I was sad to hear last week that #Arivale (who offered genetic/microbiome testing coupled with online coaching) shut down. I've met a few people from the team and had the chance to learn about their vision (which I 100% share). Here are a few lessons from my experience:
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I- Consumers, whom I speak with every day, have little interest in hyper-personalized, DNA or microbiome-based diet or exercise plans. The just have a simple problem: They want to be healthy, feel and look better; it really doesn't matter how.
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So consumers would only be able to subsidize the "bubble" around personalized wellness (which is costly, because the tests are) if the insights help them solve the problem significantly better. However, it's not clear that genetic testing for instance offers that (for now!)
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II- Yes, healthcare is broken and not focused on prevention, but throwing in tens of millions of dollars to join the race to fix it doesn't guarantee that it'll be fixed. Moreover, too many companies have a lot to lose if nobody is sick..
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III- Consumers don't necessarily make rational decisions; investing in your future health (prevention) is only appealing if the process itself is very fun.
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