Here’s how we created a product category that didn’t exist

In 2014, my husband came home from a run one day with the crazy idea that we should make an at-home insemination kit. We had zero experience in the fertility industry, no MBA, no connections, and not much money. But we had one important element: first-hand user experience. We knew personally that this product was greatly needed. We had looked for it, and never found it. Over the next two years we designed the kit, researched regulations, found a manufacturer, and more. In the beginning, I was working full-time elsewhere, and we had two kids under two. That made the whole experience a bit nerve-racking, a bit exciting, and maybe a bit manic. We managed to launch with a simple goal: to give people a dignified, purpose-built option to build their families on their own terms. After generating enough sales for both of us to work full-time on the business, I set out to raise capital. THE BLIND SPOT I quickly realized that pitching a paradigm-shifting, family-building tool to a room full of traditional venture capitalists meant dealing with some spectacular blind spots. During meetings, I was routinely met with blank stares and baffling questions. More than one investor rudely asked some version of this question: “Why would anyone buy this if they have a penis?” Others would explain to me how IVF works (because their wife went through it) and make a comment about how “IVF exists. No one will do this.” My favorite was the female VC who passed on funding because the market wasn’t there. And in the exact same email, she casually mentioned she was going to use the product herself as she was currently trying to conceive. 3 LESSONS FROM CREATING A PRODUCT CATEGORY Ten years later (last fall), we were formally acquired. I finally have a moment to process the wild ride of building a consumer medical company with my husband, and creating a whole new product category. Looking back on a decade of building, surviving, and finally exiting a company, here’s what I learned about creating