Neesha A. Tambe

August 22, 2023

Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures VCs and Sunshine founder join Startup Battlefield judges at TC Disrupt

We’re in the less-than-30-day countdown to TechCrunch Disrupt 202 and the show’s crown jewel, the Startup Battlefield competition. You do not want to miss the global launching pad of some of tech’s most successful companies, including Cloudflare, Dropbox, Fitbit, Mint and Yammer. More than 900 Startup Battlefield alumni companies have generated over 121 exits and more than $9.7 billion in funding raised.

We’re fortunate to have world-class VCs and founders signed on to judge the competition, and here’s the latest group that our 20 contenders will have to impress if they want to bring home the $100,000 equity-free prize.

Round six: Startup Battlefield judges at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

Tess Hatch, vice president, Bessemer Venture Partners

Tess Hatch fosters entrepreneurship of frontier technology, specifically the commercialization of space, drones, autonomous vehicles and the future of agriculture and food technology. She wants to invest in technology and people who believe as strongly as she does that frontier technology will develop solutions for societal problems.

Hatch earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from Stanford. She went on to work for Boeing and then SpaceX ,where she worked with the government on integrating its payloads with the Falcon 9 rocket.

She remains close to her alma mater by co-teaching a class at Stanford for professors interested in commercializing their research and serving on the board of advisers for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. She also founded the Stanford Aero/Astro Alumni Association. Hatch was recently named Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital.

Steve Jang, founder and managing partner, Kindred Ventures

Steve Jang’s Kindred Ventures — a seed-stage $550 million AUM venture capital fund based in San Francisco — has backed Coinbase, Humane, Tonal, Postmates, Color Health, dYdX, Zora and more than 80 other startups.

Jang served as an early adviser and angel investor with Uber and was previously a software entrepreneur and the co-founder of several companies in the consumer internet space. In 2023, he was featured in the Forbes’ Midas List of Top Venture Capital Investors.

Marissa Mayer, co-founder and CEO, Sunshine

Marissa Mayer’s startup, Sunshine, builds smart, everyday apps to help manage your relationships and free up your time. Sunshine Smart Contacts and Sunshine Birthdays are available now in the App Store.

Previously, Mayer was CEO of Yahoo, where she led a transformation of the company — rejuvenating its culture, growing to more than 1 billion users worldwide and reinventing Yahoo’s business. Mayer also spent 13 years at Google as an early employee and the first woman engineer.

Mayer led product management for Google Search, Google Maps, Google News and other consumer products for more than a decade. She has degrees from Stanford in symbolic systems and computer science with a focus on artificial intelligence.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 takes place on September 19–21 in San Francisco. Buy your pass today, and save up to $400. Prices increase at the door. For a limited time, when you book your Disrupt hotel room at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Downtown SOMA you’ll automatically be eligible to enter a raffle for a chance to win two spots for you and a guest to attend the exclusive TechCrunch Disrupt Speakers & Editors Dinner. Book your room today. More hotel raffle details here.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

August 18, 2023

Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Canvas Ventures join TC Disrupt Startup Battlefield judges

Just one more month until 20 of the world’s top early-stage startups take to the Disrupt Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco to vie for an equity-free, $100,000 prize. They’ll face tough scrutiny from our judges, and today investors from Founders Fund, Index Ventures and Canvas Ventures join that high-powered pack.

Be in the room: Buy your pass now, and save up to $400. Avoid the price hike at the door!

Watching the Startup Battlefield is a thrill ride, and it’s also an opportunity for investors and founders alike.

Investors: It’s an unparalleled chance to see and meet startups that come with the TechCrunch seal of approval in action. Which ones would fit into your portfolio?

Founders: Watching other founders pitch and hearing the questions investors ask gives insight into the criteria VCs use to determine whether a company is viable or not, what specifics they look for, what motivates them and what pushes them to schedule a meeting.

Round five: Startup Battlefield judges at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

We’re excited to announce the next trio of top-tier investors who will judge the Startup Battlefield.

Sam Blond, partner, Founders Fund

Sam Blond invests in companies at all stages and works with founders and go-to-market leaders on accelerating revenue growth and increasing the value of their business.

Previously, Blond served as chief revenue officer at Brex, where he oversaw revenue growth from less than $1 million to several hundred million dollars of annualized revenue. Blond joined the company before its official launch, and when he left four years later, the company was valued at $12.5 billion.

