How Cancer Inspired a Game-Changing Medical Device with Kate Dilligan
When Kate Dilligan found a lump in her breast in a friend’s shower, she had no idea it would lead to a life-altering diagnosis—and a career-defining mission.
As a breast cancer patient, she realized how critical it was to keep her identity, her privacy, and her dignity throughout treatment.
That experience led her to launch Cooler Heads, the company behind Amma™—an innovative FDA-cleared scalp cooling device that helps chemotherapy patients reduce hair loss. Kate shares how vulnerability, loss, and leadership all shaped her mission.
Now among the 2% of solo female founders to raise over $10M, Kate’s story is equal parts grit and grace. Tune in as we explore her boldest moves and how she continues to challenge the status quo in healthcare innovation.
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Kate’s career leap from political fundraising to MedTech entrepreneurship
Her personal battle with aggressive breast cancer and how it sparked a business
The emotional and physical toll of chemotherapy—and how she fought for control
The birth of Cooler Heads and why privacy during treatment matters
Raising $20M+ in venture capital as a solo female founder
The mission behind Amma™ and its role in patient dignity
Why mentorship shaped every key decision in Kate’s journey
The power of showing up even when you don’t have all the answers
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“People were telling me I was crazy, and I did it anyway.” - Kate Dilligan
“I was not going to let cancer define me—I was going to define what came next.” - Kate Dilligan
“You don’t have to know everything to begin, you just have to start.” - Courtney Turich
“Even in our darkest chapters, we can choose how the next page is written.” - Courtney Turich
“It takes incredible strength to ask for help, and even more to rebuild.” - Kate Dilligan
About Kate
Kate Dilligan is the Founder & CEO of Cooler Heads Care, a company dedicated to providing innovative scalp cooling solutions for chemotherapy patients. As a cancer survivor, she advocates for patient privacy and identity preservation during treatment. Her posts highlight significant milestones in her company, including partnerships with health systems and recognition in the healthcare community. Dilligan emphasizes the importance of patient support and the transformative impact of her products on the lives of those undergoing cancer treatment.
Follow Kate Dilligan
Stay Connected with Courtney Turich:
A Team Dklutr Production
BLOG TRANSCRIPT
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Courtney Turich: Hey friends, in today's episode, we're chatting with someone who is close to me in my professional life. Her name is Kate Dilligan, the founder and CEO of the company, cooler Heads, and the company I work for as the Global VP of Sales and Marketing. So you're wondering what is cooler heads? We'll get into that in a moment, but Kate has made some really bold moves and confident choices to build something incredible.
We'll dive into her journey, the key lessons learned, and some surprising insights along the way. So a little bit about our inspiring guest, Kate Dilligan from her breast cancer patient to a med tech powerhouse. Kate has turned her personal battle of cancer into a bold mission. She's a former political fundraiser and Silicone Valley executive.
Kate founded cooler heads to give chemotherapy patients the dignity of choice. The newest innovative FDA cleared scalp coin solution designed to help patients minimize hair loss during chemotherapy, but has also taken a very patient centered approach. The device she brought to market is called Amma, which also means mother and Tamil because everybody wishes their mom was with them during a difficult time.
With a Stanford MBA 130 million in prior fundraising experience, she is relentless to fix what's broken in healthcare. Kate is redefining what it means to lead with purpose. So get ready for a lot of goodness and bold moves. Kate, thank you so much for being here today on Bold Moves, confident Choices.
Kate Dilligan: Thank you so much for inviting me, Courtney. I was really honored, when you invited me on.
Courtney Turich: Well, of course. And Kate, I'm just excited to have you here because you have such an amazing story and there's so many different levels of your story. But before we start diving into them, would you tell us all just a little bit more about you?
Sure.
Kate Dilligan: when I went to college, I really had no particular mission. I come from a family of academics. Both my dad was a professor, my mom was in second education, and I had a passion for history. So I have an undergraduate degree in modern European history and in my family that was completely acceptable and to not have a career path.
I stumbled into politics after I graduated from college because not knowing what I wanted to do. There was a democratic member of Congress in my home congressional district, and I interned there, and within a week they needed somebody young that they could just work a hundred hours a week on the campaign side.
So offered me a job where I was making. 1200 gross a month, and would be working all the time. And it turned out I was really good at political fundraising and, worked throughout that campaign cycle. Cut the eye of people at the d ccc, which is the democratic congressional arm that helps democratic congressional campaigns.
