A letter from our founders
Published by Srinjoy Majumdar on Aug. 25, 2023
About a year ago, I received a call that changed my life. My mom had just been diagnosed with a critical chronic illness. I dropped everything I was doing in Seattle and moved back to California to be with my family. This was the start of a grueling process as we tried to navigate how the US Healthcare System worked for people with chronic conditions.
As I was sitting in the waiting room for the initial appointments, I started to look for ways to take my mind off the situation. I was still an engineer at heart, so I started bringing my laptop and churning out various side projects. I developed a particular interest in understanding ways to make healthcare software better.
What became clear was that while the US healthcare system was good at managing acute pain, it was severely behind on supporting chronic conditions which required hybrid care - a mix of in-person and virtual care. I saw firsthand that telemedicine wasn't just a fad for patients with chronic pain - it was the only way to receive care on days when it was hard to get to a clinic
Where this was most apparent was in our physical therapy appointments. Physical therapy is unique in that most of the recovery happens between appointments, when patients do their home exercises. However, only 30% of patients complete their full plan of care and exercises at home.
It was difficult for my mom to stay motivated to complete the at-home exercises, and there was a clear lack of tools for the PTs that were trying to virtually evaluate her. Each in-person visit required 60+ mins of commute time, and the recovery would stall once she got back.
So I got together with Pransu (my friend since middle school) and started building a solution. After a few months of building the product and talking to hundreds of PTs, we released Shasta Health. Shasta Health is an AI-powered platform that provides physical therapy from home at ¼ the cost of traditional treatment. Our platform combines computer-vision based home exercises with at-home care from expert physical therapists.
I'm excited to announce that we are now backed by Y Combinator - a lifelong dream of mine. We are live for virtual and in-home sessions in California and New York today, and quickly expanding to more states soon.
As I was sitting in the waiting room for the initial appointments, I started to look for ways to take my mind off the situation. I was still an engineer at heart, so I started bringing my laptop and churning out various side projects. I developed a particular interest in understanding ways to make healthcare software better.
What became clear was that while the US healthcare system was good at managing acute pain, it was severely behind on supporting chronic conditions which required hybrid care - a mix of in-person and virtual care. I saw firsthand that telemedicine wasn't just a fad for patients with chronic pain - it was the only way to receive care on days when it was hard to get to a clinic
Where this was most apparent was in our physical therapy appointments. Physical therapy is unique in that most of the recovery happens between appointments, when patients do their home exercises. However, only 30% of patients complete their full plan of care and exercises at home.
It was difficult for my mom to stay motivated to complete the at-home exercises, and there was a clear lack of tools for the PTs that were trying to virtually evaluate her. Each in-person visit required 60+ mins of commute time, and the recovery would stall once she got back.
So I got together with Pransu (my friend since middle school) and started building a solution. After a few months of building the product and talking to hundreds of PTs, we released Shasta Health. Shasta Health is an AI-powered platform that provides physical therapy from home at ¼ the cost of traditional treatment. Our platform combines computer-vision based home exercises with at-home care from expert physical therapists.
I'm excited to announce that we are now backed by Y Combinator - a lifelong dream of mine. We are live for virtual and in-home sessions in California and New York today, and quickly expanding to more states soon.