The Founding Story: From Stanford to Supplement Innovators
The story of how Ryan Woodbury and Julie Sawaya founded Needed supplements is a powerful example of transforming personal frustration into a mission-driven business. The two met while attending Stanford Business School and bonded over their shared backgrounds in nutrition and their experiences navigating fertility and wellness journeys. They quickly realized that the nutritional standards available for women—especially regarding prenatal and postpartum care—were fundamentally broken.
Existing supplements were formulated based on Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), a standard designed in the 1940s to prevent deficiency diseases, not to optimize health. This meant that while women were taking prenatal vitamins, many were still left with significant nutritional gaps. Woodbury and Sawaya saw a clear need for a radically better approach and decided to act. They spent over three years developing their products, a process far more intensive than the standard industry practice of using generic, off-the-shelf formulations.
A Research-Driven and Practitioner-Backed Approach
Instead of launching a generic product, the co-founders built their company on a foundation of extensive research and collaboration with a collective of health experts. They conducted hundreds of interviews with consumers and health practitioners, including OB-GYNs, midwives, and registered dietitians, to inform their product development. This deep collaboration allowed them to move beyond the clinical literature, which often has gaps regarding women's health, and incorporate real-world clinical insights.
For more details on their approach, including key aspects of their product development and a comparison table of Needed vs. standard supplements, please refer to {Link: Female Startup Club https://www.femalestartupclub.com/blogs/podcasts/ryan-woodbury-julie-sawaya-needed}.
A Broader Mission for Women's Health
Beyond simply creating better products, Woodbury and Sawaya have established Needed as a brand with a broader mission to advocate for women's health research and normalize conversations around fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum health. The company has invested in its own research arm, Needed Labs, which conducts studies to build new data and clinical insights, ensuring their approach remains at the cutting edge of perinatal nutrition. This commitment has earned them credibility among health professionals, with many recommending the brand to their clients.
Their focus on providing accurate information through initiatives like "Needed Conversations" aims to combat the misinformation prevalent in the supplement space. By empowering women with trusted, science-backed guidance, they help individuals make more informed choices about their nutritional well-being, ultimately working to improve health outcomes for mothers, babies, and entire families. Their dedication to quality and education has made Needed a trusted leader in the perinatal wellness space.
Conclusion
Ryan Woodbury and Julie Sawaya founded Needed supplements to address the significant nutritional gaps in perinatal care. Their approach is rooted in rigorous research, extensive collaboration with health practitioners, and a commitment to providing optimal, rather than minimal, nutritional support. Learn more about the Needed story on their official website {Link: Needed website https://thisisneeded.com/pages/about}.