When they sent me to do a special election, in New Mexico, I got on a bunch more people's radars. And so at the age of 24. I was handed a choice between top congressional campaigns in California, which, for anybody who's, pays a little bit of attention to politics. California is kind of the ATM or one of the primary ATMs of the Democratic Party.
I. And I chose to work for a woman named Loretta Sanchez, who was the first member of the Hispanic Caucus to represent a non-majority Hispanic seat in Orange County, California, which at the time had been traditionally Republican. She kicked out of office, this guy named Bob Dornan, who was a right wing fire brand.
And I'm starting with the story of Loretta because. I chose to work for Loretta even though the house was threatening to kick her out. 'cause the house actually does have the capacity to choose its own membership. So the house was threatening to kick her out 'cause she won her election, by less than 900 votes.
The Power of Choosing the Scary Path
And it was gonna be a hotly contested election. It was gonna be one of the top races in the country. I had the attention of, not only the do CC, C, but Emily's List and these other democratic organizations that were really invested in keeping Loretta in her seat. I chose the thing that scared the crap outta me.
I chose the thing that I wasn't sure I knew how to do, and it was that choice that I started making at 24 that took me to business school. That took me into, tech and national security, and that's taken me here and cooler heads. It's that being willing to jump in even when you don't know how you're gonna pull it off.
Courtney Turich: So Kate, what, gave you that catapult to jump in to that moment?
Kate Dilligan: it's interesting, it's kind of similar, in politics, in, you know, my previous career and here at Cooler Heads is I had the mentorship of people who I really valued. And so at the time there was a guy by the name of Derek Thompson who was the guy at the D CCC who was helping staff.
the top Democratic races he was a person in charge of making sure that they got good fundraisers in there as well as a woman named Sam Smoot, who was at Emily's List. Who, who's a big pro-choice democratic, women fundraising arm, and Derek and Sam. Told me I could do it.
Derek and Sam said, we will help you. You don't have to know that we like you, we trust you. We see that you're hardworking. Let's do this. And that helped give me the confidence to go in and do something. You know, I'd never been finance director before. You know, I'd worked on two campaigns at the time, but I'd always had people above me.
I was now gonna be Top Dog at 24. but they really encouraged me to jump in. So knowing that I had Derek and Sam. I my back, my like pushing me forward and being like, it's okay. You're not gonna have all the answers. We're gonna be here to help you. That made that decision a lot easier.
Courtney Turich: Kay. I wanna highlight this for a moment because it reiterates that you don't have to do things alone, right?
Like Correct. Finding your tribe, finding your people, those individuals who will help support you and lift you through the journey. Even though it was really scary, I.
Kate Dilligan: Absolutely. It was terrifying. I mean, I'm 24 years old. I am the finance director for the top target of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee.
I know that like we're being scrutinized not only by the Orange County Register and the LA Times, but by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, because this is a really high profile race. Like at the time, this is the late nineties, totally dating myself. Bill Clinton was president, but to have Hispanic woman representing what was then bright red Orange County was a sea change event.
I couldn't make him misstep because if I screwed up it was gonna be in the front page of the New York Times and that actually. is where I learned to think about. If you don't wanna read it about it in the New York Times, don't do it.
Courtney Turich: that is something you stand by to this day everyone.
I will tell you. Absolutely. I've heard that line several times. So, Kate, before we jump into your bold move, 'cause I really think we'll probably, spend a lot of time there. I think we all wanna know. What happened when you took that role? Did it stay Republican or what was the end result?
Kate Dilligan: So Loretta, we not only knocked it out of the park on that 98 campaign, Loretta became co-chair of the DNC for the 2000 campaign cycle when Al Gore was the nominee.
I was gonna have the hottest party at the DNC, which was gonna be in Los Angeles. this is a very long story, a little bit of a, non sequitur. But we were gonna have, our event, Loretta had APAC called Hispanic Unity, USA, which was help support Hispanic candidates, local to federal races.
I. because Bob Dornan was so right wing, he tried to get Playboy Band from military bases across the world. Like he wanted Playboy to be out. Like, so, like GIS couldn't buy Playboy, even when they're, stationed abroad. And so Hugh Hefner was a huge supporter of Loretta. So we were gonna have our DNC event at the Playboy mansion, and we wound up having to move it two weeks before.
But I gotta tell you, for a couple of months, I was one of the most popular people in the Democratic party. Everybody wanted into my campaign event. I bet everybody wanted part of your party, so long story short, Loretta held that seat for years. We broke records when I worked for her, and I left that campaign to go to business school, which Loretta encouraged me to do.
