WoW Woman in FemTech | Katrin Reuter, CEO of trackle
Interview by MarijaButkovic
Katrin Reuter, the mother of two children, used the symptothermal method for pregnancy planning and contraception herself for many years. However, the daily temperature check was inconvenient and not compatible with her everyday life. That’s why Katrin and her husband invented trackle.
With the help of experts, they developed a prototype matching their high requirements regarding handling and methodical security. Presenting their invention on German TV at “Die Höhle der Löwen”, they became popular very quickly and the certification of trackle as a medical device (class 2a) by TÜV Rheinland was achieved very soon.
By now, cooperating SME takes care of a reliable and top-quality production of trackle kits. Similarly, established investors grant for trackle`s firm establishment on the German market. The company is based in Bonn, Germany, and is proud of having established a small, dynamic team since its foundation. The product is mainly sold online via different sales channels. trackle was developed to make the symptothermal method easy and accessible for every woman. trackle measures body core temperature and not only surface temperature.
Thanks to trackle, the symptothermal method is digitized and integrable in women’s everyday life - safe and reliable. Natural family planning can be implemented in a self-determined way.
Katrin, what is the idea behind trackle and how did you come up with it?
trackle is a digital sensor system that is used for both fertility planning and natural family planning (NFP). With our sensor - based on the rules of the symptothermal method (STM) - the fertile or infertile time window in a woman's cycle is determined - and regardless of whether it is a very regular cycle or whether a woman suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome.
The idea behind trackle arose out of pure self-interest. For many years I successfully used the Symptothermal method, planned my two pregnancies, and then used natural family planning again as a natural contraception method. It was important for me to be able to do all of this without taking hormones.
The morning measurement with the digital clinical thermometer was too cumbersome and error-prone for me. Imagine we are flying to the moon, we are now using apps in an inflationary way, Google knows everything, but to monitor the cycle you use a conventional thermometer, you have to measure without having to get up first, and enter the temperature daily in a cycle sheet or in an app, and then to calculate and evaluate correctly ... no way!
It was incomprehensible to me that in the age of digitization there was no efficient process and no smart device that simplified the handling of temperature measurement.
With trackle we are revolutionizing the market:
We use a method that has been tried and tested since the 1980s and has been scientifically researched and proven by various medical/clinical studies. The great advantage when using this method is that it is completely researched and demonstrably particularly precise.
We have a smart device that is subject to the highest data protection standards and that shows the measurement of body temperature for every woman simply, digitally, and securely.
our USP: our sensor records the core body temperature continuously, ie. every minute while sleeping, and can thus determine the lowest basal temperature. The morning measurement with the clinical thermometer, on the other hand, is a one-time, punctual measurement that can be influenced by restless sleep, a small infection, or a glass of wine the evening before.
With the determination of the quality of the cervical mucus, the temperature measurement is supplemented by another body sign that is important for the evaluation.
My goal was and is to make Natural Family Planning easy, affordable, and reliable for every woman - and with a device that is state of the art.
When did all start and do you have other members in your team?
It all started in 2015 when the idea came up. I founded trackle together with my husband and we are both involved full-time and with body and soul. The company has grown well since its foundation so that we now have six other permanent employees besides me. In addition, there are consultants, freelancers, and students who are at our side with advice and action if necessary.
How long did it take you to be where you are now?
The basic challenges of founding a company are not particularly low in Germany. However, if you then decide to bring an innovative product on the market that is to receive a TÜV certificate and the Europe-wide CE mark and thus be recognized as a medical product, then things get really complicated. For all medical devices, regardless of which class they are classified, the Medical Devices Act in Germany applies, and from 2021 the Medical Device Directive (MDD) needs to be implemented across Europe.
So it all started small with the idea that was born in 2015 ... at first, it was really just an idea that we gradually tinkered with more and more. When the decision was made to start a serious business out of it, the first step was to found the company in the form of a GmbH. In further steps, the product development was about making the product go-to-market-ready so that on the one hand it meets all the requirements imposed by the legislator and the current regulatory provisions. On the other hand, it was of course important to us to reconcile these requirements with the wishes and needs of our future customers.
As a classic tech start-up, we spent a lot of time looking for suitable investors, writing business plans, organizing financing, and pitching what we got, especially at the beginning.
In 2018 everything was ready for the market entry in Germany, and we were able to start delivering the first trackles - for which there were already some pre-orders after our appearance in the founders' show “Die Höhle der Löwen” - to our customers.
As in the last few years, 2020 is pretty exciting for us, because this year trackle's expansion into other European countries is on our agenda.
And as if it wasn't exciting enough, the corona crisis suddenly came. Not an easy time for a startup that relies on venture capitalists - luckily our sales are exclusively online and at least we had no sales restrictions. But of course, we also noticed in production how tightly the economic flows are globally wired and how severe the effects of a truly global crisis are.
