Dr. Pinkey Patel With SnapBack

Intro: [00:00:04] We’ll come back to the Startup Showdown podcast, where we discuss pitching, funding and scaling startups. Join us as we interview winners, mentors and judges of the monthly $120,000 pitch competition powered by Panoramic Ventures. We also discuss the latest updates in software Web three, health care, tech, fintech and more. Now sit tight as we interview this week’s guest and their journey through entrepreneurship.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:38] Lee Kantor are here. Another episode of Startup Showdown Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor Panoramic Ventures. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Startup Showdown, we have Dr. Pinkey Patel and she’s with the snapback. Welcome.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:00:58] Thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:00] I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about the snapback. How you sovereign folks.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:01:06] Yeah. So I’m a clinical pharmacist, but I’m also a pre and post-natal certified trainer and a personal trainer. And I always say that the three of these things collided to make my third baby. I have two other children. And, you know, pregnancy always has these ample resources. It’s often viewed as this beautiful experience. But postpartum is pretty isolating. I think a lot of us moms agree and it doesn’t come with a manual. So the snapback app, currently, it is an all in one postpartum assistant and it provides evidence based resources in a community for women.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:42] So was this something that kind of developed with you personally? You wish there was this and then you created it?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:01:48] Absolutely. I always joke and say that I could do organic chemistry in my sleep five times, but some business was something that I was never planning to go into. However, my experience and post-partum myself and validating it among others, compelled me to create a solution for every mother after me.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:07] So now, were you working like at a in a traditional job, in a traditional kind of practice?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:02:13] Yeah. So I actually worked as a clinical pharmacist up until last year, and I was working full time while I was pregnant and had a toddler that was two years old at the time while I was building the community and the app that exists at this time. So I just I did both essentially until last year when I left pharmacy completely. But yes, I was a clinical pharmacist in the typical setting.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:40] Can you share a little bit about the decision making process you went through in order to take the leap into being an entrepreneur?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:02:47] It was the most difficult decision that I could have ever made. So. My parents are immigrants. They came from India with $7. And, you know, the whole the American dream is and was a thing. And so I was the first in my family to graduate and only graduate, but get a doctorate by the age of 23. And so, you know, being having parents that aim to wish that I had the life that they that they wish that they had themselves in kind of working to become a pharmacist was absolutely something that we were very proud of. But when when my experience postpartum, when I went through it with Karishma, my daughter in 2016, I couldn’t believe that this was the norm, that postpartum was very isolating for not just myself. There was just not so much dialog around it. So yeah, absolutely. It was very difficult. A lot of folks say that go chase your passion, just leave your full time job. But that wasn’t really in the books for me and I felt like it was. Since it was bootstrapped ourselves up until now, it was not an option. So I decided after two years of doing both, essentially to finally. Divert all my attention to the snapback.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:03] Now, when you made that leap. That’s kind of, you know, kind of burning the boats behind you. Was that conversation difficult with your family?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:04:14] You know, my parents, they’re they’ve always been supportive and a lot of things that I’ve done that have not been so traditional in our community. But beyond that, even my spouse, my husband, we’ve had several conversations, you know, and it was like, you know, we can go two ways because you can continue being a pharmacist and doing this and then having a little bit on the side that fulfills your passion just to help women in in postpartum. Or you could go ahead and leave pharmacy and, you know, utilize all your attention towards this and build this out to be bigger and impact more women. And it was very difficult because considering that when I launched the app, it was it was launched in 166 countries, the beta version. And I was nine months pregnant. So I had the baby a couple of weeks after or June and it was, I was postpartum I the app had launched and then I was going to go back to work full time. And that is the same week that COVID was a thing in March. And so obviously as a mother to a five month old baby that I was breastfeeding while I was trying to keep snapback alive and going back to work full time, that wasn’t the right time to go full time at the snapback because health insurance and everything else that we were getting from being a pharmacist, it just wasn’t the right decision. But after one year of practicing again and then being in a better space, it was a better decision for our family. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:44] Now, when you launched the app, were you the technologist or you had to find a technologist?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:05:50] Yeah, we outsource the development to a team here and they built the app for us and then give it to us to go ahead and launch. So I was not the person that physically coded the app. No.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:04] Was that difficult for you to find the right fit when it comes to someone that can make your vision, you know, become a reality.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:06:11] Very difficult because at the beginning you’re like, where do you go? You know someone who comes from zero business background and is strictly I call scientists minded. I could do science and math all day long, but then when you’re starting to think about outsourcing something and building a vision, it takes a lot of trust and a lot of gut in finding the right person that aligns with your mission was very difficult, but luckily we were able to find someone that not only met our expectations but beyond. And that was it took time. Right. And so there’s not a proper book or a blueprint to do this. And I think that was the most challenging piece for me, because I come from a very black and white type of background in terms of my education.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:54] Now, did you see any similarities from that science and math background in the world of startup, in that you have to have a hypothesis, you have to test it, you have to tweak it, you have to, you know, make changes based on real information, not what you thought.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:07:09] Yes. A lot of it is similar in different capacities now, now that you kind of made that analogy of thinking about it and, you know, in 2018, before even the app was launched or the snapback was we built the community for snapback. It was more so me understanding product market fit and I didn’t realize that’s what it was called. You know, now retrospectively I’m like, Oh, that’s how I tested product market fit. But working with other women and understanding their pain points and then creating a solution, I feel like a lot of the science and math type of infrastructure I was using, I was using, utilizing it. And I have to say the grit and the discipline of becoming a pharmacist and getting my doctorate at a young age, I certainly did apply that because that does absolutely changes the trajectory of being an entrepreneur as well, because it’s one of those things that there’s no direct ROI when you’re building something from ground up yourself. And those characteristics definitely helped in in being a founder.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:17] So what are some of the early signs that this thing had legs, that you were getting traction?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:08:25] So the early signs were in 2018 when I started working with women because I am a pre and post-natal corrective exercise specialist. There are women that were trying to have babies, they were pregnant and they were also postpartum. And when women continuously, you know, we’re really tired when we have babies, not only are we leaving the hospital with a new human being, but we’re having to navigate feeding this human being, whether you try breastfeeding or not. A lot of us try to attempt it. We see how far we can get. Some of us do formula feeding. Either way, irrespective of how you decide to feed your baby, you’re also navigating your own hormones and operating on very, very little sleep while having to be on all the time. And so given that we’re doing all this alone without a manual and then we’ve pretty much reorganized our organs for nine months, and then we go home and nothing happens for six weeks. You do not see a provider unless you have an appointment for another reason, but the standard of care is usually 6 to 8 weeks. You see your OB and then they clear you for movements. Whatever you’re doing before you can do anything under the sun, there is no roadmap.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:09:35] So then women later, 12 to 18 months later, they’re like coming up for air. They’re sleeping at night. They’re realizing that things aren’t working like they were used to. Maybe they’re peeing on themselves incontinence. Maybe they’re having lower back pain, pain with intercourse. So the same story over and over again that women are using panty liners when they’re running or they’re not talking to anybody about leaking or they’re embarrassed to go to Orangetheory. You know, those stories were consistent. And so that was where I was like, something has to change. And I started recognizing that in some countries, not many, there are government mandated physical therapy sessions where someone comes to your home after you have the baby and they make sure that you can walk before you run or crawl before you walk. And essentially a lot of that is missed entirely. So changing the narrative in our society has been a challenge. But yes, this story is beyond 2020 or 2019 up until now. This is something that’s been happening for a while. And I think it’s just because. It’s just never been addressed in this capacity or there’s just more folks talking about postpartum now, which makes it a little easier.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:46] So the community is a big part of the app?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:10:49] Absolutely. We before we ask for a single dollar, we launched the community and that is our catalyst. Without we didn’t spend a single dollar, aside from maybe a four week test ad campaign on marketing or ad spend. And that was because our community was built on credibility, transparent information that was deeply rooted in science. And we wanted to earn the trust of other health care professions. Me being, me having a doctorate myself, I obviously value evidence based research and data, but also coming coming with a presence of like this is a safe place where empowering you with knowledge and these are things that should be discussed. Our audience really resonated with that. So our community being built on Facebook and Instagram through word of mouth, and then in September we came with a solution like, This is how we can help you. So I think that building the community first absolutely was was something that I’ll never regret. And that same community continues to come back.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:57] So now how do people engage with the app? So it’s through the Facebook or the community first, and then the app is presented as a solution for some of the challenges they’re facing.