Ashley Hanger: I think that this, you know, this wave of digital health is coming whether you like it or not. There's lots of different nets and webs that I'm operating in, trying to make sure that at the end of the day the customer is receiving the best support that they can receive from us. I should have an honorary degree in mathematics. The amount of SKUs I am juggling.
[Voiceover]: Welcome to Add to Cart, Australia's leading E commerce podcast that express delivers all you need to know in the fast moving world of online retail. Every week Nathan Bush from EAS Suite and an e commerce industry expert will share the news, research and insights that you need to know to keep you at the top of your game and of course keep your customers Adding to Cart.
Nathan Bush: Hello and welcome to Add to Cart. My name is Nathan Bush, host of Add to Cart and director at e commerce talent agency E Suite. Today we're talking about diabetes. About 1.8 million Australians live with it and 280 people develop the condition every day. Now living with this chronic illness can be a challenge as it impacts pretty much every aspect of life as I learnt about today. So what does diabetes have to do
Nathan Bush: with Add to Cart you might ask
Nathan Bush: and I can hear you all now,
Nathan Bush: you are asking it from the rooftops.
Nathan Bush: Well, my guest today is about making things a little bit easier for those affected with diabetes and she's established an e commerce business to enable it. Ashley Hanger is the founder of Strip Supply, Australia's first diabetes subscription box service. After getting together with her partner, a type 1 diabetic, Ashley realized that this was a prime area for subscription and couldn't believe that no one else was doing it. In this chat we talk about Stript suppliers, focus on community, particularly her Gen Z customers. We also discussed the super supportive pharmacist who's been behind the business from the start and how Ash manages the complexity in a diabetics medical supply kit. And if you yourself are a diabetic or you know someone who is, stick around as Ash has provided an offer for Add to Cart listeners which I'll tell you more about at the end of the episode. So thanks to our partners Shopify plus and Paclio, here's our conversation with Ashley Hanger, founder of Strip Supply. Ash, welcome to Add to Card.
Ashley Hanger: Thanks for having me.
Nathan Bush: So good to have a fellow Brisbane joining us today.
Ashley Hanger: I know we're really starting to flesh out the Brisbane community. I absolutely love it.
Nathan Bush: That's right, that's the secret mission of Add to Cart is to bring Brisbane as the main capital City of the world.
Ashley Hanger: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: All right, let's get into it. Strip Supply.
Nathan Bush: Now, many of our audience may not
Nathan Bush: have heard of of Strip Supply, but I think is one of the best ideas I've seen in E commerce for a long time. Can you explain what Strip Supply is and how you came up with the idea?
Ashley Hanger: Absolutely. So Strip Supply is Australia's first diabetes subscription box. And what that means is we automate the delivery of medical supplies that people with diabetes use. So things like blood test strips, needle tips, syringes, insulin pump infusion sets, and continuous glucose monitor sets as well. And I came up with this idea because I'm not living with diabetes. My myself, but my partner Tristan has been living with type 1 diabetes for the past 30 years. And meeting him was the first time I really realized how overwhelming and frustrating and just exhausting having diabetes is. And I couldn't believe that he couldn't purchase his supplies online, particularly when he would quite often forget to order his supplies because a lot of these things aren't stocked on pharmacy shelves. And we would be driving around Brisbane at 11 o' clock at night trying to find a pharmacy who had his stuff in stock.
Nathan Bush: How romantic.
Ashley Hanger: I know. Yes. Lots of late night drives for us, which is totally, you know, I mean, he's human. He shouldn't have to remember every other month to order this stuff in. And that's where I came up with the idea of Strip Supply.
Nathan Bush: Wow. So tell us about living with diabetes. Because many of us who have heard diabetes might be like, oh, go eat some jelly beans. But doing the research and hearing some of your stories already, it's opened my eyes to how debilitating diabetes can be and the impact that it can have on someone's life. Can you tell us, you know, how has this impacted Tristan's lives and the community that you serve?
