What Was the V1 Product of Alma?

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The first moment that I really remember clearly was the first or second day that we had opened our first space in Midtown. Just seeing how people reacted to creating good quality experiences in mental health and just the hunger for that level of experience was really great to see. What did the V1 product of Alma actually look like? The product in its infancy really focused on three things: community, lead generation and supporting providers.

Todd Jackson’s back on the mic this week. (As a reminder, he’s guest hosting a few product-focused episodes this season — all about finding product-market fit.)

Today, Todd chats with Harry Ritter, founder of Alma, a membership-based network that helps independent mental health care providers accept insurance and build thriving private practices.

In our conversation, we go deep into Alma’s early days, and how they navigated the journey of finding traction and scaling.

As you’ll hear in the episode, the Alma team essentially had to find product-market fit twice as they went from physical, co-working office spaces pre-pandemic, to quickly building out their virtual care capabilities.

Here’s a preview of what Todd and Harry cover:

Approaching team building as a solo founder
Refining the idea and getting more insights from your customers through structured interviews, using the technique doctors are trained on
Rallying your team through a pivot
Staying competitor aware — not competitor obsessed
The difference between building a marketplace versus a platform.

Whether you’re in the early stages of starting a company or going through a tough pivot, there are tons of helpful tactics here.

You can follow Harry on Twitter at @harryritter1. You can email us questions directly at review@firstround.com or follow us on Twitter @firstround and @tjack.