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Clarity

Sonia Ponzo

London

Product leader and behavioural scientist with 10+ years of experience building health products from concept to validation to scale.

As founder of Outset Wellness, I led product, behavioural design, and strategy for a neurodivergent-friendly movement platform. Previously, I was Director of Science at Flo Health and VP of Science at Healios, where I helped shape and ship evidence-based interventions used by millions.

My background in psychology (30+ peer-reviewed papers) gives me an edge in building products that drive change. I’ve led cross-functional teams of 15+ across product, design, research and engineering, as well as advised healthtech startups.

$3.33/min

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Entrepreneurship User Research Product Management Product Strategy Tech startups and entrepreneurship Product Development Project Management Content Writing Research Data Analysis

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Startup & Product Strategy for Digital Health & Wellness Founders

I built a health app from scratch - no funding, no shortcuts, and no VC safety net (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-ponzo/).

At Outset Wellness (https://www.outsetwellness.com/), we took an idea grounded in behavioural science and turned it into a live, revenue-generating product that helps neurodivergent users move more consistently and feel more in control. I shaped the product vision, designed the features, translated complex science into accessible UX flows, and led our go-to-market - all with a small, mission-driven team and zero external investment.

Before founding Outset, I was VP of Science at Healios, where I supported the design and evaluation of digital mental health tools for children and neurodivergent populations across the NHS. Prior to that, I led scientific strategy at Flo Health, one of the world’s largest femtech platforms (70M+ users), where I helped bring evidence-based features to life and ran the company’s first randomised controlled trial.

If you're building a digital health or wellness product and want support to:
- Define your product’s core value and reason to exist
- Map a viable MVP that users will actually engage with
- Build features rooted in behaviour, not just assumptions
- Balance science, usability, and emotional resonance
- Design for real-world constraints like ADHD, burnout, or executive dysfunction

I bring the lived experience, the research depth, and the product strategy to help you do it - clearly, efficiently, and without compromising on the people you want to serve.

Applied Behavioural Science in Product Design

Most behaviour change features don’t work because they’re either too clinical or too fluffy. I help teams build products that actually support people in doing hard things.

I’ve spent over a decade working at the intersection of psychology, health, and product. At Flo Health, I designed evidence-based features for 70 million users and ran the company’s first randomised controlled trial. At Healios, I led the science behind digital mental health tools for children and neurodivergent users in NHS services. Now at Outset (https://www.outsetwellness.com/), I’ve built a bootstrapped app that helps people with ADHD and burnout get moving again through body-first nudges, real-time readiness cues, and frictionless routines.

I specialise in translating behavioural science into product flows that work with real-world brains and bodies - not idealised ones. If you’re working on a health or wellness tool and want to bring in real behavioural insight without slowing down your build, I can help.

I support teams to:
- Build features that feel natural and easy to start
- Use habit and attention science to increase follow-through
- Design motivation loops that feel human, not manipulative
- Reduce friction for users with executive dysfunction or chronic stress
- Turn lived experience into product logic that actually holds up

Scientific Strategy & Regulatory Alignment for Health Products

If you're building a health product and need it to be evidence-based, regulatorily sound, and usable in the real world, I can help.

I’ve spent over a decade turning complex science into market-ready products. At Flo Health, I led scientific strategy for features used by over 70 million people, collaborating closely with regulatory, legal, and clinical teams to make sure user-facing content was safe, accurate, and grounded in evidence. At Healios, as VP of Science, I helped shape NHS-ready tools for neurodivergent children and young people. And at Outset (https://www.outsetwellness.com/), I built a science-backed wellness app for ADHD and burnout recovery - bootstrapped, live, and serving paying users.

What sets me apart is that I don’t treat scientific rigour as a box-ticking exercise or an academic showcase. I work backwards from the business need: what are you trying to achieve, how much rigour is needed to earn trust, and where can you avoid overbuilding? I bring clarity, precision, and a bias for just-enough structure to get you to market faster.

If you need to:
- Build an evidence base that supports claims and makes sense to users or buyers
- Navigate safety, compliance, or NHS-aligned frameworks
- Translate scientific insight into usable product features
- Plan for trials, publications, or validation without stalling progress
- Align science and product so they push in the same direction

Then I can help you design a strategy that supports growth - not slows it down.

Building a Mission-Led Brand From Scientific Insight

You’ve got depth, a real reason for building, and maybe even a thesis.

But when it comes to telling people what you do or why it matters, everything comes out sounding either too academic or too vague.

I (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-ponzo/) help founders turn research and lived experience into brands people connect with. At Outset (https://www.outsetwellness.com/), I built a product grounded in interoception and behavioural science, then shaped the brand voice, tone, metaphors and flow from the inside out. Our users feel seen, supported and curious, rather than lectured or sold to.

Before that, I led scientific strategy at Flo Health, supporting features used by 70 million people, and was VP of Science at Healios, where we built NHS-facing tools for neurodivergent and adolescent mental health. I’ve published 30+ papers in psychology and digital health, but what matters more is this: I know how to take complex ideas and make them feel simple, human and alive.

- If you’re struggling to explain what your product really is;
- if the words don’t quite fit the feeling;
- if the branding feels disconnected from the thing you’re actually building;

I can help you find the thread and shape it into something real.

Startup Strategy for Bootstrapped Idea-Stage Founders

If you have a strong hunch, a personal story, or a deep area of expertise, but you’re stuck between “I think this could work” and “I don’t know where to start,” I can help you move from idea to something real.

I (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-ponzo/) built Outset (https://www.outsetwellness.com/) as a fully bootstrapped product from first concept to paying users, translating scientific insight into a clear offering and building every feature and flow to reflect the real lives of the people we serve. I’ve done this without external funding, without a big team, and without falling into the trap of overbuilding something no one asked for. I’ve also helped other early founders clarify their positioning, challenge their assumptions, and define a first version of their product that actually fits both their audience and their life.

My approach is rooted in reality - your time, your constraints, your goals. I draw on years of experience in research, digital health, and product development, but I don’t believe in handing over a rigid playbook. What you’ll get instead is a conversation and tools that help you think clearly and act deliberately, without burning out in the process.

If you're trying to:
- Untangle the real problem you're solving when your idea could go in five different directions
- Get clarity on whether your niche is too broad, too narrow, or just poorly defined
- Test your assumptions with real people before spending months building the wrong thing
- Figure out what your MVP actually needs to include—and what’s just noise
- Make strategic decisions that protect your time, your energy and your runway

We'll cut through the vague advice and build around what makes your product real, valuable and possible to launch with what you have right now.

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Member since October 2025