Ashley Hanger: So I think we all have in our head, whether we know it or not, this stigma around diabetes and what it is and how someone gets diabetes. And I think the biggest takeaway I would want people to have about diabetes is just to know that no matter what kind of diabetes you have, you haven't asked for it. And particularly people living with type 1 diabetes, you've done nothing wrong. You don't get diabetes from eating too much sugar. Particular type 1 diabetes, it's just luck of the draw. It's just bad luck. And something that I see in Tristan and out of so many people in the diabetes community is it is such a weight on their shoulders to live with because it's an invisible illness. We can't tell from the outside that someone's living with diabetes. And that means that people don't understand. They don't understand what people with diabetes live with. And what they do live with is an extra 180 decisions every single day that they have to. They're constantly thinking about their illness, whether they want to or not. And that's something that I see interest in. That's something that he's taught me over the past six years of knowing him and seeing his life and how diabetes affects absolutely every aspect of it. And it's not unsurprising that there is a massive online community that has formed of people living with diabetes because you need that support network. And people who don't have diabetes, they don't get it the same way as your peers would who also have diabetes. So for me, it has been such a shock to learn how people who have diabetes live and also how little support they get as well.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. And you mentioned the driving around trying to find supplies. What are the other parts of life that diabetes often impacts? People that people might not be aware of?
Ashley Hanger: The glaringly obvious one is eating. So obviously diabetes is linked to your blood sugar levels. And one thing, probably the biggest contributor to your blood sugar levels is the food that you consume and the food that you eat. Just next time you go to make yourself a meal, or even more so, if you go out to eat, just think about, try carb counting the meal that's in front of you, particularly when you haven't cooked it yourself. That is a skill that people living with diabetes have perfected, and it is incredible to watch them carb count a meal in front of them that they haven't prepared. So that's probably kind of the most glaringly obvious one. But also just the fact that people don't understand, you know, Tristan is whipping out his needle set everywhere we go, in shopping centers, family dinners, friends dinners, and people just don't understand and assume that he is dosing up on something else, which, of course is not. So I think the biggest things is definitely, you know, the food that we eat and also just the lifestyle implications. Dating with diabetes is a beast of itself, being intimate with people. Sex is different with diabetes. Like, there's so many different aspects. It really does affect every aspect of your life. Foreign.
Nathan Bush: We've all had days, right, where no matter the amount of coffee thrown down the gullet, there is no rescuing you
Nathan Bush: from your own sluggish self.
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Nathan Bush: You mentioned before around the diabetes community and how strong and tight that is. I understand you started Strip Supply not so much as an e commerce box, but as a community. Tell us about why you started there and what that looked like.
Ashley Hanger: So I have a very unique perspective of this really interesting space in diabetes in young adults. When you come out of the children's hospital system, I do feel like you're kind of cast off into this sea of, well, you know, good luck living your life with diabetes. Suddenly all of a sudden don't have that support system that you had when you were a teenager or when you were a child. You have your family living in the same house as you. You've got a children's hospital network that is keeping track of you, keeping tabs on you wherever you go. And then all of a sudden you, you're this young adult and you are renting a house for the first time, you're working full time and you're in a hospital system that isn't keeping tabs on you. And the support network is different. And I saw that with my partner and I saw that he really kind of fell through the cracks. And I wanted to create a community of young adults who are living with diabetes to have discussions that they couldn't have anywhere else that they don't feel comfortable chatting to their parents about. They don't feel comfortable chatting to their doctors about things like, okay, well, how do I date with diabetes? How do I tell my partner I have diabetes? You know, if I'm having a one night stand, when should that conversation come up? And that's something that we've grown our community around is having those conversations in a safe place, in a nurturing place, in a place that has no fear mongering, no myths being created, where you can have those conversations that you're kind of afraid to have with anybody else.
Nathan Bush: And what was their reaction to that kind of community, that open and almost, it feels like, almost like a young community.
Ashley Hanger: We're Australia's largest community of Gen Z people living with diabetes. And the reaction was pretty overwhelming. I mean, I think. I like to think I'm a meme connoisseur. I really love to make a good meme and our diabetes memes are second to none. But the community that we've created so far has been so inspiring and just building each other up and creating a place and a safe space where you can chat and you can be really honest about the fact that diabetes sucks. And sometimes there isn't a silver lining and sometimes there isn't a positive side. Sometimes it just sucks. And it's okay if we have those conversations.
Nathan Bush: I love the tagline that you've got on your website that diabetes is a prick. It just sums it up so nicely, doesn't it?
Ashley Hanger: Absolutely it does. Yeah.
