CTN #22 – Kacie talks to Lauren Gregory about turning market research into a women’s health venture

In this episode of Consider This Next, Kacie Luaders speaks with Lauren A. Gregory about turning her market research experience into an entrepreneurial venture in women’s health. Lauren traces her journey from launching a product company to developing the PAT app, using her YouTube series Top Drawer to test ideas and build an audience before fully developing the platform. Their conversation explores the uncertainty of building a business: discovering customer needs, confronting a weaker-than-expected response, and reworking the business model. It offers an honest portrait of a founder adapting her approach, while leaving room to examine how she translates feedback into decisions, funds development, and builds toward sustainable growth.

Kacie Luaders: Today, I’m talking with Lauren Gregory, founder of the PAT app, a women’s health platform built to help women understand their bodies and make better-informed choices about the products they use. Lauren’s path into this work didn’t start in healthcare. It started in market research and consumer insights, and a deeply personal turn that reshaped how she thinks about women’s health, autonomy, and the gaps in information women are given. In our conversation, we get into how she’s using content as a way to test ideas and build trust with an audience, what it looks like to scrutinize a trillion-dollar industry one ingredient at a time, and how she’s navigating the messy, honest reality of building something while it’s still taking shape.

So, it’s great to be able to connect with you, Lauren. Your background has primed you for your entrepreneurial journey in ways that I can’t wait to share with our audience. So, could you tell us a little bit more about who you are, your background, and how would you describe the work that you’re doing now?

Lauren Gregory: I grew up in quite a few different places. I was raised by my mom and my grandmother. So my father was not around, and that is an important note because that ended up being the catalyst to the health journey that led me to the first business and then transitioned to the second business. But my professional background is actually in consumer insights, marketing science, market research. People hear that, and they usually just hear the marketing part of it, but it is very much the—the bones of it, just the numbers-only part of marketing, which I enjoy. I actually don’t like all the other campaigns and branding, and I don’t enjoy that part of it, so I never went into it.

But yeah, it was actually—my father was going through a health diagnosis, and then fast-forward, he ended up passing away from pancreatic cancer, which was the catalyst to starting my first company, first product company, it’s called Her Poppy. And fast-forward, that evolved into the women’s health platform, the PAT app, that I’m working on now. And all of those moments were the catalyst to my own very deep and personal and eye-opening journey with my own health because up until that point—and my father passed away when I was in my mid-20s—so much that I did not understand about my body.

But my professional background is in market research and consumer insights, specifically working with product brands. So, I actually worked at a really fun startup in New York a few or, many years ago at this point, and I kind of proudly say I have had my hands in some kind of market research for almost any major brand that you can find in Walmart or Target. I used to have so much fun working with those brands, and I enjoyed that. And I would say, looking back now, it was very much a foreshadow for what I’m doing now. The thing that I loved about it was being the voice of the consumer.

And so it was my job to work with these brands, understand what they needed to learn, and go back to their customer and get the real [laughter] on what they think about the brands, why they buy them, why they don’t, how they make them feel, how they fit into—how they enhance their lives, how they don’t enhance their lives, why they’re not going to buy, why they’re not going to share.

And fast-forward, when—I’ll say it was really one of those moments where the vision came to me for my first product company, Her Poppy, which was a topical treatment for cramping, bloating, and mood support to support the women throughout her entire menstrual cycle. I went back to what I know, which was market research, and I formulated the product myself. I don’t have a background in product formulation, but I put something together that worked or that I hoped would work, and then I tried it on myself. I put together a group of women and did a pretty extensive market research that I knew to do, that I had been trained to do for brands for so many years. And based on all of the insights and data and feedback from that, I went to market with my first company, Her Poppy.

And in learning more about my own body, learning more about others’ women—other women’s understanding of their body, relationships with their body, relationships with their periods and the questions that they have and the way they feel when they go to the doctor, all of this just evolved into, okay, I want to do more. I want to start to show up in a different way. And I started my own product company, but I really loved other people’s products so much also, and I wanted to talk about them as well. And I’ve always just—I’ve always loved working with products and, and consumer brands, really. And I got to do it for so many years. I want to say well over 12 years or something like—any rate. And that’s where the vision for the PAT app, it evolved from the product company that I had.

Kacie Luaders: So tell us a little bit more about the PAT app. Does PAT stand for something? What is your latest venture?

Lauren Gregory: PAT is actually my mom’s name, and I’m not going to tear up in this moment [laughter]. But yeah, Pat is actually my mom’s name, and so that’s—that’s just simply, that’s where the name—that’s where the name came from.

