Ferly Co-Founder Billie Quinlan: Making Sex Therapy More Accessible

Ferly is pioneering a new approach to an inaccessible but hugely important industry, sex therapy. Right now there are roughly 1.5 billion people globally struggling with a sexual disorder, and as the world becomes increasingly more stressful this number will rise rapidly. Yet our sexual well-being is fundamental to our quality of life, which is why it is so important that those struggling get the support they deserve.

Ferly’s first product is an app that supports women suffering with a very common sexual disorder such as an inability to orgasm, low libido or pain during sex. The app has been co-created with the world’s leading academics, scientists and practitioners in this field. It takes women on a journey to heal their disorder and transform their sexual well-being so they can lead healthy, confident and pleasurable lives.

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

My co-founder, Anna and I have navigated sexual violence and assault which led to really poor sexual wellbeing. When we were struggling there were no solutions to support us through our recovery and we finally understood the connection between sex and our health.

After meeting, we bonded over the shared frustration that our physical and mental health have experienced so much innovation and attention but our sexual health hasn’t, so we set about changing this! Our vision is to smash the antiquated sexual taboo’s so that we can put Ferly in the hands of the 1.5 billion people suffering with a sexual disorder.

What advice would you give to other aspiring female entrepreneurs?

1. Find a community of women that are willing to take risks, put themselves out there and are ambitious enough to believe they can change the world. When you spend time with them, you’ll begin to realise that anything is possible!

2. Successful entrepreneurs have a winning combination of arrogance and ignorance. You don’t have to know everything before you begin, instead throw half baked ideas out into the world, get real feedback and be flexible enough to iterate.

3. Be playful! You don’t need to take an all or nothing approach. Instead, spend time working on ideas that bring you joy and let go of expectation. Not every idea has to work out, lots of them will fail and that’s more than ok.

What can we hope to see from Ferly in the future?

Sexual health needs a face lift. It’s an integral pillar of our wellbeing but it’s been incredibly neglected due to social taboo’s, a lack of scientific research and limited innovation. We’re here to change that! We believe spending time improving your sexual wellbeing will be one of the most transformational investments you make into yourself.

It has the ability to drastically improve two of the most important relationships you have; the one with yourself and the one with your partner. Our plan at Ferly is to make this investment accessible, affordable and pleasurable. We’re bringing sex out of the dark and into the light!