Loretta. going back to having mentors, I was getting offered Senate seats. the opportunity were not Senate seats to work on. That's the way we talk about it in politics. But I was getting offered these big deal senate races, like, Hey, do you wanna keep moving up? But a friend of mine who I'd worked with in politics went to Stanford Business School and I decided I wanted to go to business school.
And so. I'd be driving Loretta around at night, driving her to the airport after a long day of events and she's like, so how's your prep for the GM A going, which is the entrance exam for business school? And I would be like, We did four events this weekend and I'm working for you. She's like, yeah, I don't care.
I expect you to go. And so when I found out that I got into Stanford Business School and I called her and told her she was in DC and apparently for the next week, like that's all she talked about in any of her meetings with constituents. And when I went to Admit weekend, I brought her a Stanford Business School t-shirt, that she wore at a house gym.
And she told me a story about how she was showing it off to New Gingrich. So she's like, well, my hand director is going to Stanford Business School. So again, but it's like having that mentorship and people who are like, no, I wanna see what else you can do. I want you to do that thing. cause I figured out politics and she's like, I want you to go do something else.
that was also really transformative.
Courtney Turich: She challenged you and you took the challenge. Yes. Yep. That's amazing. Okay, Kate, time for a big question. And what was that big, bold, confidence move in your life that has taken things to the next level for you personally or professionally?
Kate Dilligan: going back to politics, quitting my job that I had when I had cancer to starting cooler heads is jumping into the unknown. It's okay to not have the answers. It's okay to not know what you're doing. the thing I think about a lot, I think I've told this to you court, like the things I regret in life are the things I chickened out of.
And so being willing to take the risk, that is the bold move because you don't know. You don't know how the, how you know the story's gonna end unless you start,
Courtney Turich: right. So, Kate, take us to the moment when you're diagnosed with cancer. So
Kate Dilligan: I was actually on a business trip in New York and when I went to New York, I.
Back in the day, I stayed with my best friend Gina, who lived just a couple of blocks from Penn Station, and I found a lump on my breast taking a shower at Gina's apartment, before I had a business meeting in the city. And I bring up Gina because when we graduate from business school in 2003.
Gina was diagnosed with breast cancer later that year, and she went through chemo surgery, radiation. They thought that they got it, but it returned in 2005 as metastatic disease, so it's 2016. in the previous couple years, I'd lost both my mother and my father. And I'm in Gina's apartment knowing that, you know, and she was successfully managing her disease.
Like if you didn't know her, you didn't know that she had, if you didn't, know her closely, no one had any idea. Like, she was just, she was on every three weeks getting Herceptin, it was managing the disease. and she was living her life. We were traveling, we were having fun, we were doing all kinds of stuff together.
she was my closest friend, like she was my person. And I found this lump in my breast and I was like. This side doesn't feel like this other side. I wonder what that is. And there's no history of breast cancer in my family. My mother had died of metastatic lung cancer, but she was a lifelong smoker, so that really wasn't that much of a surprise.
The Cancer Diagnosis That Changed Everything
but I called my doctor and I want everybody listening to really hear this part of the story. I called my doctor and I, needed to get in to see my ob, GYN. This is the end of September. His first appointment was mid-November, and my starting to advocate for myself started right there and I said, I found a lump in my breast.
I need to see somebody before that. So they got me in to see one of his colleagues, later that week. And it turns out I'd already started chemotherapy by the time I would've had that first appointment with him. 'cause I had really aggressive breast cancer. And I remember, I was at a parking garage.
I just got out of the grocery store when I saw the phone call from the doctor confirming that the biopsy was indeed cancer and that. I had to go to the medical oncologist and I just remember feeling cold all over, like, just like fear, and. I had told Marsha, who's my other best friend, my best friend from college.
and I told Marsha, I didn't wanna tell Gina until I knew what the deal was. I just didn't wanna burden her with that until we really understood what the disease was. And I remember calling Marsha and crying and her just saying, it's gonna be okay. We're gonna get through this. And It's been a journey ever since then. 'cause like, here's the thing, like once you have cancer, once you're told that diagnosis, I'm very fortunate, I now know evidence of disease, but they don't say I'm cured. And because it can always come back. And so, I remain on Tamoxifen 'cause I had estrogen positive breast cancer.
So it's to suppress the hormones because my estrogen fed the cancer. I'm gonna be on that drug for another couple years. I get an MRI as well as mammogram every year, but like it,never goes away. It's a monkey on your back that like you're always kind of wondering, is it going to come back?
