Being a therapist is hard as hell.
The career paths before you are often two challenging roads: working in an agency, hospital or group setting, where you might earn 50% of your worth but have the overhead covered, or going independent, where you retain 75-90% of your income (depending on those relentless payors) while gaining the flexibility and freedom you long for.
But let’s face it—most of you didn’t go to business school. Grad programs don’t teach how to run a business. I know this firsthand. My wife is a Clinical Psychologist, and many of my closest friends—thanks to the never-ending PhD grind—are independent practitioners.
When Victoria and I started Heard, it was to solve the “I don’t know what I don’t know” problem for aspiring or independent therapists like yourself. It was to treat therapists as the highly educated, capable professionals you are while building a foundation of financial literacy and community.
Whether you’re a Heard customer or not, our vision has always been clear: every therapist—from grad students to group practice owners—should have the financial knowledge and tools to thrive. Over time, we hope to earn your trust by solving some of those key financial challenges for your practices.
On a personal note, Heard is my way of combining a reverberating passion for mental health, shaped by my own experiences, with my background in accounting and software (one day, I’ll escape accounting).
Accounting is hard. It’s also boring. Taxes are even harder. The alternatives? Cobbling together spreadsheets and TurboTax, risking missed deductions, or overpaying for service providers who don’t understand—or care about—your practice.
We believed, and still believe, we can build something better. Something specific to therapists. Something that bridges your EHR and your billing with your accounting. And here’s what I’ve learned from my mentors: the only voice that matters is yours. If you sat in our Slack channels or team meetings, you’d hear it loud and clear—our focus is always on how we can serve therapists better.
But like building a practice, building a startup takes time. We’re still a small but growing business. There have been moments we’ve nailed it—and others when we’ve fallen short.
Thankfully, we’re backed by investors who are empathetic, thoughtful, and as passionate about mental health as we are. They understand that building a business for small businesses requires patience.
The growing pains of a small “growing” business
In 2022, we grew too quickly—and it showed. Response times lagged. The product wasn’t intuitive. Providers got stuck, and we had to file too many extensions. It wasn’t good—for you or for us. I personally lost 15 pounds I couldn’t lose, and found my way back to therapy for dealing with re-emerging panic attacks. And so, if that was my experience, I know yours was also just as imperfect.
In 2023, we regrouped and brought in new leadership to address critical challenges across Bookkeeping, Compliance, Quality, and Customer Support. Beyond operations, throughout 2024, we also revitalized our product and engineering teams with fresh experience and perspective.
These changes allowed us to make significant investments in your accounting and tax experience within Heard. We completely transformed the annual tax experience, achieving an 86% sentiment score while laying a solid foundation for future improvements. We also turned around our customer support capabilities, significantly improving response times and service quality.
In addition to constantly iterating to improve the customer support experience, we’ve also partnered with Uprise to embed financial advisory services directly into Heard, giving you access to certified financial planners. And this tax season, you’ll have the option to schedule live calls with your tax preparer for even more personalized assistance.
For the upcoming tax season, we’re focused on three priorities:
- Streamlining the user experience: Making it clear what we need from you and outlining your next steps.
- Speeding up the handoff: Ensuring a seamless transition from completing bookkeeping to engaging with your tax preparer.
- Providing greater access to tax professionals: Offering expert advice when you need it most.
Building with therapists, for therapists
Ultimately, our goal is to build a different kind of company—one that’s honest, transparent, and committed to building with therapists, not just for them.
Every week, our leadership team reads every customer satisfaction score (CSAT) response, NPS survey, and cancellation report. Every piece of feedback is shared with the entire team in Slack. We’re constantly, daily, talking with therapists—starting with me. We also have an incredible Therapist Advisory Board that we lean on heavily.
This industry needs change. So much trust has been lost in technology, when technology should really be empowering for your practice. My belief, and our vision at Heard, is that when we build with, alongside and for therapists, we can build something pretty special.
In service of transparency, we want to bring you behind the curtain. Every quarter, I’ll share updates on what we’re learning—both the successes and the struggles. And every month, Victoria and I will highlight how your feedback (the good, the bad, and the ugly) is shaping our product and service.
Thank you for being on this journey with us. Together, we’ll keep building the support system you deserve.
Finally, to our new therapist community—stay tuned! We have heard your feedback on price and will have something exciting to share soon.
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