Nathan Bush: So tell us about the moment you take this venture from being a Gen Gen Z community. Yeah, Gen Z Gen Zed community into a subscription box. Australia's first diabetes subscription box. Where did you start in trying to acquire and pull together all the elements that someone needs to manage diabetes on a monthly basis?
Ashley Hanger: So from someone who. I don't have a medical background, by the way. My background, I studied journalism at uni, I was a magazine editor, and then I've been working in digital marketing. I have no idea how a pharmacy works and I have no idea how the medical industry works. I also have no idea how to speak in medical language. So this was. I always knew that this is where I wanted to take Strip Supply. I wanted this to become a subscription service. I had been getting my own medication on subscription for years and I just, I couldn't believe that no one had done this for diabetes yet. So that's where the community started. I knew this is where I wanted it to go and I just needed to take baby steps to figure out how the hell to do it. And it started with just chatting to a whole bunch of pharmacists. And believe it or not, I had to fax people, which I never knew how to do before trying to break into the medical industry. I had to learn how to fax people, which I funnily enough did.
Nathan Bush: On the Internet, it's the makings of all great e commerce businesses. A few great faxes behind most e commerce businesses.
Ashley Hanger: Right? You're on your way to success. So the way I started, I just started talking to people and I started talking to my potential customers and finding out what they wanted and what they needed and what they felt like they weren't getting right now. And then once I had that information I then went to pharmacists and chatted to them about what this digital health landscape would look like for someone living with diabetes. And it took lots and lots of conversations before I found someone who shared my vision and wanted to find a way to fit diabetes into someone's life instead of someone having to fit diabetes their life around diabetes.
Nathan Bush: How did your initial talks with pharmacists go? What were their initial reactions?
Ashley Hanger: Look, a lot of pharmacists I've shouted to haven't shared my vision and they have a different perspective of how a pharmacy fits into a community. And most pharmacists are very driven by foot traffic and didn't see the value in a subscription delivery service, which I completely understand. But I think that this wave of digital health is coming whether you like it or not. Quite similar to the Uber model coming into to disrupt the cab system. It's coming whether you like it or not. And I think I've managed to find some pharmacists who see that that change is coming and they're willing to jump on board and be the disruptors with me.
Nathan Bush: Okay, so do you use pharmacists to source the product and use their licenses and I'm assuming there's lots of regulation behind it to get through those barriers?
Ashley Hanger: Yeah, definitely. I mean, at the end of the day, everything that we do, our customers health is our main priority. So. So we use a pharmacy who fulfills all of our customers orders and that pharmacy and those pharmacists are available to chat to our customers whenever they have any problems as well. So we're definitely not cutting out any touch points in the ecosystem. If our customers have any problems, they always can get in touch with our pharmacist. And yeah, we're essentially operate like an E pharmacy. Right.
Nathan Bush: And from a customer's perspective, do they need a prescription and to keep uploading prescriptions and renewals of prescriptions as they go?
Ashley Hanger: Yeah, at this stage we're just fulfilling therapeutic good orders, which is most of the supplies that someone with diabetes will use. And as long as they are a member of the ndss, which is the National Diabetes Subsidy Scheme, they can access our products at the subsidized cost as well, just like at a local pharmacy.
Nathan Bush: Okay, I know you mentioned at the start, but just to get a better view of what these monthly packs would look like, what do they typically hold?
Ashley Hanger: Yeah, some really interesting stuff, let me tell you as someone who doesn't live with diabetes. So our main product that we sell is blood test strips, so they're little bits of cardboard where you pop a drop of your blood on one end and the other end goes into a machine and it reads your blood sugar levels for you. So we sell those in all different brands. We sell needles and syringes. We sell things called infusion sets and reservoirs. And they operate an insulin pump, and they connect an insulin pump to someone's body to inject insulin automatically. And we also sell continuous glucose monitors, sensors and transmitters. So. So they are a little patch that sits on your skin, has a little needle in it, and it monitors your blood sugar levels remotely to your phone or a Bluetooth device so you don't have to do all that finger pricking all the time. That is pretty customary for most people with diabetes. Wow.
Nathan Bush: And can customers add to their order or is it the same kit every time?
Ashley Hanger: They've got full control so at any point they can add or remove products or they can delay or fast track boxes. If you've used a little too many supplies this month or you haven't quite used enough and you don't want any wastage, you have full control over what's in your box and when it's delivered.
