What is unusual about your company and the problem identified?
At SPOKE we have worked out how to engage a young and diverse audience in mental well-being in a way that no other wellness product has been able to do. We work in youth culture with the world’s best artists and as a brand, we are not yogi or clinical, we are instead 100% driven by young creatives.
What is the solution and business model?
SPOKE is the UK’s no.1 music-led mental wellness app. We are 100% driven by the UK’s best artists, who have been trained by our scientific team and process The app is deeply personalised, we help you with everything from sleep to heartbreak, confidence and focus. For any time of day, every mood and every intention. We hit the spot every time and you’ll resurface after a session feeling more connected, creative and with perspective. It is a £4.99 p/m and £34.99 p/a subscription.
How did you explore market validation and your path to product market fit? We interviewed hundreds of our target audience and deeply researched all of the other options on the market. Time and time again we’d find that our audience of creative, diverse young people would churn off of other mental wellness options; they’d find many of them patronising or not engaging enough. As we built the app, we iterated fast and often, and we still do.
What milestones and traction have been achieved thus far?
We are the UK’s leading app in our category, have over 300+ 5* reviews, have some of the biggest artists in the world approaching us to work with us and are growing our active users by 20% month on month, sometimes more. We are at the beginning of our journey, so we are excited for the future.
How do you see your competitive landscape and what are the biggest challenges likely to be?
The mental wellness and mindfulness app landscape is horribly saturated, but what we find is most – if not all- tend to look, sound and feel quite similar. The ability to authentically connect with a very different, ‘non wellness-y’ audience is hard but it is a code we have cracked and are continuing to lean into.
Tell us about your journey and what you consider the biggest myth in entrepreneurship?
I should have known much earlier that I was meant to become an entrepreneur as I never felt satisfied nor could I adhere well to a narrow ‘job role’. But regardless, I enjoyed 7-8 years of working in marketing, branding and events before setting up my first company, a live music wellness events business. Whilst running that company I noticed how wellness really only serves some demographics, then after witnessing loved ones lose people close to them through suicide (all young male) I became interested in the silent epidemic of emotional health (especially male) and its implications for everyone. SPOKE began from the need to build a mental wellness solution that destigmatises mental health tools and makes a well-being habit easy and fun.
Is there advice you are glad you ignored?
I always appreciate someone knowledagable’s thoughts on the market or trends they have seen, but I’ll never take advice literally. My own experience, intuition and understanding of what I am doing has always served me best.
