TRFE 128: The Struggles of a Female Tech Startup Founder with Alexa Jones

EPISODE SNEAK PEEK: ”I absolutely 1000% believe in our product but sometimes when people start asking you so many of these questions, it starts to make you doubt what you know to be true.” with Alexa Jones LISTEN! WHAT'S IN THIS EPISODE: A college assignment to create a better treatment for jaundice for developing countries led this female entrepreneur into a business venture she never imagined. Alexa Jones, the co-founder and CEO of TheraB Medical, is sharing story in this episode. It all began with an engineering camp in high school. And now she’s pitching investors, working towards FDA approval, and knee-deep in the weeds of the emotional rollercoaster that is #startuplife. But let’s take it back to the beginning... Growing up as a girl, engineering isn’t one of the main career paths you’re often told about. And as a female CEO in the startup tech world, Alexa doesn’t often find herself across the table pitching female investors. There’s a lot of challenges. And we haven’t even mentioned that as a medical startup, TheraB hasn’t sold one product yet. They can’t. Until they get FDA approval. But that kind of approval is hard and expensive to get. Insert investors. Except investors want to invest in businesses with a proven track record of sales. This is one hell of an inspirational convo for every one of you female entrepreneurs. SUBSCRIBE + LISTEN iTunes Stitcher WHO'S ALEXA JONES? Alexa Jones is the co-founder and CEO of TheraB Medical, a medical device startup founded at Michigan State University in 2014. She is a graduate of MSU with a degree in Biosystems Engineering.  During her senior year at MSU, an engineering design project led to the inception of TheraB, where she and TWO other students invented “Snuglit”, a wearable treatment for infant jaundice. After graduation, Alexa moved to Salt Lake City, UT, and spent nearly 2 years as an analyst at Goldman Sachs & Co. In late 2015, she realized her passion for entrepreneurship and growing her company and moved back to Lansing, MI, where she now works full time as CEO of TheraB. In her free time, she loves travel, photography, and spending time with family and her black lab, Harvey.  LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE: GoldieBlox Alexa's Instagram photo we talked about www.therabmedical.com TheraB on Facebook Email Alexa at [email protected]