Menopause Management

Joanna Strober is not singing or dancing about menopause topics on Instagram (although we certainly appreciate those who do). Instead, she's busy building a fast-growing startup, Midi Health, that's raised $100 million to provide virtual health care to women in menopause or perimenopause. The 4-year-old company takes insurance, employs about 250 specially trained medical professionals, and currently sees 10,000 women a week. She plans to take it public. "We're going to become the front door to women's health care," Strober says, during a recent interview. "You'll always go to your PCP or you'll always go to urgent care, but we could be the place you come for your other care." Strober, 56, is bringing serious business chops to the booming menopause industry, which is currently awash in attention, following decades (one could even say centuries) of absolute nothingness from society, business and even the medical world. There is the so-called "menoposse" – a coalition of clinicians led by Dr. Mary Claire Haver – who share information about hormonal change on social media, sometimes to music or dancing. There are menopause books flooding the market, and a documentary film called "The M Factor." And then there are products of all kinds popping up to alleviate menopause symptoms, from Stripes's "Vag of Honor" (an intimate hydrating gel) to Womaness's "Me No Pause" (an herbal supplement for night sweats, memory and focus). But Midi is one of the few startups – Strober says it's the only one – that is providing insurance-covered health care for women in perimenopause or menopause. "I don't believe consumer pay is the way to go for healthcare," she says. "To build a big healthcare company, you need to have insurance coverage." Midi bills patients' insurance, just like any other healthcare provider, and is considered "in-network" in most PPO plans. Coverage depends on a person's specific plan, but virtual visits with Midi clinicians are generally covered by major insurance providers including Aetna, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Getting insurers on board "has been very time-consuming and expensive, but it's not hard," Strober says. "We don't try to do anything fancy. We just get basic insurance coverage." The type of care that is prescribed ranges from standard hormone replacement therapy to weight-loss medications, supplements and lifestyle coaching. How She Got Here A former investor and guest lecturer at Stanford University, Strober is an entrepreneur with a track record. In 2014, she launched Kurbo Health, a health-tech startup aimed at tackling childhood obesity, and sold it four years later to Weight Watchers. After the 2018 sale, she joined Weight Watchers and began working on a new business related to weight-loss medications. Although Weight Watchers ultimately did not go forward with her plan, "I learned in that how to make a national medical practice, how we could work with providers, how we could work with drug companies," she says. Around that same time – somewhat fortuitously – Strober began experiencing symptoms of menopause, including anxiety, insomnia and hot flashes. She realized she could rework her business idea, shifting the focus to menopause management. "I left Weight Watchers to start Midi." Strober and her co-founder, Sharon Meers, raised early funding for Midi by approaching angel investors interested in women's health… naturally, it was "almost all women investors," she says. This past April, Midi closed a $60 million Series B round led by Laurene Powell Jobs's Emerson Collective. Other investors include Amy Schumer, Tory Burch and professional soccer player Brandi Chastain. While Strober has benefited from a recent surge of public understanding of menopause, building Midi hasn't been easy. Few medical professionals – even OB-GYNs – are trained in menopause, with most getting just one to two hours of education on the topic. Rather than work with independent doctors on a contractor or partner basis, Midi hires its own medical staff – nurse practitioners, OB-GYNs and internal medicine specialists – and trains them via its own clinical education program focused on midlife women's health. "We are very strict about who we hire and then we train them," she says. "We want them to follow our care protocols." Midi shares some of its "success stories" on its website and on social media – where it has an active presence on TikTok, Instagram and others. Strober herself appears occasionally in videos, although she's more likely to be walking in a weighted vest (it can help maintain bone density) than singing or dancing about menopause. As for the menopause influencers who do, "I love them," she says. "My whole Instagram is influencer menopause people." In fact, Strober says the Midi staff has to be ready when the influencers on Instagram impart tips or the results of a new survey (for instance, here is Haver talking about fatty liver disease in post-menopausal women). "Honestly, one of our interesting challenges is that Dr. Haver will say something on her Instagram, and then we'll get 100 people coming to talk about that," she says. "We have to make sure that we're up to date with all the newest research." But Strober enjoys the challenge – even if it's difficult. "It is a really hard business to build," she says. "It is so exciting and so thrilling and hard." Most of all, she wants women to understand how to treat symptoms and how to live longer, healthier and better lives. "We want to be the company for aging beautifully." ◼️ Updated to reflect current number of patients.

Menopause Management

Menopause Care Grows Up: ‘We Want to Be the Company for Aging Beautifully’

The Story Exchange

Menopause Management

Menopause Care Grows Up: ‘We Want to Be the Company for Aging Beautifully’

The Story Exchange

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