Nathan Bush: Okay. And so are most customers signing up for the monthly subscription or is there a one off purchase option as well?
Ashley Hanger: Yeah, yeah, most of our customers, in fact all of our customers are signing up for the monthly subscription. What we're finding is, and I have a special folder in my email inbox for all of these emails that I get as soon as people find us. They are so overjoyed that this product exists and that their diabetes management has been made just that tiny bit simpler. The most common email I receive in my inbox is why has this only existed now? You know, where has this been all my life? I've had diabetes for 30 years. Where were you 30 years ago? So, yeah, our subscribers are all on monthly recurring subscriptions.
Nathan Bush: So it does beg the question, why hasn't it been done before?
Ashley Hanger: I ask myself this question every day. I was sitting on this idea for years and every week I would think, oh, this week, you know, someone will come out with this product, products. But. And I've asked this question to a lot of people as well. And I think the main thing has been that in most people's eyes, diabetes just doesn't affect enough people for it to warrant an entire business, which is obviously something I do not agree with at all because I'm living with someone who directly benefits from this business and the way that it changes their life is more than enough. To warrant creating a business like this.
Nathan Bush: So as someone coming from a journalist background, you've now launched yourself into E commerce, but not just E commerce. Probably one of the trickiest parts of E commerce to get right subscription. Tell us about, from an E commerce perspective, what kind of technologies you're using to manage this process.
Ashley Hanger: Yeah, this has been super complex and I don't know if anyone else ever feels this way, but every month I just want to change what platform my website's hosted on. I always feel like surely this can't be the best way to do this. This I'm currently hosted on Shopify, just a really plain Jane E Comm store on Shopify, using recharge payment subscriptions in the backend, which has been really, really great. It was definitely the best solution that I found currently to manage a subscription with literally hundreds of products and hundreds of options. I started on Squarespace and that was my preferred platform. But Squarespace just could not handle the number of products I had and they couldn't handle how many variations of subscriptions we could potentially have. So I threw in the towel eventually, after many months of trying to make Squarespace work, and I went over to Shopify and I haven't looked back, at least not this month. But yeah, Shopify is where we've ended up.
Nathan Bush: Not a sponsored message, of course, not a sponsored message.
Ashley Hanger: But hey, Shopify, if you want to sponsor me, that would be great.
Nathan Bush: And so tell us the trickiest part to getting that subscription process right. Is it in the technology? Is it in the process? Is it in the communication? Where have you seen the breakpoints so far?
Ashley Hanger: I think particularly in a startup, we are an early stage startup, so the problems kind of sometimes outweigh the solutions I can provide. But I keep trying to remind myself that this is a really simple process. There's a really simple formula for this. But at the same time, we're dealing with customers who manage their diabetes very individually. And what that means is that everyone might use similar products, but they all use them differently. So while I've tried to create a subscription where products are delivered on a similar delivery schedule for everybody, that's not working for everybody. So one of the biggest challenges I've found is how can I give customers as much control as possible to decide what goes in those boxes and how often those boxes come, and then even further than that, trying to work within order restrictions for medical products. After Covid, people weren't just stockpiling on toilet paper, they were stockpiling on medical supplies, which caused some pretty Annoying and frustrating restrictions on how many products one customer can order at a time. So there's lots of different nets and webs that I'm operating in, trying to make sure that at the end of the day, the customer is receiving the best support that they can receive from us.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, makes sense.
Nathan Bush: And you mentioned that you have a
Nathan Bush: whole bunch of SKUs on site. Does that come from a range of products or is it there a bunch of variants and split like specifications over individual items?
Ashley Hanger: Nathan, it would make you your eyes crossed like it is such a headache. So if you can picture this with me, I'll build this spider web of SKUs that we have on our website. So with diabetes supplies, there's only really a handful of manufacturers. We're talking like five manufacturers who make these supplies. And then those manufacturers would make supplies for three or four different pieces of technology. And then each one of those pieces of technology, let's say an insulin pump, there would be five different kinds of insulin pumps, so five different kinds of infusion sets. And then within those infusion sets, there are three different sizes that each infusion set comes in. And then each of those infusion set sizes usually comes in two or three different colors. So there is just honestly never ending list of supplies that sit on our store. And honestly, it makes my hair frizz when I think about having to go in and check skus and make sure that the numbers are correct. But yeah, it's a never ending battle, those SKUs.
