WoW Woman in Wearable Tech I Stacy Salvi, Vice President of Strategy at Movano
With over 15 years of experience leading strategy for partnerships, product development, and company growth, Stacy Salvi recently joined Movano, as the Vice President of Strategy. Stacy is responsible for leading the commercial product and go-to-market strategies.
Prior to her current role, Stacy was the Head of Strategic Partnerships for Fitbit. In her eight years with Fitbit, Stacy helped launch nearly 20 products to more than 116 million users, both as an attorney and from within the product team. She developed deep relationships with key technology partners to bring new features to Fitbit devices and guided strategy for partnerships, including playing a pivotal role in Google’s acquisition of Fitbit.
Stacy is passionate about bringing meaningful innovation to wearables in healthcare. She believes that we are at an achievable intersection of consumer technology and medical devices and that really, this is just the beginning. Stacy resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and loves spending time with her family, and in the great outdoors, camping, horseback riding, or skiing, in her free time.
Movano is a purpose-driven healthcare solutions company at the intersection of medtech and consumer devices. They are on a mission to empower and inspire you to live a healthier, happier life by combining vital health data with personalized intelligent feedback in stylish form factors to fit your unique lifestyle and provide you with the data that matters most to you.
Movano recognizes that women are traditionally an afterthought when it comes to wearable technology, and they are changing the course by creating a platform that caters specifically to issues that women encounter and providing valuable, insightful feedback that can be easily acted upon. Movano’s devices are designed with women in mind, in both look and functionality.
Stacy, tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.
I have over 15 years of experience leading strategy for partnerships, product development and company growth. Prior to my current role, I was the Head of Strategic Partnerships for Fitbit at Google. In my eight years with Fitbit, I helped launch nearly 20 products to more than 116 million users, both as an attorney and from within the product team. I developed deep relationships with key technology partners to bring new features to Fitbit devices and guided strategy for partnerships, including playing a pivotal role in Google’s acquisition of Fitbit.
At Movano, I am focused on developing both the product and business strategy in the near and long term. This includes co-creating the initial product experience from the users’ perspective along with the GTM strategy.
How did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges?
From the first moment I wore the Fitbit Flex, I knew this was an industry I wanted to be a part of professionally. The wearable not only enabled me to keep track of my fitness but also maintain a friendly competition with my husband over who was getting less sleep after our first son was born. Leveraging my experience as an attorney, I started on Fitbit’s legal team as the fourth lawyer and, a few years later, moved into a role in strategic partnerships, where my passion for innovation grew. My transition to Movano enabled complete immersion into novel sensor technology and was a step towards purpose-driven innovation in healthcare. Hardware development is full of challenges, which is my favorite part of the job.
How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle?
The wearable industry hasn’t been around for that long, but I was there when devices were truly just a connected pedometer and extrapolating on sleep duration using movement as a proxy.
What are the challenges of being in the industry you are in?
The wearable technology space has come a long way in the past 10 years, but really this is just the beginning. Any novel technology is going to have its challenges and, as wearables pivot beyond fitness and into healthcare, sensors will need to continue to evolve to ensure they can read the most useful analytes and do so accurately for everyone. Additionally, as this technology makes its way into everyone’s hands (or on their bodies, as the case may be), it needs to be both accessible in cost and the experience must resonate for the user over the long run. I see the latter as the biggest challenge for the industry as users have varying needs and expectations and thus should not be treated as a monolith.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
During my time at Fitbit, I helped launch nearly 20 products to more than 116 million users and I played a pivotal role in Google’s acquisition of Fitbit.
What are the projects you are currently working on?
At a start-up, there is no shortage of projects to tackle. I am currently focused on the broader business strategy, including Movano’s positioning within the wearable and medtech market and co-creating its go-to-market strategy with Movano’s CMO. I also work closely with the teams on the user experience for the first Movano ring and mobile app, how it will best serve the audience, and identifying where there are opportunities to differentiate.
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
The #WomenInTech movement is very important to me as, historically, women have been a minority in the industry. Products and services will only be improved when the people building them are able to identify and empathize with the end-user, which is why I feel passionate about elevating women’s roles in both tech and health, making Movano a perfect fit for me.
Movano’s mission is to improve health outcomes for individuals by empowering them with an easy and fun-to-use service enabled by wearable technology packaged in stylish form factors. Movano is starting this mission by creating the first-ever wearable that is made for women specifically. By delivering accessible, actionable information, Movano aims to help the user make small changes that, over time, will allow her to see long-term and incremental health benefits.
What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?
Providing medical-grade data on useful anolytes
Actionable insights to improve metabolic health
Miniaturizing the design of sensors to improve the wearability of various form factors
What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in this industry?
This is still a relatively new space and diverse backgrounds are important to create quality products. Don’t hold back – take the leap.
Who are three inspirational women in your respective industry you admire?
Amy McDonough built and continues to lead Fitbit Health Solutions now that Fitbit is a part of Google. She is not only a pioneer in this industry, but she manages her team with enormous kindness and heart.
Stacey Burr has led technology teams at Google, Adidas, and beyond. She is a visionary who can walk the line between leadership and product management in a way that few others can.
Erika Seth Davies, CEO of Rhia Ventures, is paving the way to health equity for women through her investments in femtech businesses.
Stacy is one of the speakers at the WEAR Conference 2022, hosted by Smithers. The annual WEAR Conference examines the significant breakthroughs and new opportunities made possible through the integration of textiles and technology through wearables. This event regularly brings together key players from across the smart fabrics, e-textiles, and wearable tech marketplace to hear the latest updates on market dynamics & industry innovations, wearable and smart fabric standardization, intellectual property and data collection, textile technology, and wearable healthcare and wellness, and more.
Find out more via the official website here.
Join their LinkedIn group - WEAR | Smart Fabrics & Wearable Technology - here.
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 and read her stories for Forbes here.