How Data and AI Are Democratizing Consumer Health

Thora: Hi, I'm Thora Johnson. I co-chair Orrick's Life Sciences & HealthTech Sector, and I'm also a partner in our Privacy, Cyber and Data Innovation Group.

Alex: I'm Alex Wood, a partner in Orrick's Technology Company's group, and I'm here with Elaine Shi, founder of BodySpec, and CEO. BodySpec is a, as a colleague of mine just called it this week, life-changing company that gives broad access to DEXA scans. Can you tell us more about what inspired you to start the company?

Elaine: Truthfully, it was not my idea. This company was my MBA thesis project at business school, actually. I was at UCLA Anderson. A very large and buff classmate of mine who would eat chicken breast during class to get protein actually came to Anderson with that idea. And he had used DEXA when he was an athlete at the U.S. Air Force Academy. I joined his team because he was my friend. We worked on it as a school project for two years, and when business school was over, he had to go back full time to the Air Force, so I ended up running the company.

Alex: Growing and scaling a healthtech company can be challenging. Can you tell us more about the early days and where you're at now with BodySpec?

Elaine: Yeah, the early days, we pretty much, looking back, we got everything wrong about BodySpec, except for the product, maybe. We got the pricing wrong, we got the brand wrong, we even got the customer wrong. And I think the important thing to understand about us is that we bootstrapped for almost a decade. And that really kind of forms the mindset of how we had to go about acquiring customers, which is cheaply. So we basically had almost no digital marketing spend for that time. But what we did have was, we had a lot of very loyal customers, right? And people that found our service really found the data to be interesting and really kind of, you know, found the concept of making this data affordable and accessible to be something they agreed with. They would tell their friends, their whole family, and more importantly, their gyms and workplaces.

Alex: And an interesting aspect of your fundraising strategy is that customers became your investors.

Elaine Yes. Over and over again that's actually happened. So, both angel investors coming in at smaller check sizes as well as our VC lead came in because actually, one of the associates at that fund, they were customers of ours and they had heard from this, actually a very wonderful story, this women in a VC Slack group, that we were raising. And so she reached out and ended up becoming our lead.

Alex: Tell us about the move to Austin and what it's like being a healthtech company in Austin and just a high-growth startup in general.

Elaine: We really love being here in Austin and for a variety of factors, I think. We found a really supportive local startup scene that is still very robust, has a lot of talent. We found really fantastic customers here as well, just very similar to the ones that we left in California, even to the point where I think a lot of the workplaces that we worked with in California ended up bringing us onsite to all of their offices here in Austin, so that was really, really nice.

Thora: So we're here talking during South By, and I'm wondering, what are you hearing? What's the buzz about, the programs, the on the streets?

Elaine: So this year, a lot of it's been about AI, which isn't too surprising. But specifically, the people that I've been talking to are thinking about the personalization of health. And how does AI unlock new abilities to make personalized health possible at scale? That's something that we're thinking about as well. What's the value of the data? How do we make that more valuable over time? And how do we make it so that people can interact with the data in places that are natural and fun for them?

Alex: What is the next step ahead for you in the coming months?

Elaine: Yeah, so state expansion is something that we have very much right in front of us. We're currently doing the research to be able to expand in at least probably one or two more this year. And thinking about what that looks like to be really coast to coast and also really in all of the major markets long term. The other thing, of course, we're looking at is how does the product change, the product experience, the customer experience change, now that there are all these capabilities that have been unlocked, right? So we're looking at, you know, how do we use AI agents to streamline, you know, certain portions of our workflows. How do those agents potentially play a role in providing an even better and more personalized BodySpec experience? So it'll be a really, you know, exciting couple of years for us.

Alex: Well, it's been thrilling to be part of BodySpec's journey and to watch you grow, and we're all looking forward to the exciting new steps ahead.

Elaine: Awesome. Thank you so much, guys. Appreciate it.

Thora: Thank you for joining us.

Elaine: Absolutely.