What Was the First Day of Launching ALMA?

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I was just so struck by your attention to detail when the space was under construction. Do you remember what launch day felt like? Launch day for any new product is terrifying because you've spent all this time and energy invested in building this thing. And then you have just no idea what people are going to say. I do remember saying to the team on that first day, if nothing else happened, but that day, all we ever ended up doing with ALMA was helping that first group of people have a really great therapy experience would be worth everything.

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.