Create & Cultivate 100: Find New Roads: Cindy Eckert

In a word, Cindy “The Stiletto-Strapping CEO” Eckert’s résumé is impressive. Over just the past 10 years of her 24-year-long career, the serial entrepreneur has built and sold two, billion-dollar healthcare businesses. Like we said, impressive. 

After a successful stint in men’s healthcare at First Slate Pharmaceuticals, which launched a long-acting testosterone treatment for men, Eckert turned her attention to women’s sexual health and founded Sprout Pharmaceuticals, which developed a libido-boosting drug that's been dubbed "the female Viagra." But getting a drug on the market that was developed specifically for female sexual health has not been easy. In fact, it was an uphill battle with sexism every step of the way.

Eckert launched her Right to Desire campaign shortly after to empower women to own their sexuality. In her fireside chat with Rumer Willis at our San Francisco Conference, Eckert told the audience to “Get a piece of the pie. Own your sexual desire. You have the right to desire, to start your own company, to have your own voice.”

Read on to discover the story behind the self-made billionaire, her mission to close the pleasure gap, and how she is helping more women join the billion-dollar club with her "pinkubator" (a.k.a. The Pink Ceiling).

CREATE & CULTIVATE: You've founded and sold two companies in the pharmaceutical space for over $1.5 billion. Your success is incredible, but it but didn't happen overnight. Why is this work so important to you? How did you stay positive when success seemed out of reach?

CINDY ECKERT: There is no stronger incentive than working to right a wrong for someone who needs your help. There is no stronger motivator than knowing if you succeed at what you do it will result in a profound difference for so many. In my first year, I went on a tour to talk with women. I met with more than I can count. They grabbed me, pulled me in, and told me their stories. They cried on my shoulder. They cheered me on for taking on something so meaningful to them yet so dismissed by others. Not surprisingly, women having no choice for their sexual desire and well-being wasn’t due to science. Science and data showed us that there is a biological basis for desire in both men and women.  

What was a surprise was the rigid cultural bias against a treatment option for women. Isn’t that her choice? If a woman was suffering from low desire—and all the life issues that come with it—the flippant societal response was to tell them to have a bath or drink a glass of wine. It was dismissed as purely psychological. That was an insult and it ignited me. We had science on our side. Challenges, therefore, didn’t seem as hard and obstacles were just temporary nuisances. I was determined to crash that ceiling. You know the end of the story; we broke through with a first-ever for women. After all, don't women deserve a happy ending? *Pun intended*

You have been an advocate and inspiration in the conversation of women's sexuality and sexual health. What inspired you to join this conversation? Why is it important for other women to join in as well?

I have Irish Catholic roots so sex was the obvious career path, right? I’m pretty sure I think that’s funnier than my family does. Truth is, I’ve built a specialty in this area. Before Sprout, I founded and sold a company that focused on men’s sexual health. Women’s sexual well-being fascinated me because I knew that something so fundamental to the human experience is also remarkably misunderstood and, in the case of women, inappropriately stigmatized. 

When I started Sprout there were no choices for women. It deserved to be pursued. Women deserved power in one of the most fundamental parts of their life and their enjoyment and connection. The fact that an Irish Catholic girl can help spark a national conversation on women’s right to desire is proof that speaking up counts. If women don’t own this conversation, I promise you that no one is ever going to respect it on their behalf.

“Choose your investors wisely. Just because someone is willing to write you a check doesn’t mean you want them to own part of your company.”

When you hit a bump or hurdle in your career, how do you #FindNewRoads + switch gears to find success?

Imagine me, in pink, pitching the first-ever drug for women’s libido to a bunch of blue and gray suits. Literally, the room used to erupt into middle school giggles. I remember those days well. I also remember maxing out on my credit cards to start the business and sweating every time the phone rang. Funding was in short supply for women owners and entrepreneurs. The hurdles came at every step of my career. By accepting them, I allowed myself to move beyond them. I didn’t have any damn time to be consumed with frustration over them, but I had all the fuel in the world to find the workaround. There truly aren’t two more powerful words in our vocabularies than watch me.

Your latest mission is supporting and funding women entrepreneurs with your "pinkubator," The Pink Ceiling, to help more women join the billion-dollar club. How do you choose which businesses to fund? What are some of the businesses you are funding currently?

When I looked around after my second exit, guess what hadn’t changed. Women still didn’t get funded and they still lacked real access to mentors. Never mind the billion-dollar exit club was grossly behind on its female membership. That disparity can’t stand. So I put my money where my mouth is and created The Pink Ceiling/Pinkubator to champion new health tech breakthroughs by and for women. We say, quite simply, that our mission is to make other women really rich. It’s funny the response that sometimes receives. Here’s the thing, with money, women get to invest in what they want to see in this world. And they do. That’s currency for lasting change. 

