What do you do when you haven’t yet reached scale, but market conditions have changed and runway is running out?

Tori Lecomte founded Sesh in 2019 to bring the power of therapist-led group therapy to consumers. Not coming from a healthcare or CEO background, but convinced the modality was dramatically underutilized, she focused on making sure she had market validation, launching a revenue generating in person direct to consumer marketplace, before adding virtual services, expanding to b2b sales, and then ultimately selling the company in 2023.

In this conversation, Tori talks about the strategic choices and challenges of building Sesh, the marketplace conundrum at the start, the strategic pivot from consumer to employer sales, navigating a crowded mental health market, and being painted as a point solution. Tori shares the challenges she faced raising her next round of funding, how partnership conversations shifted to become acquisitions discussions, and what it felt like to exit before Sesh had hit the scale and impact she had hoped for. She shares what she'd do differently with hindsight and practical tips for founders who find themselves considering their options.

Tori also gets candid about myth-busting one of the most pervasive startup tropes, the idea that your business is your baby, and how she navigated having her first child at a pivotal time for the company.

About Tori

Vittoria (Tori) Lecomte is the founder of Domestic Futures, a project exploring how technology, markets, and institutions are changing the way we form families. Previously, she founded Sesh, a mental health company acquired by Caraway. She began her career as a technology investment banker at Barclays and later joined Blockchain.com as an early employee. She was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 for Social Impact.

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Bought note sold: positioning your company for exit optionality

Presented by Aytza