FemTech, one of the latest rising markets in the technology and health sectors, helps match capital and talent to unmet needs. FemTech provides a wide range of solutions to improve healthcare for women across several female-specific conditions, including maternal health, menstrual health and pelvic and sexual health. In 2021, the femtech market was worth around $51 billion worldwide. Statista forecasted this market would be worth $103 billion by 2030.
At the helm of disrupting the osteoporosis space, Laura Yecies is bringing Bone Health Technologies to the forefront of the market. As CEO and president, she and her team are making strides in securing funding and shifting the perspective toward treating the bone density issue facing millions of women.
“Fifty-two million Americans have osteopenia, which is the early stage of bone loss,” Yecies states during a phone interview. “Another 12 million have osteoporosis. So, half of all women in their lifetime will fracture from osteoporosis. We talk about little weak, little old ladies. Well, they didn’t start off little; they became little when their vertebrae compressed. Or do you think about older people being hunched forward? Those are because of vertebral compression fractures. It’s a common and serious problem. There are no early interventions. There’s a body of evidence on whole-body vibration platforms to improve bone density. Our founder had this idea for applying the vibration, more directly or locally, to the hips and lumbar spine, which are the vulnerable fracture areas.”
Bone Health Technologies has developed OsteoBoost, the first vibration belt specifically designed to improve bone strength and density. Even as they wait for the FDA approval, the company has raised a seed round of a little over $6 million from investors, including Portfolia. Additionally, it raised $4.7 million in National Institutes of Health grants that funded the research. Yecies joined the company in 2020, elevating brand awareness.
Yecies started her career in marketing and commercialization at large tech companies before pivoting to the general manager role. As she progressed as general manager, she explored the pathway to CEO by leading the startup at the time, SugarSync, in 2008. She built the company from no revenue to a $20 million run rate.
The veteran leader spent four years at SugarSync before pivoting to lead Catch, which Apple ultimately acquired. Yecies had 25 years of working in tech when she saw the convergence of healthcare, software and technology; her interests were in genomics and diagnostics. It took two years of consulting for startups, sometimes paid, to gain the experience needed to thrive in the industry. She explains that it helped her learn the lingo and develop the necessary skill sets while making contacts and building credibility in the field.
“To me, investing a couple of years maybe not to maximize short-term income, title, etc., but to share what I knew with founders are coming to benefit, and then in return on really learning a lot about the field seemed like a very good trade-off,” she shares. “If you think about investments for careers, think of people who spend years on their education. So here I was, spending a few years, but I was able to contribute and have some financial reward along the way, even though it wasn’t maximized. It was about the long game.”
During her consulting years, she learned that hiring managers heavily ask if the interviewee has a deep network they can bring into a position. Also, it’s important how a person builds relationships.
Yecies’ investment in herself proved profitable. Through this experience, she gained the attention of the founder of Bone Health Technologies. Now, she’s leading the team, changing the face of osteoporosis.
As Yecies continues to pivot in her career and scale the company, she focuses on the following essential steps:
- Consider the implications of changing course, especially pivoting into a CEO role. Are you willing and ready to deal with the magnitude shift?
- Understand the lengths you’ll go to make your vision a reality. If you can’t see past the first step, the new role may not be the right fit for you.
- Take the risk and invest in yourself; the more you know, the better-informed decisions you can make, and the better leader you’ll be.
“When a company is recruiting a CEO to come in, it’s not because things are so perfect,” Yecies concludes. “If everything was so wonderful, they wouldn’t be looking for a new CEO. It’s the rare case where, maybe, for some reason, someone steps aside, but actually, things are going swimmingly. So you have to be ready to immediately roll up your sleeves.”
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