Over 150 million Americans suffer from at least one chronic condition. And yet, most of the time these conditions are not properly diagnosed by our western medical system. They go unnoticed for months, leaving patients feeling helpless and alone. In comes WANA, a social networking app that provides community, education, support, and a marketplace for chronic conditions.

When it comes to chronic conditions, illnesses such as IBS, endometriosis, chronic fatigue, Lyme disease, and fibromyalgia are amongst the most popular that goes untreated or undiagnosed for a very long period of time. Co-founder of WANA, Evan Golub tells us how the idea for WANA did not just come to him as an aha moment but engulfed him as a way of life. A finance trader in a previous life, Evan quit the hustle of Wall St. in 2018 to work on his new venture. For those wondering, WANA stands for we are not alone.

The Childhood

Born in Westchester, NY, Evan was bitten by a tick in his backyard at the age of 10 and ended up getting Lyme disease alongside other health conditions. “I wasn’t tested as a child for Lyme and it wasn’t until I was older and moved into a mold-infested apartment that the bacteria in the Lyme disease got triggered by the mold toxicity”, says Evan. This would end up becoming a cascading fleet of health issues for young Evan.

“I saw over 30 different Doctors, and it wasn’t until I got into the functional medicine space that I was properly diagnosed with Lyme disease after 4 years of misdiagnosis.”

Evan left the western medical system behind and entered the world of traditional Chinese medicine alongside bio-hacking his way back to health. He eventually became so knowledgeable with his findings that he started helping folks who showed similar symptoms in his network. This community ended up growing to around 150 people in New York over an excel spreadsheet (I guess that love for spreadsheets in finance was real). “I remember thinking, especially after each time I would get introduced to a new person with Lyme disease, why aren’t we centralizing these conversations and resources? It felt extremely frustrating that this information could not be accessed on one platform. If you think about it, people are turning to the internet to find others like them because they have been failed by western and conventional methods. They have been told countless times that they are not sick and it is all in their head when it is not.”

“I found that Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit are not using the right tools to discuss vulnerable healthcare information. In my view, the right tool would be in the form of a user-generated platform, but I could not find one that existed in a holistic way.”

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With frustration and a growing “excel sheet” under his skin, Evan decided to develop his own platform in April of 2018. Fast Forward to December 2019, and WANA has launched as a social networking platform that creates connections between users by capturing their health data and matching them to others with similar symptoms. The app also allows users to access information created by experts, shop recommended products in the marketplace (shout out to Hilma), and research recommended practitioners. Their top chronic conditions consist of, you guessed it, Lyme disease, depression, eczema, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue.

*Co-founders Nicole Krinick on left, and Evan Golub on right.*

On Finding a Co-founder

Evan met his co-founder, Nicole Krinick on a Hinge date, because, you know, Evan is cool like that. “While on the date with Nicole, I had mentioned that I was experiencing vertigo and dizziness. This was before my diagnosis with Lyme disease.” Nothing materialized, and Nicole and Evan went their separate ways until she texted him a couple of months later mentioning how she was experiencing vertigo after her trip from Thailand. “She felt very alone, and didn’t know who to talk to, so I helped her. She eventually got diagnosed with Lyme, and Nicole and I ended up becoming Lyme buddies shortly after, looking to change the world.”

The Advice

“Getting a product to market was no easy task. It sounds a lot easier when you are not involved, but wow was it a steep learning curve for me.” When asked about his biggest learnings, Evan tells us how:

You need to build out a strong network and tap into it for product testing, feedback, and warm introductions.
If you have multiple ideas, go with the one you are most passionate about, and if there isn't a particular one that stands out, you probably don't have a good enough idea.
Do not spend on things too early, such as PR. Wait to gain organic momentum.
The experts are not always experts.
Now is an incredible time to launch a company! Looking back at 2008, we saw the birth of Uber, and Airbnb during a recession. It is time to get scrappy, find an opportunity, and go for it.

In his spare time, Evan can be found doing yoga, angel investing in startups, and taking his favorite nootropic supplements by Find My Formula. Fun fact: he also went to high school with the founders of Bombas, BirchBox, and Banza Chickpea pasta. If you’re looking for your health twin or feeling lonely about your symptoms, join WANA, and find your next best friend or practitioner (available on Android and iOS).

Photo courtesy of WANA.

Written by Alysha Malik.