Nathan Bush: So every customer has their own unique combination of SKUs, correct?
Ashley Hanger: Yeah. And I've never seen the same order twice. To give you an idea. So everyone uses. So I like to use my partner Tristan as an example. He has a medtronic insulin pump. He uses one particular kind of infusion sets, a different kind of reservoir for that insulin pump. And then on top of that, he tests his blood sugars with a certain kind of glucometer, which reads a certain kind of strips. And then on top of that, he uses a certain kind of finger pricker which uses a certain kind of needle tips. So it's just like there is. Honestly, I should have an honorary degree in mathematics. The amount of SKUs I am juggling. Yeah, it's incredible how many combinations you could get of these products.
Nathan Bush: Does your pharmacist partner still talk to you?
Ashley Hanger: Sometimes.
Nathan Bush: What's their reaction been to this since you talked about it as an initial idea to now fulfilling all these boxes of different combinations?
Ashley Hanger: Oh, he has been so understanding through every step of the way. I can't even imagine what it would be like having this journalist come to you and say, hey, I've got this really cool idea because I really want to help people and I think that you're the guy that can do it. You know, let's dive into this together. Can you educate me every step of the way on how this whole system works? I know that you've been in this career for 20 or 30 years, but can you get me up to date in five minutes? That would be great. He's so understanding, so patient and no idea has ever scared him away that I've had, which is pretty incredible. You could see inside my brain. There's no vision big enough for me.
Nathan Bush: You've refreshed your website. The new range is about to drop. You've never had more customer service options.
Nathan Bush: Hey, but take a look over there
Nathan Bush: at that boring pile of packaging boxes.
Nathan Bush: Ugh, ugly.
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Nathan Bush: so tell me, what is the vision for strip supply? Is it to go deeper into diabetes or is it to branch out into other chronic illnesses?
Ashley Hanger: Yeah, I'm definitely not done with diabetes yet. I think there's so much more that we could do to help support someone with diabetes and it's our main focus is to give control back to the patient. Make diabetes fit into your life. Your life doesn't need to fit into diabetes. And there's so many different kinds of support that we can give in a digital sense that are totally available and we can customize for diabetes. Then once we feel like we're giving enough support to people with diabetes, we're going to branch out into other chronic illnesses that self manage in a really similar way. Things like Crohn's disease, asthma, people who use EpiPens, all these other kinds of illnesses that I believe deserve the same kind of support and same kind of convenience as diabetes.
Nathan Bush: And that's a huge growth trajectory. Are you continuing to go down the bootstrapping path? Are you looking to go into the investment world?
Ashley Hanger: Oh gosh, what a big question. Anyone who has been Looking to cap raise this year. Will know my hesitation at saying this, but we are looking to do a cap raise later this year to really accelerate our growth. We have bootstrapped up until this point to get a product in the market and really test our idea. And that's been incredible and definitely the right way for us to go. But yeah, I've got my eye on a cap raise later this year. Fingers crossed it goes well. But yeah, I'm pretty confident that we've got a great product that we can deliver to the market.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, you should be confident. Obviously you've got it on the ground and it's working. But even going back to the start, you won UQ's top entrepreneurship program Ventures Ilab Accelerator on the pitch night and it's up online if anyone actually wants to see your pitch, which was a fantastic pitch. What impact did winning that entrepreneurship program have on you as an individual?
Ashley Hanger: Beyond words. The impact is what gave me credibility in myself as a founder and it's what gave me confidence that, oh, hey, I'm actually doing a good thing. I'm actually good at this. This could actually work. When I did win that prize, we didn't have a product in market yet and we were a couple months away from delivering the MVP and I still wasn't confident that I could do that. But what that pitch taught me is that while I don't have a background in business, my background in journalism and background in marketing have given me this superpower that I am an incredible storyteller and I'm an incredible communicator. And that I'm very luckily translates really well to pitching, which is a really big part of business and working on a startup. And personally, the biggest challenge that I've experienced in this business, despite all the challenges that I've had, the biggest challenge has been myself and the barriers that I put in place for myself and the self doubt that I feel being in this space and feeling like an imposter and winning that night and everything that came after that, it proved to my brain logically, hey, you can do this. And if you had a little bit more confidence in yourself, you'll be able to do it so much faster.
Nathan Bush: And where does that confidence come from?
