April Koh is the youngest woman running a multibillion-dollar company—otherwise known as a “unicorn”—and one that started in her dorm room. During her time at Yale, the Co-founder and CEO of Spring Health began taking note of the obstacles to mental health. Koh witnessed friends struggling to get the help they needed and, thanks to her entrepreneurial spirit—something she credits her father for—she sought a solution.

In 2016, Koh and her Co-founder Adam Chekroud launched Spring Health, a mental health technology company that uses AI to connect patients with tailored care. Koh soon found herself on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Healthcare in 2018 and 2020. Then in 2022, she became the youngest female CEO of a unicorn—a title she holds today with Spring Health valued at $3.3 billion. 

Suffice it to say, quite a bit has changed since Koh’s dorm days—including her becoming a mother this past year—but the struggle for individuals to find mental health care is still a prevalent challenge. Koh is standing firmly in her initial purpose, now with a team of 1200 alongside her, to break down barriers once and for all.

Early in my career, I knew I wanted to make an impact, and I saw entrepreneurship as a way to scale up change quickly. When I was in college, I watched as many of my friends and classmates struggled with mental health and navigating the complex journey to wellness. Mental health was still incredibly low-tech, and the process of matching patients with providers and treatments involved a huge amount of trial and error. I watched as people I cared about waited weeks or months to get better–or even gave up. My co-founder, Adam Chekroud, and I started building solutions to this problem. As I started my entrepreneurial path I was fortunate to have the support of my father, who was an entrepreneur himself, and I looked up to and studied the paths of trailblazing women like Sara Blakely and Judy Faulkner.

I don’t think you can be a successful founder without the right combination of confidence and humility. When you start a company you’re going to be rejected a lot–by potential investors, customers, employees, and others. The only way to keep going is to be confident that you see something they don’t. At the same time, when the world is telling you something, you need to listen. Stress test your assumptions and be willing to evolve. Bend but don’t break. Humility is especially important when it comes to hiring. When you identify your personal strengths and shortcomings you can hire in ways that optimize both and make your company more resilient.

It’s important for company leaders to understand that their teams will do what they do, not what they say. In other words, if you talk about work-life balance but don’t live by it yourself, others will follow your example. As I’ve evolved as a CEO, I’ve focused on establishing my own clear boundaries in order to make time for my family and myself. At this point in my career, I try to log off as much as possible on weekends and give myself permission to unplug during vacations. I do these things for my own well-being, and also because I have seen how our team performs better when they take care of themselves.

Nos are extremely motivational. I actually encourage entrepreneurs to have a chip on their shoulders and let rejections and roadblocks fuel them to work harder, focus more, and become better leaders. The most memorable nos were the early ones, because they felt the biggest. The best advice I can give in those moments is to hear the no and really try to understand it. Sometimes the no was because the person we were talking to didn’t understand or was resistant to our vision. Sometimes the no was based on a thoughtful and reasoned concern. If you take the time to process and understand the motivation behind the no, you’ll be far better able to make an analytical decision based on it.

Over the years I’ve been very self-conscious about my “look” and used style to downplay my age or gender. Looking back I cringe at some of the things I’ve worn–it almost looks like a kid playing dress up! I’ve since embraced simplicity and minimalism—clothes that feel authentic to who I am as a person. Comfort and confidence are key.

My proudest moment has to be running and absolutely crushing a board meeting while nine months pregnant and with COVID. It felt like a double whammy but I did it. I felt like I could do anything after that.

These days, my north star is creating a better world for Noa, my daughter, and making sure that if she ever struggles with her mental health, I will have contributed to eliminating every barrier to her care and recovery.