Sextech Revolution: The Future of Sexual Wellness

by Andrea Barrica

Overview

Sitting between Planned Parenthood and Pornhub, sexual wellness is the next blue ocean for tech entrepreneurs and investors alike—and nobody is talking about it. This recession-proof industry will be worth an estimated $122 billion by 2026, yet no one is prepared for this wave of innovation. But after years of being ignored due to shame and stigma, the sexual wellness revolution is upon us at last. If you ask Andrea Barrica, it's embarrassing it took this long. As an entrepreneur and former venture capital investor, Andrea is uniquely qualified to guide a new generation of business leaders ready to seize the opportunities in sexual wellness. Sextech Revolution is a firsthand account of how you can build a company and raise money in this space. Andrea shares how she's tackled the financial and structural challenges sex tech startups face, and provides unparalleled insight into how investors and entrepreneurs can navigate and understand the nuances of the sexual wellness industry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781544504926
Publisher:	Lioncrest Publishing
Publication date:	12/03/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	2 MB

Editorial Reviews

2020-01-02
Investors searching for the next big thing should look at vibrators and sex-ed talks, according to this starry-eyed business manifesto.

Debut author Barrica, a former venture capitalist and CEO and founder of the website O.school, argues that the world is sunk in a mire of sexual ignorance and dissatisfaction thanks to inadequate school sex-ed courses and society’s embarrassed reluctance to talk about sex. She sees a crying need for private companies to step in and supply a market for “sexual wellness” that she estimates could be worth $122 billion by 2026. Barrica extols business opportunities in two sectors: nice, respectable, female-friendly retail outlets selling sex aids like vibrators and pre-warmed lubricant dispensers—she praises San Francisco’s pioneering Good Vibrations boutique—and media sources providing frank but nonpornographic information on sex. (Her O.school site offers videos, livestreams, and comments by sex educators on many topics, including sexually transmitted infections, BDSM–related topics, and proper cunnilingus technique.) To get there, she warns, investors and entrepreneurs must surmount barriers, including venture capital firms’ limited-partner agreements with morals clauses and wary payment processors. The book concludes with a savvy primer on growing a sextech startup, including advice on scoring venture capital (“it takes 100 meetings for every one million dollars you want to raise”) and keeping your bank from freaking out about your business. (“Keep it vague.”) Barrica’s prose has the flavor of an investment prospectus—“By shifting the message away from prurience and toward wellness, it allows us to access a much broader market”—written from a very woke-capitalist perspective. She offers tips on trans-inclusive sextech terminology—don’t say “women,” say “vulva owners”—and bemoans the “orgasm gap” that sees straight women climaxing just 65% of the time compared with straight men’s 95%. Barrica’s unblushing confrontations with sociosexual issues—“No one is talking to their kids about responsible consumption of porn”—may make readers squirm, but they also remind us why we might need a website to talk about these things with kids so that we don’t have to. An impassioned and cogent, though boosterish, case for market-based sexual therapeutics.

Kirkus Reviews