Building the World's Most Inclusive Mental Health Platform | Ep18 The India Opportunity Show ft Anshul, Evolve

Recognised as one of the Top 4 Mental Health Apps and the Best App for Personal Growth, Evolve is onto changing how the world thinks about mental health

Hello everyone, welcome to The India Opportunity Podcast where you get a front-row seat to people building India’s future. We talk about unlocking the potential of the country with founders, investors, creators, and successful leaders from different fields to bring you real-life stories and behind-the-scenes of what it takes to be at the forefront of building the India Story.

The 18th episode of The India Opportunity Podcast is out now! You can watch it on YouTube or listen to it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Our guest today is Anshul, co-founder of Evolve, the world’s most inclusive mental health platform. They have over 1 million users globally. Evolve was awarded by Google as the Best App for Personal Growth and featured as one of the Top 4 mental health apps for world mental health day 2023. They take an inclusive approach to mental health in building for vulnerable segments and are currently the largest app globally in terms of users from the LGBTQ community. What makes this one special is that Anshul is an old friend from college - we both studied at University of Warwick and had an entrepreneurial bug even back then. After Warwick, Anshul went on to work at Shell in the UK but ultimately decided to move back to India to pursue his entrepreneurial dream. I’m really looking forward to doing a deep dive with Anshul today on the mental health space - we deep dive into various aspects such as what’s happening in the space currently, his experience of building for the LGBTQ community and how we can all become more inclusive as a society.

Takeaways

• Anshul developed an interest in entrepreneurship during his time at Warwick University and was involved with Warwick Entrepreneurs.

• After working at Shell, Anshul realized he wanted to break away from the corporate path and focus on mental health.

• He started facilitating workshops on mindfulness and self-awareness and eventually founded Evolve, a mental health platform.

• The awareness of mental health is growing, and there is a market for both mental wellness and mental illness.

• User adoption in the mental health space can be challenging, and willingness to spend on mental health varies across different markets.

• Self-awareness and building resilience from a young age are important for navigating life's challenges. Focusing on monetization early on is important for long-term sustainability in the consumer tech industry.

• The market for mental health, especially for the LGBT community, is significant and has a higher propensity to pay for solutions.

• Building a business for consumers and listening to their needs is more important than matching investor theses.

• Facing backlash and hate mail is a sign that you are making a meaningful impact.

• AI adoption can enhance personalization and improve user experience in mental health apps. Evolve is using AI to streamline internal processes and improve user outcomes.

• They are rebuilding their app for iOS to take advantage of new features.

• Improving user adoption and retention for mental health apps is a challenge.

• Anshul's personal ambition is to make an impact and leave the world in a better place.

• A neighbor who was a football player and coach had a formative impact on Anshul.

• An act of kindness from a woman in a village made a lasting impression on Anshul.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

06:25 Developing an Interest in Entrepreneurship

16:18 The Growing Awareness of Mental Health

23:37 Challenges of User Adoption in the Mental Health Space

28:46 Building Self-Awareness and Resilience from a Young Age

31:48 Building for Different Markets: India vs. the West

36:32 Monetization and the Consumer Tech Industry

43:37 Investor Perspectives and the Importance of Deep Tech

51:46 Experimenting with Distribution Channels

54:39 Building for the LGBT Community

59:08 The Market for Mental Health and Propensity to Pay

01:04:25 Facing Backlash and Hate Mail

01:06:41 The Role of AI in Enhancing Mental Health Apps

01:09:46 Using AI to Improve Outcomes Between Therapists and Clients

01:12:31 Challenges of User Adoption and Retention for Mental Health Apps

01:14:33 Exploring B2B Partnerships and ROI

01:31:43 Chai and Kindness in a Village

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Follow Anshul here: LinkedIn

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