Latest news with #Noom
Technical.ly
4 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
How to hone your startup pitch for every audience — and avoid ‘show-up-and-throw-up'
The most important pitch you give might not be to a VC — it could be a future hire, customer or fellow founder. At the 'Honing Your Pitch: For Sales, Investors & Employees' panel at the 2025 Builders Conference, three seasoned leaders shared what makes a pitch resonate and what many founders still miss. Moderated by Barry Wright, an executive at healthtech company Noom, the panel featured Ben Bartolome, vice president of commercial banking for startups at J.P. Morgan; Naza Shelley, founder and CEO of matchmaking startup CarpeDM; and David Cummings, founder and CEO of Atlanta Ventures. 'You'll pitch about 10,000 times in the life of your startup,' Wright said. 'Every conversation is a pitch.' One takeaway from panelists is to be deeply prepared, but share just enough to spark interest without overwhelming your audience. Shelley, whose startup has raised more than $2 million, said preparation is crucial, especially for underrepresented founders. 'Asking for money is hard and harder for minorities, and triply so for Black women,' Shelly said. 'If I don't know an answer cold, I'm written off as incompetent. I learned I must be super prepared, know every detail, anticipate every question.' Cummings, a co-founder of marketing automation company Pardot and early Calendly backer, offered a hard-won lesson from his early years as a founder. 'I suffered early from the 'show-up-and-throw-up,'' Cummings said. 'I wanted them to know every detail and got lost in word salad. Now, I simplify. Give just enough, with a hook, so they say, 'Tell me more.' If I overwhelm them, I fail.' Even when a pitch doesn't go as planned, there's often lessons to take away. Bartolome, a former fintech founder, recalled a fumbled B2B negotiation that cost him a six-figure deal and valuable traction. 'They wanted 5% equity for early partnership,' he said. 'I refused. We haggled over single-digit points and lost a six-figure [annual recurring revenue] deal plus strategic momentum. In hindsight, that 5% was nothing compared with the benefit.' How to handle the talkative investor What do you do when a potential funder won't let you speak? 'Be excited,' Shelley advised. 'They're engaged. Flow with their questions, weave your points into answers. Your goal is their decision, not your slide order.' The real objective of a first investor meeting is simply to get a second one, Cummings added. However, founders should also be mindful of their most limited resource: time. Chasing too many investors can be a distraction. If a startup can grow through customer revenue, more VC calls don't always mean more value, according to Bartolome. 'Some founders schedule 200 VC calls,' Bartolome said. 'If customer revenue can fund you, focus there. A few high-probability VC calls beat 200 low-probability ones.' To avoid dragging out fruitless conversations, Bartolome recommended clarity. '[Ask] timeline questions,' he said. ''When do you issue term sheets? 'When should I follow up?' If they can't answer, treat it as a soft no.' Sometimes, though, getting a fast 'no' from a potential investor can be a blessing in disguise, according to Shelly. 'I push to 'no' quickly,' Shelly said. 'After one to two meetings, I ask check size, timeline, [if they] lean yes or no. If no, I drop them to annual updates.' Tailor your pitch to the audience — while staying authentic Founders tend to perfect their pitch for investors, but often forget how crucial it is when talking to potential employees. This, too, is a kind of sale. 'I ask about capacity and willingness for early-stage hours,' Shelly said. 'Be explicit so misfits self-select out.' Regardless of who a founder is pitching to, authenticity matters. Panelists emphasized that a founder's story isn't just about the company – it's about why they are the right person to solve a problem. 'My founder-market fit is personal. I'm building for women like me,' Shelley said. 'That authenticity carries across investors, employees, customers.' By the end of the panel, Wright offered a final takeaway of lessons for the audience. 'Simplify your pitch, tell authentic stories, push for clear timelines,' Wright said, 'and be intentional in every conversation.'
