Hannah Samano

 📣Join Our Mission: Women's Health! Despite recent growth in the women’s health space, there is still unmet demand for products and services. Menopause has been a particularly overlooked segment of the market: only 5 percent of FemTech start-ups address menopause needs globally (McKinsey & Company, 2024). Nevertheless, the acceleration of advances in women’s healthcare holds considerable implications for investors and stakeholders across the value chain and beyond. At KRING, we're pioneering innovative solutions in women's health, focusing on cognitive health, sleep management, menopause, fertility, and more - with Menopause, an active health challenge we are currently exploring. While diving into Validation, our concept has garnered significant interest across the health innovation ecosystem, corporate partners, and investors. ✅ Chief Commercial Officer (Co-founder) We're seeking dynamic Commercial Co-founders with robust entrepreneurial backgrounds with experience of scratch to commercialization, and exceptional leadership skills. Experience in negotiating complex agreements is advantageous, but a passion for women's health is essential. https://lnkd.in/dVRwJ6i8 ✅ Menopause Expert: Chief Product Officer (Co-founder) We're looking for a scientific expert with a deep understanding of medical science, clinical research, and regulatory requirements, to lead the development of innovative healthcare solutions for women's health. https://lnkd.in/dXX3RWQY 🧠 The Concept: Building a Digital Platform for Women's Health Our digital platform helps women tackle midlife challenges, including menopause, by enhancing sleep quality, addressing weight gain, and boosting self-confidence. Components include data gathering, tailored recommendations, personalized wellness programs, and a supportive community. 📍Join Us in Copenhagen Our team is headquartered in Copenhagen, offering an exciting opportunity for individuals based in these cities or open to relocation. If you're intrigued by this opportunity, we'd love to hear from you. Reach out to Marina Miteva and Agnes A. to learn more. Join Entrepreneurs, Innovators, and Investors like Britt Meelby Jensen, Kristine Leerbeck, Christina Høgh Selmer Kirk, Anne Mette Bang, Benjamin Suhr, Anja Monrad, Sonal Pendharkar Kulkarni, Ella Smoraczewska Harris, Fanny Hauterat, Sumeya Hassan, Rosemarie Wedell-Wedellsborg, Jane Kudsk, Susanne Brønnum, Pernille Foss, Sara Maria Franch-Mærkedahl, Gitte Nipper, Jenny-Ann Axson Johnson, and more in revolutionizing healthcare and shaping the future of women's health. Apply now.

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Hugely important piece on PULSE by Wareable – focusing on one of the biggest themes in wearables right now. With a focus on women's health a strong theme in 2024, we have a huge report written by Sophie Charara on the pioneers driving menopause tracking in wearable tech. With the backdrop of just 4% of funding going to health tech that focuses solely on women, and a chronic lack of research on female health, a group of wearables makers are taking on menopause tracking. Read about them in this week's PULSE. #womenshealth #femtech #menopause #wearabletech #digitalhealth #wearables #oura #smartring

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Just read Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson's tweet on the seed to Series A gap. It reminded me of why I wrote a book called 'Journey to Series A' last year. It was inspired by the challenges many startups face when scaling up. And offers practical guidance for founders on how to prepare and successfully raise a Series A round. Watch an excerpt below, full link in the comments. #startups #fundraising #SeriesA

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🌟 "It's about treating people as adults." That was the key takeaway from my chat with Pauline Taylor (MCIPD) of HowNow who were recently recognised as the 84th most flexible company in the UK by Flexa. Here's how they did it: 🌍 Tailor to the Individual: HowNow nails flexible work by seeing the unique in everyone. They customize work arrangements to suit individual styles, making the workplace more inclusive and adaptive. 🎯 Focus on Outcomes: Instead of fretting over where work gets done, HowNow digs into the 'why' behind performance dips. They're all about keeping an eye on the results rather than just clocking in. 🤝 Hybrid Harmony: Balancing office vibes with home solitude, HowNow designs specific days for in-office collaboration, enhancing team dynamics while supporting deep focus work from home. 💬 Open Conversations: Keeping the communication lines wide open, especially with leaders, ensures everyone feels part of the gang. 🤗 Warm Welcomes: Integrating newbies smoothly into the team, HowNow uses a blend of digital tools and in-person interactions for an effective onboarding experience. 📅 Smart Office Use: By setting up designated office days, HowNow ensures that there’s always a buzz when you choose to come in. Handy Hint: Use Officely to show who will be in the office and when, making it easier for everyone to plan their collaborative days. 🌐 Diverse and Global Talent: Embracing flexibility has allowed HowNow to attract a brilliant mix of talents from across the globe, enriching their team diversity. Whether it’s embracing global talent or fostering a results-driven culture, it’s clear that flexible working, when done right, can lead to both happier teams and stellar business outcomes. #flexibleworking #hybridwork

