What Could Have Saved Pear Therapeutics from Failure

At a Glance

• AI Tool: Beam.ai. Helps you track real-time stakeholder feedback for smarter decisions.
• Framework: The Bowling Pin Strategy. Start small, then scale strategically.
• Tool: GrowBot. Automate personalized outreach to scale your network and leads.
• Story: Cautionary Tale of Pear Therapeutics. Learn from their mistakes.
• Mindset: “The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%.” – Rob Kalin

AI Tip/Tool: Unlock Customer Insights with Beam.ai

I remember the days when customer feedback used to be sporadic and anecdotal. We'd talk to a few people and feel like we had a pulse on what our market needed. Now, it’s a whole new world. If you're serious about scaling your healthtech innovation, real-time, data-driven customer insights are a must-have. 

What You Should Know:

• Real-time sentiment analysis: Beam.ai helps you track how patients, providers, and payers feel about your solution in real-time.
• Automated customer insights: By collecting and analyzing data across multiple touchpoints, it gives you actionable insights into what’s working and what’s not.
• Segment-specific feedback: Understand how different segments react to your product and tailor your strategy accordingly.

What's in it for You: With Beam.ai, you can track in real-time how different groups—like patients and healthcare providers—feel about your product. This is crucial because it allows you to fine-tune your value proposition, improve patient engagement, and increase provider adoption.

Framework: The Bowling Pin Strategy—Your Path to Sustainable Growth

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know how passionate I am about the Bowling Pin Strategy. I’ve been talking about it for years, and for good reason—it works. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s a quick rundown.

What You Should Know:

• Start with one market: Your first "pin" is the beachhead market, a carefully chosen niche where your solution solves a very specific problem.
• Knock down adjacent pins: Once you’ve dominated that market, the momentum allows you to move into adjacent markets, leveraging your early success to expand.
• Avoid overextension: One of the biggest mistakes startups make is trying to capture multiple markets too early. The Bowling Pin Strategy forces focus and discipline.

What's in it for You:

Scaling in healthcare is hard enough without spreading yourself too thin. With the Bowling Pin Strategy, you build a strong foundation in one market before moving on to others. 

This method allows you to create a playbook for success, one pin at a time, without overwhelming your resources. Trust me, you’ll sleep better at night knowing you’re following a proven path to growth.

Tool: Supercharge Your Outreach with GrowBot

I was recently chatting with a fellow founder over coffee, and we started swapping stories about how overwhelming outreach can get—especially when you’re wearing so many hats in the early days. That’s when they mentioned GrowBot, and I knew I had to check it out and share it with you.

What You Should Know:

• Automated engagement: GrowBot helps you send personalized messages at scale, whether it’s to potential investors, partners, or customers.
• Lead generation: It takes the legwork out of identifying high-potential leads, ensuring that you’re spending time on the opportunities that matter most.
• AI-driven insights: As you scale, GrowBot analyzes which messages and tactics work best, helping you refine your approach over time.

What's in it for You:

With GrowBot, you can automate outreach to key stakeholders—like investors, healthcare decision-makers, and early adopters—without losing the personal touch. 

This allows you to nurture relationships with the people who can help drive your innovation forward, while freeing up your time to focus on building your product and strategy.

Story: Pear Therapeutics—What Went Wrong and How to Do Better

I've talked about Pear Therapeutics in the past, and it’s a case worth revisiting because there are so many lessons to take away. Pear had all the promise in the world but ran into some very fixable issues. Here's what went wrong and how you can do better:

1. Overambitious goals: They aimed for $125M in revenue by 2023 but didn’t have the foundation to support that growth.

Do better: Set realistic goals that match your stage of growth—build before you scale.

2. High burn rate: Pear burned through cash faster than they could raise it, running out of financial runway. 

Do better: Manage your cash flow wisely. Raising funds in crisis mode is never a good position to be in.

3. Premature sales team expansion: They built large sales teams without having reimbursement contracts in place, which limited product access for patients.

Do better: Focus on securing reimbursement early—it's critical for healthcare adoption.

4. Ignoring multi-sided market needs: Pear didn’t fully consider providers, payers, or patients in their go-to-market strategy, limiting adoption.

Do better: Engage all stakeholders early and prove value with strong evidence.

5. Shiny opportunity syndrome: With over 50 products in development, Pear spread itself too thin before proving success with its initial offerings.

Do better: Focus on proving commercial success with one or two products before expanding.

Pear’s downfall is a cautionary tale of ambition without balance. For healthtech innovators like you, the lesson is clear: scale with intention. Focus on proving value in your first market, secure key stakeholders early, and resist the temptation to grow too quickly.

If you're curious to explore this case further, you can watch my full presentation on Pear Therapeutics here, where I break down the details and key takeaways in depth.

Mindset

“The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%.” – Rob Kalin

I love this quote because it’s so true in healthtech. You can spend months, even years, building your product, refining it, and getting everything just right. But the moment you think you’re done, there’s always that final push—the last mile. 

It’s the hardest part, but it’s also where the magic happens.

How I Can Help:

Growth: Accelerate your success with my 6-Week Growth Sprint Program—limited spots, rapid results.

Advising: Get personalized guidance through exclusive 1:1 or group coaching sessions.

Network: Connect with innovators in my invite-only HealthTech Community.