Andrea Campos, Yana | Expanding access to mental health care with technology [Ep. 19]

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Although in recent years we talk more and more openly about the importance of mental health, the need for therapy solutions and services accelerated radically during the pandemic. Despite this, there are still few companies using technology to increase access to and the quality of mental health services.

One of those startups in the healthtech sector is Yana, and today we are with Andrea Campos, its CEO and founder. Yana is a mobile application that accompanies people on their path toward emotional well-being, through strategies based on cognitive behavioral therapy.

Yana was part of 500 Startups Latinoamérica’s acceleration program and currently has more than 2 million users.

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Idea and Development of Yana

• [0:56] - How did Andrea arrive at the world of startups?
• [1:39] - What is Yana and what problem does it solve within the health sector?
  • Applying cognitive behavioral therapy in Yana for emotional well-being
  • A lack of mental health solutions for the Latin American market
• [3:56] - The process of creating Yana
  • Unaddressed mental health problems
  • Creating Yana’s MVP using WhatsApp
  • Steps taken to overcome regulatory barriers
• [13:45] - Why create a chatbot for mental health?
  • The foundations of cognitive behavioral therapy for treating mental health problems
  • Benefits of the chatbot: Lower cost, greater access, and less use of human resources

Yana’s Organic Viral Growth

• [22:18] - Yana’s growth trajectory
  • Featured app in Apple’s App Store
  • Organic growth through social media
  • Predominance of Generation Z on Yana
• [28:30] - Yana’s virality strategies
  • A focus on younger generations
  • Consequences of the pandemic for the importance of mental health

Product Market Fit and Impact

• [31:32] - Typical behavior of a Yana user
  • Uninstalling the app after the first session
  • New features to increase usage
  • Metrics to measure improvement in users’ mental health
• [35:20] - The vision of the future for Yana
  • Solving every mental health problem with a single application
  • Constant creation of content

Tweet Round

• [37:44] -
  • Verticals/trends where Andrea would like to see more startups: physical health
  • Recommended books: The One Thing by Garry Keller
  • Changes in the Latin American startup ecosystem: taxes
  • Entrepreneur to interview: Melina Cruz of Homely

Episode Mentions

You can find Andrea on Twitter and on Linkedin

Recommended books: The One Thing by Garry Keller

Entrepreneurs to interview: Melina Cruz of Homely

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Follow Enzo Cavalie on X: @enzocavalie.