5 Minutes With… The Femtech Pioneer

Ida Tin, 40, is the CEO and Co-Founder of female health app Clue (www.helloclue.com), the free period tracking app designed to help women track their periods and better understand their bodies.

Born in Copenhagen, Ida spent part of her 20s in London where she launched her first small business selling crystal bead jewellery. 

Prior to founding Clue, she ran a motorcycle tour company, touring locations like Vietnam, the United States, Cuba, Chile and Mongolia. She later published what became a best-selling novel, Direktøs, detailing her experience.

Ida and her co-founder and partner, Hans Raffauf, have two children together and live in Berlin. 

Where did the concept of Clue come from?

I felt that reproductive health is an incredibly foundational and central part of our lives, but there’s a real lack of clarity for women over this generally. That starts the moment a woman has her first period, and begins to manage that part of her life, and continues as she chooses whether or not she wants to use birth control and, if so, which method to use.

When I was about 30 I realised that my form of birth control wasn’t working for me, but was unsure of alternative options. I thought it was insane that we were able to put a man on the moon, but we didn’t have a tool that would help us understand our body’s own patterns.

What obstacles did you encounter when developing the idea?

The biggest initial challenge was demonstrating the value and opportunity of a women’s health app in what is still a vastly male-dominated tech scene. Cycle health affects 100% of the population – even if you don’t experience a menstrual cycle yourself, you are almost certainly close to someone who does. Women may be underrepresented in tech but there is no denying that we are starting to make a name for ourselves within the industry – digital female health is one of the fastest growing sectors. Now, taboos around fertility and menstruation are disappearing, and as they do, women want to know more about their bodies and the unique patterns of their menstrual cycle. Apps like Clue give women the power to identify patterns in their own body and to understand what these patterns mean for them. 

Securing investment was also a challenge at first – our initial funding round was small, and hard to secure, but we deeply believed in the impact that Clue could have on the world, and this inspired us to push forward. My advice, not just to women, but to everyone, is that if you believe something will work, you must never stop believing that it will. It is easy to feel restricted, especially when you are doing something new or taboo, but in pushing this innovation forward, you are moving the world forward –  and that is really valuable.

As we have been building Clue over the last year we have seen the rise of a new category in tech – femtech. That’s encouraging to see that women start demanding better tools and services to live well with the incredible biology that we have. I am excited to see this movement of tech empowered cultural change happening. We still have much work to do, both men and women to fully leverage the potential that women have, and enable all to live full lives not in spite of their biology but in tune with it. I believe technology can play a powerful role in this transformation. Investors are starting to realise the huge business opportunities in femtech, but it’s still vastly underfunded and, quite frankly, not well understood by many VC of which most will never experience a cycle themselves.

Are there barriers for women working in tech or looking to start a business?

I think we still have some way to go towards achieving gender equality within the workplace in general, and not just in technology. To do this, I think men and women alike need to support each other, and open the conversation around how we listen, or not really listen, to women’s ideas and perspectives. Women are more angry than we notice even ourselves, and we are taught to suppress this anger. This is a huge energy drain, and it also means that women don’t take, nor are given, the airtime, the space and – essentially, the power that the world would be well served to make use of. When we are angry there is most likely a good reason for it; not being met at eye level, not having our boundaries respected, not being given the opportunities we have earned. With our anger comes clarity and more space for unfolding potential. This does not mean that we should forget good communication, but that we shouldn’t just smile when we’re feeling angry.

What makes Clue different to regular period trackers?

Using Clue, people can track and curate personalised health data, to give them awareness of the unique patterns in their bodies and their cycles. In 2017 Clue also launched its website, helloclue.com, a dedicated menstrual health hub; providing empathetic, reliable and scientifically accurate information regarding female health.

Why is this important?

For many people experiencing unusual menstrual symptoms, side effects to birth control or having questions about what constitutes as ‘normal’ the default is to look for answers online. However, looking up symptoms can often lead to being told that you are either pregnant, seriously sick, or both.  By building our new website, Clue is creating a trustworthy resource, based on a combination of reliable science and data and truthful and personal stories, to help people learn more about their bodies and be better informed about their overall health.

What are your goals for Clue?

We have just reached 12 million active users worldwide and, in 2016, we were named the most accurate free period tracking app in an extensive 2016 study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, a publication of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

At Clue, we are continuing to curate accessible, safe, relatable content spanning all areas of reproductive health. We are also exploring what users might need in terms of new tools and features. We are also working with top research institutions and clinicians, including Columbia University, Stanford University, University of Oxford and Kinsey Institute, to better understand female health.  Our scientific collaborations are exploring questions like: what pain patterns are considered ‘normal’ in which populations? What mood patterns do we see around ovulation? How might our menstrual and symptoms patterns help us spot disease and illness earlier?

You’ve been credited with coining the term Femtech – what does Femtech actually mean?

Femtech defines the group of technologies that are designed to support and advance women’s healthcare and include everything from period and fertility tracking apps, reproductive system health care, women’s sexual wellness products, pregnancy and nursing care, period care goods and at-home fertility monitoring devices.

Why is defining products as Femtech important?

By using a term to encompass the market it has legitimised it, paving the way for dedicated Femtech events and for VC’s to invest in Femtech portfolios. In March 2018, Frost & Sullivan released new data, predicting that the femtech market would be worth $50 billion by 2025.

How do you unwind in your spare time?

I listen to audiobooks whenever I can – on my commute, as I do laundry. That’s how I get to “read” a fair amount of books because sitting down to read is not really possible in my life right now, while juggling a business and two small kids. I love listening to women who have broken the norm, fought for their communities. I also listen to lots of non-fiction about leadership, the future of technology, data, algorithms, ethics and health. And of course I love books that teach me new things about the female body. It’s an absolutely fascinating system that we still need to do much more research on.

What do you see as your legacy?

My hope is that femtech will keep being a driver for improving wellness, health and women’s lives in general, and that we will see big commercial successes in the category too, fulfilling the huge economic potential that exists in femtech. We are finally moving away from the idea that reproductive health is ‘niche’ and something to only be spoken about in whispers. This is a fantastic driver for a more equal and healthy society, not only for women, but for all.