In the realm of femtech, where technology meets women's health, Alexis Abayomi stands as a visionary force, reshaping the landscape with her groundbreaking startup, Hormonious Flo. In a recent interview with Alexis, the founder shared her journey, the inspiration behind Hormonious Flo, and the challenges and triumphs encountered along the way.

Journey to Hormony: From Painful Periods to Empowerment

“I am Alexis Abayomi, an individual full of curiosity, an app developer, a product analyst, and an engineer who is able to be a CEO any day.”
Alexis's journey with Hormonious Flo began with a personal struggle. In 2016, she experienced excruciating periods. Unable to carry on with her daily life due to the pain, Alexis embarked on a journey of self-discovery and research. It led her to Alisa Vitti’s book, “WomanCode: Perfect Your Cycle, Amplify Your Fertility, Supercharge Your Sex Drive, and Become a Power Source”, which illuminated the intricacies of the menstrual cycle and its alignment with overall well-being.

“Vitti’s book taught me so much about my body that I didn’t know. There are phases to a menstrual cycle, typically lasting 28 days.  Yet, the world is designed for a 24 hour cycle, not a 28 day cycle. It truly is a code that women do not know.”

Through understanding her body's natural rhythm and making lifestyle adjustments, Alexis transformed her health. The realization that this transformation could benefit others sparked the idea for Hormonious Flo. She envisioned a solution that would simplify the process of menstrual cycle alignment and empower women to take control of their health.

“If this works for me, it can work for other people.  I wanted to make this process easier for all women, both myself and others. How could I make this process easier so people could have a hand to hold through their menstrual journeys?”

Bridging the Gap: The Birth of Hormonious Flo

Hormonious Flo was born from the desire to fill a gap in the femtech industry. While many products focused on fertility, Alexis identified a need for comprehensive support beyond reproduction. She aimed to provide women with tools to nurture a holistic relationship with their bodies, regardless of their fertility intentions.

“In the femtech world a lot of things were based on fertility, but not all women need that.  There wasn’t  a lot of information on how to actually take care of your body regularly– how to have a good relationship with your body so your body can support your needs.”

The app, initially launched in 2020, serves as a guiding companion, offering tailored advice and resources to support each phase of the menstrual cycle. From nutrition recommendations to exercise plans, Hormonious Flo empowers women to optimize their well-being throughout their cycle.

“People wanted to predict their menstrual cycles and periods, they wanted to understand the symptoms. For Hormonious Flo, these symptoms could be input in and the output would be an understanding behind the symptoms as well as lifestyle changes to mitigate them. Give us your data so we can help you.”

So how does the app leverage the power of technology to help women? The app gathers information from users and offers distinct pathways to individualized solutions.

“The app was split into two main sections, the lesson-bit and the recipes.  There was a 6 month lesson plan that offered 2-3 minute courses a day with questionnaires at the end.  From beginning with concepts like ‘what is a menstrual cycle and how can you modify/improve it’, the course gradually ended with constructing an individualized menstrual cycle code for women.  The recipe section expanded on recipes and groceries to make periods more manageable.”

Perhaps the app’s most popular feature was its grocery list feature which allowed users to create their own grocery lists for the four phases of their cycle

“I remember I was in the grocery store once and forgot Vitti’s book and hadn’t taken a picture of the page that told you which groceries to pick. After running back to my house to get the book I thought ‘If this was on an app on the phone it would be easier.’”

Collaboration and Growth: Building a Supportive Community

Collaboration has been instrumental in Hormonious Flo's journey. Alexis actively sought partnerships with menstrual cycle coaches and experts to enrich the app's offerings. While initially navigating the venture solo, she eventually built a team of passionate individuals dedicated to empowering women's health.

“I wanted to get other people on board, from menstrual cycle coaches to nutritionists. It was all about improving your cycle, learning your cycle. I started on my own with a few coaches, but once I got funding I was able to build a team of about 7.”

Alexis also garnered invaluable support from her user base, who offered insightful feedback on enhancing and optimizing the app's functionality. Intersectionality played a pivotal role in shaping the company's ethos, ensuring that it authentically reflected and addressed the diverse needs of its users.

“ Most features of Hormonious Flo were added because people asked for them.  In the early days, users would message me directly and I would see what people were most interested in and then make those changes by coding them directly in the app.  As the company grew, I was able to expand the app by hiring software developers.  One of the most popular and highly requested features was the ability to send data to Google Calendar.”

