What We Can Learn From Ida Tin’s Mission for Women’s Health | Blush & Bloom Podcast | Ep. 4

Gigi
Jul 23
5 min read

Updated: Jul 25

When I launched Blush and Bloom, I imagined conversations that would not only explore women’s health and self-care but also spotlight the people driving meaningful change.

This week’s guest, Ida Tin, embodies that mission. As co‑founder and former CEO of Clue, one of the world’s most trusted cycle‑tracking apps with over 10 million users, Ida coined the term FemTech and has since built FemTech Assembly, a think tank advancing investment and innovation in women’s health.

Here’s a look at her journey, learnings, and vision for the future.

In This Episode, We Cover:

💡 From frustration to innovation – How tracking her basal temperature manually led Ida to build one of the first cycle apps.

💡 What ethical leadership looks like – From 4-day workweeks to “Body Tuesdays,” how she built Clue as a people-first company.

💡 The behind-the-scenes of FDA approval – What it takes for a small team to get regulatory clearance and why it’s not always sustainable.

💡 Cycle tracking as a fifth vital sign – Why your period isn’t just a monthly visitor, but a marker of overall health.

💡 Normalizing menstruation globally – How Clue empowered users in over 190 countries to better understand their bodies.

💡 What Ida’s doing now – From launching FemTech Assembly to writing her book and mentoring the next generation of founders.

💡 Her advice to future founders – “If you spot a need in your life, trust that it’s real—even if others don’t see it yet.”

This conversation is about care-driven innovation and what it means to build for impact in a space that’s long been overlooked. 🌸

Who Is Ida Tin Beyond the Stage?

Though she’s spent years on global stages sharing insights, Ida remains grounded in her roles as mother, writer, and creative soul.

She describes life outside her public persona as “chaotic in the best way,” juggling two children, travel, and her passion for art, nature, and writing. Travel may dominate her schedule, she says, but it only deepens her appreciation for close connections at home and the simple pleasures like a good book or time in nature that fuel her creativity.

Finding the Red Thread in a Nonlinear Path

Ida’s career took her from art school to social entrepreneurship to eventually inventing a better way to track fertility. Through each twist and turn, one constant guided her: a search for deep meaning and purpose.

She never knocked on the front door of opportunity; she built her own. Whether inventing new jobs for herself or founding Clue, Ida leaned into challenge and always asked how her work could help others.

Building Culture Around Health and Wellbeing

From day one at Clue, Ida made people her priority. Drawing on lessons from her creative business school, she designed a workplace around health rather than profits alone.

Highlights included:

• Body Tuesdays — midweek sports classes on company time

• Four‑day work week to recharge

• Bring‑your‑baby and bring‑your‑dog policies

• Shoes‑off office space for a relaxed vibe

• On‑site psychologist offering confidential, free sessions

Rather than impose one “ideal,” Ida and her team listened continuously, iterating culture as a living, ever‑evolving thing.

From Basal‑Body Temperature to FDA Clearance

Ida’s spark for Clue came from using a handheld basal thermometer that stored only three months of data.

Frustrated by lost information, she manually logged readings in Excel, then imagined a smartphone app to replace it. Early experiments led to smarter ways to capture hormone data and, eventually, to seeking FDA clearance for a purely data‑driven contraceptive.

Two years of regulatory work and clinical trials later, the app earned approval, only to be paused when a small onboarding change required a repeat of the entire process.

A reminder of both triumph and the hurdles small teams face under heavy regulations.

Cycle Tracking as a Fifth Vital Sign

For Ida, cycle tracking is more than marking periods on a calendar. It’s a vital sign, a way to understand energy shifts, mood changes, and early warnings of health issues. She encourages women to track emotional, physical, and even social symptoms as a tool for self‑care and early detection.

Breaking Taboos and Inspiring a Movement

Raised in Denmark, Ida saw menstrual stigma fade faster there than in many parts of the world, but stigma still exists everywhere.

She treats menstruation like any other health measure, celebrating its role in wellbeing. Clue’s global reach (users in 190 countries) has unearthed stories of early diagnoses, empowered family planning, and inspired new FemTech ventures around the world.

Life After Clue: FemTech Assembly and Beyond

After stepping back from daily duties, Ida pressed pause, then found a new calling. FemTech Assembly brings together investors, policymakers, researchers and founders.

Among its initiatives:

• Guide for Investors in FemTech

• “Dear Men” LinkedIn series explaining women’s‑health experiences

She’s also finishing a book, pre‑order at  femtechbook.com, and a small secret she shared on the podcast!

Ida’s Parting Advice

“If you spot an unmet need in your own life or in the market, trust that what you see is real,” she says.

You may face people who don’t share your biology or lived experience, but your perspective matters. Build the world you need.

About Our Guest: Ida Tin

Ida Tin is a Danish entrepreneur, author, and thought leader who coined the term FemTech in 2016. She is the co-founder and former CEO of Clue, one of the world’s most trusted cycle-tracking apps with over 10 million active users in more than 190 countries.

Ida is also the founder of FemTech Assembly, a think tank focused on establishing investment in women’s health as a clear driver of economic growth and planetary well-being.

Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Der Spiegel, Le Figaro, and New York Magazine, and she’s spoken on global stages including TechCrunch Disrupt, LeWeb, Slush, and TEDx.

Before Clue, Ida led global motorcycle tours through Mongolia, Cuba, and Vietnam with MotoMundo, a company she co-founded with her father.

Her solo travels across the American West inspired her 2009 memoir Directress, published in Denmark.

Raised on the road—literally—Ida spent her childhood riding motorcycles with her family through South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. She later studied art in South Africa and London and graduated from the KaosPilots, a progressive social entrepreneurship school in Denmark.

Today, Ida lives in Berlin with her two children and continues to champion women’s health innovation. She is currently writing a new book on FemTech and remains a passionate advocate for ethical tech, sustainability, and gender equality in innovation.