1. Validate customer problem

• We sent out two surveys to 200+ Black women and spent 25+ hours conducting interviews with potential customers, dermatologists, and Black hair care brand representatives.
• Although individual interviews were insightful, we noticed we were mostly interacting with our friends or extended network. We launched a landing page with an intake form and used targeted marketing To to scale our customer discovery, 
•  In less than 2 weeks, we received 60+ respondents and found that over half experienced hair loss, but hadn’t sought professional advice, largely due to cost (average initial consultation costs ~$250) and wait times were long to see a specialist. 

The conclusion: in order to help improve Black women’s hair loss challenges, Sisterhood needs to tackle accessibility moving forward.

2. Test Solutions

We segmented our customers' experiences into 3 scenarios and rolled out campaigns across social media to narrow down our hypotheses. These campaigns guided users to our landing page and introduced them to one of our 3 solutions (details below).

• Lost and doesn’t know where to start: Customers recognize their hair loss issue, but find themselves lost in the myriad of potential solutions and paths to recovery.
• Looking for professional guidance: Customers value dermatologist's expertise however, costs, among other obstacles, prevent them from obtaining the necessary consultation.
• Struggling with follow-through: After securing a dermatologist's advice,users grapple with maintaining the prescribed treatment regimen.

3. Build MVPs

Embracing the principle of "done is better than perfect", we built 3 MVPs that drew 41 users:

• Treatment Tracker – 0 users: A tool tailored for women to track their post-diagnosis treatment journey. While several dermatologists found value in it, no patients opted for it so we dropped it.
• Derm Locator – 13 users: A handy tool to identify Black dermatologists across the U.S. It shed light on areas with a glaring gap between demand and supply. 
• Concierge – 28 users: A personalized guide through dermatological care, spanning product to lifestyle advice. Leveraging extensive research and ChatGPT, we produced individualized reports with dermatologist-endorsed suggestions.

• Derm Locator: Its utility and novelty were evident. However, it didn't bridge the gap between recognizing the need for a dermatologist and the ensuing journey – booking, treatment initiation, and witnessing improvements.
• Concierge: This feature proved Sisterhood's role in demystifying overwhelming information into manageable steps. Our efficiency in generating reports saw marked improvement, with the time needed decreasing significantly by the fifth report. We got positive feedback yet, the question lingered about how to establish a concrete "transaction" with this feature.

The Conclusion: We're convinced there's immense potential beyond linking women with Black dermatologists. The challenge ahead? Crafting compelling reasons for our users to consistently engage with us.

1️⃣ The 3 of us really enjoyed working side-by-side for the 8 weeks. We eventually found a productive cadence and effectively split responsibilities. Shout out to Jeff E. for helping us find an office in NYC :)

2️⃣ We learned to navigate health-related recommendations without falling into the “medical advice” field. However, we are conscious that our value proposition will be limited until we add a medical figure. 

3️⃣ We got out of our comfort zone by reaching out to prominent dermatologists who received our potential collaboration with great enthusiasm. We believe that combining our business acumen with their medical expertise can deliver value to patients and improve health outcomes.

4️⃣ Our gut tells us that there could be value in personalized product recommendations, especially from lesser known brands. We still think that no one is giving Black women real reviews of effective products that improve their health.

5️⃣ We sometimes felt limited in our ability to test out solutions because of the lack of technical skills on our team; which led us to think of how to add this skill to the team.

• Partner with dermatologists: We are aware that we cannot continue in the healthcare space without a medical figure as part of our team. We are currently speaking to 3 dermatologists for potential partnerships – stay tuned! 

• Build a comprehensive database of Black dermatologists: we continue to grow the list of practitioners as we find them.

• Grow our community of users: we will be organizing a live Q&A session with 8-10 Black women suffering from hair loss and a dermatologist. In parallel we continue to grow our Instagram and Facebook following — follow us @sisterhoodhaircare!

• Find a path towards monetization: finding what “the transaction” means for us and how to replicate it for multiple users.

• If you know of any grants and programs we could apply to in the healthcare and personal care space, please let us know.

• Feedback! Feedback is a gift so if this update resonates or makes you think of something that could be helpful for us, please reach out!

See you soon in your inbox,

Araba, Emy, and Sarah – the Sisterhood team!