We believe that people with diabetes, PwDs for short, own their health data, including therapy data collected by the devices they use. We are stewards of that data; we help to liberate it, and protect it with the utmost care and attention to privacy, accuracy, security, and usefulness.
As a company, we will operate openly and transparently. We will not keep secrets or hide information unless there is a good reason to do so, such as to maintain our users' privacy.
This includes things like:
- Open source code
- Open finances
- Open project planning
- Open user experience designs
- Open regulatory quality system
We believe that the best path to safety, efficacy, usability and functionality that matters is to start small and then iterate. For example, we may deliver a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and then iterate based on feedback from our users in the real world.
We operate in a highly regulated space, including FDA, HIPAA, CE and other regulations. Wherever we can, we will interpret regulations in a way that is best for PwD safety and efficacy. We will engage early and often with regulators, and work with them to embrace modern software development techniques and processes.
As a company, we realize that we won't have all of the answers. That means that it's important for us to listen to our users, and iterate often based on their feedback. (See "Start small and iterate quickly" above.)
It also means that we will make the underlying platform of our software available to other developers and innovators, and allow our users to access their data and make it available to other applications and services.
It means that as employees, we embrace others' feedback. We admit our mistakes, are vocally self-critical, and help each other find ways to continue growing and improving over time. We put systems in place to help us improve our processes continuously.
Trust is the currency that powers every interaction on teams. Only when we trust each other can we share the candid feedback and opinions that let us be creative and successful. We give our coworkers deep visibility into how our decisions are made and easy outlets to help them give input and guide our course. When we build trust through good communication, we create an environment for better communication in the future.
We have chosen to be a non-profit so that we can always prioritize the needs of the PwD over industry or investor priorities.
So that we can have the most impact within the diabetes community, we also generate revenue with the goal of being a self-sustainable non-profit.
Inequality and exclusion are the defaults of our industries (software development and medical devices). Without intentional effort, we will inherit those failings and worsen the problem. Building a diverse team is a moral imperative and we build a better business and product by bringing different perspectives to the table. We look for voices unlike our own because they are the only ones that help us grow.
Tidepool is a diabetes software company, so we direct our energy on challenges specific to diabetes software, diabetes visualizations, diabetes data liberation, and diabetes data management. We leverage existing technical solutions and designs to avoid duplication of effort.