Ashley Hanger: Oh, thin air. Let me tell you. Confidence is really hard. I really believe in the phrase fake it till you make it. And personally, I haven't never experienced a point where my confidence isn't manufactured, where the confidence has come from somewhere honest. Because I'm living in this world where I feel like an imposter every day. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't be here.
Nathan Bush: I loved what you were saying there
Nathan Bush: around the ability to tell a story and to be able to pitch convincingly. I think that's a really special skill that's often overlooked. And we're doing our e commerce accelerator at the moment. We're in our final week and the final task is to take all the learning that we've had and to pitch a new idea for a retailer. And you can see some people go, oh, yes, this is my time to shine. I'm great at pitching. And some people go, I know all this stuff. Can you just read it? And just like, I don't have to do the song and dance, do I? What are your tips for doing a convincing and compelling pitch telling a great story?
Ashley Hanger: Yeah, that's a great question. I think every pitch has to be rooted in a great story. I think otherwise it's not going to come across. Every pitch needs to come from an emotional place. And for me, I have been so lucky that my partner is happy to have his face splashed up across all of my pitch decks because here's the reason why I'm here doing what I'm doing, and he's the reason why strip supply exists. And that for me is the story that I tell through my pitch. So what you need to do is bring your audience along on an emotional journey, have to tug on their heartstrings and show them in a really tangible way, in a way that they can relate to why your business or why your startup is important. And for me, the way that I did that was by introducing them to Tristan and saying, hey, doesn't he look healthy? Well, you probably wouldn't know that he has this illness that requires needles to keep him alive, would you? You wouldn't know that millions of people around Australia also have to do this. So what you need to do is meet your audience on their level and then bring them along a journey and target their heartstrings and do that through telling a personal story.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. Make them care.
Ashley Hanger: Exactly. Yeah.
Nathan Bush: And does that ability because everything for you is grounded in authenticity, I feel. And you've got this mission. You're authentic about the mission. You know exactly where you're heading. Does that help when you have moments of self doubt and maybe, you know, hits the confidence along the way that at least you know that you're there for the right reasons and you've got a big vision to achieve?
Ashley Hanger: Yeah, absolutely. I definitely have never underestimated a vision board and Every positive email, every positive comment that I get, I print out and I put on this board and it's there for the days. And there are a lot of these days where it just feels like it's too overwhelming and it's no way that it's possible. There's no way that I can do this. I look at that board and I am inspired by the people that believe in me and the people that believe in this business, and I'm reminded about the people that I'm trying to help and the ways in which that I'm helping them in their lives. And. And you absolutely need that. You need these reminders because every day is really tough. And, you know, without those reminders, there's no, absolutely no way you could find confidence out of thin air. It has to be manufactured, and it's manufactured by those reminders that what you're doing is right and you've got to keep your eye on the customer and how you're helping them and solving their problem.
Nathan Bush: So when those times are tough and obviously you've had your experience and you can see the difference that you're making to lives like Tristan's. Have there been other customer stories that have come in that you've gone, oh, wow, this impact is truly phenomenal?
Ashley Hanger: Oh, absolutely. I am so blessed that our customers do come and tell me exactly. You know, they share these incredible stories with me and so open and so honest. And there are stories like, I hate how diabetes affects my life and this has made just one thing a little bit simpler. Or I've got way too much a mum of three kids who's living with diabetes herself, and mothers are so selfless. And I don't have time to take care of myself. I don't have time to take care of my diabetes. But with this box, I've got one less thing on my to do list. It's just been those stories of how simple this business has been to completely change someone's life. And those stories are incredible and I hope they keep coming in because they really are the highlights of my week.
Nathan Bush: I'm sure you've got plenty and plenty more lives that you're going to change. So congratulations on where you have got stripped to supply to. So far, I've got no doubts that it's early days and I can't wait to see where you head with it. Before I let you go, though, I've got to ask you a question that came up in my research. Am I right in understanding that you've got a phobia of needles?
