[tomsayer]

:) We're new so these questions are great as they help us learn!

Healthgrades is for finding a clinical service; we are not a health service. We often use the term coach (which isn't a perfect term but the best we have right now.) We hope it is an ongoing relationship and not just used when somethings 'going wrong.' Another way we sometimes talk about it is that it's like a really good friend who happens to have an incredible background in child development. With that in mind, we don't fall under hippa as we don't discuss medical issues, although we aim to be at hippa level regardless.

Yup - Catalin has a background in ML. We're not working on any ML stuff right now - he's just an incredible technologist! The closest I can see right now is us being able to maintain a body of knowledge similar to how most doctors use Up To Date. We could then use ML to surface the information to the coach / expert so they always have the most up to date knowledge at their finger tips.

We want to be as efficient as possible so we can support as many parents as possible, and as effective as possible so we provide the best support. But we never want to replace the direct human connection, nor to use data in any way that parents wouldn't want - we know if we lose any trust we've got nothing!

[mattrp]

It seems like you’re being thoughtful about your approach. Another question that comes to mind - how will you curate your providers? I think that’s been a challenge for similar models in other areas - they end up with a ton of providers ... too many initially to serve the customers they have...

[eba7keb]

I should also say, we have been really cautious not to bring on too many providers. We have people who are interested, but we are on boarding professionals in response to demand (rather than a ton of people up front). We do stay ahead with interviews and keep a list of interested providers who know we will reach out when we need to!

[tomsayer]

This is a harder Q! I don't 100% know but two things give me hope.

First, there are so many incredible experts in early childhood right now that - IMO - are undervalued. We have so many that want to have a home to use their skills in support of parents alongside whatever they currently do.

Second, we're investing heavily in the selection and then ongoing support and / professional development of our coaches.

Over time we will need to increase the support and development even further but for the foreseeable future we're just happy how many incredible people are out there.

[mattrp]

That makes a lot of sense to be very supportive of your coaches. Maybe also keep it to a small cohort initially... As I’ve meet various gig workers one common complaint is that many feel like there are too many of them competing for too small deals or that they find it difficult to match deals with their specialty and end up passing or getting passed over because there wasn’t a perfect match in skills / career history. Back on the hippa topic... to me just even saying we talk to a psychologist about our kids development has stigma. Like what’s wrong your kids or you... so just even having an account May be a problem for some parents... also I bet quite a few will ask about using fsa dollars (which I assume you won’t be able to take) but maybe something to look into. Stigma aside I bet a lot of employers would pay for part or all of the fees as a perk.

[eba7keb]

The stigma is hard. As a mental health professional I am biased, but I think the parents that come to us for support are some of the best parents I know! Curious, thoughtful, and interested in working with someone to develop a thoughtful plan. We find there is a range of feelings. Some parents on our service shout out their happiness with working with us from the rooftops. Others have said it feels uncomfortable to share. Regardless, parenting is extremely personal. And we recognize that parents inviting us into the process is vulnerable and sacred. We don't take it lightly.