Local entrepreneur Joanna Strober faced a moment every parent fears: At her son’s annual checkup, the pediatrician told her that his weight was too high, and he needed to lose the excess pounds.
Kurbo co-founder Joanna Strober is the parent of three kids who wanted a new solution for weight management
An alternative to the ‘food police’
Dreading the role of ‘food police’ for a growing teen, Joanna went to nutritionists, therapists and more, searching for a solution that would empower her son to make good choices on his own. When she came up empty, Joanna came up with an idea: create a smart phone app that would give teens and kids the tools they need to not only lose weight, but also improve their overall health.
Enter Kurbo: a tool that simplifies food choices
Thus was born Kurbo, a company based in Palo Alto that has helped thousands of kids around the country learn how to eat well, shed excess pounds and feel better both physically and emotionally.
The Kurbo program includes an app that kids use to track their eating, along with personalized support from health coaches who check in on a daily basis and offer encouragement and guidance via text, video chat and more. (The program has different costs depending on the level of support parents choose.)
The Kurbo app lets kids manage their own food choices with the help of a mentor
Kurbo’s approach is to simplify food choices by using a ‘traffic light’ system of red, yellow and green. Users log onto the app every time they eat a meal and aim to only have a limited number of ‘reds’ and ‘yellows’ every day vs. more healthy ‘greens.’
Opening dialogue for families about weight and health
“Our goal for Kurbo is to open a dialogue that involves everyone in the family,” Joanna said. “Parents expect kids to have willpower on their own, but this rarely works, and children who feel deprived will sneak food. Through Kurbo, families can create an environment that supports better health, such as deciding not to have tempting foods in the house or saving treats for special occasions.”
85% of Kurbo users report positive results
Kurbo, which launched in 2013, is building momentum due to its strong track record and solid results. According to data collected through the app, 85% of Kurbo’s users reduce their body-mass index (BMI), increase their intake of healthy (“green”) foods and decrease the unhealthy (“red” foods) in their diets.
Numerous ‘success stories’ on Kurbo’s website chronicle how kids who use Kurbo have succeeded in making progress towards their goals through the combination of technology and mentoring.
Kurbo users like Lexi report positive results and increased confidence
As one mother said, whose daughter Meg used Kurbo, “Meg didn’t want to be told, ‘you can’t eat this or that,’ or enrolled in a program that was solely focused on losing weight. She wanted to learn how to eat healthier and gain the confidence to make healthy lifestyle changes. It was Kurbo that finally gave her the ability to achieve these goals.”
Kurbo brings together local expertise in finance, tech and behavior coaching
Kids like Jordan rave about Kurbo’s mentoring and support for better health
Joanna’s business savvy comes from her many years working in private equity and venture capital, where she invested in consumer companies such as BabyCenter and BlueNile. She is also the co-author of a book called “Getting to 50/50,” which explores strategies for how couples can share household duties more equitably.
To balance her background in finance, Joanna engaged two other co-founders, MIT-trained engineer Mark Vershel as CTO and content manager Thea Runyan, a behavior coach who had worked for the Packard Pediatric Weight Control Program (PPWCP) at Stanford.
Gaining interest from investors, insurance and employers
Families learn about Kurbo through doctors, insurance providers and even employers, who see the value in tackling weight proactively vs. letting it go unchecked and possibly manifesting as diabetes or another expensive health issue.
Kurbo’s success has won the confidence of well-known Silicon Valley investors such as Susan Wojcicki of Google (YouTube) and Esther Dyson of EDventure, along with venture capital funds including Signia Venture Partners.
Kurbo has also been covered by many major media outlets including Time Magazine.
Kurbo users lose weight and gain confidence
Tyler is another success story on the Kurbo site
As Kurbo continues to grow and reach more young people, co-founder Joanna Strober is thrilled that she is helping tackle an issue that is prevalent among families at every socio-economic level and can have a lasting impact on kids. “By far the most rewarding aspect of Kurbo is that the way it increases confidence,” she said. “Over 90% of the kids who have used Kurbo say that they feel better about themselves because they were able to solve their own problem.”
All photos courtesy of Kurbo.com