Ashley Hanger: Yes. Yes, I do. On our first date, this is actually how I found out Tristan has diabetes. So watching a superhero movie, I won't name which one because it was terrible and there were lots of big needles in it and I kept flinching every time there was a big needle on screen or someone was injected with something. And Tristan was just laughing. And here I was thinking, like, oh, this guy, you know, just laughing at the fact that I'm afraid of these needles. And after the movie, he goes, oh, so you didn't really seem to like the needles and injections and stuff. I said, oh, no. You know, I'm so afraid of needles. Absolutely hate them. He goes, oh, that's funny because I'm living with diabetes. I was like, oh, don't I feel like a shit person? Yes, I do. It's not something I tend to admit too much anymore. And let me tell you, living with someone with diabetes does not make it any easier. But it is a part of life now, so just gotta live with it.
Nathan Bush: You got a second date and a
Nathan Bush: business selling needles, so you must be some level over it, correct?
Ashley Hanger: Yeah, I just had to suck it up, didn't I? Had to suck it up. And you know what? Yeah. Tristan's giving himself needles, you know, every other hour of every day. So I think that I can deal with my one flu vaccination a year, you know.
Nathan Bush: Oh, good stuff. All right, so what. What's next for yourself and strip supply?
Ashley Hanger: Right now, our focus is just to make sure that as many people as possible find out about us so they know that we're an option and we can change the lives of so many more people. So at the moment, our focus is just to let as many people know that we exist as possible.
Nathan Bush: Beautiful.
Nathan Bush: And how are you doing that?
Nathan Bush: What's the best way to reach more Gen X diabetics?
Ashley Hanger: I mean, firstly, if you have any friends who you notice carry some needles in their pocket and, you know, fingerprick themselves, let them know about us. I strongly believe that everyone knows someone in their life who's living with diabetes. It is a chronic illness. It is Australia's fastest growing chronic illness, unfortunately. So just letting people know about us, sharing us on social media, Our digital platforms are our biggest converters. So, yeah, just keep spreading the word.
Nathan Bush: Beautiful. And, Ash, sorry, one last question. What's your favorite meme at the moment as the Meme Queen?
Ashley Hanger: Oh, I had a really good time with my Met Gala memes, and I'm really looking forward to posting some Kourtney Kardashian wedding memes as well because the Kardashians are always a great source for some meme content.
Nathan Bush: You know where to go to get the good stuff. Ash, thank you so much for joining us on Add to Cart.
Ashley Hanger: Thanks Nathan.
Nathan Bush: Ashley is offering the first Month month free membership fees for Strip Supply. You just got to pay for your supplies. Head on over to Stripd Supply. That's the URL Stripped Supply and use the code First Month all one word to get your first month free membership. Spread the word with any friends or family members who are diabetic and are sick of the old way. The Stripped Supply this episode opened my eyes not only to how prevalent diabetes is in Australia, but how widely and deeply it really impacts day to day lives. I really had no idea. But there are also plenty of great e commerce lessons in there. Thank goodness because we are an e commerce podcast. Here are my top three Number one Great Stories Make Brilliant Pictures Even though Ash doesn't have diabetes, her ability to tell the day to day experience of someone with diabetes through the lens of her partner Tristan is so, so powerful. Not only for the impact that it has on Tristan, but for those around him. If you go and you watch Ash's UQ Ventures pitch video online, it's about 10 minutes. It is even more convincing than the stats and the projections that she closes off with. So get the story right and you can be 80% of the way there when pitching number two, Ashley harnessed the support of the right pharmacist to help her navigate the world of medical supplies. And it wasn't easy, right? She had to go around to so many pharmacists who said no and even faxing all these pharmacists who aren't really up with the new way of doing things. But it gave us a great lesson on finding someone who shares your passion and can support you with your knowledge and potentially even shortcut your way to a solution.
Nathan Bush: 3.
Nathan Bush: Community before commerce While Ash always had a vision of how she could make life easier for diabetics with e commerce, she actually started with community rather than products by creating a specialized community for young adults living with diabetes for conversations that they couldn't have elsewhere, she won the trust of that diabetic community and learned so much more before launching her actual product. The key is having a specialized and unique community offering. To get the highlights of today's episode, head on over to addtocart.com and sign up for our free newsletter each Tuesday. We will send Monday's episode summary links and discount codes for you to go next level on. And if you're looking to explore your next e commerce opportunity, come and visit us at E Suite. We're a dedicated e commerce talent agency connecting the best e commerce talent with the fastest growing brands in Australia. Head on over to espeettalent.com where you can download the free e Commerce Salary Guide and sign up to our weekly e Commerce job emails. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep those customers adding to cartoon.