Prior to Brex, Blond served as VP of sales at Zenefits, where he oversaw revenue growth from less than $1 million to $70 million of annual recurring revenue (ARR) in two years. Sam joined the company pre-Series A as employee number 18. When he left, the business had more than 1,500 employees and was valued at $4.5 billion.

During his time at Brex and Zenefits, Blond was an active angel investor backing 25 software startups ranging from seed to Series C.

Mark Fiorentino, partner, Index Ventures

Mark Fiorentino leads investments focusing largely on fintech and SaaS. He is especially interested in fintech infrastructure, verticalized payment workflows and SaaS tools disrupting legacy incumbents. Fiorentino represents Index as the board member or lead investor in a number of companies, including RevenueCat, Mercantile and Catch.

Prior to Index, Fiorentino helped build and lead business strategy and finance at Stripe, driving key initiatives for sales operations, global growth and fundraising. He helped the company assess international product market fit, grow from a couple of hundred to nearly 2,000 people and move upmarket into late-stage and enterprise.

Previously, Fiorentino was an investor at GI Partners, focusing on vertical SaaS and insurance marketplaces, including the acquisition of MRI Software. He was also an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and served as a board member of the Stonestown YMCA for three years.

Fiorentino graduated from UC Berkeley with a BS in business administration. He’s a certified sommelier and an avid CrossFitter having competed in the Open several years running.

Rebecca Lynn, co-founder and general partner, Canvas Ventures

Rebecca Lynn leads early-stage investments in fintech, health tech and AI. She has been named to Forbes’ Midas List five years running, and has been named a Woman to Watch: Senior Deal Maker by the Wall Street Journal and a Top Woman VC by the New York Times.

During Lynn’s first entry into venture, she led an early-stage investment in Lending Club, which turned into the largest U.S. technology IPO of 2014 and the fourth largest U.S. Internet IPO since 2001, behind Facebook, Twitter and Google. Other notable early-stage investments include Check (acquired by Intuit), Doximity (NYSE: DOCS), RelateIQ (acquired by Salesforce), Practice Fusion (acquired by Allscripts), Luminar (NASDAQ: LAZR) and Casetext (acquired by Thomson Reuters).

Lynn has a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri, and a JD/MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. She serves on the board of Skydeck, the University of California Berkeley incubator, and is a frequent lecturer at Stanford and Berkeley.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 takes place on September 19–21 in San Francisco. Buy your pass today, save up to $400 and avoid the price hike at the door. Join us for the Startup Battlefield competition!

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

August 14, 2023

Atomic, GV, & SOSV join the Startup Battlefield judges lineup at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

The Startup Battlefield pitch competition is a Silicon Valley legend that’s reached far beyond its Bay Area beginnings. It’s a global launching pad for some of the most successful tech companies, including Cloudflare, Dropbox, Fitbit, Mint and Yammer. More than 900 Startup Battlefield alumni companies have generated over 121 exits and more than $9.7 billion in funding raised.

We’re excited to announce the fourth group of top-tier investors who will scrutinize this year’s contenders for the $100,000 equity-free prize at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, taking place on September 19–21. Founders had best bring the heat if they hope to impress these seasoned VCs.

Round four: Meet the next group of judges for Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

Healey Cypher, chief operating officer, Atomic

Healey Cypher oversees the daily operations of the 11-year-old venture studio to support founders and foster an inclusive culture where team members thrive. He is a serial entrepreneur with three successful exits and a passion for creating exceptional customer experiences and assembling world-class teams.

Driven by his entrepreneurial vision and Atomic’s model of building companies in parallel, Cypher co-founded BoomPop at Atomic in 2020, where he also serves as CEO and helps Fortune 500 companies create the next generation of workplace culture.

Before Atomic, Cypher was the head of retail innovation at eBay, chief of staff to the CTO, and he led business development for Milo.com, which he helped sell to eBay in 2010. Cypher went on to run and sell two companies (one in retail, one in restaurant tech) before joining Atomic in 2019.

Cypher subscribes to the radical notion that being a good person is a competitive career advantage. He’s the father of two, husband to an amazing wife, and a graduate of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Frédérique Dame, general partner, GV (Google Ventures)

Frédérique Dame specializes in disruptive technologies in the consumer space. She has spent 15 years building consumer and enterprise products for public companies and startups.

Dame helped start GV’s women’s health team and leads the cross-functional team of investors and advisors making investments in this space. Before joining GV, she led product and engineering efforts at Uber where, in just four years, she helped scale the company from 80 employees to more than 7,000 and from 14 cities in four countries to more than 400 in 68 countries. At Uber, she was also responsible for overseeing strategic programs focused on the global driver workforce and employee growth and productivity.

