americans are spending billions of dollars on nasal sprays each year. And there's just massive room for improvement in this field. And AlarmE is really at the forefront of that. And so I think of us as completely reinventing the nasal spray industry and becoming the market leader in this space.
Adrienne Garland (08:47.739)
I love that so much. And wow, what a perfect pitch. I mean, you have got that down. Everybody listening needs to really hear exactly how you said that and the confidence with which you delivered that message, because it is just absolutely perfect. So kudos to you for being able to deliver that so succinctly, clearly and just so beautifully. I really, really appreciate that.
Shani (08:53.806)
Hahaha.
Adrienne Garland (09:16.251)
Yeah, and yeah, really, really good. You know, it's funny, I'm like listening to you and I'm like, I have to ask her this question. I have to ask her this question. It's like a very personal question for me. I don't have allergies, but one thing happens to me and I don't even know if this is an allergy or not. Whenever I exercise, my nose runs. Is that an allergy?
Shani (09:17.454)
Wow.
Shani (09:41.646)
Hmm. It's a great question. You know, it could be related to allergy, but it's also much more likely that it's not. You know, exercise and really even shifting body position or temperature outside can all affect the blood vessels in our nose. The nose is incredibly prone to inflammation. It's the most inflammatory prone area of our body, really similar to the gums actually, which get really inflamed and...
Adrienne Garland (09:44.027)
Hahaha!
Shani (10:07.918)
bloody if you don't floss, and flossing is what keeps that inflammation away. So really similarly with the nose. And so when we do things that change blood flow, including exercise, we can get a lot of that reactivity in the nose. And so rhinorrhea, which is the scientific word for runny nose, is a symptom of increased blood flow of inflammation in the nose. And so we use a medication called Ipertropium, which directly controls runny nose and excess watery mucus production.
which a lot of people experience. And so that's something you could use prior to exercising and it would probably stop that symptom from happening.
Adrienne Garland (10:44.699)
Yeah, I definitely need to get that because that is one thing when I go out like running my nose just when I run my nose runs as my nose runs right along with me. And I'm like, this is terrible because it all it is is it just feels like water coming out of my nose and I'm constantly like running and just wiping wiping wiping and if I didn't it would just be like a stream of water out my nose and I don't even know what it is so.
Shani (11:02.382)
Yeah.
Shani (11:11.822)
Yeah. Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (11:12.667)
Yeah, I'll have to, I just, I wrote that down. So thank you. Thank you for the advice. That is amazing.
Shani (11:17.134)
Yes. sure. Yeah, we call it the watery nasal discharge. It's super common. And the amazing thing about nasal spray is that it works really quickly. And so if you took nasal spray before your next run, you probably would not experience that symptom any longer. Like, it would work within a few minutes. Your nose wouldn't run. And it would probably be a lot more enjoyable to exercise outdoors. It could also be, I don't know if this happens when you're outdoors in general. Maybe you notice it more when you're
when you run or it's exacerbated by higher levels of activity. But it could also be that you have allergies and when you're outside and you're spending a lot of time outdoors and you're breathing a lot of pollen and really hard because you're exercising hard, you're exacerbating some of that allergy you might have. It's possible.
Adrienne Garland (12:02.651)
Well, I think that you have just changed my life. So thank you so much. That is amazing. my gosh. So I'm just like really excited about your whole company. And I think that one of the trends too that is super exciting in this category that you're in is this whole telehealth industry. It just, it gives people the ability to tap into things that.
Shani (12:05.87)
Hahaha!
Adrienne Garland (12:31.131)
in the past, they weren't able to access. So telehealth is revolutionary. We actually have another company that we do some work with, they're called Winona and they're for women's, just women's symptoms and things like that. And it's very similar where you're assigned sort of a doctor that talks to you about your symptoms and then you're issued.
medication and they sort of check on you. And I just think that it's so wonderful to be able to access doctors from all over. And I know that there's regulations and things like that. How does that work when it comes to, like you said, you're in 45 states, you don't have many more states to go, but what is that process for getting, you know,
regulated, I don't know if that's the right word, but you know, getting regulated from state to state.
Shani (13:28.27)
Yeah.
Yeah, so it's a great question. So telemedicine, I think, is one of the most important advances in medicine that we've seen in the last, I don't know, maybe 10 years. And it's become very commonplace for treating kind of minor conditions, where you can very easily be evaluated by a physician online. The physician can make a diagnosis and send over medication. Obviously, this is not
a replacement for in -person care, and nobody should forgo seeing a doctor in person regularly for telemedicine. But for certain conditions like allergies or getting birth control or hair loss medication or other things that are kind of more topical and minor, I think telemedicine is an incredible solution for people to get better care for really inconvenient or kind of quick.
quick needs for their health, they can get a solution for that using a doctor online. And it's generally more affordable and certainly more convenient. The states are quickly learning that. And telemedicine is generally accepted by most states in the country. AlarmE is an asynchronous telemedicine company. And so what that means is we don't do any video visits or phone calls with patients. Everything is based off of a
Adrienne Garland (14:35.867)
Mm.