And the idea for PAT is to help women understand their bodies more so that they can live better. And how can I help you understand your body more? Through product recommendations that are actually personalized and curated to you, as well as the relevant information for said product. If you’re buying a—a feminine wash or a vulva wash, for example, what are all the things that I need to help you understand about why you’re washing your vulva, how to wash your vulva [laughter], all the different parts that are—all the part of the reproductive organs that are near the vulva and vagina, vaginal canal and so that you actually understand what’s going on and you’re more informed and you’re more empowered, making you more confident going into the world because you actually know what’s going on with your body and your body is not—is no longer, what’s happening in your body is no longer just happening to you, but you are informed and empowered in how you take care of it.

Kacie Luaders: You have done research on topics related to women’s health and topics related to menstrual health and cycle-syncing. What are some of the resources that you used when you were diving into this topic before making your decision to start a business?

Lauren Gregory: One, I always knew that it—I was going to start it, and this is just my approach to life with everything, like I dive in and then I figure out how to swim [laughter]. And that was very much my approach. You just know—I didn’t at the time, I didn’t have all the data, all the market research data, all the consumer insights data, but there’s just something instinctually that you know is a problem based on—it’s my experience, it’s my friends’ experience, it’s my sister’s experience, my mom is talking to me about her experiences. You just know, okay, there’s a gap here, there’s something missing here somewhere.

And I really just—I started educating myself very simply. Like, I read books written by what I would consider reputable experts. I have, thankfully, I do have friends who work in healthcare who are doctors across quite a few different disciplines, and so I would ask questions. And things that I would read, I ran it by them. And I have friends who are in like traditional allopathic medicine and people who are in naturopathic medicine as well, and things that I just—I started to understand even just from the natural side of health, how greens are good for your gut, just as simple as that from my own journey.

And so I never position myself as another official or licensed expert in the space. I’m definitely—I’m like your best friend who’s got the information because I read the book or I had the conversation, I asked the questions of the doctor, and I just share it and pass it along.

Kacie Luaders: So, speaking of which, you are currently using your YouTube platform to talk openly about women’s health at a time when some of that content is increasingly being restricted or de-prioritized by algorithms for a variety of factors in our current socio-political climate. So, I wanted to learn more about how your content creation is being used as almost an MVP for the platform and what some of the responses to that work has been.

Lauren Gregory: It’s something new that I didn’t know about was, yeah, it a content MVP. So it’s a product review series. It’s called Top Drawer on YouTube, and I essentially created a scoring methodology for women’s health and hygiene products.

So I go through and I review the ingredients and materials in each product from supplements, for example. We’re breaking down almost every single ingredient. Now, I can’t always do every single one, but most of the time I say I’m least hitting on 85—80 to 85 percent of all the ingredients, all the way to the kind of bottle that it’s in because sustainability is a significant factor in why women decide to—whether women decide to purchase products or not. So we even start breaking down the materials of the bottle, how much of it is recyclable and whether or not that even matters to you.

We dive into the function of the product. Does it actually do what all the things on the front and the sides and the back of the packaging say that it’s going to do after I’ve used it for some time? And then lastly, we—we dive into the value. So based on the quality of ingredients, based on whether or not it actually does what it says it’s going to do, its function, its efficacy, do we think that it’s actually worth the price that these brands are charging because the women’s health and hygiene product industry specifically [laughter], just products, it’s a trillion-dollar—it’s set to be a trillion-dollar industry.

And there’s a part of that why, while yes, we need more solutions, there’s a part of that sometimes that does—that can feel like a money grab. And I want to help people know what’s what [laughter]. And I want to hold—especially in this space with something that’s so—it shouldn’t be this hard to get answers to questions. And you have women now who are going to their doctors and being ignored and being dismissed, and then we’re perhaps lied to on a—for example, we’re lied to on a box of tampons. Hell no! [laughter] Like, I’m going to call that out.

And so that’s what I—that’s what I enjoy doing, and through—through the content. And I—I’ve been using it, the goal was to use it as a way to, one, build awareness, but two, start to build a relationship with my audience. And we developed the series after doing—after finally doing the extensive like customer discovery research that we—that I did. We developed the series, and it hasn’t—it doesn’t seem like it’s resonated or taken off, I will say, as much as I thought it would, just in—in full transparency. And that’s actually something that I’m still diving into now, where now I’ve actually officially started releasing episodes for the second season, and I’m looking forward to that.

And we brought different women on, and I want different women to see themselves in this as well. And so I wanted—that’s another, that’s something else that I’m using the content to do, like it’s not just me talking. In the second season, we’ve got athletes in there, I’ve got a scientist in there, I’ve got one of my friends who is a party girl all the way down [laughter] in there, and she wants to stay fresh like on her way in and, and on her way out. I’ve got another friend who’s a military mom and wife, and she barely gets five minutes to herself throughout the day. So what is this product, how is this product actually supporting her?

Kacie Luaders: So you mentioned customer discovery as a part of your ever-evolving journey as an entrepreneur. And I also appreciate the transparency in recognizing that there are still things that you want to tweak and figure out with your content creation plan. That is a part of the journey and a part that people don’t always illuminate when they’re talking about the things that they’re doing and promoting. But I think that’s very important for our listeners to hear. Just because you’ve dropped something or put something out doesn’t mean it’s not going to require constant refinement. So I appreciate you for bringing light to that.

