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20VC: Biggest Lessons from Working with John Doerr, How Founders Can Have Discussions of Vulnerability with Their Board and Investors & Marrying Another Founder; The Pros, Cons and Ways To Make it Succeed with Alyson Friedensohn, Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern

Sep 4, 2020

Alyson Friedensohn, Co-founder and CEO of Modern Health, dives into her journey of transforming workplace mental well-being. She shares insights on assessing personal psychology and navigating crisis modes. Alyson also provides invaluable advice for non-technical founders, emphasizing the balance between sales goals and mental health. The conversation explores the dynamics of founder-investor relationships, stressing the importance of vulnerability and trust. Finally, she reflects on the unique challenges and support structures of marrying another founder in the startup world.

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ANECDOTE

Silicon Valley Struggles

Alyson Friedensohn moved to Silicon Valley and faced a series of setbacks, including job loss and apartment flooding.
This experience, coupled with difficulty accessing therapy, inspired her to found Modern Health.

INSIGHT

Resilience and Potential

Resilience is crucial for navigating life's challenges and reaching one's full potential.
Alyson Friedensohn's background as a D1 athlete helped her develop this resilience.

INSIGHT

Mental Health Spectrum

Mental health is a spectrum, and founders often struggle with issues like anxiety and depression.
Openness about mental health is increasing, but it's still stigmatized in business.

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Alyson Friedensohn is the Founder & CEO @ Modern Health, a one-stop solution for employee mental well-being through evidence-based support and digital content. To date, Alyson has raised over $45M in funding from some of the best in the business including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, John Doerr, 01 Advisors and Katrina Lake to name a few. Prior to founding Modern Health, Alyson was a Product Partner for Operations at Collective Health and before that was an operations manager @ Keas (acquired by Welltok).

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In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Alyson made her way into the world of startups and came to change how we think about mental health with Modern Health?

2.) How does Alyson think about and assess her own psychology? How does Alyson deal with crisis modes? What works? What does not? What is the driver for Alyson to get her through the very toughest of times? How does Alyson approach her own attitude to risk?

3.) What is Alyson's biggest pieces of advice for non-technical founders? What are the biggest challenges Alyson has had to overcome as a non-technical founder? How did she do it? How did Alyson strategically invest in the sales process? What worked? What did not? How does Alyson think about the balance of hitting sales quota and mental health?

4.) With some of the best VCs in the world, how did Alyson approach the process of investor selection? What can VCs do to build that relationship of trust with their founders? How does multi-stage VCs investing impact whether the founder remains in a "sales process" for the next round? How does Alyson temper the weight of John Doerr's words?

5.) What have been Alyson's biggest lessons in making it work marrying another founder? What works? What is challenging? How do they as a couple think about switching off? How does Alyson advise Harry on his own love life?!

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Alyson’s Fave Book: How to Win Friends and Influence People

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