And it's an unknowable answer. I mean, you and I, I mean, Courtney, you do this too every day, right? We work with patients all the time and I definitely have some survivor's guilt because I'm fine and we work with so many people who aren't.
Courtney Turich: Right. So, Kate, help everybody understand a few things. What is the drug you're on Tamoxifen, like
Kate Dilligan: mm-hmm.
What is that? secondly, can you explain what metastatic is? Sure. Briefly. And then, really wanna understand then when you were diagnosed, what that looks like for you. So Tamoxifen is a drug that basically takes the hormones, that it takes estrogen out of your body. So I found the lump in my breast when I was 42, and so key therapy throws you into menopause.
And so when I was done with. Chemo surgery and radiation. They put me on Tamoxifen to kind of keep me in early menopause ' cause they just wanna, they wanna strip all of that out of you. And so, I actually had the Mirena IUD, which is an IUD and it also works with estrogen that had to go to, so like you can't have anything, so like hormone replacement therapy, which is safe, et cetera, et cetera.
For most people it isn't for me, because I had estrogen positive breast cancer. Metastatic disease to your next question. Metastatic disease is when the cancer spreads from its primary location to another location, and that basically means that cancer is incurable. It can be stage four disease can be managed.
Now it is not, you know, Gina lived for. 13 years with metastatic disease. But metastatic disease means that the disease will eventually continue to spread. and that's a very scary diagnosis. For me, what cancer looked like is, you know, my father had died in January of 2016. My mother had died in November of 2014, and my father had dementia and Parkinson's disease.
Learning to Ask for Help and Finding Community
Like, it was a very sad time, in our family. And I was feeling like I was starting to come out of the grief and then I was punched in the face. By getting a cancer diagnosis and I'm single. and so I don't have that partner or children or anybody else to rely upon, and I. What cancer taught me is that I need help.
And you know, like I'd had that help and that support and that mentorship in my professional career. but I'm very independent and so I had to learn that I needed help and, being you chemotherapy patient in particular. So I got chemo every other Thursday and. Chemo is not fun. Like you don't feel great when you're doing it, but when you really start to feel like crap after chemo tends to be days two and three.
So like Saturday and Sundays were really, really hard. Like those are the days where like you're just on the sofa and you really can't get up. And I learned that for me, even though I lived by myself, like I felt better when there was somebody else there. So I would ask friends to come and I called it chemo sitting me.
And so like, will you come and chemo sit me this weekend? So come stay in my guest bedroom and do you know what we're gonna do all weekend? Nothing. You're gonna walk the dog. Maybe I'll walk with you, but like I'm gonna lay on the sofa. And I just wanted that comfort of somebody else being there. And it was a very, very vulnerable time.
Like I'm getting emotionally and thinking about it. But I realized the first weekend I had chemo. I'm sitting in my living room. I had a rescue Golden retriever at the time, and I'm really not feeling well. I'm just trying to read a book and just chillax. And then Corra goes and she throws up on the rug next to me and I'm like, wait a minute.
No, you. Sick. I do not wanna clean a dog vomit right now. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. and I was like, I don't wanna do this on my own. Not that I was gonna make somebody else clean up my dog sick, but it was just like, I just, I don't wanna do
Courtney Turich: this on my own. I need help. Well, and for everyone out there who doesn't know Kate GaN she is extremely independent and asking for help is not easy for you, Kate.
No, but I am really proud that you did realize that you can't do it alone. And just like here at Cooler Heads, which I know we're gonna talk about a little bit more, but you know, when you're diagnosed with cancer, and I didn't know this until I really got in the cancer world, Kay, how much, like how long is that process?
How long were you in the thick of dealing with your cancer? From point of diagnosis to, let's say, until your, your treatment is over. The main treatment side of it?
Kate Dilligan: The main treatment, yeah, so I did, so I started chemo two days after the 2016 presidential election. But you know, I found that lump at the end of September, so October, which is, you know, the month of my birthday.
Was just a flurry of appointments and figuring out what my treatment path would be. And you know, the first time I walked into a medical oncologist's office again asking for help, my friend Sarah was with me. And I do recommend for those of you out there if you need somebody to come and support you when you're doing like a complex medical appointment, bring a friend who's a lawyer 'cause they're gonna ask really good follow up questions and take detailed notes.
