Since raising a $3 million Series A in April 2019, SonderMind has been busy. The Denver-based startup has jumped from around 20 employees to more than 70, expanded into new markets and added a huge infusion of capital to fuel its growth.
SonderMind announced a $27 million Series B funding round in June, as it continues to build out its behavioral health platform and change the way we view mental health care.
Co-founder and CEO Mark Frank talked shop with Colorado Inno about SonderMind, winner of Inno on Fire's Health Care category.
This Q&A was edited for style, clarity and brevity.
As Covid-19 hit, the need for virtual mental health services grew immensely. How was SonderMind able to quickly pivot to offer those services? The decision to launch SonderMind Video Telehealth, in the midst of a pandemic, while our own staff and office were in crisis, was driven by the need to ensure that our providers could continue delivering outstanding care to clients, even if in-person visits were interrupted. Building that productis a credit to the focus and resolve of the SonderMind team.
What’s the No. 1 lesson you’ve learned during the current pandemic? How to adapt even more quickly to an evolving set of conditions. One mantra that SonderMind leadership has always stressed is that change is our constant. As redesigners of behavioral and mental health, that’s our competitive advantage. We’re not comfortable with the status quo. We’re all about flexibility, speed, and the courage to do things differently. This has been critical as we’ve changed offices, doubled in size, and brought important new products to market — all while taking an absolutely aggressive stand as a business to work remotely and reduce exposure in our communities.
What's the top advice you have for startups or growth companies trying to find their footing today? Startups looking to find stable ground today must start internally.The most important thing is ensuring that you have amazing people who are focused on achieving the organization’s goals together. Then find ways to simultaneously encourage and reward those teams while holding them to the highest possible standards.
Tell us about a bright spot during the pandemic. Despite a global pandemic and its ripple effects: abandoning our new office two weeks after moving in, shifting to remote work and technology while hiring 50+ employees, and carrying on our valued culture through a screen, SonderMind won Denver Business Journal’s “Best Large Business To Work For” in 2020. This win was especially bright because SonderMind also won Denver Business Journal’s “Small Business Awards” in 2019.
What does the future hold for SonderMind? We are pushing hard to become the leader in outcomes-based therapy. Our goal is not just to get people into therapy, it’s to get them to the right therapist and get them feeling healthy; all for the lowest cost to them or the overall health care system.
SonderMind
Location: Denver
Top exec: Mark Frank, co-founder and CEO
Category: Health Care