Earlier, Dame pioneered social at Yahoo, building online communities and adding user-generated content to the company’s search and marketplace products. She also worked at online photo-sharing services Photobucket and SmugMug, for which she built social gaming mechanics to engage audiences and drive revenues.

Dame holds an MS in spacecraft technology and satellite communications from University College London and an MS in telecommunications engineering from Télécom SudParis.

Po Bronson, managing director, SOSV’s IndieBio and general partner, SOSV

Po Bronson was a finance and tech journalist covering Silicon Valley for Wired, The New York Times Magazine, and he was an op-ed contributor for The Wall Street Journal.

Bronson’s science journalism has been honored with nine national awards, and he is the author of seven bestselling books available in 28 languages worldwide. His work has been cited in 185 academic journals and 503 books.

His background is in economics. Bronson learned finance at Credit Suisse and consulting at a division of Arthur Andersen. He has significant experience leading complex customer service organizations, building communities, and even communities of like-minded companies. He’s navigated public-private partnerships with many government agencies.

Prior to IndieBio, Bronson spent four years as a futurist with Attention Span Media, consulting on innovation pipelines and partnering strategy for globally recognized brands.

Most recently, Bronson is the co-author of “Decoding the World: A Roadmap for the Questioner,” published by Twelve, a division of the Hachette Book Group.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 takes place on September 19–21 in San Francisco. Buy your pass today.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

July 27, 2023

Three more VCs sign on to Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

One of the best ways startup founders can hone their pitch until it’s sharp enough to impress VCs — and bring home the bacon — is by watching other founders pitch to investors. And there’s no better place to do that than by watching the Startup Battlefield competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023.

Be in the room where it all goes down: Buy a Disrupt pass before August 11, and you’ll save up to $600.

Twenty contenders will pitch to panels of top-tier VCs, followed by an intense Q&A. That’s where you’ll gain invaluable insight into how VCs think, what they look for in a founder and what motivates them to invite you to that all-important first meeting.

Meet three more judges for Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

We’re thrilled to announce the next squad of stellar investors who will join our first and second groups to determine the Startup Battlefield champion.

Mamoon Hamid, partner, Kleiner Perkins

Mamoon Hamid has been an early investor in, and served on the boards of, some of the most innovative software companies of recent times, including Box, Figma, Intercom, Netskope, Slack and Yammer (acquired by Microsoft). Prior to joining Kleiner Perkins, Hamid was a co-founder of Social Capital and, prior to that he was a partner at U.S. Venture Partners. He started his Silicon Valley career at Xilinx, where he held various engineering and business roles.

Hamid also serves as a chairman of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP), which uses strategic legal advocacy to defend constitutional rights and values. He was born in Pakistan and spent most of his childhood in Germany. Hamid moved to the United States to attend Purdue University, where he graduated with a BS in electrical engineering. He also has an MS from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sara Ittelson, Partner, Accel

Sara Ittelson joined Accel in 2022 and focuses on early-stage consumer and enterprise companies. Prior to joining Accel, she spent several years at Faire as head of strategic partnerships. During her tenure, she helped the company go from a $535 million valuation to its most recent mark of $12.4 billion.

Before Faire, Ittelson spent four years at Uber on the global business development team, working first on the ride-share business and then on Uber Eats. Following a passion for education, she began her operator career in edtech. Ittelson was also an angel investor, investing in and advising early-stage companies in industries such as e-commerce, SaaS, SMB tech and enterprise tools.

Originally from Chico, California, Ittelson graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Northwestern University.

Surbhi Sarna, group partner, Y Combinator

Before joining YC, Surbhi Sarna was the founder and former CEO of nVision Medical, which developed a first-in-kind microcatheter for detecting ovarian cancer. After raising $17 million in venture funding, completing three clinical trials and obtaining two first-in-class FDA approvals, nVision was acquired by Boston Scientific for $275 million, more than 15x money-in.

Sarna stayed at Boston Scientific for two years, running the 150+ person commercial organization in preparation for launch. She sits on both private and public company boards.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 takes place on September 19–21 in San Francisco. Buy your pass now and save up to $600. Student and nonprofit passes are available for just $195. Prices increase August 11.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

May 31, 2023

Today’s your last chance to apply for the Startup Battlefield 200

Today’s the day, startup founders. It’s your final opportunity to join Startup Battlefield 200, the world’s preeminent startup competition, at TechCrunch Disrupt in September. It’s your last chance to launch on a global stage like the 900+ other Startup Battlefield companies have, including Vurb, Trello, Mint, Dropbox, Yammer, TripIt, Redbeacon, Qwiki, Getaround and Soluto.