She an assistant attorney at the time. She's now in private practice. Um. But I was hoping I had what I call cut it out cancer, like people know that, you know, there's breast cancer doesn't necessarily mean chemotherapy. It can mean all kinds of things. It can just mean surgery. It can mean surgery and radiation.
Or in my case it was chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, tamoxifen, oral chemotherapy. You know, in years of follow-up care, because my disease was really aggressive. So I started chemo in early November and was done with radiation at the end of July, but it wasn't until the previous. Until the next spring that I was done with my course of oral chemo.
So cancer changes everything. I mean, I talked a little bit about, you know, it never really goes away, but when you're in the midst, especially if you're getting the kind of chemo that makes your hair fall out, like I. Everything that you're doing in your life becomes secondary to that treatment, right?
Like that promotion, you were going for that big project at work. You know that personal trip you were going to do big family events. Everything is now subsumed by your disease and your treatment. You know, you're immunocompromised, you feel like crap after treatment. And I have to say like I think I was a couple standard deviations.
In the extreme of tolerating chemotherapy? Well, I think I put it down to being like, you know, from peasant stock, but you know, everybody's different in how they tolerate it, and I tolerated it pretty well. I continued to work throughout it. Um, but it just is so overwhelming and all encompassing and it was, you know, getting to cooler heads.
It was Sarah that found out that there was a therapy that existed that would prevent me from losing all of my hair and for me to be able to compartmentalize my disease and to continue to work because I, you know, we have, you know, we work with patients day in day out, who elect to go on medical leave. I was an executive at a company and I was told if I took family, if I went on FMLA, the Family Medical Leave Act, um, executives are exempt from that because they could say, this is a critical position.
Like, I was basically told, like there was, and there was a lot of politics at that job where they tried to get me to take FMLA so they could fire me. Um, but I wasn't gonna give them that satisfaction. So I continued to work. Um, throughout, so I would, you know, take every other Thursday off to do chemo work from home on Friday and be back in the office on Monday.
And so having a way that I could continue to compartmentalize my disease by keeping my hair was a really big thing. Like you, like Courtney knows me really well, but like I'm a really casual person. A lot of times I've got my hair pulled up in a messy bun, like, you know, but. Keeping your hair during chemo allows patients to control the conversation about who knows that you're sick.
'cause if you all of a sudden have hair and then you don't, everybody's like, huh, are you sick? Did you shave your head for somebody? Is somebody in your life sick? And all of a sudden, anything that you're doing becomes about communicating the status of your disease to somebody else. And so that is a really.
Emotionally taxing thing. I'm sorry, my dog is barking.
Courtney Turich: Oh, that's, that's real life, Kate. We're good. Um, but you know, I wanna share with everyone. When I first learned about cooler heads and scalp cooling, I'm ashamed of myself because when I heard of this, I thought it was all about vanity until I started working with Kate and getting to know her story, our patient stories.
That's when I. Was like, oh my gosh. It is about so much more. I never put myself in your shoes, Kate, and I hope I never, well put myself in your shoes with cancer. Absolutely don't
Kate Dilligan: get cancer. Zero stars do not recommend.
Courtney Turich: No, I do not want that. Um, but you realize it is about privacy and identity telling your story on your own terms.
The last thing I would personally want is going to the grocery store and having everyone look at me and being like, oh my gosh, she's sick. I hope she's okay. Giving me the pity party. I. Because that is the last thing I want. So, and I mean, and
From Patient to Founder: The Birth of Cooler Heads
Kate Dilligan: we hear this day in and day out court from our patients. Like they, I forget who it was, but somebody just said it so articulately in a way, I hadn't framed it before, but like, keeping your hair during chemo allows you to straddle to worlds.
So you're straddling the world of who you were before that diagnosis because. You know your colleagues at work, you know your kids', friends', parents, like you know your kids', school teachers, like you don't have to tell them what's going on with you, and then you can go into cancer land and go to treatment and deal with your medical team and do all the things that you need to do for treatment, but allows you to kind of.
Yeah, to go back and forth between the two, which is so empowering.
Courtney Turich: Yes, it definitely is. And we hear that all the time. So Kate, you create cooler heads. Why did you create cooler heads? Why are we here today? Because by the way, everyone, we have our cooler head shirts on. Like we're we're, we do. We're twins.
Yeah, we're twinning right now. But I'm sorry, Kate, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Why are we here at cooler Heads?
Kate Dilligan: I had to spend $8,000 to keep my hair. So I used manual cold caps, which are essentially gel caps that are frozen and dry ice, and you have to switch them on and off your head every 20 to 30 minutes before, during, and for several hours.
