![Cover of «Giovanna Abramo, Plenna | Femtech, Content and Community, and Raising in a Hard Market [Ep. 82]»](/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Giovanna-Abramo-Plenna.png)
The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.
Solving a good part of the health problems in Latin America requires education. It is necessary to be more aware about taking care of one’s health, especially in a preventive way, but the lack of information, myths, and attention work against us.
We spoke with Giovanna Abramo, who is Cofounder of Plenna, a healthtech startup that offers health services for women, starting with gynecology, psychology, and nutrition.
To date, Plenna has served thousands of women and has raised close to one million dollars from investors such as Canary, 500 Startups, and Bridge Partners.
We talked about the state of health services for women in the region, how to use content and community to generate adoption of a product, and how to raise capital in a difficult market such as femtech.
Youtube Timestamps*
[1:17] - Gynecology and Femtech
- How did Giovanna arrive at the fascinating world of startups?
- In what state did Giovanna find health services for women, and where does she see more opportunities to implement technology?
- Giovanna and her cofounder do not have experience working in the health sector. What advantages or disadvantages have they faced as outsiders in the field?
- Only 5% of mothers and fathers talk with their teenage daughters about menstruation. How does this lack of awareness about reproductive health show up in their potential customers, and what challenges does it imply for Plenna?
- What strategies has Giovanna created in order to build bonds of trust with her users?
[13:03] - Content and Community to Generate Product Adoption
- Taking into account that young women have a perception of their body that is different from the one adult women have, why did Giovanna decide to start and focus on younger women?
- Why is the development of educational content so relevant for Plenna, especially given that they focus on younger women?
- With what key metrics beyond CAC does Giovanna evaluate the effectiveness of her content marketing?
- Taking into account that Plenna touches many topics considered taboo in LatAm, to what extent is Giovanna serving an existing need, versus creating and educating the market?
- What strategies has Giovanna learned that work and that do not work for building community?
- How does Giovanna connect business success with the community? What must the community generate for the investment of money and human resources to be worth it?
[27:43] - Raising Capital in a Difficult Market
- Why did Giovanna decide to implement an in-person clinic, and what does it contribute to Plenna’s vision?
- What strategies did Giovanna use in order to convince investors that a hybrid digital/physical model was a good option?
- What kind of objections did Giovanna face in communicating the relevance of this market, and how did she handle them?
[37:08] - Tweet Round
- Book recommended by Giovanna
Episode Mentions
You can find Giovanna on LinkedIn, and Twitter
Recommended book: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
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