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:12:09] So that was how we started before we launched, launched the app and said, Hey, we actually have an app for an all in one postpartum assistant because it was created because number one, we’re busy, we don’t need to Google at three in the morning because we’re all worried about the same thing. We have neurosurgeons that are probably Googling it during the morning because we want to make sure, I don’t know, mothers just they worry a lot about a lot of things and we need to keep everything in one place. So that was the premise of creating an all in one type of assistant. But. The app was launched in 166 countries and we started noticing we have over 40 countries that are paid and using it that folks were going into the App Store. So you can go to the App Store and you can go to Google Play Store and you can just type in postpartum and the snapback will come up as an app. So there were people in other countries that probably aren’t following us on social media, haven’t heard about it, but they were searching postpartum and that’s where they downloaded the app. So when you download the app, there’s, there’s a few features where they’re free, right? Or we’re the first in-app anonymous community for postpartum women where you can talk with anybody across the world that’s on the same app at any time. So yeah, you can download it from the App Store. A lot of folks just find us because they’re typing post partum, but if they happen to be a follower on Instagram, yeah, they’re going to hear about the snapback app. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:30] Now what got you interested in participating in the start up showdown?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:13:37] So as I started realizing how I wanted to scale and reach more women and impact, we decided that we were going to entertain raising capital and the startup showdown. I don’t even remember. I think it was through LinkedIn or somebody had mentioned it to me and we kind of fit the demographic. I’m in Oklahoma, there in Atlanta, and so I thought, Well, why not apply? It seems like a great opportunity. I’m a firm believer that making yourself, putting yourself in uncomfortable positions always helps with building character and learning something. So I said, Why not just do it? It was last July, actually, when I did Startup Showdown, and I was they were able to link me up with mentors, which I found very valuable. When you’re a founder, you wear every hat and there are some hats that may not fit as well as you want them to. So I found value in what they were creating. They were not just creating a pitch competition, but they were also giving value to founders. There’s a lot of noise when you’re an entrepreneur. There’s a lot of noise when you’re when you’re fundraising. Not only are we fundraising, we’re scaling, we’re sourcing leads for hires, we’re building communities. We’re making sure our product works for showing our metrics. So I think that they’re doing something right because not only are there like, hey, come pitch, you know, because that takes time too, but also here are some mentors that can help you before you pitch. And I think what they’re doing is great.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:03] So have you been able to get funding?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:15:06] Yes, we have secured a lead investor and we’re continuing to close this first round. So yeah, we’re working towards securing this first round of funding and we’re really excited about that.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:19] Now how do you how did you find the funding adventure? Because that’s like a whole other business, if you know.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:15:28] My goodness. Fundraising is a necessary evil. It’s one of those things where the chicken and the egg. Right. You have to have if you want to scale at a certain level, you have to have a certain amount of capital to get where you need to be. Now, me being a woman of color, a first generation immigrant, and in essentially to those in Tier one cities in the middle of nowhere, I’m in Norman, Oklahoma, it’s a little bit more difficult. But I think if Cuba did one thing, it allowed us to use Zoom, whether we love it or not. But fundraising is one of those things that’s the only 2% of women get get funding. And so you’re already saying, all right, I’m going to I’m going to try to go after this, but it’s going to be hard as hell. But, yeah, I certainly see that I’ve made I’ve met incredible people. I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned a lot about how venture capital works. There’s not really a book. I mean, certainly, yes, I did read a few books, but I had to spend a solid 3 to 4 months to understand cat tables, term sheets, what that even meant.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:16:29] How do you navigate this? There’s so much noise. What makes sense? What do you say no to? It is one of those things where no one can really prepare you. You just have to throw yourself into the fire. And that means at one point, I don’t know if you remember when Clubhouse was a thing, but I would sign up for every pitch competition and I would be changing diapers because my son was only like six months old and I would just start throwing myself into rooms and pitching. I’m like, They can’t see me. They don’t know what I look like, they don’t even know me. So it’s one of those things that I mean, I know a lot of people don’t talk about it, but I have no issues discussing like how that looked. Clubhouse is not like huge anymore. I guess I don’t open it as much, but at the time it was a way for me to practice. So the most hardest thing I’ve done is fundraising.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:14] So now any advice for other, let’s say, first generation immigrant founders? What are some of the kind of do’s and don’ts?