Portrait No. 001
Charu Singhal
Co-Founder & CEO
Etta.io
I started my company 7 years ago when my best friend died of skin cancer. I just wanted to make it possible for people to know if they had skin cancer, early enough to get treatment. So much happened in the 4 years of running that skin cancer company; I got to help over 1000 patients with their skin cancer and each one made the challenges worth it. We pivoted to a different disease state 2 years ago to tackle a significant unmet need in bladder cancer care. The business model makes more sense now, as it integrates well into existing procedures, and I'm very lucky to be doing something that matters deeply to me.
In her words
“I built for the cancers that hide in plain sight, without certainty, without applause, but never without purpose”
Chapter I
The toughest challenges you've faced as a founder.
When I started this company, I was an outsider in the business world, and in the healthcare world. I had to show up consistently, work with specialists, and iterate quickly so I could build trust and respect. Even now, I have built our tool into a plug-and-play medical device, and many of the configurations are bespoke to individual urologists' workflows. Consistently showing up, and learning how to do whatever needed to be done, regardless of resources available, is helping me retain trust and respect. I still have so much higher to climb, but my legs are getting stronger.
Chapter II
Your vision.
Even though I pivoted to bladder cancer, from skin cancer, my goal has always remained the same: to reduce death and suffering from cancer, by providing access to augmented specialty care in early detection and diagnosis. Even with limited resources, we made a difference, we helped many patients get seen in time for their skin cancers. Now with our bladder cancer tool, we are serving a defined unmet need. We've involved urologists all around the world, and I do believe that in all our efforts together, we will eradicate the deadliness of this cancer.
Chapter III
The impact you want to leave behind — for your industry, your community, and the women who come next.
I'm trying to be so thorough in my clinical trials: collecting diversity of locations, data, outcomes. I'm looking to make a real difference in the treatment of bladder cancer - it matters just not to me and patients, but to the body of work and research that so many have contributed to in this space, since the beginning of medicine. As a woman founder, I know that every win of mine is a win for all of us, just as I am so proud of women who build amazing things, raise, exit, IPO, etc. I hope that I can make it all the way to where I want to go, and I hope to bring other women with me, sharing resources and opening doors like others have done for me.