Why I joined Hopper

One of the most important things I learned during my time in the arts is how much I value being part of a community. It's great to have a group of people who support and encourage each other, especially when we're all working passionately on our projects. Being part of a community also helps us improve our work in amazing ways. When we're constantly challenged and exposed to new and different ideas, our work gets better and more exciting.

I can still remember how inspired I felt in music school when I attended my classmates' recitals, concerts, and other events. It was so cool to hear new music, watch talented musicians perform, and see different ways of interpreting music. Being around all that creativity and energy made us all more creative and excited about what we were doing.

Fast forward a few decades, and I’m just as excited to work with creative, bright people on solving some of our biggest social problems through technology. I enjoy reaching out to people who catch my interest and those who are doing important work, and every once in a while, something truly special occurs. It was one of those rare and magical moments that led me to Katya Siddall-Cipolla, Hopper’s founder and CEO, and it got me really excited about becoming a co-founder, CTO, and partner in building Hopper Health together.

Four years ago, I was an engineering manager at Meta and my children were going through some really tough challenges with their behavior and mental health. My wife and I could tell that something was different about our oldest child, but we didn't know exactly what it was. The places that were supposed to help us had long waiting lists for evaluations that lasted for years. We looked into different treatments, but they wouldn't provide any without a diagnosis, and to get a diagnosis, we needed an evaluation. We even tried to pay for treatments ourselves, but that also wasn't possible without a diagnosis.

The whole system was really confusing and hard to deal with... and it was incredibly expensive too. We felt like we were failing as parents, and it was really hard for us to cope with everything. Eventually, I had to take a leave of absence from my job at Meta so that I could focus on finding help for my family. It was the only option I had at that time.

While I was on leave, I met Naomi Allen, who had just started a company called Brightline Health, which aimed to support kids, teenagers, and families going through behavioral health challenges. She wanted to solve for the exact same challenges my own family was going through, and I joined right away and led the technology team for three-and-a-half years. We built a virtual company from scratch during the height of the pandemic, because we built teams that loved their work and were excited to solve the problem together.

While I was working at Brightline, my wife and I learned that our kids are neurodivergent, which gave us a much deeper understanding of their struggles and better ways for us to help. Our therapy involved a lot of training for us as parents to understand ourselves as individuals and parents and how we react to different things. Through this process, my wife and I started to recognize our own neurodivergence and understand the challenges we've faced throughout our lives. We realized that we were learning skills in our 40s that we should have learned as children, so we could then pass on those lessons to our own kids.

My wife and I began to realize how the systems in place had failed us over the years. Raising neurodivergent kids as neurodivergent parents, we experienced firsthand how challenging it was to navigate the system and find the right care for both ourselves and our kids. I was in the thick of this realization when I came across a post on LinkedIn by Katya, about starting a healthcare company to support neurodivergent adults, and I wanted to help in any way I could. I didn't have any expectations; I just wanted to provide some support and good words:

“Just wanted to quickly drop you a note: With my wife and I as a set of neurodivergent parents, trying to navigate the world and parenthood with two neurodivergent kids.... I really, really love that you're going into the space you are. If I can ever be of any help, chats, advising, or anything else, please do let me know.” 

Around the same time, I had made the decision to move on from Brightline and was slowly transitioning my responsibilities to new leaders. I had decided to take the summer off to relax and recharge, and start looking for my next job in the fall. However, when Katya and I finally connected, we immediately felt that there was something truly special between us. In just a few minutes of speaking, we both knew we wanted to keep working together in whatever way made sense.

Obviously, the mission of Hopper really connected with me, but I also know that working with the right people on a meaningful mission is just as important. Katya is exactly the kind of co-founder I was looking for: she has a lot of experience building young businesses and knows what works and what doesn't. She uses her own life experiences to drive her passion for Hopper's mission, while also making sure the business is successful and sustainable for patients. Her previous roles in the Blue Cross Blue Shield world have given her a clear understanding of how Hopper fits into the complicated health ecosystem.

Katya and I also have a lot in common, from growing up in the arts (we even went to Interlochen arts camps around the same time!) to experiencing the challenges of being a neurodivergent parent, partner, and worker. We also have very different sets of skills, which serves us well as co-founders, but they’re grounded in similar views on how to run a business, build a team, and work together. It feels like something magical.

I knew that I wanted to continue working in the healthcare industry, focusing on a business that prioritized patients and had a mission aligned with my own personal experiences. Hopper's mission to support neurodivergent adults resonated deeply with my family's journey through pediatric behavioral health and my understanding of my own neurodivergence. The reason I built Brightline was because I wanted to help other families avoid the same challenges my own family faced when it came to caring for our kids' behavioral health. Now, with Hopper, I am building something that my wife, myself, and many others need at this very moment, and that my kids will need when they become adults.