Startup Battlefield 200 applications close today

Don’t miss your shot! Submit your application today, before this opportunity disappears at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

A reminder that applying to and participating in Startup Battlefield 200 is absolutely free- and equity-free. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

What exactly do we mean by “everything to gain”? Let’s take another look at the VIP experience all SB 200 companies receive. First and foremost, this thoroughly vetted cohort earns the highly regarded TechCrunch seal of approval — it carries door-opening weight in the startup world.

Startup Battlefield 200: Bask in benefits at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

Next up, this bevy of free, exclusive benefits:

Full access to Disrupt: SB 200 founders attend Disrupt, receive four additional passes and VIP access to all the presentations, breakouts and roundtables.

Exhibition space: The SB 200 will be the only early-stage startups allowed to exhibit at Disrupt.

Investor interest and media exposure: Investors hunting for future unicorns and journalists looking for the next big story will beeline it for the exhibition floor to meet and greet the SB 200 founders.

Workshops and pitch training: Invitations to SB 200 founders-only workshops and masterclasses in the weeks running up to Disrupt. They’ll receive special pitch training from TechCrunch staff and one year of TechCrunch+ membership.

Flash-pitch to investors and TC editors: That training will come in handy when you step onto the Pitch Showcase Stage. You’ll receive invaluable feedback, and you might find your way into an investor’s portfolio.

Repeat after me: Applications close today. Don’t miss your shot to launch on a global stage, accelerate your startup growth and maybe even win $100,000. Apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 before 11:59 p.m. PDT today. We’d love to see you in San Francisco!

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

Today’s your last chance to apply for the Startup Battlefield 200 by Neesha A. Tambe originally published on TechCrunch

May 30, 2023

Startup Battlefield 200 applications close tomorrow

Holy procrastination, startup founders! Tomorrow’s your last chance to apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. Your last chance for a shot to stand on the Disrupt Stage and pitch to a huge audience packed with global tier-1 investors, hundreds of media outlets and plenty of other influential movers and shakers.

Cut to the chase: This huge opportunity is about to end. Stop what you’re doing right now, and submit your application by 11:59 p.m. PDT tomorrow, May 31.

Recap: Startup Battlefield 200 perks at TC Disrupt 2023

Once more and a little bit louder for the early-stage founders in the back who may have missed our previous memos about the perks and benefits Startup Battlefield 200 (SB 200) companies receive:

Full access to Disrupt: SB 200 founders attend Disrupt for free and receive four additional passes and VIP access to all the presentations, breakouts and roundtables.

Free exhibition space for the entire show: The SB 200 will be the only early-stage startups allowed to exhibit at Disrupt.

Workshops and pitch training: SB 200 founders will be invited to exclusive workshops and master classes in the weeks running up to Disrupt. They’ll receive special pitch training from TechCrunch staff and one free year of TechCrunch+ membership.

Flash-pitch to investors and TC editors: That training will come in handy when you step onto the Showcase Stage. You’ll receive invaluable feedback, and you might find your way into an investor’s portfolio.

A shot at $100,000: TechCrunch editors will select 20 startups from the SB 200 to be Startup Battlefield finalists. Founders from those 20 companies will receive private pitch coaching, be featured in an article on TechCrunch and pitch live onstage in front of the entire Disrupt audience. The ultimate winner takes home the $100,000 equity-free prize.

TechCrunch Disrupt takes place on September 19–21 in San Francisco. Your chance to pitch on the global Disrupt stage and super-charge your startup growth is about to come to a grinding halt. Apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 — by when? — by 11:59 p.m. PDT tomorrow. Get it done!

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

Startup Battlefield 200 applications close tomorrow by Neesha A. Tambe originally published on TechCrunch

May 26, 2023

South American startups: Apply to Startup Battlefield 200

Here’s a shoutout to South American early-stage startup founders! We want YOU to apply for the Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. But you’d better hurry — time is running out. The application window closes on May 31 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

South America: Join the Startup Battlefield 200

Startup Battlefield 200 (SB 200) is the leading global startup competition showcasing 200 of the most promising, impactful early-stage startups. TechCrunch vets all applicants and handpicks the participants. Applying and participating is 100% free. Last year at Disrupt, the inaugural cohort included two remarkable early-stage startups from South America.

Uils: A fintech focused on mobility in Argentina. Read about them on TechCrunch.
Quiron Digital: An agtech focused on forest conservation and productivity through remote monitoring.

Plenty of perks for the Startup Battlefield 200 at TC Disrupt 2023

South American entrepreneurs — you span a range of nations across a vast continent. Throw your hats into the ring, and show us what you’re building. Here’s what’s in it for you.

It starts with receiving the TechCrunch seal of approval — it’s hard to come by, and it carries weight in the startup world. You’ll stand in a spotlight of invaluable investor and media interest. Take a look at what else you receive — for free.

Full access to Disrupt: This includes four additional passes and VIP access to all the presentations, breakouts and roundtables.

Exclusive masterclasses: SB 200 founders will enjoy workshops in the weeks leading up to Disrupt. They also receive special pitch training from TechCrunch staff and one free year of TechCrunch+ membership.

Flash pitch at Disrupt: That special training will come in handy when you step onto the Showcase Stage and pitch in front of investors and TechCrunch editors. Receive invaluable feedback and — who knows? You might even catch an investor’s interest.

Exhibition space for all three days: The SB 200 will be the only early-stage startups allowed to exhibit on the show floor at Disrupt.

Saving the best for last: All SB 200 founders have a shot at competing for $100,000 in the Startup Battlefield pitch competition. TechCrunch editors will select 20 startups from the SB 200 to be Startup Battlefield Finalists. Founders from those 20 companies will be featured on TechCrunch, receive private pitch coaching and then pitch live onstage in front of the entire Disrupt audience. The ultimate winner takes home the $100,000 equity-free, no-strings-attached prize money and all the glory.

If you’re an early-stage founder based in South America, don’t miss this chance to launch your business on a global stage. Apply for the Startup Battlefield 200 at Disrupt 2023 by May 31 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

South American startups: Apply to Startup Battlefield 200 by Neesha A. Tambe originally published on TechCrunch

May 24, 2023

Don’t miss your last chance to pitch on the TC Disrupt stage

Early-stage startup founders, listen up! We’re on the Startup Battlefield 200 (SB 200) homestretch. You have just one week left to hunker down and show us why we should pick you to join our elite cohort for a free VIP experience and the chance to pitch on the TechCrunch Disrupt stage in San Francisco on September 19–21.

No more deadline extensions: Submit your application by May 31 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

Startup Battlefield 200: Prestige and perks at TC Disrupt 2023

You might wonder if it’s worth your time and effort to apply. Consider this: The Startup Battlefield program, one of the most coveted cohorts to belong to, consists of more than 1,100 startups that have collectively raised $13 billion and generated more than 126 exits. You could be part of that impressive community.

Out of thousands of applications, the startups chosen for this year’s Startup Battlefield 200 will receive a battalion of benefits, the first of which is the prestige associated with the TechCrunch stamp of approval. It carries weight in the startup world both at the show and long after it ends.

Forget saving the best for last — we’re stating it upfront. All 200 startups have an equal shot at competing for the $100,000, equity-free prize in the Startup Battlefield pitch competition. TechCrunch will choose 20 of the SB 200 to pitch in front of the entire Disrupt audience — including global tier-1 venture firms such as Sequoia, Mayfield, SOSV and more.

What’s it really like to be part of the Startup Battlefield? Tune in to the Inside Startup Battlefield podcast.

Check out the other benefits all SB 200 founders receive:

Full access to Disrupt: SB 200 founders attend Disrupt for free, receive four additional passes and VIP access to all the presentations, breakouts and roundtables.
Free exhibition space for the entire show: The SB 200 will be the only early-stage startups allowed to exhibit at Disrupt.
Investor and media attention: Investors hunting for future unicorns and journalists looking for the next big story will beeline it for the exhibition floor to meet and greet the SB 200 founders.
Workshops and pitch training: SB 200 founders will be invited to exclusive workshops and master classes in the weeks running up to Disrupt. They’ll receive special pitch training from TechCrunch staff and one free year of TechCrunch+ membership.
Flash-pitch to investors and TC editors: Bring the heat when you step onto the Showcase Stage. You’ll receive invaluable pitch feedback, and you might find your way into an investor’s portfolio.

TechCrunch Disrupt takes place on September 19–21 in San Francisco. One week left for a chance to pitch on the global Disrupt stage and super-charge your business growth. Apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 by May 31 at 11:59 p.m. PDT, and show us what you’re building!

