You can’t not do it: Female founders and their successful health ventures

Amy Weinrieb

At our second MaRS Mornings event—a free monthly series that celebrates creative founders in the innovation community—we invited three successful female entrepreneurs to share their stories, lessons and advice for creating ventures in the healthcare space. The panel spoke candidly about fear and entrepreneurship, and offered their best advice, tips to overcome roadblocks and much more!

To read a full recap of the event, click here. To attend the next event on January 14, register today!

Panel Highlights

Sonya Satveit, CEO and founder of Open Source Health, Jessica Ching, CEO and founder of Eve Medical, and Chia Chia Sun, CEO and founder of Damiva, spoke about the path to success as female entrepreneurs:

• Hindsight is always 20/20: If you could travel back in time to one month before the launch of your venture, what would you say to yourself? For Chia Chia, it was to pay attention to the unmet consumer needs that no one is filling. And her product, Mae, did exactly that. For Jessica, it was to reassure herself that anything worth doing is probably very hard. She decided to push any doubts aside and went for it.
• Swerve around the roadblocks: Roadblocks and obstacles are everyday occurrences in the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship. And when you add being a female founder into the mix, it can make matters a little more challenging. For Sonya, confidence and thinking bigger are essential to succeeding. By looking past the idea of running just a “small shop,” Sonya was able to turn Open Source Health into a company that can reach women all over the world.
• Sage advice: Chia Chia told the audience that the best advice she received was to not take on external financing. Instead, the company’s strategy was to go to market fast, and Mae successfully launched direct to US consumers online in 2014.‎ Soon, Mae will be available in leading national pharmacy chains and healthcare catalogues. For Sonya, the advice was rather simple: don’t let fear paralyze you. More specifically, she noted that there is nothing scarier than entrepreneurship, but that “you can’t not do it.”

Want to attend the next MaRS Mornings?

Join us at our next MaRS Mornings on January 14 where you’ll hear from Hamid Arabzadeh, CEO of Ranovus, on his entrepreneurial journey.