Starting a Company In an Industry You Know Nothing About

I started my current company after my daughter needed to find a therapist. I knew absolutely nothing about this industry other than finding a therapist felt a lot buying a couch on Craigslist.

First, I needed to talk to therapists to learn everything about how they worked, and what they struggled with.

Googling “therapist in Pasadena” brought us to an outdated directory of therapists. We called 50 therapists in our area, offering to buy them a coffee to interview them.

Offering an interview is better than “picking your brain”. Busy people don’t have time for "picking your brain" but most people make time for a well thought out interview.

We had no trouble getting those coffee interviews.

After talking to roughly 10, we had learned enough of the therapist lingo to have earned credibility with them. We understood them and their world. They invited us into it, offering to help us with what we were building.

Next was talking to people who had been to therapy. We followed the same process, this time posting on our personal facebook page to ask if we could interview friends about their experience finding a therapist.

With data in hand, we knew what therapists struggled with and where they found value. We knew what consumers struggled with and how they chose a therapist.

After 4 weeks we were ready to go test the market.