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How I went from a conversation about Gen Z with Snapchat's UK CEO, Bridget Lea, on-stage at London Tech Week to writing about Snapchat in my latest column for The Times! ✨📰 My column is focused on helping businesses and founders reach Gen Z, and there was a stat that Bridget mentioned to me that floored me onstage... 90% of all 13 to 24-year-olds are on Snapchat here in the UK 🤯 My 22-yr-old younger sister has a 3,000+ day Snap streak with her best friend, meaning they've logged into Snapchat every day for the past 8.5 years. That is CRAZY to me, but speaks volumes for why Snapchat is so powerful for the next generation. Snapchat was created a decade ago, yet has managed to maintain its staying power with Gen Z (and now even Gen Alpha), and my answer as to "why" has been their emphasis on community building - with creators, brands, and even through IRL events. A tagline I saw at one of their recent events confirms this, "Less social media, more Snapchat." There were AR mirror activations with Boots, Depop, Cosmopolitan... they collabed with the National Portrait Gallery to get more Gen Zers to hang out in person on National Museum Day... and countless other examples I share in the column. People often ask me how I figure out what I want to write each month for my column, and the honest answer is just talking to people (especially operators & founders) to understand their vantage points on what's interesting, new, and working for their business. It makes my job exciting to interview such incredible leaders, and also fun to go deep into new spaces and trends :) Hope you enjoy this month's column! I'll link it in the comments <3 #snapchat #genz #socialmedia #columnist #genzmarketing #brandactivations

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Funding opportunity for mental health startups (up to $9m) Here's what you need to know... - Wellcome Trust have launched a new funding opportunity for digital interventions for mental health - Teams can get up to $9 million - Businesses and non-profit organisations can apply - The focus is on scalable, digital interventions to advance early intervention in depression, anxiety and psychosis - Projects must be innovative and have potential for scalable, sustainable impact - Applications closes on December 5th This is a fantastic opportunity for any organisation (big or small) who wants to scale the impact of their intervention. If you want all the details (including how to apply and the assessment criteria) I've shared them all in this week's edition of The Hemingway Report (link is in the comments). __ Thanks to Elena Netsi and Lynsey Bilsland for taking the time to speak to me about this funding opportunity (and of course for all their work to create this opportunity in the first place). __ If you want insights on mental health innovation, subscribe to The Hemingway Report and follow me Steve Duke 📩 #MentalHealth #BehavioralHealth

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Are you familiar with the term ‘Femtech’? Should ‘Mentech’ be a term? First discussed back in 2016 when Ida Tin, the co-founder of the menstrual tracking app Clue used the term for the first time on a panel discussion devoted to female health at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference. An idea some consider contentious, there are opposing views on the term. Olivia Goldhill published an article for Quartz titled “‘FemTech’ is not and should not be a thing”. “Though the term ‘FemTech’ may have served the valiant role of protecting some men from talking about periods, taking a narrow group of products and labelling them ‘female’ has unfortunate consequences. This designation effectively implies that half the population is a sub-niche market with a series of body-specific needs. Where, after all, is the talk of ‘MenTech’? There isn’t any. All the ‘male technology,’ such as voice-recognition technology that recognises male voices better than female, or phones that are too big for women’s hands and don’t fit in pockets designed for women, aren’t designated ‘MenTech.’ They’re just the norm”. In my opinion, I agree with the term ‘Femtech’. I think both women and men need different solutions tailored to their specific needs when it comes to health, wellbeing and the integration of technology. For example, Flo Health Inc. is an app designed specifically for women. Here at Pitstop we have recently launched a business aimed specifically at improving the lives of men. Should ‘Mentech' also become a term when it’s something expressly designed for men, rather than everyone? What do you think? --- If you’ve enjoyed this post follow me Emmett Kilduff. Share this if it strikes a chord and let’s get the conversation going. Men - try a 7-day free trial of the Pitstop app https://lnkd.in/g--S5vRw Employers - I’d like to discuss how we can support your teams better. Invite me for a talk!

