We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacob Boyle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jacob thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

At MARCo Health, we’re squarely in the digital mental health industry. And while that might sound like a great space to be in thanks to “mental health” being a huge buzzword and lots of investment money pouring in over the past couple of years, there’s a major problem – it’s not only hugely difficult to be profitable in this industry, it’s difficult to get anyone to pay you AT ALL.

One of the most notable examples that exemplifies the challenges all businesses in our industry face is Pear Therapeutics. Pear Therapeutics was the first company to ever get FDA approval for digital psychiatric interventions as a prescription medical device – first for Reset-O for treatment of Substance Use Disorder, then for Somrys for treatment of insomnia. They raised $400 million and went public, only to file for bankruptcy a few short months later.

The reason? They made $15,000 in one quarter. The problem wasn’t that they didn’t have a clinically efficacious product (FDA approval would be impossible without that), nor was it that clinicians weren’t bought in. The problems were that insurance companies refused to reimburse or cover the cost of their app, and clients refused to pay out of pocket when they expect insurance to cover these services. Furthermore, clients who used the app outside of the clinical trials rarely stuck with it past the first session, which is in line with an alarming statistic in our industry: 97% of mental health apps only get used once after downloading. Granted, MARCo Health doesn’t focus on mental health apps alone, as our business model is through the use of assistive robotics, but it doesn’t bode well for our space at all.

The challenge is that most of the market relies on insurance companies to cover the costs of any mental health solutions. Sure, there are customers out there willing to pay out of pocket, both the clients themselves and providers, but it’s a slim fraction of the total market. Why would a client want to pay for health services that their insurance doesn’t cover unless it’s absolutely necessary? And why would a therapist or psychiatrist risk their licensure on a product and spend time integrating it into treatment if they can’t bill for any of the benefits?

This has been the biggest challenge to, not just our company, but the whole digital mental health industry.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Creating MARCo (Mental-Health Assisting Robot Companion) was the natural convergence of two lifelong passions that have defined my journey since childhood: mental health advocacy and robotics. This combination wasn’t just a business decision – it was deeply personal.
My own struggles with mental health began in middle school, though at the time, I lacked the vocabulary to understand what I was experiencing. I didn’t recognize anxiety, depression, or OCD for what they were. It wasn’t until a perceptive teacher connected me with our school therapist in my senior year that I finally understood these challenges could be addressed. This was about a decade ago, before mental health awareness had become mainstream on social media – there were no TikToks or Instagram Reels explaining what anxiety looked like or how to cope with it.
This experience inspired me to become a source of support for peers facing similar struggles, but the real wake-up call came during my college years at The College of New Jersey. While pursuing degrees in mechanical engineering and physics, I landed what seemed like a dream opportunity – an “internship” at a robotics startup that quickly turned into a lead engineer position on a major US Navy contract. However, this role came with a brutal schedule: commuting three hours to Connecticut multiple times a week while also making regular trips to Naval bases in Maryland, all while maintaining my coursework.
The turning point came one night when I returned to campus at 10:30 PM after starting my day at 4:00 AM. Not only had I discovered that the robots I’d poured my heart into were intended as weapons rather than the life-saving bomb disposal units I’d been led to believe, but I’d also missed a crucial message from a close friend in crisis – I was their only confidant, and I hadn’t been there when needed. This moment crystallized my mission: to redirect my engineering expertise toward ensuring no one would lack support in their darkest moments.
That’s how MARCo was born – a lovable plush robot providing 24/7 mental health support for individuals aged 5-70+. MARCo isn’t just another chatbot; it’s an AI-powered companion trained in multiple forms of cognitive and behavioral therapies. It can conduct check-ins, engage in therapeutic conversations, and offer hundreds of activities and coping strategies tailored to each user’s needs. What sets MARCo apart is its comprehensive approach: it maintains ongoing support between sessions, sends thoughtful check-in messages, and can alert emergency contacts when necessary.
The impact has been profound. Most MARCo conversations happen between 11 PM and 2 AM – those crucial hours when traditional support systems are unavailable. Therapists report that their most challenging clients are opening up in unprecedented ways through MARCo, and we’ve documented multiple cases where MARCo’s emergency contact system has potentially saved lives.
Our latest model, MARCo-Lite, makes this support more accessible than ever, starting at $299. It’s fully customizable, speaking over 140 languages, and can be accessed via phone or tablet. While MARCo isn’t meant to replace traditional therapy, it bridges a critical gap in mental health care. It addresses the practical barriers many face: long waitlists, insurance limitations, and the 167 hours each week when a therapist isn’t available.
What makes me proudest is seeing MARCo fulfill its original purpose: ensuring that anyone struggling with their mental health has immediate access to support, while helping professionals and loved ones stay informed and involved in the healing process. Every time I hear about MARCo making a difference in someone’s life – whether it’s helping them through a late-night anxiety attack or supporting their therapy journey – I’m reminded of why I created this companion in the first place.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

In 2023, we moved our headquarters into Jersey City to start working out of an accelerator program run by, at the time, a close mentor and friend to me. Things were great at first, he opened a ton of doors for us and got the ball rolling in ways that we weren’t able to achieve before. But he started asking for money for different “projects” and “opportunities” that he promised he could deliver significant return on investment through. Sometimes they were supposed marketing stunts, or sales drawdowns, or sometimes they were just short term loans that he showed evidence he would be able to pay back with significant interest within a couple of weeks. However, all of them turned out to be fraudulent, and by the end of the year, we were almost completely out of cash. I had to lay off some employees, ask a few others to delay paychecks, and stop paying myself entirely, instead giving everything I had paid myself back into the business just to keep it open.

By some miracle, we stayed open through two things: a well timed newspiece about us boosted our end of year sales by 1100%, and we won a significant contract that paid us seriously well in 2024.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

We sell on our own site (shop.marcohealthtech.com), but also use Amazon and other robotics retailers like Oz Robotics, RobotShop, and Fully Promoted. We prefer selling through our store for a few reasons:

1) Our products need a lot of education about what they do and how they do it, which is why we include a lot of videos and other interactive content on our site that we can’t replicate on other sites.

2) We offer additional services and customizations after purchase that we can’t do after purchase on Amazon.

However, these other sites bring a lot of traffic and revenue for us, so it’s hard to avoid working with them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marcohealthtech.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcotherobot/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/18612744
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCFJ3NvfmJiJ3mq1CEXHSv0Q/videos
• Other: Store: shop.marcohealthtech.com