Shani (14:53.358)
an asynchronous patient -doctor relationship where the patient answers questions by submitting written text, kind of in a questionnaire or question and answer conversational format using direct messaging and chat. So it's much more convenient. You don't need to like have your video on. You can do it from bed or when you're parked at a red light or whatever, safely, of course.
Adrienne Garland (15:14.971)
Hahaha.
Shani (15:16.494)
So it's become really convenient. And so there are certain restrictions though that states impose where you have to be compliant to those about establishing a doctor -patient relationship and ensuring that you are prescribing under the right authorities and that you're properly licensed in the states. And so there's kind of a pretty significant process to ensure that we're following all of the regulations that each state imposes. And so you need to have a healthcare lawyer.
You need to have a regulatory expert. You need to kind of identify each of the state's laws and ensure you're compliant with them. Your physician needs to be licensed in the state where the patient is located. And so it's a pretty intensive process. And for us to get licensed in all 45 states took many, many months. And we started in one state and then in five and then 15 and then kind of grew quickly.
Adrienne Garland (15:57.627)
Yeah.
Shani (16:04.142)
And, you know, the remaining states are states where the telemedicine law is not as advanced as it is in the other 45 states. And, you know, they require things like video visits and phone calls, which just isn't in our capacity right now. And so we hope that telemedicine law continues to modernize and, you know, people in all 50 states can get access to better care and there won't be limitations imposed that are just, you know, kind of inconvenient for the patient.
Adrienne Garland (16:30.715)
Now is that so are the are the doctor do sort of contract for lack of a better word with doctors that are in those particular states? Is that how that works?
Shani (16:43.79)
Yeah, so Al -Armi has its own medical practice and all of our physicians are licensed in the states in which they prescribe. They don't actually need to be physically located in that state, but they need to hold a license for that state.
Adrienne Garland (16:53.883)
License in the state, okay, understood. Awesome, thank you so much for that little education. I was just very curious about how that all worked, because I am not in that world at all. And I actually just wanted to shift gears a tiny bit, because this is something that is very relevant for our audience when it comes to finances and raising money. So you talked about how Al -Armi has garnered attention quickly.
Shani (17:01.038)
sure.
Shani (17:05.326)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (17:23.451)
and funding. So I know that you mentioned that you were able to get funding, friends and family. Can you talk a little bit, I don't know if you were able to get funding from outside sources. So I guess that's, you know, the first part of the question. And if you were, can you talk a little bit about that process? Because that is something that is a huge hurdle for women when it comes to, you know, just being able to properly
funds their businesses so that they can grow.
Shani (17:58.382)
Absolutely, this is one of my favorite things to talk about. So we've raised many, many millions of dollars. It's currently not disclosed our total fundraising, but we recently closed a Series A round. We raised a seed round from both Series A and seed from institutional investors. And then our pre -seed was more of an angel kind of family office round and before that friends and family. So we've raised quite a bit of...
Adrienne Garland (18:22.779)
Hmm.
Shani (18:27.758)
capital and it's been enabled us to grow the business and scale to the kind of place we are now and scale a lot further in the coming 18 to 24 months. I think that obviously we know that women raise very, very little of the venture capital that's raised in total. I think the last statistic I saw was that it's
2 % of total venture capital raised went to women -founded companies or all women co -founding teams. We are an all women co -founding team. And so I think it's incredibly rare. And I think women have a tendency to start companies that improve the world or
Adrienne Garland (18:59.674)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (19:04.827)
Amazing.
Shani (19:21.134)
or fix a problem that they see in their own personal lives. You meet a lot of women who are consumer founders or health care founders or wellness or beauty, and they're creating a product or a solution to a problem. And I think when I hear women speak about their companies, there's almost always a mission underlying it. I just get the sense that it's more common among women to have a real mission -driven business.
Adrienne Garland (19:48.731)
Mm -hmm.
Shani (19:48.782)
Not to say that men don't, but I think it's more common among women. And so when you meet with investors, obviously, it's important to emphasize the mission of your company and the problem that it's solving and how incredible the product is. But ultimately, I think it's important to remember that investors are financiers. I mean, they're bankers, essentially. And their job is to, and the only way that they can continue providing capital to startups is to return their fund at $0 .00.
Adrienne Garland (20:17.467)
Yep.
