We talked about sales development with Chris Wang, the Co-founder & CEO (she/her) of Shimmer Care. This is a platform that takes care of mental health by offering ADHD coaching.
1. How would you describe your company in an elevator pitch?
Shimmer offers bite-sized ADHD coaching, 5-10x cheaper than alternatives. We open up access to those who actually need coaching the most.
2. What are you the best at?
We’re good at building in community. Our product was built alongside psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, ADHD coaches, and the ADHD community itself. We have had hundreds of interviews (and counting) and constant communication and feedback loops are built into our DNA.
3. What customer acquisition strategy did you use to find your first customers?
By talking to folks. By talking to and listening to those with ADHD (and coaches), when it came time to launch, we simply reached out to those we interviewed and said “hey, we created what you asked for. come check it out!”, then 2. We set up a simple waitlist and drove people through a mix of blogs, social (IG, tiktok) —all in service of providing value to potential customers.
4. What are your customers saying about your product?
Quote from a member today: “The thing that is different so far in this experience is being able to get things out of my mind and onto the floor for Alex and I to work on. That is something I have been missing and it’s very clear to me now. I have the will and want to try changes but have not had anyone who can understand what it’s like to struggle in this way and help me figure out what to try from a place of experience.” Can provide many more quotes, I have hundreds 🙂
5. What was the biggest challenge for you when finding product market fit?
PMF for us has been a journey. We started with support groups (for anxiety, depression, queer, asian, founders, etc.) led by facilitators, move to curriculum-based coaching groups (CBT-based for anxiety) to 1:1 listening model to now 1:1 bite-sized ADHD coaching. There’s a lot of factors I can expand on above, including target demographic, business model, care modality, how it’s delivered, etc. Happy to expand on any of the above 🙂
6. What are your proud achievements so far?
Over 3,000 hours of support delivered (before our ADHD model) and every single real human testimonial / life we’ve changed!
7. What is the next big thing in your industry?
Democratization of healthcare. Not everything needs to happen behind the walls of a hospital and not everything needs to be delivered by a doctor. Technology, new models of care, paraprofessionals, and more are showing us health is more than what we thought health is. Health (and especially mental health) is everywhere and everyone has responsibility. Social media? Media? All responsible.
8. Are you planning to expand into new markets? What are your plans for the next 6-12 months?
Yes! We are starting with our closer circles in tech hubs like LA, SF, NYC. But soon we’ll be all over the US providing affordable and personalized ADHD coaching. Our head ADHD coach is already based in Europe so that’s also on the horizon.
9. In your opinion, what is a startups’ biggest challenge when it comes to developing a new market expansion strategy?
Adapting to the consumer. Everything is about the consumer and consumers are different no matter where you go. Too many companies get this wrong by pushing their product down consumer’s throats. This isn’t the way. We exist to serve our members, and when our members ask for different things, we react. Perhaps it’s because I am a woman, or queer, or Asian / BIPOC, or neurodivergent, but it’s in my blood to build inclusively and for all.
10. If you could have one super power to boost your startup development, what would it be and why?
For me it’s always more horsepower behind behavioral psych 🙂 Working on consumer / preventative mental health means you work at the intersection of what people want and what people need. Being able to influence (in a healthy way) behaviors that will be better for folks’ lives is key.
If you want your story about sales development featured please get in touch with Marcia Osundwa here.
