When Chelsea McCallum and Alison Williams launched Tummily, they weren’t simply creating one other wellness platform.
They had been redesigning how folks expertise – and take possession of – their intestine well being.
Inside 24 hours of launch, Tummily had damaged into Apple’s High 100 Medical Apps, downloaded in over 40 nations.
No huge advert marketing campaign. No investor blitz. Simply two girls on a mission to make digestive well being instruments that really feel human, empowering, and accessible to everybody.
“Tummily’s mission is to help people with IBS and digestive challenges better understand and improve their health through intuitive, evidence-based, and personalised tools,” says Alison.
And the response proved what they already knew: there’s an infinite urge for food for consumer-led well being innovation – instruments that don’t simply sit in clinics, however stay in folks’s fingers.
Constructed from two worlds: scientific perception meets design instinct
Tummily wasn’t dreamed up in a lab. It was born out of frustration, empathy, and a shared imaginative and prescient from two very totally different disciplines.
Alison had watched her companion wrestle with IBS for years, battling the complexity of the low FODMAP weight loss program.
The Tummily app
“Every app we tried was clunky and confusing,” she says. “As a designer, I couldn’t help thinking there had to be a simpler, more human way.”
Chelsea, a dietitian, had seen the identical challenge day by day in her observe.
“For years, I’d get screenshots, food diaries, and random notes from clients – nothing that helped me give better care,” she recollects.
“There wasn’t a single platform that connected food, symptoms, and lifestyle. When I met Alison, it was like all the missing pieces finally fit.”
Collectively, they merged scientific experience with inventive design considering – and Tummily was born.
A partnership that clicked
The pair met on the Free From Allergy Present, and inside minutes realised they had been chasing the identical imaginative and prescient.
“When we met, I shared my frustrations, and Chelsea immediately recognised them,” says Alison. “She’d heard the same from her patients. We had the right mix of skills to actually build something meaningful.”
Their partnership was seamless from the beginning. “We stayed in touch, got along well, and before long, Tummily began to take shape,” Alison says. “It all felt easy and organic.”
A client well being app that broke the charts
Tummily’s launch was proof that healthcare doesn’t have to really feel scientific – or sophisticated – to make an influence.
“It shows the scale of unmet need in this space,” says Alison. “IBS affects millions globally, and two-thirds are women. Yet most still struggle in silence.”
Chelsea’s 270,000-strong digital group grew to become the springboard for launch – however not via advertising. Via co-creation.
“I took my community along for the ride,” she says. “They helped test the beta, shape the features, and even weigh in on the design. It felt like a shared mission.”
Inside a day of launch, Tummily was rating within the High 100 globally – proof that client empowerment in well being isn’t only a pattern – it’s a motion.
Two launches in a single week
The week Tummily launched, Alison additionally gave start – to her first youngster.
“When I found out I was pregnant, we’d just finalised our engineering team,” she says.
“We decided the app had to launch before the baby. But it didn’t quite work out that way!”
She ended up enhancing closing app modifications from her hospital mattress minutes earlier than her C-section.
“We launched two days after Julian was born. I was breastfeeding and bug-fixing at the same time,” she laughs. “It’s chaotic, but it’s real. Building something that supports my partner’s health feels even more meaningful now that I’m a mum.”
What makes Tummily totally different
The patron well being app area is crowded and let’s be trustworthy, is wildly underfunded. Tummily stands out by being each scientifically credible and emotionally clever.
“We built Tummily out of frustration with the other apps,” says Alison. “They’re often clinical, clunky, and intimidating. We wanted something people actually enjoy using.”
In contrast to conventional symptom trackers, Tummily’s interface is calm, hopeful, and fantastically designed. Its options are deeply customisable, letting customers monitor what issues to them – from meals and sleep to emphasize and journey.
“It’s not just about collecting data,” says Chelsea. “It’s about connecting dots and finding patterns that make sense in real life.”
The result’s a platform that feels extra like wellness and self-care than drugs – and that’s precisely the purpose.
Design that empowers, not diagnoses
At its coronary heart, Tummily is about empowerment, not prescription.
“IBS can be isolating,” says Alison. “We wanted people to feel supported, not defined by their condition.”
That philosophy extends via each element -from the app’s calming tones to its motivational streaks and mild reminders.
Alison Williams together with her different product launch
“Having IBS is crap,” Alison says, “but managing it doesn’t have to be.”
And as a model, Tummily’s design language avoids sterile cues completely.
“One user said it feels more like wellness than medical – and that’s exactly what we wanted.”
Turning science into one thing usable
Chelsea believes that evidence-based well being shouldn’t be locked behind paywalls or jargon.
“So many scientific breakthroughs are inaccessible to everyday people,” she says. “We translate that research into practical, intuitive tools people can use daily.”
That’s what makes Tummily so highly effective as a client product: it places management, understanding, and confidence again within the person’s fingers.
Classes in management and danger
When requested about pivotal moments, Alison doesn’t hesitate:
“Giving 50% of my company to someone I’d only met twice in person. It felt risky – but it’s the best decision I ever made.”
They’ve discovered loads alongside the way in which – particularly about companions.
“We lost $15,000 on agencies who talked big but didn’t deliver,” Alison says. “It hurt, but it taught us to trust action, not promises.”
Their recommendation for different girls constructing medical or wellness companies?
“Do the groundwork,” says Chelsea. “Get the support, do your research, listen to your users. Once you start building, move quickly – but make sure your foundations are solid.”
What’s subsequent for Tummily
Diary signs on Tummily
Up subsequent: a characteristic that customers have been ready for – personalised FODMAP meal planning, constructed instantly into the app.
“Even after designing a low FODMAP meal planning app, I still struggle to plan meals my whole family enjoys”, mentioned Alison.
The long-term aim? To evolve Tummily right into a TGA and FDA-approved digital therapeutic.
However for now, the main target stays the identical: maintaining it easy, private, and consumer-first.
The larger image
What Chelsea McCallum and Alison Williams have constructed goes past intestine well being.
It’s a case examine in what occurs when girls design for real-world wants – and do it with empathy, intelligence, and boldness.
As a result of in the long run, Tummily isn’t nearly digestion.
It’s about reclaiming management, normalising taboo well being conversations, and displaying that world-class innovation can stay proper within the palm of your hand.
It’s proof that the way forward for healthcare isn’t top-down.
It’s consumer-first.
And it’s being constructed – one platform, one perception, one (or on this case, two) girls at a time.
Tracey Warren is CEO & Bree Kirkham, COO, of enterprise capital agency F5 Collective.