Shani (20:17.55)
you know, some significant multiples. And so whenever I speak to women founders, I always try and emphasize that the potential to exit your business at a significant multiple and help an investor return their fund to their limited partners is kind of the focal point of what should be emphasized in your discussion with an investor. So essentially, what's the potential financial outcome of
of your company and to speak to investors like what they are, which is financiers and bankers who are investing capital for the sake of a return. And I think once that I made that transition and kind of shifted my focus to like, people can't breathe out of their nose, we need to help them, to this company is going to be massive and we can exit for like an X multiple on revenue and an X multiple on EBITDA and...
Adrienne Garland (21:00.315)
Yeah.
Shani (21:16.046)
These are three case studies of similar companies that have exited at this multiple. And I think that that shift really kind of helped us be taken more seriously by real institutional investors. And so I, yeah, so to sum up a very long kind of rambly answer, I would say, you know, really try and position the pitch.
Adrienne Garland (21:20.219)
Hmm.
Shani (21:39.086)
to who you're speaking to, which is an investor, a banker, a financier who needs to return their fund. And I've seen it work for women when they've shifted their focus. And I think that worked really well for us.
Adrienne Garland (21:52.539)
I love that answer so very much. And I mean, the simple way to say it is know your audience, but that is very, very difficult to do when you are so close to your business. Because when you operate from that mission -driven perspective, your heart is so in it and you almost can't pull yourself out.
out of it and see it, especially from it almost sometimes feels like a cold, you know, money through through a cold money lens. But you are so spot on that that is exactly what these financiers are looking for. And so I guess my question is,
Shani (22:31.694)
Yes.
Shani (22:36.686)
Yes.
Adrienne Garland (22:49.499)
I mean, kudos to you for being able to recognize that. Was that something that you were able to recognize on your own? Was that something that you and your team said, we need to change our approach? Like, how did that whole conversation come about? Like, did you get advice? How did that happen that you made that shift?
Shani (23:14.926)
That's such a good question. I can't pinpoint a specific incident or learning or lesson that I had where there was a shift, a paradigm shift. I feel like it was gradual. And it actually came from a lot of rejection. I met with probably dozens of venture capitalists. And of course, rejection is part of this whole process. It's like the college application process. You cast a wide net, and you try and speak to everyone relevant. And there are so many reasons why a venture capitalist would
pass on an opportunity. But the feedback that I got from VCs was incredibly helpful. And almost always, it was related to metrics or data or performance or time on the market to prove out certain hypotheses. And so it was all really essentially finance related. There are a few who said, I don't think this is a big enough market, or I don't understand the problem, or it's not the right category for us, or whatever more general reason.
Adrienne Garland (24:11.483)
Mm -hmm.
Shani (24:11.534)
But the real helpful feedback was things like, I'd want to see 12 -month retention closer to 50 % instead of 40%. And I'm like, OK, well, why? And then you look at why, and it's like, because that increases our likelihood to exit or increases our EBITDA by 15%. Whatever. I'm just throwing things out there. But there's always kind of a monetary or fiduciary reason behind kind of those analyses. And so I think probably a combination of just
Adrienne Garland (24:19.675)
Hmm.
Shani (24:40.942)
tons and tons of conversations with investors, a lot of rejection with good critical feedback that helped us improve the business, a lot of self -reflection on my own pitching, and then conversations with more successful founders than myself who were a step or several steps ahead of me. I think it was all kind of really informative and helped shape how we pitched.
Adrienne Garland (24:55.419)
Hmm.
Adrienne Garland (25:02.235)
I just I love that so much. I, I in so many ways, I wish that women could go through that process, not for the rejection, but for the information in order to, to shift that perspective, because I really like and you must be a very, you know, strong person to be able to receive that feedback. And instead of taking it,
personally, which every human being can do and saying, I understand, but why? There's the growth mindset, which I teach about. There's the growth mindset in the way that you received that feedback. Like, okay. Let me figure this out. It's the puzzle, right? Instead of the like,
Shani (25:46.605)
Mmm.
Adrienne Garland (26:00.539)
I suck, I'm stupid, I got it wrong. Like, let me go tuck my tail between my legs. And it's just so, it's such a great example. And, you know, I don't mean to be using you as like a poster child for the way to do things the right way. But like, I almost do want to point back to you for the way that you, you know, have pitched your company, talked about it.
Shani (26:04.078)
Hmm.
yeah.
Adrienne Garland (26:30.427)
You have your sound bites, you are very knowledgeable and can speak about your numbers, your business, your why, your mission. And the fact that you have been successful at raising money and then the fact that you do have this growth mindset and you were able to shift the way that you were doing things, these are all the reasons why you were able to be successful, let alone the fact that your product,
is amazing, right? And solves a true problem. And, you know, it has stellar results. I mean, you have to have all of those things in order to be successful and has to be the right time to write like, you know, had this had this happened, you know, 20 years ago, I mean, telehealth wasn't even a thing.
Shani (27:03.278)
Thank you.
Shani (27:11.278)
Mm.
Shani (27:18.158)
Yes.
Shani (27:27.79)
Right. No, that's...
Adrienne Garland (27:28.731)
So that distribution outlet has to be there too.
Shani (27:32.366)
absolutely. No, I mean, for sure. Thank you for the kind words. I do want to kind of disclose that there was plenty of tail tucking and crying and kind of self -effacement and feelings of horrible rejection. And, you know, it's easy to look back now when I'm out of it and be like, all you have to do is talk about the numbers and take feedback. But in the moment, it's…
Adrienne Garland (27:55.931)
yeah.
Shani (27:58.35)
It's incredibly discouraging to be rejected multiple times in a row. I mean, it's horrible, especially when you're an entrepreneur and a founder and your business is your baby and you came up with this idea that you think is incredible and you're helping people and you're getting good market feedback and you start to dream about what it could be. And then you have an investor who you just met 10 minutes ago be like, this isn't going to work. Sorry, we're passing.
Adrienne Garland (28:22.363)
Yeah. Yeah.
Shani (28:23.438)
It's like, my God, it's incredibly demoralizing. And essentially when an investor passes, they're saying, we don't believe in the potential for this. Obviously there could be other reasons, but ultimately that's what they're saying is maybe this will work, but we don't have enough conviction that you're going to succeed, that we're willing to take the risk on you. And that's a really hurtful and horrible thing to hear. And so you really like the tough skin that you build from hearing that over and over again and just pushing through it and continuing to.
Adrienne Garland (28:31.643)
Yeah.
Shani (28:53.422)
strive I think is the grit that they talk about when they talk about successful founders. But it's certainly not easy. And there were many nights I was like crying like a baby in my mom's arms being like, I'm a failure. I wish people talked about that more because no, it's funny. I mean, like it's crazy because people don't talk about that part. And I think like every entrepreneur has been through it. And if they say they haven't, they're lying.
Adrienne Garland (29:04.939)
I don't mean to laugh. I don't mean to laugh. Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (29:20.347)
Well, I think another thing too to point out is that when you do go through this process and you know that there's going to be rejection, the thing that you must have is that support because no matter how tough you think that you are, I think that there are going to be moments that just take you by surprise and you better have somebody that can.
Shani (29:36.238)
Mmm.
Adrienne Garland (29:45.499)
you know, open their arms to you so that you can cry into them. Because if you don't have that and it's just you staring back at yourself in the mirror, you know, sometimes it's difficult to pull yourself up and say, keep going. So you need that support, which is amazing that your mom was there. She's, I'm sure an amazing, amazing person.
Shani (29:59.118)
thousand percent.
Shani (30:03.054)
thousand percent.
Shani (30:10.062)
She is an amazing person and she's an entrepreneur herself, not in business, but she started multiple schools and her own practice, her own medical practice. But so always surrounded by entrepreneurship and she's super inspiring. But yeah, I agree with you. Surrounding yourself with the right support, it's hard to find. Obviously, your partner and your parents and your family and all of that is great. But on top of that, having supportive...
in early investors, advisors, a network of other founders, and just people in the professional field. And I'm part of a Slack group that I really rely on for support. It's called, I'm going to pit, I'm going to just drop the name here. It's called Old Girls Club. It's kind of a play on the old boys club. And it's a women's only, kind of women in tech, professional women. And it's super affordable. It's like 12 bucks a month or something like that. And,
Adrienne Garland (30:51.515)
Pitch them, yeah.
Shani (31:07.726)
And it's a community of hundreds and hundreds, maybe even over a thousand women who just offer support to one another and it's pretty incredible. And so that's been an awesome. So whether it's that or another kind of support group, I think super important when you're going through something like a fundraiser, starting a company.
Adrienne Garland (31:25.595)
That is so awesome and thank you so much for that resource. I think that's incredible and it does sound very, very affordable and we do all need support because it can get very, very lonely and it's nice to be able to reach out to just different people in community. And I think that it's so important because more and more women are starting businesses and going out and raising money and doing all the things. So.
I'm definitely gonna be looking into the old girls club myself. But yeah, I will love it. I know I will. And I just, I wanna say thank you so very much for sharing so much of your story and all of the behind the scenes and what it took to get to where you are today. And I just wish you nothing but continued success and growth, prosperity.
Shani (31:57.198)
yeah, I think you'd love it.
Adrienne Garland (32:20.123)
And I just, I admire everything that you've done so far and I know that you're just gonna do so much more in the future. And I can't wait to get, I don't even remember the name of the ingredient that you said, but I know that it starts with an I. I'm gonna get that for myself. And I just really appreciate you sharing everything with the She Leads audience. I know that people are gonna take away so much from this episode. Thank you so much, Shani.
Shani (32:34.414)
Hehehe.
Shani (32:48.078)
thank you, Adrienne. So lovely to meet you. This was really fun.
Adrienne Garland (32:51.611)
Awesome.