Today, I am honored to work with incredibly talented and passionate up-and-coming female founders. Some of them knocked on my door for advice. Some of them I sought out to learn more about their incredible ideas. What we fund are companies working on transformational products and products that only a woman could dream up. One company invented a technology to detect date rape drugs in drinks called SipChip. Another, Lia Diagnostics, has reinvented the pregnancy test, making it plastic-free, private, and flushable. Bethany, Lia’s founder, is an engineering dynamo packed in a barely 5-foot frame. The world doesn’t even see her coming. Soon they won’t be able to miss her. The list goes on, including getting my own company back with the first and only FDA approved drug for women’s low sexual desire. All of our products and platforms protect, empower, and provide women important choices. We view the products of The Pink Ceiling as creating ownership for female consumers while simultaneously creating an army of female business owners who will get to incredible outcomes and pay it forward themselves. 

When we are through, women will have just as much funding as men and it will happen through a magical multiplier effect.

What's your best advice for women who want to start companies that will make a difference?

Stop reading this right now and get to work!

You started the "right to desire" movement to further the conversation on women's rights. Can you outline what you mean by the “right to desire?" What is your mission? What do you hope to achieve with this message?

Right to Desire is an educational initiative for consumers and healthcare providers regarding HSDD, or low sexual desire, women’s most common sexual issue. It provides access to evidence-based information and has created a community for women who are looking to learn, lend their voice, and support other women on this important topic. A tidal wave of change is coming in the conversation about women and sex. We’re moving beyond a discussion solely about women’s reproductive rights to the next frontier where women’s right to desire and pleasure is front and center. And it's about time.

What advice do you have for women who haven’t found their path/passion yet?

First, ask yourself if that’s really true. If someone asked you how you’d most like to use your time and talent, I bet you know. Give yourself permission to pursue that path. If you truly come up short on any answer at all, you need to find your way into different rooms for new exposures. There's nothing more powerful to ignite passion than surrounding yourself with people full of it. No matter which it is, take action toward figuring it out. Waiting for it to magically come to you will mean a lifetime on the sidelines.

“We’re moving beyond a discussion solely about women’s reproductive rights to the next frontier where women’s right to desire and pleasure is front and center. And it’s about time.”

You've been described as a "serial entrepreneur," so we have to ask: What is next?

With venture capital today, women receive only 2%. In the next 10 years, I will completely close the investment gap between men and women founders. My work today is focused on fueling the next wave of transformational female entrepreneurs through mentorship, cash, and a network of other women who share this vision. When they get to their outcomes, they'll fund the next group who will fund the next group and on and on.

What advice would you give someone looking for an investor, like yourself, to help them with their business?

Choose your investors wisely. Just because someone is willing to write you a check doesn't mean you want them to own part of your company. Investors that are misaligned with your vision can ruin the business. Never forget that the company you keep is completely your choice.

Who’s work do you most admire? Why?

I admire every stiletto strapping female entrepreneur out there who has made the conscious choice to bet on her own capability! Now, two epic examples you must follow are Ashley Graham and Ashley Longshore. They are each boldly breaking barriers while remaining entirely true to themselves. I love watching them win on their own damn terms.

What is the #1 book you always recommend? Why?

Purple Cow by Seth Godin. Read it. It encourages the powerful idea that you should embrace what is unique to stand out in the sea of sameness. If only Seth would reprint it this year and title it Pink Cow.

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How This CEO Plans to Make Other Women Really Rich

With the unofficial tagline “Make other women really rich,” Cindy Whitehead, CEO of The Pink Ceiling, the business she founded in 2016 focused on mentoring and investing in female-focused startups, expects the pay it forward model to work. “Money is in many ways power,” Whitehead says. “And it’s a power women need for the next stage of the entire women’s movement.”  

Cindy Whitehead has spent 20+ years at the helm of companies. Most notably, her third venture, Sprout Pharmaceuticals was responsible for breaking through with the first FDA-approved drug for women with low libidos. This little pink pill, known to Whitehead as Addyi and to the media as “the female Viagra,” gave the entrepreneur “a front row lesson on what it means for women to advocate for themselves and each other.” It sold for a whopping $1 billion upfront payment. 

She’s a businesswoman. A force. And a breakthrough artist in the field of health tech. Though Addyi’s trajectory didn’t play out as Whitehead expected (that story can be found here) and she says there isn’t a day that goes by that she doesn’t think about the company, she took away an understanding of how to champion for others, the way many supporters have done for her along the way.

Having always built companies from scratch, many people expected her to jump into the next operating role. She surprised them. “What rips the sheets off in the morning for me is fighting injustices. It is an injustice that women get 2% of funding. It’s a ridiculous idea that half of the population only has 2% of the good ideas.” It’s also statistically incorrect--  and Whitehead likes data. She also likes pink. For her, these are not incongruous notions. “I like pink,” the CEO explains. “I like being a woman. I think women have unique strengths to bring to the table and by god nobody is going to make me lose my pink.”

"It’s a ridiculous idea that half of the population only has 2% of the good ideas.”

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When she says people use “pink” and the stereotype it conjures as a means to dismiss an idea, those are conversations she tends to run towards, as breaking preconceived notions is what will ultimately create change. “It’s why I showed up in blazing pink to the FDA. Every time. Unmistakably I was there to have a conversation about women because we weren’t listening to them.” She’s had her critics, sure. But thinks women embrace an unapologetic approach. “When I showed up [to the FDA] talking about sex in all pink, there was a healthy dose of underestimation. And then I’d surprise them with all the data I know.” This piggybacks on her favorite piece of advice: “Prepare to be underestimated. And then show up and kill them with competence. I say it over and over again because underestimation as a woman in business is inevitable. It is going to happen. That can either force you to retreat or you can harness it and surprise them.”

The Pink Ceiling is not a classic VC. It is Whitehead’s own investment post Sprout.

Inbound proposals abound and Whitehead and her team take an active role in the companies they choose to move forward with. “We make decisions based on bandwidth and our ability for real impact.” Can she help a woman in fashion tech as much as she could help someone in the health tech? With the fundamentals of business, yes.  With her rolodex, no. She thinks “below the belt for women” is an untapped area. “It is the last taboo in health. Even as women we don’t talk about the things we haven’t been ‘given permission’ to. If it’s below the belt it comes to me.” However, she says The Pink Ceiling teams works really hard with the companies that make it through the vetting process to find them a home. Admitting, “It’s not always with us. We have 11 companies that we actively work with every day. About another 4 that we’re about to go into. And we’ve taken 50 women through the 3-month mentorship program thus far.”

"Underestimation as a woman in business is inevitable. It is going to happen."

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The company’s battle against injustice is happening on two fronts. First, the lack of access to capital.“It requires an extra step and requires them [investors] to do their own homework with the audience that [the product] effects,” she says of why male investors aren’t funding female-focused companies or female founders. “My career has taught me the unconscious bias runs deep. I don’t think when [men] are sitting across the table that they’re intentionally thinking, ‘oh well this is for women I’m not going to fund it,’ but they’re sitting there not connecting to it.

She continues, “If I’m going to go up for investment dollars tomorrow, I have the highest probability that the entire table seated across from me will be men. And if I’m pitching an idea that is uniquely suited to women, I’m talking to an audience that fundamentally doesn’t relate. And I think the human nature component of that is that I’m less likely to invest in things that do not particularly impact me. Hopefully we’re catching up. But it’s why at the Pink Ceiling I equally look at men doing great work for women.”

To point: Undercover Colors, founded by four men. It is a nail polish intended help wearers detect the presence of date-rape drug. For Whitehead, that company is the sweet spot. “It’s not just a tool, it’s a conversation,” she says. “I’m always going to love health tech. I like the geeks that are innovating, creating a real tool-- one that creates a social conversation.” At the time we speak, she’s got at least one eye on Lauren Weiniger's “The Safe Sex” app. “We’re not yet invested, but I’m closely watching." SAFE let's you show your verified STD status on your phone, and know your partner's status.

The company is also fighting injustice with the “Pinkubator” program, The Pink Ceiling's way of addressing the lack of access to female mentors. It’s an integral part of the business that tackles the need for more straight-talk amongst female entrepreneurs. "The conversation that I’m going to have woman to woman is different," Whitehead says. "There’s nothing wrong with a climate of encouragement, I agree with that wholeheartedly. But we have to be careful that we balance that with candor,” she says.

And while she marks the powers of observation and empathy as a “superpower” of women, particularly when applied to business, she believes "data, in particular, is informed differently through the lens of empathy.” When combined the two have immense power and potential. Totally solo however, they might make for risky business.

“Oftentimes we’re delivering news that people don’t want to hear,” she explains. “But here’s my worry: If I’m a young woman coming out of college today and I know by the numbers that my chances aren’t as good in a classic corporate world and I have this idea of entrepreneurship from Shark Tank, which has given me the moxy to go out and start on my own, that’s great." The danger lies in blind encouragement. “If nobody talks about the scalability or sustainability of her business, here’s what’s going to happen: she’s going to fail. And when she fails, I fear that we are going to reinforce a narrative that women don’t have what it takes.”

Mentorship is so crucial to the process that it’s part of her team’s investment consideration. If you look at the numbers, she says, women are not only starting businesses faster than men, they're also often starting businesses alone. "One truly is the loneliest number in entrepreneurship. When we look at investments, I’m looking to see if they’ve been resourceful enough to find that network of other women who are going to help propel them.” She says resourcefulness is as easy as Google, where you can find conferences (*cough cough*), programs, accelerators, and the access to people who will push you. “Sometimes we have a paralyzing fear when it’s not going the way we expected that there’s no fallback. There’s always a fallback. And I hope that when women feel that way they can push through the moments of the deepest fear of entrepreneurship."

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