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Noom Launches Free Menopause Education Hub in Partnership with Menopause Advocate Tamsen Fadal
Leveraging Noom's evidence-based behavior change program, the Menopause Education Hub provides vital guidance for women experiencing the hormonal transitions of menopause. Tamsen Fadal joins Noom as the brand's first-ever Official Menopause Awareness Advocate. NEW YORK, May 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Noom, the leading digital healthcare company committed to chronic disease prevention and empowering people to live better longer, today announced its new Menopause Education Hub aimed at helping women navigate this life transition with tools and support developed in partnership with NYT bestselling author, podcaster and filmmaker Tamsen Fadal. The platform launches during National Women's Health Month, which each year encourages women of all ages to prioritize their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. As menopause approaches, fluctuating hormone levels can negatively affect how the body metabolizes sugar and fat, and also cause more intense hunger signals—often leading to symptoms like mood changes, hot flashes, sleep disturbances, and weight gain. In addition, women lose 3-8% of their muscle mass during menopause—even if diet and exercise habits stay the same. The personalized content of Noom's Menopause Education Hub is designed to guide women throughout every step of this important life transition with support from compassionate coaches, clinicians and the community, covering topics including: Common menopause symptoms Menopause weight gain & nutrition How to advocate for yourself & find the right doctor Emotional & mental health Relationships during menopause Self-care tips & healthy aging support 'The Menopause Education Hub will include stories from my own personal journey with menopause, tips on how to manage symptoms, advice on how to choose a doctor, talk to family and friends, plus so much more,' Fadal explains. 'I've found magic in menopause, and I hope through these resources that Noom members will too.' A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available in this link. After more than three decades as a news anchor, Fadal pivoted her career toward women's advocacy when a sudden hot flash while anchoring the evening news changed the course of her life. Known as social media's 'midlife mentor,' her groundbreaking documentary, The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause (PBS), and book, How To Menopause, Take Charge of Your Health, Reclaim your Life and Feel Even Better Than Before (Hachette 2025), aim to help women in menopause who are looking for answers. 'For years, Tamsen's advocacy has driven forward policies that eliminate the stigma of menopause and help women feel empowered,' said Dr. Karen Mann, Medical Director of Noom. 'Anchored by her stories, our Menopause Hub will provide a new platform of resources for women who often feel isolated and frustrated during this time of their lives, leveraging Tamsen's expertise and compassion to help them navigate this transition and ultimately feel like themselves again.' In the coming months, Noom and Fadal will continue to partner on the development of additional resources for the Menopause Education Hub, including quarterly virtual screenings of The (M) Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause, followed by live Q&A sessions with Fadal to foster open conversations and provide support for women navigating menopause. About Noom: Noom is the leading whole-person health platform, combining personalized medication with psychology, to motivate healthy habits and empower healthy aging. By gamifying behavior change, Noom makes it easy, fun, and rewarding to make health a habit, so as to add a vibrant decade to every life. Noom Health works with leading health plans and employers offering Noom Med, Noom Weight, Noom GLP-1 Companion, and Noom Diabetes Management and Diabetes Prevention Program to millions. The company has been awarded multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and was the first mobile application to be recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a certified diabetes prevention program. With offices in New York City and Princeton, NJ, Noom has been named one of Inc.'s Best Places to Work, Quartz's Best Workplaces for Remote Workers, and Fortune's Best Workplaces in Technology. For more information, please visit subscribe to our blog, or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Contact:Brandyn Bissingercomms@ A photo accompanying this announcement is available at in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Axios
21-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
How compounders plan to continue making GLP-1s
Drug compounders and telemedicine companies may be ready to defy a Food and Drug Administration ban on copycat GLP-1 weight-loss drugs that takes effect on Thursday, arguing the law still allows customized versions tailored to patients' needs. Why it matters: It would be the latest chapter in a battle with brand-name GLP-1 giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly as millions try to get their hands on versions of the blockbuster drugs. Driving the news: Noom, a digital health company that prescribes compound semaglutide, the active ingredient in some of Novo's GLP-1s, said it will continue to offer compounded versions of the drug beyond the May 22 enforcement deadline. "The compounding law is clear," said CEO Geoff Cook. "There must be an individual patient benefit to the personalization. And so Noom works with [compounding] pharmacies to provide personalized medication when it's clinically indicated." When prescribing a compounded GLP-1, Noom has been following a "low and slow" approach to titrating up dosages in patients in a way that is not available in commercial versions of GLP-1s. Noom said it also prescribes brand name versions of GLP-1 products in a partnership announced earlier this year with Lilly Direct, as well as prescribing non-GLP-1 alternatives. "I think we are looking to be on very firm ground on when it's clinically indicated," Cook said. Yes, but: Pharma companies will likely challenge that interpretation. "Compounders should have already transitioned patients to approved medicine, and anyone continuing to sell mass compounded tirzepatide, including by referring to it as 'personalized,' 'tailored' or something similar, is breaking the law and putting patients at risk," Eli Lilly said in a statement to Axios. Catch up quick: The FDA allowed compounders to make cheaper copies of the drugs while they were in shortage. When the agency declared Novo and Lilly's drugs were in sufficient supply earlier this year, compounders were put on notice that most versions of GLP-1s copies would not longer be allowed. The compounding labs filed a challenge to put tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Lilly's GLP-1s, back in shortage. Earlier this month, a judge ruled against them. The FDA also allows compounding for prescriptions specific to particular patients.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Novo Nordisk Stock Popped on Tuesday
