The Flywheel Holding Women’s Health Back | Rock Health CEO Katie Drasser & Tia Founding CEO Carolyn Witte

Women make 80% of healthcare decisions and outspend men two to one on care—yet when it comes to designing, funding, and scaling health tech, they’re still treated like a niche.

In this episode, we break down the broken flywheel holding women’s health innovation back including fewer growth-stage investments, limited exits, and a system not built to serve women as the primary users of care. I’m joined by Carolyn Witte, co-founder of Tia, and Katie Drasser, CEO of Rock Health, to talk about what needs to change—and how we get there.

We cover:

📱 What Rock Health’s latest report says about women as digital health consumers

🚫 Why men shouldn’t be the benchmark for women’s health

💸 How women’s health companies struggle to raise beyond Series A (and what to do about it)

👩‍⚕️ Why every company should be a women’s health company

💡 What founders and investors need to do differently to unlock women’s health at scale

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About our guests:

Katie Drasser is CEO of RockHealth.org, leading a team of experts in health equity, social enterprise, and design to encourage more equitable innovation in digital health. Drasser has launched programs that address complex global issues with a focus on public health innovation and the role of innovative financing and leadership in systems change. Previously, she curated health content for the Aspen Ideas Festival and was managing director of the Aspen Global Innovators Group, steering global leadership programs to address poverty alleviation and human rights. Drasser has worked internationally on HIV/AIDS treatment strategies in Romania, private health services delivery in Myanmar, and the scale up of Kenya’s national emergency medical system. She designed a network of charter schools and developed Good Capital, a venture fund that invests in social enterprises like the Hub Bay Area and the Social Capital Markets Conference.

Carolyn Witte is a visionary healthcare entrepreneur dedicated to creating a personalized, preventive, and human-centered healthcare system. As the founding CEO of Tia — the leading tech-enabled primary care provider for women — she pioneered a new model of “whole-women’s” healthcare, integrating virtual and retail-style clinics, technology, and a multidisciplinary care teams to transform the business and experience of going to the doctor. A former strategist at Google’s Creative Lab, Carolyn brings an interdisciplinary approach to healthcare innovation through design, technology, and brand. Her latest passion project is The XX Factor — a newsletter and community advancing the women’s health category through hard won lessons, shared learnings and collective action. She’s been recognized by Fast Company, Forbes, and Inc. Magazine as a trailblazer for women in business.

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Show notes:

• Women in focus: understanding women as digital health consumers (Rock Health)
• There’s a Growth-Stage Cliff Plaguing Women’s Health Startups

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