Play Health

What do they actually do

Play Health provides a perimenopause care platform that combines an app for daily symptom, cycle, mood, sleep, and lifestyle tracking with an optional at‑home hormone test. Results and tracking are brought together to help users see how hormone changes relate to what they’re feeling and to create concise, clinician-ready summaries (Play Health site; At‑home hormone test).

Today, the product is available in the U.S. via iOS/Android. The app supports PDF exports for provider visits; the at‑home hormone test is available in most states, with typical lab restrictions applying (e.g., not available in NY) (App Store listing).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Women in early perimenopause with new, confusing symptoms: They notice irregular periods, brain fog, mood swings, or sleep problems but don’t know what’s typical, feel dismissed by providers, and want clear next steps.
• People who’ve tried supplements/OTC remedies or generic wellness apps: They’re stuck in trial‑and‑error spending with little symptom relief and want practical, data‑backed guidance instead of guesswork.
• Women who want objective hormone information during perimenopause: Standard lab tests are hard to time and interpret during fluctuating cycles; they need an easy, accurate way to relate hormones to day‑to‑day symptoms.
• Busy working parents/professionals: They have limited time for appointments and want concise, actionable insights and a clinician‑ready report to speed up decision‑making.
• Primary care clinicians and OB/GYNs: They see patients with messy symptom histories and lack perimenopause‑specific longitudinal data; they want standardized tracking plus hormone context to guide evidence‑based care.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led pilots via personal networks and perimenopause community moderators, plus clinician referrals, offering a free, tightly supported pilot with the at‑home kit, log, and one‑page report to gather testimonials and case studies.
• First 50: Targeted outreach in perimenopause Facebook/Reddit groups and newsletters, and onboarding a few PCP/OB‑GYN practices to refer patients into a low‑cost pilot using early case studies and endorsements; introduce simple patient referral credits.
• First 100: Sell short pilots to employers/benefits teams and integrate with 1–2 telehealth platforms for clinician ordering; run paid social against symptom keywords with quiz retargeting and lean on clinician‑facing case studies to keep referral conversion high.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

A broad U.S. demographic proxy for perimenopause awareness and education is women aged ~35–54, about 42 million people based on 2023 female age‑band counts (35–39, 40–44, 45–49, 50–54) (Statista/Census).

Bottom-up calculation:

Epidemiologic sizing: roughly 2 million U.S. women enter perimenopause annually; with an average transition of ~4–7 years, that implies ~8–14 million concurrently in the symptomatic transition at any time (2M/year × 4–7 years) (peer‑reviewed review). Play Health also cites a broader positioning figure of 30M+ U.S. women navigating perimenopause (YC/Play Health; YC post).

Assumptions:

• Perimenopause duration averages 4–7 years for many, though it varies widely (review; WHO background).
• The bottom‑up pool focuses on women with noticeable, help‑seeking symptoms rather than all women in the broad 35–54 demographic.
• Broad awareness/education TAM (30M–42M) overstates near‑term buyers but is relevant for long‑term channels (employers, payers, workplace programs).

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Midi Health: Virtual perimenopause/menopause clinic delivering clinician‑led care and treatments, often insurance‑covered; a direct care alternative for symptom management (Midi Health).
• Evernow: Subscription telehealth for menopause/perimenopause with HRT and ongoing clinician messaging; strong brand in direct‑to‑consumer midlife care (Evernow).
• Alloy: Telehealth menopause care with prescription treatments and education; positioned for comprehensive symptom coverage (Alloy).
• Midday (Lisa Health): AI‑assisted menopause app built with Mayo Clinic collaboration, offering symptom tracking and wearable‑driven insights; focuses on self‑management and education (Mayo Clinic news).
• Mira – Menopause Transitions Kit: At‑home hormone monitoring device and test strips to track menopause transitions and correlate symptoms with hormone levels; a hardware‑plus‑app testing alternative (Mira).