And so, talking about some of your future aspirations, since this is still an early stage product—but of course, you have to start somewhere—what are some of the ways that you’re thinking about the potential business model for the PAT app, and then what would sustainability for you look like with this app in the future?

Lauren Gregory: We’re re-working that because the idea that we had for the platform once we worked everything out, did all the research two years ago, technology has evolved, needs have evolved, and so that means re-thinking what the platform will be in the market with the focus still on helping women understand their bodies so they can live better through products and information. So short answer is I’m re-working that.

Kacie Luaders: Lauren, that’s a great answer. So in closing, I’m wondering for you, what is it that you hope your platform is going to do? Again, there’s still so much work that needs to be done, which seems crazy now, but what is it that you really hope your legacy will be?

Lauren Gregory: I want to have some sort of role in women’s health policies or potentially even healthcare policies overall. But PAT having its, its hand in that level of impact is the only word that I can think of that when you talk about generations to come, like that’s what it looks like for me. All this other stuff, like acquisitions and valuations and all that, like I don’t give a s*** about none of that [laughter]. It’ll come, it’s a part of it. I have certain things, monetary-wise, yes, I have like aspirations for some things I don’t care about, but to me, that is a way that I can have a generational impact is start to inform some kind of public health policy, public health research, healthcare policies as well.

I’m still learning how much of my journey should be showing up so that they can see it and essentially so I can be more relatable, because side note, the content was not [laughter]. I avoided that for so long. And then when I finally, the way the concept of Top Drawer came to me, I was just like—like that’s it! This is—that was the first “that’s it” idea that I had in a long time. And so I—I’m still to this day very proud of it [laughter].

But this journey has been very much one of self-development, and that self-development is informing and enhancing how I’m showing up and what I’m able to provide to women, to my audience, to the people who I’m looking to serve, and what I want them to walk away with is you’ve been robbed [laughter]. There’s a bunch of lies that you’ve been sold, and it goes deeper than the healthcare system, it goes deeper than your—what you understand about your body or not. And this is the personal journey coming out, like the deeper and farther and, and wider I go with this, this has a lot more than I thought, a lot more to do with our place in the world. The place that we’ve been put in the world and in some cases allowed ourselves to be put in in the world.

And the more that you understand yourself, very much like understanding your body so you can live better, I’m understanding more about myself so I can show up better in the space, the more that you understand what’s going on with the things that you do have—and sadly, I even hesitate to say this—the things that you do have autonomy over, which is your body, but even that is—is on the table these days, you can show up better in your world.

Kacie Luaders: My final question is how can people keep up with you, keep up with your journey, and continue to learn more about the development of the Pat app?

Lauren Gregory: You can find me on Instagram and TikTok @thepat.app, on YouTube as well, you can search The Pat App, and you’ll see my Top Drawer content on there as well. And that’ll probably, think that’ll lead you to my personal page as well on Instagram @sheislaureng.

Kacie Luaders: Now that you’ve heard my conversation with Lauren about building a platform and creating women’s health content that holds the industry accountable, consider this next:

What expertise are you already carrying that could become the foundation of your venture? Lauren’s market research background wasn’t a detour from her work; it became the engine of it. The skills you’ve spent years building might be the credibility you’re looking for.

Second, how are you using content to test ideas before you fully build them? Lauren treats her review series as a working prototype—a way to learn what resonates and build relationships with the people she wants to serve before the platform itself exists.

Are you willing to say out loud that you’re still figuring it out? Some of the most useful moments come from founders who admit they’re still re-working the plan. Transparency about what’s unfinished can be more valuable to your audience than a polished story about the finish line.

And finally, what kind of impact are you actually building toward? Lauren talks about wanting a hand in public health research and policy, not just valuations and acquisitions. Knowing what your legacy looks like can clarify every decision you make along the way.

Before we sign off, I’d like to offer a big thank you to you, our listeners, for tuning in and engaging with these crucial topics. If you found value in this podcast, please don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review. Your support helps us continue to bring you insightful conversations like this one. Until next time, keep nurturing your curiosity and stay connected to the science all around you. This is Kacie Luaders, signing off for Consider This Next, an audio program from the Civic Science Media Lab. 

What follow-on actions did the insights above spark for you?

44 follow-on actions documented thus far

37% of the first 120 Overall goal: 1,000

Document your actions (opens in a new tab) → Takes about one minute

Add CSML on Google (opens in a new tab) ↗

CSML Intelligence Team

Civic Science Media Lab (CSML) Intelligence delivers rapid analysis based on our reporting and ongoing landscape work, providing synthesized insights into the latest developments shaping the civic science landscape.