Fella (YC W20) – Tackling men's obesity using medication and coaching

Hey HN! I'm Richie from Fella (https://www.joinfella.com), a telehealth clinic for men with obesity. Fella helps men get to a healthier weight by matching them with a board-certified obesity doctor to prescribe an FDA-approved medication, while they undertake personalized health coaching.

I personally struggled with stress eating for 6 years. During that time, I was at Cambridge University, then built and sold my first company working with the UK government. It was tough, and poor eating habits as a teenager became a coping mechanism as an adult.

Fella first started as a "CBT+community" product to help men battling stress eating. It resonated due to the stigma around men's eating struggles. But we realized we were only half-serving most of our customers: even when no longer stress eating, most guys weren't getting to a healthier weight.

So we started researching effective, evidence-based treatments for obesity. When I say "we", I really mean my co-founder Luke. He studied medicine at Cambridge University, developing a patented AI approach to detecting cancer at a YC bio company, before moving to Microsoft Research. He parses bio papers better than me...

Obesity treatment is about to radically change. This is thanks to a breakthrough medication β€” NY Times called it a "game changer" in Feb 2021 [1]. The medication was approved by the FDA in June 2021 [2]. It leads to an average 15% decrease in body weight, efficacy close to bariatric surgery [3]. However, medication-assisted treatment for obesity is still stigmatized by family doctors and therefore hard to access.

Moreover, only 10% of those using weight management services are men, despite men representing 50% of those with obesity. This is because almost all programs market to women, placing too much emphasis on looks and not enough on health for a male audience. Stress eating is widespread among bigger guys, but mostly ignored β€” with too much focus on willpower and "eat less, move more". This needs to change.

So we pivoted to the Fella you see today: a telehealth experience with a board-certified obesity doctor for FDA-approved medication, combined with personalized health coaching. We went live in Texas in July, and are soon to be live in California and New York. Fella is a 12-month program and costs $149/month, paid quarterly. We’ll bring costs down over time to improve accessibility.

We still have lots of difficulties ahead. The main one could be insurance reimbursement: the latest wave of medications are expensive and insurers don't like to cover them [4].

We’re excited to hear your ideas, questions, concerns, feedback β€” and maybe any personal stories. I’ll be responding to comments all day, or feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected].

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/health/obesity-weight-los...

[2] https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-appr...

[3] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2032183

[4] https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-07-19/weight...



Get Top 5 Posts of the Week



best of all time best of today best of yesterday best of this week best of this month best of last month best of this year best of 2023 best of 2022 yc s24 yc w24 yc s23 yc w23 yc s22 yc w22 yc s21 yc w21 yc s20 yc w20 yc s19 yc w19 yc s18 yc w18 yc all-time 3d algorithms animation android [ai] artificial-intelligence api augmented-reality big data bitcoin blockchain book bootstrap bot css c chart chess chrome extension cli command line compiler crypto covid-19 cryptography data deep learning elexir ether excel framework game git go html ios iphone java js javascript jobs kubernetes learn linux lisp mac machine-learning most successful neural net nft node optimisation parser performance privacy python raspberry pi react retro review my ruby rust saas scraper security sql tensor flow terminal travel virtual reality visualisation vue windows web3 young talents


andrey azimov by Andrey Azimov