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Here’s my take on Meta’s update yesterday: In 2018, Meta’s strategy championed the idea of building meaningful communities, doubling down on fostering connection and bringing people closer together. This vision - and investment in community leaders like me - helped turbo charge TWRs exponential growth between 2018 and 2022; I will always be so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and learn directly from Meta product teams to build and leverage brilliant community products that genuinely brought people together, sparked meaningful connections that then created connection IRL. With yesterday’s announcement, the landscape has changed. Zuckerberg’s recent decision to rely on “community notes” for moderation shifts the burden of trust and accuracy from an army of fact checkers onto users - signalling a stark departure from the platform’s original community-focused mission > https://lnkd.in/e5y_tVxi This evolution reflects a broader trend that has concerned me for a while: the slow unravelling of traditional social media as a space for genuine connection. What once promised to build trust and foster shared values has instead become a source of noise, division, misinformation and yes, disengagement. We have less and less control over what appears in our news feeds. Around two years ago, we saw this coming and the solution was clear: take ownership of our own community experience and data. It's why we made the leap last year to an owned community platform. This move isn't without its challenges - I had many sleepless nights over it - as digital migrations always come with a pretty steep learning curve that we're still riding. And of course the costs in both time and use of limited funds. But the rewards are immense. In our new space, we’re creating an environment where safety, trust, kindness and meaningful connection can thrive without the distractions of algorithmic chaos. We’re not abandoning traditional platforms entirely - they remain valuable for reach and visibility. But as the noise and fragmentation on general social channels grow, the need for smaller, more intentional, community-focused spaces has never been greater. By blending the strengths of established platforms with the depth and authenticity of our own ecosystem, and everything we've learned about building community over the past decade, we’re helping to shape a future where connection feels real and purposeful. This shift isn’t just a response to the changing digital landscape; it’s an investment in the kind of relationships we want to build. The foundations we laid through Meta’s community tools helped us learn and grow, and now, with an owned space, we’re ready to elevate those connections even further. We’re excited about the possibilities and ready to lead the way toward a more balanced, more empathetic and human-centered digital experience. Who's in? #community #digitalcommunity

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Thank you to Alexandra York at Forbes for featuring the news of the first baby born using Gameto's product, Fertilo! Our investor Dusan Perovic at Two Sigma Ventures and I spoke with Alex to discuss what this breakthrough means for Gameto and the future of the field. Fertilo is an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived proprietary solution for IVF and egg freezing that matures eggs outside of the body, using a reduced stimulation protocol that decreases the majority of side effects that are associated with the traditional protocol. Not only is this the first ever live birth using Fertilo, but it also marks the first ever human birth as a result of iPSC technology. Full article here: https://lnkd.in/gtDbGxME

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A question I've been grappling with for a decade - are patients actually good shoppers of healthcare? And should we want a system where patients are making all the decisions In the latest post, I look at the pros and cons of a system like this through the lens of slices of healthcare that heavily consumer-directed -Dentistry -Obesity Medications -Picking a Medicare Advantage plan https://lnkd.in/e_cCz6vb

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Last year back in September, while at NIIFL, I was working with some extremely experienced and passionate ladies on organizing a networking event for women investment professionals on behalf of Ekika, the women's diversity initiative of The organisation. What shocked and appalled me then, was the high extent of underrepresention of women in the financial services, as well as the entrepreneurial ecosytem, and the minimal interventional actions undertaken across the industries, to bridge this gap and boost diversity . Fast forward to April, I came across a report on The ET, which provided some alarming statistics on the issue of underrepresention of women in the industry. The share of VC funding going to female founders dropped to just 9.3% in 2023, compared to 14.7% in 2021. In crux, the status quo remains unaltered. The news of a reputed accelerator having an all - men panel of speakers in an event featuring Investors and Operators has taken the internet by storm, and rightly so, as this action is highly reprimanadable and portrays a harsh yet accurate picture of the persisting unconscious biases that grapple us. Having said that, I would like to recognize some wonderful women investors, operators and industry bodies who have been working tirelessly to make this space more inclusive, and democratized:- 1) Winpe led by Nupur Garg 2) Women In Product an initiative by The Product Folks 3) Girls Into VC led by Isabella Mandis 4) Global Women in VC led by Sutian Dong Dong Some other initiatives, and women worth mentioning:- 1) Included VC led by the wonderful Nikita Thakrar 2) Nicole DeTommaso of Harlem Capital 3) Natalie Neptune 4) Anu Panesar of Sie Ventures Please let me know if I have missed out on any intiative/ investor spearheading change, would be happy to add on. Also, have tagged some wonderful women leaders who have inspired me through their passion and grit, and gifted me the courage to speak out. Shagoofa Rashid Khan Ambalika Banerji Saloni Jhaveri Ankita Agarwal Sheetal Chaudhary , your contributions are highly appreciated:)) #OpenBlindfolds #Letsbringdiversity Winpe

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HNY! Hope everyone had a great break. Quiet on here as head down. Such a lot of exciting things coming up: - More Tools for all scaleups to improve their growth trajectory - More Founders using VenturePath to secure their Series A-B investment rounds - More VCs joining VenturePath's VC Network - More Events (including a VC dinner for 50 on the 22nd and SuperScalers female founders event on the 30th) - More Partners joining our scaleup support ecosystem - More Data to publish on 2024 VC trends for the UK ScaleUp Investment Mission Busy January! We'll share more on these when we have a minute... If you can play a part, as a founder, VC, investor, partner, sponsor, data provider etc., there's still room for a conversation or coffee with you though 😉

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👏 Thank you Amelia Hill for highlighting the huge challenges facing women raising investment for their #femtech businesses. 💰 In the one tech sector where you might assume that a #femalefounder would be a pre-requisite for investment, or at least a big advantage, the opposite is true! Male-only founding teams do much better with investors. 🗞 According to research by Ludovica Castiglia, women might be self-sabotaging if they prioritise the social impact of their femtech startup. Again, the opposite is true if you're a male founder. 🚺 Kirsten Connell says that most investors are men & their gendered assumptions feed into men getting more funding, even if they make femtech products and use the same words. I put it down to trust. 😇 So what's the solution? There isn't a simple quick fix, but we know that female investors are 2X more likely to back female founders than men are, so we need far more of them - both in institutions and as angel investors. (check out Angel Academe - increasing female investment) Read the article here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eeiAyckR The Guardian Amber Vodegel Sian Jarvis, CB, FRCGP(H) Evie Mulberry Jodie O'Keeffe Meganne Houghton-Berry Tom Britton Laura Meyer Jane Clemetson FRSA Rosalind Singleton Emer Hughes Charlotte D. Emma Sinclair MBE Ramona Liberoff Anjali Ramachandran Cordelia Meacher Angela Cretu Robin Beattie Mei Chung Mark Pattenden

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I asked Meghna Apparao, Director of E-Commerce, Retail, and Meta, for her top tip on content strategy for quick commerce brands. Her advice? According to a recent study done by Meta, her short answer was creators! It’s not just about posting organic content—brands need to amplify it strategically with Meta’s features like partnership ads. Meta’s tools can help scale creator campaigns for some serious impact. Watch the video for all the details and share it with your marketing friends. #QuickCommerce #MetaForBusiness #ContentStrategy #TheSortedGirlTake #Meta #creatorcontent #PartnershipAds #MetaAi #performancemarketing

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I began my fractional journey nearly a year ago, going on to form a fractional CMO collective with Sophie Jokelson and Rana Saha. But sometimes you find a company that’s just a bit special. So officially announcing that I have decided to take up a full-time role to lead global marketing for a very special startup. It’s a hidden gem of a company, loved by techies (100m of them, no less) and looking to spread through millions more. It’s on a mission to reshape the internet built on principles of privacy, freedom and ownership of your own data. In a world where the internet is largely ad-funded by complicit personal data mining and now accelerated by the advent of AI - a productivity ecosystem that doesn’t snoop on your emails and train LLMs using your photos, might be the breath of fresh air people need. It’s a scale-up that has built a profitable business without a drop of venture funding. The company is Proton , makers of Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Drive, Proton Pass and now Proton Wallet. Thank you to the folks at Proton and the amazing marketing team for welcoming me into this unique place. The fractional journey does not end here. We have amassed over 30 marketing leaders across Asia-Pacific, working on fractional projects with startups and venture capital firms. Sophie Jokelson and Rana Saha will continue to drive forward the collective and I will stay involved as an advisor. Proton is growing - we’re hiring marketers, PMs, engineers and more. So if you think the Internet can be better than an oligopoly of companies that mine your data and sell you ads, then do come join us.

