Creator Tayla Cannon recieves $1.1 million funding from Gradual Ventures’ creator fund to construct PT software program

[ad_1] In 2023, Tayla Cannon moved from Australia to the U.S. for a job in a metropolis she’d by no means seen earlier than.

“No household, no associates, only a recent begin,” she instructed TechCrunch. A sufferer of power again ache, she first began working in physiotherapy, pondering it was serving to make a distinction within the lives of others. But the normal physiotherapy mannequin by no means fairly lit a spark in her.

She moved to interventional cardiology however solely turned extra disillusionedwith the bodily rehab mannequin with “its localized, reactive, and volume-based nature,” she stated.

In the meantime, in her spare time, she turned a content material creator, sharing her perspective on-line about “proactive” and “holistic” methods folks can eliminate ache.

That took on a lifetime of its personal.

She now has greater than 130,000 followers on Instagram, a firm known as Athletic Rebuild, which gives rehab and efficiency teaching for athletes, and now, a platform known as Rebuildr, a HIPAA-compliant and mentorship app to assist rehab professionals run their very own companies on-line, set to launch early subsequent yr.

“I wasn’t making an attempt to construct a enterprise; I used to be simply placing my mind on the web and serving to folks rethink what care might appear like.”

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Cannon and her works caught the attention of Gradual Ventures, which introduced on Tuesday that it invested $1.1 million as a seed spherical. She is one in every of the primary creators to obtain a verify from Gradual Ventures’ $60 million Creator Fund, which seeks to again content material creators and influencers making an affect on-line.

Cannon stated she had no plan when she began sharing her ideas on social media in 2024 after which determined to make this her occupation. “There was no technique, no roadmap, and certainty no enterprise mannequin behind it,” she stated. She credit what most content material creators do for her success — remaining genuine and sharing unfiltered however real ideas.

Increasing a model on social media will not be with out challenges, nevertheless. Her social media presence, and subsequently model, was rising quick, which was good however additionally a drawback. She was immediately confronted with the necessity to perceive enterprise logic, client acumen, and content material technique to attach with new audiences. “None of which are taught in healthcare,” she continued. “We’re skilled to assist folks, to not construct manufacturers.”

The turning level got here when she really realized she was the bottleneck to her personal enterprise. “I couldn’t maintain scaling one thing that depended solely on me. I needed to construct one thing that would develop with out me,” she stated, including that she ended up hiring folks to assist her together with her initiatives.

She additionally grew her technique when she moved from simply speaking about what’s damaged on the earth of rehab and began engaged on options to assist repair it. Rebuildr is supposed to be a “full shift from localized reactive care to a proactive, holistic mode,” Cannon stated, “combining client options, clinicians, schooling, and the software program to ship all of it at scale.”

She was launched to the group at Gradual Ventures by means of a pal who invited her to one of many agency’s occasions in Austin. “I had zero intention of elevating capital,” she stated. “I wasn’t even pitching. I wasn’t even getting ready a deck.” Nonetheless, she related with Megan Lightcap, an investor at Gradual, and instructed her about what she was constructing with Rebuildr.

“The dialog sparked one thing,” Cannon stated, including that Gradual has helped her “think about a model of Rebuilder that’s even greater” than what she envisioned.

Others private coach software program on the market embody TrainHeroic, Trainerize, and Everfit. Rudder hopes that her product, Rebuildr, basically reshapes the rehab business.

“I need to make high-quality rehab accessible anyplace on the earth, not restricted by geography, insurance coverage, or 30-minute appointments,” she stated.