This commitment to addressing users' needs authentically contributed significantly to the app's success, ultimately transforming it into a product that positively impacted the lives of many individuals.

“Talking to customers and knowing that they went from zero knowledge to a better understanding of their body was probably my favorite success story of Hormonious Flo. People thought ‘you made my life easier’ and that’s exactly what we wanted the app to do.”

However, despite the growth and support, challenges emerged. The struggle to monetize the app and sustain user engagement posed significant hurdles. Despite efforts to incentivize and encourage users, maintaining consistent engagement proved elusive.

“Women’s health is mostly focused on fertility because it is hard to get people to change their habits.  At its core, Hormonious Flo was a ‘habit-changing’ app, targeting actions every hour of every day and optimizing them to support the body.  But habit change is HARD.  Having a healthy period was not a big enough incentive for people to stick to it. The struggle was building an app that convinced or incentivized people to come back everyday to support their body and make those small actions of change. It also made it difficult to monetize the app. For that reason I am now taking a break from the app and its mission.”

Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead: Leadership in Innovation

As a founder, Alexis has gleaned invaluable lessons in leadership. She emphasizes the importance of data-driven decision-making and continuous adaptation. Tracking user behavior from the outset enabled the team to refine their approach and better serve their audience.

“Coming from a data analyst, you really have to listen to data because you want to truly understand your customers. Data is only possible by incorporating tracking at the very beginning. It is critical that you don’t build it in later, incorporate it into the very first lines of code you write. You need to actually see their behavior to get a better indication of their progress, not their words.  People will tell you anything, but in order to truly give them options that can help them you need to see their behavior and see what changes. For Hormonious Flo, we broke down our course content into 2-3 minute lessons and tracked if people were actually spending time on the screen reading it. You have to find out ‘What makes a daily active member?”

HORMONIOUS FLO TRACKING MEASURES

• How long users would scroll (scroll depth)

• How users defined their daily activities

• Time spent on lesson pages 

• Whether or not users scrolled to the end 

• Whether or not users clicked through the end without spending time reading the content

Alexis further emphasized the importance of cautious data tracking practices, particularly in the context of dismantling societal taboos surrounding women’s health. Despite the integration of data tracking within the software, Hormonious Flo remained steadfast in its commitment to destigmatizing conversations around menstrual health and safeguarding the privacy and well-being of its users.

“When Roe v. Wade was overturned in America, our users were worried about the use and security of their menstrual cycle data. Hormonious Flo worked to protect its customers by coding a shell that limited data access to the customer alone. Essentially, only the customer could access their menstrual cycle data.  By removing this access, it prevented the company from even having anything to give a court if they requested menstural cycle data. In this way we ensured that this company was always for women and kept their best interests in mind.”

Though Hormonious Flo is currently on hiatus, Alexis remains committed to her mission. Reflecting on her journey, she advocates for collaboration and emphasizes the necessity of shared responsibility in advancing women's empowerment.

Empowering Change: A Call to Action

Alexis’ journey hasn’t always been easy, and she shared some advice to aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to similarly undertake an empowerment venture.

“Startups are painful, they’re not fun.  It is not glamorous.  It is painful every day, you need to make a lot of sacrifices. Sometimes you need someone to remind you about why you started.  You need energy to keep your passion strong, and it is critical that you find people to support you along the way, so they can carry you on the days you are low.”

In concluding the interview, Alexis shares her vision for the future of femtech. She envisions a world where menstrual health is destigmatized, and systems are designed to accommodate women's natural rhythms. By supporting initiatives like Hormonious Flo and advocating for gender-inclusive policies, individuals can contribute to a more equitable and empowered future for all.

“Thinking about the world and the systems we currently live in, in terms of diet and exercise plans– we have a 9 to 5 way of working that necessitates being the same every single day. But when you have a menstrual cycle, you are not the same every single day. Currently we don’t have systems that support the menstrual cycle, and this results in consequences. Femtech can help change the fundamental systems that we have– our educational systems and work systems. Women are sensitive and our policies and institutions need to understand and reflect that.”

As we bid farewell to Alexis Abayomi and Hormonious Flo, let us heed her call to action. Let us strive for progress, embrace intersectionality, and empower women and girls to reclaim ownership of their health and well-being. Thank you for joining us on this journey of inspiration and empowerment. Let us continue to champion positive change in our world.

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* Stay tuned for more inspiring conversations with trailblazers like Alexis Abayomi, driving positive change in our world. Until next time, remember to keep striving for progress and empowering those around you.*

Disclaimer: Interview text has been adapted for readability purposes.