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

Don’t miss your last chance to pitch on the TC Disrupt stage by Neesha A. Tambe originally published on TechCrunch

May 16, 2023

Youth mental health startup Somethings launches with a $3.2M raise led by General Catalyst

When he was 10 years old, Patrick Gilligan’s childhood struggle with food began. Placed on a caloric-restrictive diet by a doctor, the regime left him feeling ashamed and alone and triggered what would become a more than decade-long eating disorder. “I still look back on all the time that I spent as a teen, crushed by stigma and afraid to talk about mental health with my friends and family,” says the Stanford grad.

Years later, when a grad school classmate took their own life, Gilligan felt compelled to leave his masters program at Stanford – where he earlier obtained a product design degree – to help solve the youth mental health crisis.

Called Somethings, Gilligan’s now 14-month-old, New York-based startup is the outcome of that effort. As Gilligan describes it, Somethings is a youth-specific wellness platform that connects teenagers with trained mentors between the ages of 19 and 26 for asynchronous help.

The product itself is fairly straightforward. Teens, often with the support of their parents, are matched through the Somethings system with mentors who have similar backgrounds and situational experiences. Unlike traditional clinicians, teens can communicate asynchronously with mentors in smaller bursts or at certain intervals.

Mentors must first apply, complete a background check and complete two intensive training modules. The first is a Medicaid-reimbursable state provider-led peer specialist training; the second is a custom internal program developed by Somethings and built alongside the US government’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

The product is not yet reimbursable for teens and does not fall under HIPAA compliance, though Somethings claims that no data leaves the platform.

Somethings doesn’t pretend to be a clinical provider. Rather, it offers critical basic support and a connection infrastructure that resonates with the next generation.

Traditional clinical models fail to serve the modern teen

The company has already attracted investors who understand the company’s pitch, which is that modern teens and traditional mental healthcare do not fit together neatly. Indeed, General Catalyst just led the company’s $3.2 million seed round with participation from Tau Ventures, Toyin Ajayi (Cityblock Health co-founder), MVP Ventures and more.

The data helps tell the story – and highlights the opportunity. According to the CDC, a whopping 40% of teens in the United States are consistently sad or hopeless. That’s roughly 19 million young people in need of support. Further, while 30% of children and adolescents develop anxiety, only 20% seek treatment, per the Child Mind Institute (CMI). “Teenagers are more likely to seek mental health support from friends, family members, or other non-professional sources than from a therapist or counselor,” reports the CMI.

While lack of access is one piece of the problem, another impediment, believes Gilligan, is that the “traditional” mental healthcare support most of us are used to – a one-hour sit down with a licensed clinician, or texting a professional who has no relevance to our lived experience – may not fit with the modern teen. In contrast, the Journal of Psychiatry in 2018 chronicled the efficacy of mentorship for youth mental health over rigid counseling models.

Somethings is relatedly betting that by creating an asynchronous mentorship model where teens can talk to relatable figures at their own convenience, teens will be more open and willing to get support for the struggles they face.

What about the parents and the clinicians

Somethings stresses the importance to parents of creating spaces for teens to communicate with mentors, while the mentors can also connect with parents and provide generalized updates.

Parents are expected to adhere to the vision and values of Somethings communicated when the teen joins the platform.

Still, parents are not left out of the dynamic. “It’s a balance,” says Gilligan. “The relationship [between mentor and teen] doesn’t work if there’s no confidentiality. At the same time, parents getting cut out of relationships is really frustrating for them as well. . . We have a responsibility to bring parents into the relationship and help them support their teens alongside the mentor.”

The model seems to be working. While the Somethings team is still developing the technological infrastructure to track success metrics, drop off in early testing is reportedly low.

Mentors are trained on everything from communication to recognizing when a teen may need clinical care and refer them appropriately. Gilligan declined to share the names of clinical partners for privacy reasons.

Naturally, Somethings faces competition. BetterHelp is just one of many mental health startups to emerge in recent years, a fact of which Gilligan is aware. He thinks Somethings stands alone, however, in both its express focus on younger people who need help and the tools it has designed that allow them to reach out to a mentor not on a pre-set schedule but when they most need a helping hand.

Whether it’s enough to create a moat for Somethings will only be known over time, but the shift in the mental health model is something to keep an eye on.

Youth mental health startup Somethings launches with a $3.2M raise led by General Catalyst by Neesha A. Tambe originally published on TechCrunch