Why Fertility Treatment Is Broken (And What Needs to Change) | Tess Cosad on Building Béa Fertility

What if the most important fertility treatment of the last decade wasn’t invented in a clinic, but built from scratch, during a lockdown, by someone who had never worked in medicine? In this episode of Why Design, Tess Cosad shares the belief that sits at the heart of Béa Fertility: that compassionate, clinical-grade care should be available to everyone, not just those who can afford a private clinic, survive a two-year waiting list, or live near the right postcode. Rather than accepting the gap between DIY conception and IVF, Tess chose to fill it. That decision led her through 283 investor pitches, a chronic health condition brought on by founder stress, and a phone call from a user in her hospital bed, the day after emergency surgery, who said she wanted to try again. This conversation isn’t about fertility as a product category. It’s about design as access. Design as dignity. Design as a force that changes what’s possible for real people, in real pain, right now. Don’t just listen. Go beyond the podcast. In this episode we’ll learn Why intracervical insemination existed before IVF, and why it took a lockdown founder to bring it home How lived experience, not research studies, solved the product’s biggest usability problem in a single session Why compassion and levity aren’t soft brand choices, they’re clinical design decisions What 283 investor rejections reveal about structural bias in venture capital, and how to keep going anyway How Béa is building for the US market, and why it’s already outperforming revenue forecasts by nearly 100% Why the hardest part of scaling isn’t the product, it’s the loneliness, the letting go, and the coping mechanisms that actually work Memorable Quotes “I want to try again.” “You can’t do your entire career on level 10 difficulty and not come out of it better at your job.” “283 pitches to close 15. That’s the fundraising reality of femtech.” “She flipped the diagram. And that was it. One session.” “Make decisions fast”, the advice I ignored too long.” Resources & Links 🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & Amazon - whydesign.club 👥 Join the Why Design community - teamkodu.com/whydesign 📸 Follow @whydesignxkodu on Instagram & TikTok 📸 Follow @kodurecruitment on Instagram 🎥 Watch full episodes - YouTube 🔗 Follow Chris Whyte on LinkedIn - Mr Chris Whyte 🔗 Explore Béa Fertility - beafertility.com 🔗 Connect with Tess Cosad - [email protected] / LinkedIn About the Why Design Why Design is powered by Kodu, a specialist recruitment partner for the hardware and physical product development industry. Through honest conversations with designers, engineers and creative leaders, we explore not just what they build, but why they build it, the beliefs, decisions and responsibility behind meaningful work. About Kodu Kodu is a specialist recruitment partner dedicated to physical product development. We connect hardware brands and design consultancies with the very best design and engineering talent, from Industrial Designers and Mechanical Engineers to senior leaders across Product, Technology, and Design. Our clients range from well-funded start-ups and scale-ups under investor pressure to deliver, through to mature enterprises building new innovation teams. They often face the same challenges: scaling beyond generalists, attracting talent without a recognized employer brand, or struggling with slow, inconsistent hiring processes. We solve these hiring problems with a proven 7-stage recruitment framework, a proprietary hardware network, and storytelling that builds trust with candidates. This results in a faster, smoother, and more engaging hiring experience. Kodu consistently delivers results that exceed expectations, with an average time-to-offer of 6 weeks, 97% retention after 12 months, and an all-time NPS of +91 (versus the recruitment industry average of +30). We act as trusted partners, helping hardware innovators hire better, scale faster, and bring groundbreaking products to market. 🔗 Learn more - teamkodu.com