In 2014, my husband came home from a run one day with the crazy idea that we should make an at-home insemination kit. We had zero experience in the fertility industry, no MBA, no connections, and not much money. But we had one important element: first-hand user experience. We knew personally that this product was greatly needed. We had looked for it, and never found it.
Over the next two years we designed the kit, researched regulations, found a manufacturer, and more. In the beginning, I was working full-time elsewhere, and we had two kids under two. That made the whole experience a bit nerve-racking, a bit exciting, and maybe a bit manic.
We managed to launch with a simple goal: to give people a dignified, purpose-built option to build their families on their own terms. After generating enough sales for both of us to work full-time on the business, I set out to raise capital.
THE BLIND SPOT
I quickly realized that pitching a paradigm-shifting, family-building tool to a room full of traditional venture capitalists meant dealing with some spectacular blind spots. During meetings, I was routinely met with blank stares and baffling questions. More than one investor rudely asked some version of this question: “Why would anyone buy this if they have a penis?”
Others would explain to me how IVF works (because their wife went through it) and make a comment about how “IVF exists. No one will do this.”
My favorite was the female VC who passed on funding because the market wasn’t there. And in the exact same email, she casually mentioned she was going to use the product herself as she was currently trying to conceive.
3 LESSONS FROM CREATING A PRODUCT CATEGORY
Ten years later (last fall), we were formally acquired. I finally have a moment to process the wild ride of building a consumer medical company with my husband, and creating a whole new product category. Looking back on a decade of building, surviving, and finally exiting a company, here’s what I learned about creating a category from scratch, even as the gatekeepers don’t understand the overlooked problem you’re solving.
1. If you are creating a category, you are creating a new lexicon.
When we started, there was no common language around at-home insemination besides the “turkey baster method,” and most folks rarely even knew about that at the time. The term “at-home insemination” didn’t exist and even using that confused people. Speaking about insemination on any level was still taboo. Barely anyone was sharing their fertility journeys online.
To advertise, we had to create language that wouldn’t get us blocked by biased Google algorithms. Our syringe was purposefully named “Mosie” to create a welcoming narrative around insemination. “Trying to conceive? Try Mosie,” was a more inviting way to destigmatize a process in which many people harbored shame. Being the first customer helped too. Our son was the first Mosie Baby. We became part of a brave movement of people sharing real fertility stories on social media, starting with our own. By breaking the taboo and normalizing the conversation, we unlocked a floodgate. Multiple viral videos later, we had a backlog of thousands of baby photos waiting to be shared.
2. Validation comes from users, not pitch decks.
The venture capitalists who doubted us didn’t realize that it’s hard to measure an unmet and overlooked need when there is limited data with which to measure it. There was no at-home insemination market when we launched. Heck, “femtech” didn’t even exist as a term until a few years into our endeavor.
During my leadership at Mosie Baby, we sold over 120,000 kits. We watched as random knockoffs entered the market, and still, investors would doubt. Eventually a big, brand name company created a knock-off. So long as you keep meeting your customers’ needs, and keep generating value, it does not matter if investors think there’s a “market.” You clearly have found it.
3. Build something real and it will outlast the skeptics.
Stepping away from the day-to-day of a company I birthed is bittersweet. But my proudest accomplishment isn’t the exit, it’s that at-home insemination is officially here to stay as a product category. Our dream was to democratize access to family building. While there’s still a long way to go in providing all families with the tools they need to build their family on their terms, I am proud that we were able to be a voice for so many who needed a way to privately inseminate safely and efficiently at home.
If you’re conquering an undeveloped market, do it knowing you are laying a path for others and that you likely won’t be the one to “finish” it. We built something that will be here long after we are gone. Sometimes the best startup ideas are the ones that don’t serve capitalists looking to eke out more margin on their investments. Sometimes they’re the ones that simply need to be done because you just can’t not do it, whether or not “the market” is there.
Maureen Brown is cofounder and former CEO of Mosie Baby.