The End of A Chapter (And Beginning Of A New One): Kindara Acquired by Prima-Temp
A few weeks ago this press release went out and made public the news that Kindara (the company I founded with Kati Bicknell) was acquired by Prima-Temp, another Boulder-based women’s health company.
This marks the end of a big chapter of my life, and I feel a mix of emotions announcing the news.
In 2009, a few months after I met Kati, we started talking about birth control. I asked her about going on the pill but she was having none of it.
She introduced me to fertility charting and the Fertility Awareness Method instead. When I was skeptical, she gave me a (big) book to read.
I read Taking Charge Of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler and my mind was blown open to a whole world I never knew existed.
As I digested the material, I had multiple ‘aha’ moments as I understood things about fertility and the feminine that were new to me. I was incredulous that I had never been taught how fertility actually works, and I was excited to try the method as a way to avoid pregnancy with Kati.
It turned out to be a beautiful experience. Charting our fertility allowed me to better understand Kati, and helped her to better understand herself. And it allowed us to experience a level of intimacy that I had never before known.
The experience was so rich and moving that I got excited about creating products to make it easy for other couples to have a similar experiences.
Our vision was to use technology to empower women through body literacy, and simultaneously bring more compassion and understanding to how men and women relate to each other.
We started Kindara with very limited cash and skills. All we had was a dream and insane persistence.
We almost went bankrupt multiple times, but over 8 years we released and grew a beautiful and useful app and community, and launched Wink, the first Bluetooth connected fertility thermometer. Kindara was routinely in the top 20 medical apps in the nation, and one day in 2014 we were the #1 medical app in the US after this article went viral.
We raised multiple rounds of funding and eventually built Kindara into one of the top venture funded fertility apps in the world.
(and as far as we can tell, one of the first venture funded femtech companies period, paving the way for many to follow).
Leading Kindara gave my life a tremendous sense of meaning and accomplishment. So far Kindara has helped over 200,000 couples successfully bring a wanted baby into the world, and many more women and couples avoid pregnancy or understand cycle irregularities without hormones or side effects.
We've heard inspiring stories about women using Kindara to diagnose obscure medical conditions that their doctors missed. And lots of stories reporting the onset of an empowering body literacy that mirrors what Kati and I experienced back in 2009.
Along the way I also learned many valuable lessons about how to turn an idea into a company that makes a sustainable difference. The last 8 years have been beautiful, stressful, exciting, heart breaking, life affirming, and educational.
By 2016 I was tired. I had yet to learn how to systematize and grow a company of our size and I was frustrated managing the team. The bigger we got the less I found myself doing the things I loved (creating products). I decided to step down as CEO and transition control of the board to our investors. Handing over the reigns was a difficult decision that still weighs on me sometimes.
Though I remained on the board through this summer, my influence over the company waned over time and eventually I decided it best for me to leave the board. The acquisition came later this summer.
Like a child growing up and leaving home, this is a proud moment for me and also a sad one. I’m proud of all we were able to accomplish, and sad when I think of the huge difference still left to be made in the realm of women's health and reconciliation of the sexes.
Wishing you all the success in the world Kindara! I’m excited for your next chapter as you continue to hep women and couples from all over the world forge a deeper relationship with their fertility.
And if you ever need anything please know that like proud parents, Kati Bicknell and I are here for you. ❤️
And with that I’m declaring this chapter of my life officially complete. Whew! The last 8 years were beautiful and full of growth. I want to thank everyone who made this possible. You know who you are: all our customers, team members, investors, mentors and advisors. You know who you are.
And most of all Kati Bicknell. I love you. Thank you for believing in me and us.
On to the next adventure.