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Countless founders Hustle... Hustle like Airbnb, Dropbox founders 🫡 Hustle inspiration for the weekend! Happy Friday! 1) Selling Cereals: 😅 The Airbnb founders sold novelty "Obama O's" and "Cap'n McCain's" 😎 Cereal boxes raised $30,000 in seed funding 2) Fashion is not for VCs: 😅 Drew Houston, the founder of Dropbox, wore the same outfit 😅 Specific red polo shirt for countless investor meetings 😎 This consistent personal branding helped him stand out. 3) Dress like your Startup: 😅 The founders of Grasshopper dressed as giant grasshoppers 😅 Just to get attention and hand out promotional materials 😎 This bold move took their company mascot to the next level Startup founders will stop at nothing to get eyeballs on their brand in those crucial early days. Their shameless hustle is both admirable and laugh-out-loud funny. Leadership does not need to be a text-book approach! What lengths would you go to get your startup out there? ♻️ Repost this if you had a laugh. #startup #leadership #funny #fridayfun #bitesize #entrepreneurship

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Building a healthtech business before really validating your idea is insane. But yet, I see this all the time. As part of the work that I do with Adopt-A-Doc, I speak to lots of early stage healthtech founders. You will be genuinely surprised at how many dive right into the health space based off only on: 1. Desk research 2. Personal experience. 3. Feedback from 𝐨𝐧𝐞 clinician. What results is someone who only understand the macro picture, but without an inkling of the realities on the ground. This leads to a weak value proposition. And a poorly formed product. (That does not help anyone) ______________________________ In healthcare, validations comes in 3 levels. 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 1: 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦? - Is there a genuine clinical need for this? - Is there no current solutions to this? - Is this a big enough problem? 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 2: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞? - Can it work in the current clinical pathway? - Is it technically feasible with current infrastructure? - Will the solution work in other regions as well? 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 3: 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? - Is there reimbursement pathways for similar tools? - Is there genuine appetite to pay for your solution? - What are the barriers to payment and market entry? ______________________________ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬, There is really no excuse for anyone not to take the time and effort to find out the basics as above. Healthcare is a slow and expensive industry to innovate in. Mistakes are also less tolerated as well. Wouldn't it be sensible to find out the above before betting the house and starting a whole business? 🤔 Just my 2 cents. 👇 What do you think? Priya Oberoi | Estia Ryan | Kevin McDonnell | Konrad Dobschuetz | Hassan Chaudhury HonFAPM | Ezzaldeen Elzagzoug | Dr Thomas Maggs

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How do the best entrepreneurs see a future you can’t? Alexa von Tobel, Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, shares her fascinating journey and insights into venture capital in the latest episode of The Full Ratchet. Alexa, a serial entrepreneur and the visionary behind LearnVest, is now at the helm of Inspired Capital, a $900M AUM venture firm. In our conversation, Alexa reveals what makes a great founder, why some markets are ripe for innovation, and how AI is transforming industries. She also dives into the importance of EQ, strategic thinking, and the future of FinTech. This episode is packed with valuable lessons for investors and entrepreneurs alike. Don’t miss out on hearing from one of the most influential voices in venture capital today. Listen to Episode 441 of The Full Ratchet now! Link to the full episode is in the comment section below.

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Last week was Mental Health Awareness Week - I spoke with Daniel from Balderton Capital and Hayley Hand from Better Society Capital on The Mindful VC podcast to share more on our approach to founder mental health. Here are a few of the key ways we're supporting our founders: 1. The Playfair Wellness Programme (https://lnkd.in/ebhaMdsP) which we've been running for the last four years 2. The Founder Mental Health Pledge for which we're proud to be one of 12 founding adopters. The clause expressly states that these VCs “support founders using a portion of the received funds specified in this term sheet to treat, at their discretion, the direct costs of caring for their mental well-being…as a legitimate, worthwhile, and encouraged business expense.” 3. Encouraging a close, 1-1 relationship with our founders from day one, putting us on the same side and creating safe spaces to share challenges and anxieties, not just the "up-and-to-the-right" successes. Thank you Chris Elphick and the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) for organising a discussion around such an important topic. https://lnkd.in/eFB443B7 #founders #mentalhealth #startups #vc

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