What was the biggest obstacle?
There have actually been some hurdles in our young company history. The biggest ones were - and still are - mainly convincing older, male investors to invest in a young start-up that deals with women and women’s health products. Men are enthusiastic about technology and drones, but quickly listen ashamed when it comes to menstrual periods, menstrual disorders, and natural family planning.
On the other hand, it was of course an absolute challenge to design the product in such a way that it complies with all the specifications and guidelines of the notified body and meets the regulatory and legal requirements. If like us, you do not come from medicine or medicine production, it can quickly become twice as difficult.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
One of the greatest achievements so far is certainly the certification of our sensor system as a class 2a medical product and the acquisition of investors that are so important to us.
But the fact that our product has recently been made available in around 20,000 stationary pharmacies throughout Germany is also a significant sales step forward for us.
Moreover, we have made some important adjustments on the product, making life easier for our customers: the usability of the app has improved significantly in recent years and, of course, work on the backend never stops.
What are the challenges of being an entrepreneur in the niche you are in?
To attract (male) investors and get into a conversation with them about women's products so far that they don't shamefully try to change the subject, but get interested in the product, understand the market situation, and above all the potential behind it.
But even in the health sector itself, it is difficult to make such an innovative product as ours known. For instance at gynecologists or in the health insurance system. Unfortunately, a lot of things still run according to the motto “we've always done it this way” - there is no room for innovation. Why do thousands of women still take the pill, why do gynecologists fail to provide adequate information about the wide range of side effects and bring up alternative, hormone-free contraceptive methods?
Why are methods of artificial insemination, which not only have a physical but also a not inconsiderable psychological influence on women, financed with several thousand euros by the majority of health insurance in Germany but simple methods of determining fertility are not? Here we feel like David against Goliath ... ;-)
And last but not least - hardware is hard - we have also experienced that the production of a device for the customer market is more complex and risky than a pure software solution - but at the same time, it has particularly high potential and is really a lot of fun.
How about being a female founder/entrepreneur?
As a woman in the FemTech sector, it is an incredible advantage that I am my own target group. I know how to address my customers, I can respond much better to the needs of my customers in product development, programming, and sales. Together with our team, we were able to build a really great community supported by female solidarity, which has given us many important impulses in product development and marketing.
I founded the company together with my husband and we went through all the ups and downs of independence and the compatibility of family and work. That helped me a lot to create an environment for my teammates in which they too can reconcile these two important elements - because otherwise good, constructive work would not be possible.
Unfortunately, my experience has also shown that there are significantly more hurdles to overcome for female founders, especially with a special product like ours - for instance when it comes to financing and the search for investors. Today women still have to invest more in order to get the same recognition as men and to be able to correctly represent our market value.
What are the projects you are currently working on?
On the one hand, we are working on the further development of our product in terms of both hardware and software.
At the same time, the internationalization of our company is still on the plan for this year, so we have big plans. There are more than enough projects and ideas, only the time is missing to implement everything as quickly as we would sometimes like.
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
Although half of the world's population are women, women are unfortunately still underrepresented in business and management positions, as well as women's products in the 21st century.
Movements like #WomenInTech are a very important element. They convey a sense of community, bundle strengths, ideas, and experiences, and offer a platform for exchanging experiences and networking. We women have to join forces, even more, bundle our resources and energies in order to change something and create milestones for ourselves as well as for the generations to come.
What is the most important piece of advice you can give to all female founders and female entrepreneurs out there?
There is no advice I would give specifically to female founders because they are not fundamentally different from male founders (even if the outside perception is sometimes different). I would advise all founders to get good and comprehensive information, not to let themselves be fooled, not to be afraid - and then to stick it out.
What will be the key trends in the health tech and fem tech industry in the next 5 years and where do you see it heading?
Working with sensitive, personal data on health and well-being is becoming more and more important because technology allows very precise data to be recorded even outside the hospital, which is of great value for science and research. We will see great successes in medical development - and at the same time, we have to take data protection into account much more naturally from the outset. As early as the product development stage, it must be completely clear that health data is a particularly sensitive category that only the owner of the data is allowed to access. Otherwise incalculable and destructive side effects will occur.
Who are your 3 inspirational women in health tech and fem tech?
Ida Tin from Clue, she coined the term “FemTech” and is a real pioneer in the field.
Tania Boler from Elvie, who has tackled an even more taboo female topic with the new milk pump than we from trackle.
And finally Dr. Bettina Wolfgarten, a passionate radiologist from my hometown Bonn, who combines courage and expertise to offer women on site the best diagnostic and therapeutic options for a really threatening disease: breast cancer.
Website: www.trackle.de
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This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic.