You might think of psychology and tech as being worlds apart from each other.

But Annie Miller, a former therapist turned tech founder believes the exact opposite is true. As she began building her company, w/you, she found others who believe it, too.

Michael Fulwiler is someone Annie admires in this space. He’s a digital marketing expert for mental health startups, and has built a career on understanding the people behind the screen.

Annie and Michael join us for this episode, where we dive into the parallels between therapy and tech, the importance of ethics in business, and how ignoring “experts” lead to products that solve hard problems.

Takeaways:

• Psychology is fundamental to building great products.
• Align incentives with outcomes.
• Ignoring “experts” can reveal important opportunities.

Things to Listen For:

• [01:50] The mission behind the company 
• [02:40] Discovering an underserved market
• [05:00] Introducing Michael Fulwiler
• [07:30] Therapy-inspired tech consulting
• [08:30] Parallels between therapy and leading a company
• [10:30] Sales is about helping people solve problems
• [11:40] Ethical responsibility as product leaders and marketers
• [13:00] Using psychology to reframe
• [15:45] Understanding humans is key to building a great product
• [17:00] Aligning incentives with outcomes
• [18:30] Ignoring the advice of “experts” led to bigger purpose
• [21:00] Open-ended questions help gather helpful data
• [21:45] Live by the motto “do no harm”
• [23:00] Including healthcare professionals in mental health products
• [24:00] Therapists and psychologists are needed in tech