How Mindstrong’s Emergency ‘Smoke Alarm’ for Mental Illness Brought Its End

S.AN FRANCISCO — Mental health startup Mindstrong had the makings of a pioneer in the field. A leading leader in companies such as Google and Uber with expertise in neuroscience, medicine and computer science. About $160 million from the same Silicon Valley powerhouse investors that funded industry-changing companies like Warby Parker and Airbnb. And a compelling pitch for avoiding mental health crises with technology.

But now, the company that touted a revolutionary digital “smoke detector” has collapsed after scaling back its service to a simple, mostly text-based treatment. Mindstrong announced this month that it would lay off most of its employees, close its Menlo Park office, and will reportedly stop treating patients in March. Rumors swirl among former employees that the remaining bare bones team is looking to sell the underlying technology for parts.

Mindstrong co-founder and star-studded company executive stalwart Tom Insel said he left the company in 2019 and has not been associated with Mindstrong since.2017 When he joined the company in 1999, his goal was to do for mental illness what blood glucose testing did for diabetes. – “But the execution was not.”

STAT research found that Mindstrong had assembled a talented management team with a very high mission, but the slow, measured pace of designing and pressure-testing new tools and the slow, measured pace of designing and pressure-testing new tools meant that the startup world and the It has been shown to have struggled with tensions with the ferocious demands of investors. that. The company’s engineers and clinicians clashed with investors and, at times, each other over whether the technology was really ready for prime time, they said.

STAT includes founders, data scientists, product designers, clinicians, outside mental health care professionals, and others closely associated with Mindstrong’s touted partnership with the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department10 I interviewed a former Mindstrong employee. The company declined multiple requests for comment.