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:17:26] Do lean into the grit or discipline that you’ve learned as being a first generation founder. We all kind of go, we have similarities. And the similarities are that we are often faced with adverse events or put in positions where we’re having to dig deep, and that same characteristic is going to carry on in whatever we decide to do, whether it’s building a business or whether it’s fundraising. A little bit of both there. There. Absolutely. My my background and and everything that I’ve seen and my parents being immigrants 30 years ago has definitely helped in this process. This is a long game. And now any founder will tell you, like if you’re not deeply passionate, it’s not going to last very long and you’re definitely not going to do it for the money. And it’s if you’re doing it for the money, then you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. But lean into the characteristics that really make you who you are to weather the storm. The don’ts is take every and do take everybody’s opinion with a grain of salt and go with your gut. Because at the end of the day, that’s why that’s the reason why I’m still here doing what I am. And the reason why I started this was so I can impact women and strengthen and strengthen the pillars of our society. Right. So if you’re if we’re ignoring what what women need at that very vulnerable time frame, then we’re really not facilitating a thriving society or family. And so just leaning into your Y at all times, don’t don’t listen to the noise. There’s a lot of noise now. I think being a little more minimalist and simplistic is is key. So I think those are kind of my my high level.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:12] Now, you mentioned that one of the benefits of going through Startup Showdown was the mentors. Has there been a mentor for you that has helped guide you through this adventure?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:19:23] Yeah. So specifically startup shutdown because I.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:25] Have someone know anybody in your life.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:19:29] A mentor. Well, I’d hate to. I mean, honestly, my mother, she has no. She’s just somebody that I lean into whenever for any reason, whether she understands, whether she understands what I’m doing. Half the time, I don’t even feel like they know and understand what I’m doing, to be honest with you. But they’ve always been open, and her guidance and insight that always leads into working hard and being honest is not lost on me. I don’t have a specific mentor for entrepreneurship at this time, but I don’t I mean, I do believe in coaching and investing in yourself. But yeah, she’s been a constant mentor. Just by whether her act of what she’s done in her past, watching her navigate what she did when she came into to America, those things have carried with me. Now, there was a mentor at sort of showdown that I still keep in touch with. And and I I’m really I’m really I really appreciated that connection because at the time, I was navigating a part of business that I wasn’t very familiar with. And that’s why I feel like startup was a little piece of my heart for that as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:40] Now, what’s been the most rewarding part of this? You know, in your career? You’ve had a very eclectic career that have touched a variety of the elements of what you’re developing now. But as you know, working individually as a trainer with these moms, you know, where you see a person kind of thrive because of your help or in this sense of building a community where there’s lots and lots of people there. Has that been more rewarding?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:21:11] The reward comes from the community aspect and the like. For instance, the community aspect, number one, because they’re like, I did not know this. I am so glad that I knew about this because of what I saw on your blog or your website or the app or the Instagram things. For instance, post partum, whenever you’re weaning, there’s a hormonal shift. So mental health is impacted. These are things that a lot of folks don’t talk about. So really, really hearing stories from women, whether it’s through DMS on Instagram or a message in our our inbox of something that they’ve learned from our community that’s very fulfilling. Another piece is when I’m going on to the App Store and I see positive reviews that I had nothing to do with, and they’re like second time mothers and they post that the first time around they weren’t able to have X, Y and Z control. They had these impairments in their quality of life. And then the second time around, they implemented the techniques that we suggested for rehab and recovery, and they had a completely different experience. And now they’re able to do the things that they love without pain or embarrassment for other reasons. To me, that’s very fulfilling. That means that something is working and that we’re doing something right.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:30] So what do you need more of? How can we help?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:22:34] I think that just raising more awareness around postpartum dialog making continue continue the startup showdown and having these mentors available for founders that are in the same boat as I that we’re raising their first rounds of capital that needed some of the mentorships and elements. Just keep doing what you guys are doing because it’s working.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:56] Now, if somebody wants to connect with you or learn more about the snap back, what’s the website or what are the coordinates?

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:23:02] Yeah, so the website is the snap bbc.com. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook at the Snapback, and we also have contact information on our website as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:13] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Dr. Pinkey Patel: [00:23:18] Thank you so much for having me. This was awesome.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:20] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Startup Showdown.

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