Following chemotherapy and it's a really rudimentary procedure. A friend of mine said the 18 hundreds called and want their therapy back. And so if you think about it, like everybody's like, you know, jammed their wrist or their knee or whatever, it has had to ice it. Well, the ice melts right after about, you know, 10, 15 minutes.
'cause our bodies ambient temperature, warms it back up. So that's why you're switching these things constantly on and off your head because the method of action and why this therapy works is. What we're doing is we're restricting the blood flow to the hair follicles. 'cause the chemo that makes your hair fall out, it's essentially, like I described it as napalm.
It's a blunt force instrument and it is attacking every single fast-growing cell in your body because the cancer tumor, whether it's breast cancer or colon cancer, or prostate cancer, um, anything else, it's rapidly growing cells. So the chemotherapy is going after. Every fast-growing cell. So it's going after the tumor, but it's also going after your nerve endings, your digestive lining, your white blood cells, your hair, et cetera, et cetera.
And so by constricting the blood flow to the hair follicles, we're preventing them from absorbing that cytotoxic chemo that would kill them off. Um. I had to pay somebody because you know, again, I'm single. I'm very independent and I was making a lot of money at the time. I paid somebody to come and switch these caps on and off my head every 20 to 30 minutes for six to eight hours, depending on which of the chemotherapies I was on.
The reason cooler heads exists is because the day before my third chemotherapy infusion, I got a call from the company saying, the person that we have for you tomorrow quit. So sorry. And like that was it. And the thing is, if you miss one chemotherapy session, if you miss scalp cooling, once your hair follicles are gonna get killed off.
Like it's a, it's a, you either do it or you don't. Like, it's very much a black and white thing with the, with this therapy that we provide. And again, being me, um, I told the company that was unacceptable. And that I was going to pay somebody, whereas normally paying somebody $500, you know, here in San Diego, the company was based in la.
I told them they were gonna find me somebody in LA to drive to San Diego. I would pay them a thousand dollars and pay their mileage and put them up at a hotel and they would be there the next morning. Because this just felt so out of control. And like I just said, that moment Courtney just felt such rage that like, I'd made this choice.
I'd already spent $2,000 on this and they were gonna take it away from me. And so I was like, Uhuh, we're not doing that. And so. I had to wind up doing that twice, and that's how I spent more than $8,000. And so the whole concept behind Amma is what is something that patients can do on their own that's portable, that's affordable?
And you know, you and I know the big news is that next year Medicare is moving the reimbursement for scalp cooling from a temporary reimbursement code to permanent reimbursement codes, which is what is gonna get private payers on board to cover it because. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network, which are the 33 academic institutions that set the standard of care for cancer patients, they all say.
Patients with solid tumors should have access to this therapy like it is part of treating the whole person. Like it is well recognized in oncology that allowing a patient to keep their hair during chemotherapy is a dramatic, has a dramatic impact on their wellbeing in court. You and I see this all the time.
8% of patients who are told that they need chemo, refuse it because they don't wanna look their hair. 'cause to what you were saying earlier, they don't wanna be pity, they don't wanna walk around looking like a cancer patient. And so we can take that worry off the table for them. Um, so I started this company.
Just as an idea and you know, kind of back to the politics story, having two people behind your back. In this case it was my friends Kevin and Tracy, that I kind of told them that I had this crazy idea because I'd quit the company where they tried to force me out, I had them to pay me to go away. I negotiated an exit with them when I was done with treatment.
So I left on my own terms and I was trying to think of what do I wanna do next? And Tracy and Kevin were like, we've invested in that. And yeah, you should do it. And these are people who, you know, I went to business school with. They're so successful professionally. I have so much respect for them, and they're just my closest friends, and I was like, huh.
Maybe I'll give it a whirl.
Courtney Turich: And here we are today. Here we are today. So everyone, we have been in business officially selling Amma since 2022, July, 2022. Um,
Kate Dilligan: when you officially joined the team, you'd been consulting and I tricked you into joining. Um, and it's because I can play like four.
Courtney Turich: It's been a whirlwind ever since, but a lot of exciting news.
Um, that we're gonna end up sharing with you, but, um. The big thing about Amma is it actually is owned by the infusion center, so we do not sell or rent to patients. It is something that the infusion center where the patient's getting treatment has to have the technology. So our team here at Cooler Heads has been busy the past two and a half, almost three years, running around trying to get Amma into every facility possible.