Reuters reports that online weight loss company Noom will sell low-dose versions of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy. Compounding pharmacies like Noom have struggled to figure out how to sell GLP-1 weight loss drugs now that there's no longer a supply deficit. Noom reselling branded Wegovy from Novo Nordisk may be a solution that benefits both parties. 10 stocks we like better than Novo Nordisk › Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) stock jumped 3% through 10:55 a.m. Tuesday on some potentially positive news in the GLP-1 weight loss market. As Reuters reports today, an online weight loss company called Noom has begun selling smaller doses of compounded versions of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy GLP-1 drug. This development comes as the compounding pharmacy industry seeks a way to coexist with the big pharmaceutical companies that invented -- and patented -- GLP-1 drugs in the first place. A compounding pharmacy is one that creates compounds, formulations specialized for those who take them. The Reuters story is a bit ambiguous on the details, saying that Noom will sell "its version of compounded semaglutide" in a 0.125-milligram dose that's "personalized for patients" and only half the usual 0.25-mg dose for patients buying Wegovy from Novo Nordisk. Reuters also says that Noom "will continue selling branded Novo Nordisk drugs." It's not clear, but the gist of the story seems to be that Noom will be buying and repackaging Wegovy from Novo, rather than preparing and selling a generic semaglutide concoction of its own. Assuming this is indeed what's happening, Noom's approach might boost Novo Nordisk sales of Wegovy as Noom becomes a reseller of Novo's drug. This would appear to offer a way for Noom (and other compounders) to remain in business despite tightened FDA regulations on compounders, now that Wegovy production is sufficient to meet demand. It might also mollify Novo such that it doesn't pursue legal remedies against compounders who "evade federal compounding laws by selling knockoff semaglutide drugs with manipulated, unnecessary, and pretextual changes to doses and ingredients," as Novo puts it. And if this ends up reaccelerating sales growth for Novo, it could be good news for the stock. Before you buy stock in Novo Nordisk, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Novo Nordisk wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $642,582!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $829,879!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 975% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Novo Nordisk Stock Popped on Tuesday was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Weight-loss company Noom pivots to smaller doses of compounded Wegovy
By Amina Niasse NEW YORK (Reuters) -Online weight-loss company Noom has begun offering smaller doses of compounded versions of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy as the U.S. drugs regulator clamps down on mass production of copies of the in-demand medicine. Noom will offer its version of compounded semaglutide - the active ingredient in Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic - as part of a program personalized for patients, which it says will comply with changing U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations. Demand for the new generation of highly effective but pricey weight-loss drugs has catapulted sales at Noom and rival telehealth sites including Hims & Hers, WeightWatchers and Ro over the past two years. Taking small doses of the weight-loss drugs, sometimes referred to as micro-dosing, has become popular due to the high cost and side effects of the medicines. For hundreds of dollars less than the name brand drugs, patients could access doctors and pharmacy-made versions based on semaglutide or tirzepatide, the main ingredient in Eli Lilly's rival Zepbound and Mounjaro, due to a regulatory exception allowing them during drug shortages. However, the FDA declared the shortages over and its sunset deadline for compounded versions of Wegovy is May 22. Noom offers its compounded semaglutide at a starting price of $149 for the first month. A 2.5 milligram vial of Wegovy or Zepbound costs $349, according to Novo and Lilly websites. Analysts have said the telehealth companies must pivot to working with branded drugs in order to survive after WeightWatchers filed for bankruptcy. Jeffrey Egler, Noom's chief medical officer, said providers would determine if patients need a smaller dose because of concerns about gastrointestinal side effects, or to boost adherence or help keep lost weight off, for example. Noom CEO Geoff Cook said the move would not conflict with regulations. 'There is a personalized, and there has always been a personalized, exception,' Cook said. Novo Nordisk said it is illegal to make or sell semaglutide copies in the U.S. with only rare exceptions. "As the FDA has warned, compounders cannot evade federal compounding laws by selling knockoff semaglutide drugs with manipulated, unnecessary, and pretextual changes to doses and ingredients," a Novo Nordisk spokesperson said in a statement. DOSING Noom's documents show that a personalized approach could start with half the typical starter 0.25-milligram dose of Wegovy and gradually increase to about half the FDA-approved maximum dose of 2.4 mg over 20 weeks. Noom said the move is not meant to capitalize on the microdosing trend, saying patients could increase their dose to the target, just more slowly. Noom said it will continue selling branded Novo Nordisk drugs as well as Lilly's Zepbound. Clinical trials of Wegovy and Zepbound have shown the drugs can lead to reductions of 15% to 20% of a person's body weight. A recent study suggests that half the usual dose of semaglutide may be as effective a weight-loss tool as current dosing. While compounders can create copies for individuals of doses not available in branded drugs, ongoing FDA reviews of whether tirzepatide and semaglutide fall into a category of drugs too complex to qualify for any compounding could put an end to the practice, said Rosalie Hoyle, a research scientist at Avalere. 'As it stands today, compounders still can technically make a personalized dose of semaglutide and tirzepatide,' she said.
