Requests For Startups: Mental Health with Mark Goldenson

Mark Goldenson (@goldenson), Village Global Network Leader, creator of VentureKit, and formerly founder and CEO of Breakthrough, joins Erik to talk about his requests for startups in the mental health space and in digital health more broadly.Mark recounts his entrepreneurial journey so far, including his experience at Breakthrough, a mental health startup he created and ran that was later acquired. He talks about the four key problems in mental health and how connecting therapists and clients through the internet can solve those problems. He explains how they tackled the problem in a unique way at Breakthrough and explains some of the nuances of operating in the health market. He points out that health is not a product-driven market and that at Breakthrough, instead of running a technology company as they had intended, they were running (virtual) clinics.They talk about telehealth and what opportunities exist in digital health more broadly. He also lists some of his requests for startups, including the intriguing idea of a “Fitbit for mood.”Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.