In the meantime. Our fearless leader, Kate, has been working behind the scenes trying to find major investors to allow us to keep making this impact. Believing in, um, changing just patient the patient care approach, making it very patient centered, bringing something to the forefront that is making a difference.
So, Kate, share a little bit about. Kicking this product off where we are today and where you foresee cooler heads being,
Kate Dilligan: oh gosh. Um. I mean, taking this product off, you know, it's so interesting. So you know women, so I'm a solo female founder and I said at the beginning of this, my undergraduate degree is in history.
I was working in National Security Tech before this, like that's a company I was at where they tried to force me out. I do not have a background. I. In hardware, you know, making a physical product. And I certainly did not have a background in medical devices. And so when I wanted to build Amma, I wanted to have it to be, you know, a patient driven, easy to use, flexible platform that would be seamlessly integrated into infusion centers.
And the attitude I got from investors was like, that's a nice idea. Let us know when you have revenue. Like there was a lot, there was just a ton of skepticism. People didn't think that I would be able to do it. People didn't think that, um, well, I mean that's basically it. People didn't think I could do it.
People think I would quit and give up. Um, I. Because I had never been a solo founder before because I'd never done hardware. Like there was no reason to place a bet on me just having been a patient. Um, but you know, I'm now pleased to say that we have closed our Series A. We are not yet able to be public with who the investors are, but I'm now part of the.
2% of solo female founders that have raised more than $10 million. We've actually raised well over 20. Um, again, not gonna be too specific about the amounts, um, but you know, women founders raised dramatically less money than their male counterparts. Um. That's just a fact. Um, and so it is so exciting to, you know, have recently closed, you know, a significant, you know, series A, um, that will be over $11 million just for this one round.
Um, and you know, once we're able to be public with who the investors are, these are heavy hitters, um, who see that, you know, we are solving a problem. Um, you know, there's only two other competitors and they're actually merging. Scout Cooling to date has only been available at about 20, 25% of infusion centers.
So like we call them greenfield opportunities here at Cooler Heads, which means like opportunities to bring scout cooling to places that have never done it before. And 70% of our accounts have not offered scout cooling until we made it. Financially feasible for them to do so. Um, and then the other 30% we've taken from our competitors, so we're, we're growing fast.
And you know what's really exciting is, you know, Courtney, like you've added just some bang up talent to our sales team. And we're getting s out there throughout the country at some of the biggest health systems that have global reputations. Um, so we're ready for this huge influx of patients that will, you know, we're enrolling more and more patients, excuse me, every month as more of our infusion centers start enrolling.
But once reimbursement kicks in in January of next year, like Sally bar the door.
Defying the Odds and Leading the Mission
Courtney Turich: So Kate, let's rewind a little and I want you to share. How does it feel? How does it feel to be where you're at today and to be one of the 2% of female founders?
Kate Dilligan: It feels wonderful. I mean, and that seems so, that seems like such an inadequate thing to say, but like it has been such a weight. Um, you know, and Courtney, like your leadership on the sales team, um, Nick Disher, our colleague who runs our engineering and manufacturing, his leadership throughout this process.
To keep us all focused, to keep us all moving forward, to continue to make progress as we've raid this round. Like I just know for all three of us, it's just been blood, sweat, and tears I went to. Um, so we're part of the San Diego startup ecosystem. Even though court, you're in North Carolina and our. Sales team is across the country.
Um, but there's an organization called Connect, which is a big part of the San Diego startup ecosystem. And they do an annual event at the Padres where they invite founders that have been through the program and venture capitalists, whatever. So I was sitting talking to a VC at this, um, baseball game, um, which Padres won, uh, the week after we closed.
And he looked at me, he is like, so do you like being a CEO? And I was like, this week.
You know, as a startup founder, like. If it gets to my desk, that means that it's either a hard decision or something isn't going well. Like I don't get to do like I love, like when we do like commercial, like I love hearing the good news, but a lot of times, like I spend my time on the things that are hard.
The aren't going well and thinking about how can we make things better, but having this huge win and to be able to, you know, you know, I personally sent chocolates to the entire team to celebrate, you know, super bad. We got this round done. Um. Just, uh, you know, as a thank you to everybody who's continued to help us grow and make this amazing progress as we've gone through this raise.
Um, it's just been, it's been transformational. Like, I just feel like the weight of the world, the weight of my world in one sense is off our shoulders. But, you know. As I've been telling, you know, you and Nick and the rest of the team, we now have very specific milestones we need. Exactly. So it's like we all had, you know, a week or two to catch our breath and, you know, got board meeting coming up in June and we have a lot, we have a lot to do, um, to report out to the board, but it's very exciting.
