IT STARTED
ON A RUN
​Liv Labs was founded by Carly Price after the birth of her second child brought her to the realization that pelvic floor fitness would become a lifelong pursuit.
Liv Labs' founder, Carly Price, is an award-winning designer of dozens commercially successful consumer products and over 41 patents issued in her name. She founded Liv Labs to commercialize an invention, inspired by her own post-partum experience, and the experience of millions of other women worldwide.
Like over 30% of new moms, Carly lost significant pelvic floor strength after childbirth. When she asked her doctor and midwife how to address this, she was advised to do kegels – which were challenging to do correctly, and difficult to work into her daily routine. Pelvic floor physical therapy was inaccessible, and not covered by her insurance at the time.
After years of seeking an easy, accessible, affordable solution that fit into her life, she learned that there could be a simpler way to strengthen this essential muscle group, and set out to design a solution.
Carly’s personal experience inspired her to invent Pippa, a pelvic floor fitness booster worn internally to increase pelvic floor activation during core strengthening and other types of exercise.
OUR FOUNDER-INVENTOR
Carly Price
​For the past 25 years, Carly has been a design and product leader for many of the world's biggest brands, including Walmart, Ford, Chase, and Casper. Carly and her teams have conceived beautiful, user-centric products and services that are used by millions of people, every day.
Carly loves working in the details, elevating design quality to bring joy and delight to everyday experiences.
She conceived of the Pippa conforming resistance spring after trying different biofeedback devices, and in consultation with pelvic health specialists in the Bay Area.
K+ TRAINING HEAD COACH
Melissa Stendahl, PT, DPT
Coach Melissa served as an officer in the United States Air Force before earning her Doctorate in Physical Therapy.
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​Early in her practice in orthopedics and sports rehab, Coach Melissa saw the growing need for experts in pelvic floor.​ She trained extensively and is among the select few to have earned the Certificate of Achievement in Pregnancy and Postpartum Physical Therapy from the American Physical Therapy Association.
Melissa comfortably coaches women of all ages and from all walks of life. She is also experienced in a variety of athletics, including soccer, boxing, yoga, and weight training. Her personal mission is to empower clients by making pelvic health education and care accessible to all.
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OUR R&D TEAM
Left to right
Melissa Moore
Melissa Stendahl, PT, DPT
Melody Roberts
Booker Washington
Denise Steiner
Not shown
Tad Simons, PhD
Holly Jimison, PhD
Tim McKeown (photo credit)
Co-founder, Melody Roberts, leads Liv Labs today. She has assembled an amazing team of pelvic health experts, product designers, engineers, and commercialization specialists to bring new products and services to women in needs, in the United States and beyond.
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OUR PRACTICES
DESIGN FOR REAL PEOPLE
We start our work by first going deep on user needs, behaviors, beliefs and desires. We practice old-fashioned design research: spending time with people in their homes, gyms, laptops, and workplaces–watching and learning. Then we iteratively prototype and test new product concepts to ensure they hit the mark.
BUILD TO SCALE QUICKLY
Liv Labs was born into an era of automation, virtual workplaces, contract manufacturing and global commerce. These conditions afford small companies the opportunity to work with top talent anywhere, experiment affordably, and grow quickly beyond local resources and networks. We maximize these benefits at every turn.
BACKERS
We gratefully acknowledge the innovation champions who have invested early in our self-care vision.
Liv Labs has raised over $3.2M in R&D funding, including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, private capital from startup investors, and pitch competition prize money.
U.S. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF)
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEATLH (NIH)
Y COMBINATOR
ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE & ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY