When Chelsea McCallum and Alison Williams launched Tummily, they weren’t simply creating one other wellness platform.

They have been redesigning how folks expertise – and take possession of – their intestine well being.

Inside 24 hours of launch, Tummily had damaged into Apple’s High 100 Medical Apps, downloaded in over 40 international locations.

No huge advert marketing campaign. No investor blitz. Simply two girls on a mission to make digestive well being instruments that really feel human, empowering, and accessible to everybody.

“Tummily’s mission is to assist folks with IBS and digestive challenges higher perceive and enhance their well being by means of intuitive, evidence-based, and personalised instruments,” says Alison.

And the response proved what they already knew: there’s an unlimited urge for food for consumer-led well being innovation – instruments that don’t simply sit in clinics, however dwell in folks’s fingers.

Constructed from two worlds: medical perception meets design instinct

Tummily wasn’t dreamed up in a lab. It was born out of frustration, empathy, and a shared imaginative and prescient from two very totally different disciplines.

Alison had watched her companion battle with IBS for years, battling the complexity of the low FODMAP eating regimen.

The Tummily app

“Each app we tried was clunky and complicated,” she says. “As a designer, I couldn’t assist pondering there needed to be a less complicated, extra human manner.”

Chelsea, a dietitian, had seen the identical situation day by day in her apply.

“For years, I’d get screenshots, meals diaries, and random notes from purchasers – nothing that helped me give higher care,” she recollects.

“There wasn’t a single platform that related meals, signs, and way of life. Once I met Alison, it was like all of the lacking items lastly match.”

Collectively, they merged medical experience with artistic design pondering – and Tummily was born.

A partnership that clicked

The pair met on the Free From Allergy Present, and inside minutes realised they have been chasing the identical imaginative and prescient.

“Once we met, I shared my frustrations, and Chelsea instantly recognised them,” says Alison. “She’d heard the identical from her sufferers. We had the correct mix of abilities to truly construct one thing significant.”

Their partnership was seamless from the beginning. “We stayed in contact, acquired alongside properly, and earlier than lengthy, Tummily started to take form,” Alison says. “All of it felt straightforward and natural.”

A client well being app that broke the charts

Tummily’s launch was proof that healthcare doesn’t must really feel medical – or difficult – to make an affect.

“It reveals the size of unmet want on this area,” says Alison. “IBS impacts tens of millions globally, and two-thirds are girls. But most nonetheless battle in silence.”

Chelsea’s 270,000-strong digital group turned the springboard for launch – however not by means of advertising and marketing. Via co-creation.

“I took my group alongside for the experience,” she says. “They helped check the beta, form the options, and even weigh in on the design. It felt like a shared mission.”

Inside a day of launch, Tummily was rating within the High 100 globally – proof that client empowerment in well being isn’t only a pattern – it’s a motion.

Two launches in a single week

The week Tummily launched, Alison additionally gave beginning – to her first little one.

“Once I discovered I used to be pregnant, we’d simply finalised our engineering staff,” she says.

“We determined the app needed to launch earlier than the newborn. However it didn’t fairly work out that manner!”

She ended up modifying last app modifications from her hospital mattress minutes earlier than her C-section.

“We launched two days after Julian was born. I used to be breastfeeding and bug-fixing on the similar time,” she laughs. “It’s chaotic, but it surely’s actual. Constructing one thing that helps my companion’s well being feels much more significant now that I’m a mum.”

What makes Tummily totally different

The patron well being app area is crowded and let’s be sincere, is wildly underfunded. Tummily stands out by being each scientifically credible and emotionally clever.

“We constructed Tummily out of frustration with the opposite apps,” says Alison. “They’re usually medical, clunky, and intimidating. We needed one thing folks truly get pleasure from utilizing.”

Not like conventional symptom trackers, Tummily’s interface is calm, hopeful, and fantastically designed. Its options are deeply customisable, letting customers monitor what issues to them – from meals and sleep to emphasize and journey.

“It’s not nearly accumulating knowledge,” says Chelsea. “It’s about connecting dots and discovering patterns that make sense in actual life.”

The result’s a platform that feels extra like wellness and self-care than drugs – and that’s precisely the purpose.

Design that empowers, not diagnoses

At its coronary heart, Tummily is about empowerment, not prescription.

“IBS may be isolating,” says Alison. “We needed folks to really feel supported, not outlined by their situation.”

That philosophy extends by means of each element -from the app’s calming tones to its motivational streaks and mild reminders.

Alison Williams together with her different product launch

“Having IBS is crap,” Alison says, “however managing it doesn’t must be.”

And as a model, Tummily’s design language avoids sterile cues fully.

“One consumer stated it feels extra like wellness than medical – and that’s precisely what we needed.”

Turning science into one thing usable

Chelsea believes that evidence-based well being shouldn’t be locked behind paywalls or jargon.

“So many scientific breakthroughs are inaccessible to on a regular basis folks,” she says. “We translate that analysis into sensible, intuitive instruments folks can use day by day.”

That’s what makes Tummily so highly effective as a client product: it places management, understanding, and confidence again within the consumer’s fingers.

Classes in management and danger

When requested about pivotal moments, Alison doesn’t hesitate:

“Giving 50% of my firm to somebody I’d solely met twice in particular person. It felt dangerous – but it surely’s the very best determination I ever made.”

They’ve realized a lot alongside the best way – particularly about companions.

“We misplaced $15,000 on businesses who talked large however didn’t ship,” Alison says. “It harm, but it surely taught us to belief motion, not guarantees.”

Their recommendation for different girls constructing medical or wellness companies?

“Do the groundwork,” says Chelsea. “Get the assist, do your analysis, take heed to your customers. When you begin constructing, transfer rapidly – however ensure that your foundations are stable.”

What’s subsequent for Tummily

Diary signs on Tummily

Up subsequent: a characteristic that customers have been ready for – personalised FODMAP meal planning, constructed instantly into the app.

“Even after designing a low FODMAP meal planning app, I nonetheless battle to plan meals my complete household enjoys”, stated Alison.

The long-term aim? To evolve Tummily right into a TGA and FDA-approved digital therapeutic.

However for now, the main focus stays the identical: conserving it easy, private, and consumer-first.

The larger image

What Chelsea McCallum and Alison Williams have constructed goes past intestine well being.

It’s a case research in what occurs when girls design for real-world wants – and do it with empathy, intelligence, and boldness.

As a result of in the long run, Tummily isn’t nearly digestion.

It’s about reclaiming management, normalising taboo well being conversations, and displaying that world-class innovation can dwell proper within the palm of your hand.

It’s proof that the way forward for healthcare isn’t top-down.

It’s consumer-first.

And it’s being constructed – one platform, one perception, one (or on this case, two) girls at a time.

• Tracey Warren is CEO & Bree Kirkham, COO, of enterprise capital agency F5 Collective.