Courtney Turich: And so how do you keep your, when going through all this, Kate, how do you keep your mindset in the right place? What do you do?
Kate Dilligan: Um, you know, you know that like my, you know, my poison is orange theory and so having something where I turn off for an hour and like, you know, whatever that is for anybody out there, like having a thing where it's like I'm working out so hard, I can't even really think about anything.
Like that's really important. But, you know, very much like as I was going through cancer is trying to compartmentalize it. Like there was a point in the negotiations, um. Between our new investors and our old investors, things got kind of sticky. And you know, I was talking to our corporate council, she called me.
You know, when you're getting a call from your corporate council at 6 45 in the morning, that's normally not a good thing. And so we were talking about, you know, how we were gonna get through this sticky wicket. And I said, you know, Karen. I've lost my parents, my best friend, and I've had cancer. Like, we'll just, we'll figure it out.
We're just gonna keep going. And you just, you just have to say like, you know what, like, giving up and dying isn't an, isn't the answer. So we're just gonna keep going. And you just have to have that fortitude and just be like, we're just gonna go. Because sitting here and whining about it isn't gonna solve anything.
Courtney Turich: Right. And really reflecting everything you have gotten through to know that you're gonna pull through this and it's going, you're going to make it happen. Exactly. Like having
Kate Dilligan: like, it's like, well, I'm still here. I've been through loss. I know what matters most and we will figure this out. Yeah.
Courtney Turich: So Kate, when you look back at your 18-year-old self, what would you tell little Kate today?
Kate Dilligan: I, I would tell her to go for it. You know, when I was, when I. Left business. When I was graduating from business school, a friend of mine and I had an idea to do a roll up of veterinary hospital. So basically going around, veterinary hospitals are like, um, dentist's office, you know, vets go to school to become vets, not small business owners.
And our concept was let's buy a bunch of vet veterinary practices, make sure the vets, you know, are extremely well compensated. They have great benefits, it's a great place to work. Like we'll run the business and they'll just be vets And I chickened out. Um, we actually, like when you're in Stanford business school, people will give you money like crazy.
It actually gets harder when you're out, but you come up with like some hair braided scream grad, you know, and it wasn't hair-brained. Like we had a really good idea, but I was afraid because I had, you know, hundreds of thousands, I had debt from going to business school and I was like, I don't know if we can do this.
And I always think back to that and wonder what if. And so I would tell my 18-year-old self to go for it. Because even if things don't work out, you're gonna learn something. And we only get one ride around this, you know, we only get one ride, we only get one life, right? You only live once like Yolo. And if you can really embrace that, and I, you know, I'm on saying go out and rob a bank or hurt other people.
But if you're genuinely trying to do something positive in the world and you're just not sure how you're gonna pull it off, go for it. The worst thing that happens is it doesn't work, but it's not like you're gonna wind up with, you know, cancer. That can just happen. So go for
Courtney Turich: it, is what I would tell my 18-year-old self, Hey, I'm reflecting back on our conversation and time has flown by together.
It keeps surfacing for me that just go out and do it. Take the risk, like you just said, you would tell your 18-year-old self just to go for it, but at the same time, surround yourself. With people who will encourage you, lift you up Yes. But challenge you at the same time. Mm-hmm.
Kate Dilligan: Yeah. And I would say, you know, and you know, and that's still something that I have, you know, here at Cooler Heads, whether it's our investors or you know, our advisors, or Courtney, you know, you as my partner and executive leadership, you know, we talk about things, we give each other feedback.
We think about how we can be better and have really frank kind of conversations, but that makes our working relationship so much more productive and richer because of that. It does.
Courtney Turich: It's been a really fun journey, Kate, uh, three years. I can't believe it's been three years together. Uh, it's really exciting to see what's gonna come in the future.
And Kate, again, thank you so much for being here today. If people need to reach out to you, where do they find you?
Kate Dilligan: You can find me on LinkedIn, Kate GaN easy. Like I absolutely read, you know, my incoming messages. Super easy to find. Um, or if you wanna go to Kate GaN on Instagram, you can see a lot of reels of my dogs,
Courtney Turich: which they're great as well.
Um, you can also find cooler heads@coolerheadscare.com. Um, happy to share more information with you. But everyone, thank you so much for listening today. Remember, go be bold, be confident, and be you. Thanks.
We could have kept talking about, we could have.
