FemTech Entrepreneur Launched A Fertility Brand After Realizing Her Own Struggles Could Help Others

We seem to be living in a zeitgeist moment where women are becoming more open with their struggles and challenges related to pregnancy, motherhood, and reproductive health. It is about time we broke taboos not just in social and cultural sphere, but also in the professional one. There is greater understanding about the many women that experience issues such as miscarriage and even fertility struggles. One woman who is determined to marry the professional with the personal when it comes to breaking taboos and helping other women is health and technology entrepreneur.

With her own personal background, current journey, and newly launched health brand, Halle Tecco has a lot to say around women’s wellness, women in business leadership, and how to take a challenge in your life and create an opportunity. Halle Tecco is the former founder of RockHealth, the first VC fund to support companies intersecting health and technology. She is a Harvard MBA graduate and has invested in well over a dozen female-founded brands. 

Halle has also personally suffered infertility and is ready to break down the taboo nature around the subject of trying to conceive. Considering the FemTech space is poised to grow to $50B by 2025, Halle is hoping to be a part of the evolution of consumer products for women’s health. While currently undergoing IVF herself, she just launched the newest brand, Natalist.

Natalist is meant to serve as a more friendly and intimate reproductive health support kit for people over the stress and anxiety that comes from this journey. They just announced the first direct-to-doorstep all in one kit, The Get Pregnant Bundle. It not only includes essentials but also a Conception 101 Book written by fellow female scientists and doctors who have lived through this process. We spoke with her about what drives her in life and work, and what she hopes to change for women and their families for the better.

How did you first get bitten by the entrepreneur bug? 

I was infected at childhood. My dad was a small business owner, so I think it’s in my blood. As a kid I was always starting little businesses like a library to rent out my books or a nail salon (which got shut down by authorities after spilling nail polish remover on the coffee table). I have always enjoyed the challenge of bringing new ideas to life. 

As the former founder of Rock Health, the first VC fund to support companies intersecting health and technology, you invested in over a dozen female-founded brands. Why was this important to you personally?

Honestly, I just liked the founders and the companies. Women bring a really important perspective, especially in healthcare where women serve as the “Chief Medical Officer” of the home and make the vast majority of buying decisions. 

Your latest brand Natalist came about after some very personal experiences with reproductive health. Can you share with us your journey? 

It took me over four years and a good deal of science to become a mom. During those long months of repeated negative pregnancy tests, I felt disconnected from my body which just wasn’t getting pregnant. I was lost in a sea of misinformation on the internet, as well as products that just didn’t speak to me as a millennial woman. I see now that my journey worked out as it should have. My relationship with my partner grew stronger as we learned patience and how to work together as a team—skills that have translated well to parenting a toddler! 

What is your advice for others struggling with infertility?

Infertility often comes with grief and loss. You have to let go of the vision of how and how long the journey will be and learn to flow and become stronger through the process. For me, I’ve found healing by trying to understand it. I’ve spent years studying the science and the industry, and now I’m putting my thesis to work. I hope to use my journey to make the journey better for other women. 

Why do you think there is still so much taboo or silence around women’s fertility and reproductive issues today? 

Because we don’t talk about it! It’s not that infertility and reproductive issues are uncommon, just look at the data: 1 in 8 couples have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. And nearly half of women will experience miscarriage. These issues can be hard to deal with personally and even harder to share. But that’s changing as people realize that sharing their story can help others feel a little less alone.

What other women’s health consumer products are you looking to launch in the future? 

Right now we’re back in listening mode—getting feedback on what new products our customers want. We start there (listening), then move to a rigorous clinical and scientific review process to determine if the net benefit is substantial. Once this has been determined, we move to the design aspect to make sure our products are beautiful and easy to use. Stay tuned!

A question we like to ask our interviewees: what makes you a powerful woman? 

If I had to say, I imagine it would be my mission and drive to use my own experiences to better the lives of other women and truly try to make their experience better. I hope that my openness and rawness about subjects that people generally steer away from will help to break down the taboos.

Learn more about Natalist by visiting the website, and check out one of their Youtube videos below where Dr. Naz breaks down your menstrual cycle and the role it plays in pregnancy planning: