BetterMynd was a step ahead of the industry in 2017 when it introduced an online counseling service for college students.
Four years later and the product-market fit is snapping into place, unlocking fast traction for the Buffalo-based startup and big plans for the year ahead.
Founded and led by Cody Semrau, BetterMynd sells licenses for its service to colleges. The higher ed industry has awakened to the idea of mental health services as a recruiting and retention tool, Semrau said. Meanwhile, the pandemic has led to the en masse adoption of telemedicine.
“Prior to Covid, nobody was doing online therapy,” Semrau said. “Now everyone has been forced to do it, and the demand for our service is higher than ever.”
BetterMynd now has five employees (all but one in Buffalo), about 40 college clients and is approaching $1 million in annual revenue. By next fall, Semrau expects the company to be approaching 100 customers and $2.5 million in annual revenue.
That’s the kind of traction that impressed 43North judges through this summer and fall, when BetterMynd was one of eight prize winners out of hundreds of initial applicants. The startup was awarded a $500,000 prize in the competition, giving the company cash runway for the growth ahead and a more prominent place in Buffalo’s startup scene. Previous investors include Launch NY and Z80 Labs.
Semrau now plans to triple BetterMynd’s workforce, looking specifically for sales, technical and operations leaders to equip the company for the growth that’s on the way. He’s working closely with Eric Reich, the founder of Campus Labs and a 43North board member, who is providing guidance on scaling a startup in the higher education industry.
“He’s been a huge advocate as we think about the next steps in growing our team and growing the company,” Semrau said.
Semrau graduated from Colgate University in 2014 and spent three years in the corporate world in Washington, D.C., as a business analyst before choosing a profession that he was passionate about. BetterMynd is based on Semrau’s experiences with anxiety and depression as an undergraduate student.
This is a turbulent moment at the intersection of mental health and higher education, he said. Many community colleges don’t have therapists at all – in those cases, BetterMynd can step in as a turnkey solution. Other colleges struggle to recruit gender, ethnic and sexual diversity into their counselor ranks – BetterMynd’s network of counselors are not only diverse but also offer specific areas of expertise such as eating disorders. They can also be available in the evening and on weekends, well beyond the hours kept by on-campus counseling centers.
By next year, Semrau plans to start expanding services it offers to customers, giving it a chance to expand existing relationships as it courts new ones.
“Schools are starting to realize that this is a true retention tool for students that keeps them on campus,” he said. “It is becoming a priority, and they are starting to invest money into it."
