Cori Shearer
Lead Product Manager at Headspace
Where to hear and read about Cori Shearer1 episode or test
Cori Shearer is a Lead Product Manager at Headspace who has moved from growth work to proving that its coaching, therapy and psychiatry services help people. The most useful lesson is how to widen a trusted consumer product into new services by starting small, measuring outcomes and moving slowly where mistakes harm users.
there's nothing like just running with an experiment and letting the data tell you what you need to hear.
How Headspace Expanded from Meditation App to Wellness Platform
Cori Shearer: the story and the lessons
1Cori Shearer's path to Headspace
Shearer joined Headspace in 2021 because it had helped her own mental health. The start of the pandemic gave her time to sit with herself, and she realized she was in her own mental health crisis. Using Headspace and returning to therapy made her want to help more people, as founder Andy Puddicombe had.
A former colleague told her about an open role and she jumped at it. She called Headspace "a light in a time of darkness".
She started on growth and activation, then built an outcomes vertical. She began by getting new members started, then moved to build an "outcomes vertical" on another side of the business.
That work covers content and human-delivered care, with the aim of making sure every modality has efficacy and value.
She moved from consumer work to B2B when asked to start a new team. Shearer first worked on the consumer side. She moved to B2B when she was asked to start a new team there.
B2B has become a bigger strategic focus over the last couple of years.
2How Headspace grew from meditation app to care platform
Adding human care let Headspace serve people it could not reach before. The 2021 merger with Ginger.io added coaching, therapy and psychiatry. Members with acute anxiety or depression could now be supported inside Headspace.
Some friends and family found meditation too woo-woo, while a licensed therapist is a familiar idea. That made the offer easier to explain.
The hardest part of the merger was joining two strong brands into one story. People know Headspace as the meditation app, so a wider offer needed a new narrative. The story Shearer's team tells is that mental health is a lifelong journey.
Mindfulness may help at one stage and a therapist may be needed in a crisis. Some new members may now arrive through coaching, therapy or psychiatry instead of meditation.
Shearer's team launches each new service small and gathers feedback early. Every added modality has to be maintained across product, engineering, business and operations. So the team places bets where the market opportunity is and expands over time.
Psychiatry is still not available to every member while the team gets it right. It carries a higher price point and more medication risk.
She uses consumers and B2B partners as test beds for each other. Some features start in B2B and move to consumers once proven, and others go the other way. The goal is the same, access to mental health services, so learnings often carry over.
She compares it to running a test on iOS and porting it to Android.
Partnering with large providers scaled Headspace faster than winning individuals. With care services in place, Headspace could position itself as an EAP. It partners with Kaiser, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield, who cannot always meet demand for mental health care.
This builds awareness and a bigger book of business in a short time. If a member leaves their employer, Headspace keeps the relationship.
Clinically backed programs filled the content gap next to human care. A PM who is a clinical psychologist and her team built three guided programs, for sleep, anxiety and stress. Each runs about 21 to 30 days.
The sleep program has new research validating benefits for insomnia. The programs may become an on-ramp or upsell to human-delivered care.
3Shearer on proving outcomes and early value
Shearer's outcomes team turned survey scores into proof the services work. The squad formed about a year after the merger. Members answer in-app surveys (PHQ-9, GAD-7, PSS) that are repeated over time, and scores are read against how often they use the app.
The hard part was building the right metrics and delivering the surveys at scale. She sees the market moving from engagement metrics to outcome metrics.
She shows members their own progress so they see the value of their effort. Members see their score over time in the app, much as learners see progress in Quizlet or Duolingo. B2B customers see the share of their population with less anxiety or depression.
"knowing how you're doing is actually a really important part of actually making progress"
Her team gets new members to an "aha" moment as fast as possible. Enough data exists to know which minimum experience makes someone feel change. Today the app opens with a "blue skies" meditation.
The marketing message is 3 minutes for 10 days.
In B2B, Headspace leans on social proof and helps partners drive usage. Where employees do not know the brand, member stories and social credibility fill the gap. Webinars teach partners how to use Headspace, such as running monthly challenges with incentives.
Shearer frames this as preventative care, so people have a toolkit before a crisis.
She is rebuilding the Today tab around routine, progress and guidance. It builds a structured journey from what members say they are working on, such as anxiety, sleep or depression. It surfaces what they already use with fewer clicks and recommends a next step.
If a score has dropped over a few months, it might suggest exploring that. People see Headspace as an expert, so it should offer guidance.
4How Headspace built the Ebb AI companion carefully
Headspace held Ebb back for years and wrote AI principles first. Ebb was an idea for at least two to three years. About a year and a half before the interview, a shared set of AI principles, written by a PM who is a clinical psychologist, gave the team alignment and momentum.
Headspace started later than others on purpose, as a beloved and reputable brand. Ebb uses AI to detect risk of suicidality or harm, and reporters say its safeguards make it feel different.
Members can opt out of AI and still get a personalized product. The Today tab is built modular, so Ebb can be present or absent. It is already personalized for members who never use Ebb.
This respects the wide range of opinions about AI in mental health.
Shearer positions Ebb as a navigator into Headspace's care services. Ebb can start with someone exploring feelings, then suggest a coach or therapist and explain options with or without insurance. There are no forms and no phone calls.
Standalone companions like Character.ai or Replika may refer users elsewhere. Ebb knows a member's context because every service is in-house.
She sees AI as lighter, cheaper support alongside human therapists. It could serve people with lower acuity who need accountability or help processing feelings, or continue practice after someone graduates therapy. One idea is Ebb acting as another participant in a group-style session, checking in and giving homework.
"AI is not going to become a replacement for therapy or psychiatry"
5Shearer's working rules for product managers
She runs experiments early instead of over-analyzing the right solution. Early in her career she lost time to analysis overload. Now she looks for what members say and leave unsaid, expects to get the first solution wrong, and gets data fast for the next decision.
She treats the who and why as more art, and the what and how as iterative and data driven.
She decides area by area when to go fast and when to go slow. In mental health, going fast and getting it wrong carries a huge risk and cost. New CEO Tom Pickett is pushing the team to act like a startup again, but only where it is safe for members.
Some things must be right at once, and others do not have to be right right away.
She keeps close to member impact and a purpose outside work. Shearer reads the NPS Slack channel daily to see the impact on members. She finished a two-year beekeeping apprenticeship and spends time with her bees on Sundays.
Her parting advice is to find a purpose outside work and bring some of it back into work.
How Headspace Expanded from Meditation App to Wellness Platform
Headspace grew from a single meditation app into a mental health platform with coaching, therapy, psychiatry, a B2B business and an AI companion called Ebb. The episode shows how to expand a consumer product into new services while keeping brand trust, proving outcomes and moving carefully in a regulated space.
Shearer joined Headspace in 2021 because it had helped her own mental health. The start of the pandemic gave her time to sit with herself, and she realized she was in her own mental health crisis. Using Headspace and returning to therapy made her want to help more people, as founder Andy Puddicombe had.
A former colleague told her about an open role and she jumped at it. She called Headspace "a light in a time of darkness".
She started on growth and activation, then built an outcomes vertical. She began by getting new members started, then moved to build an "outcomes vertical" on another side of the business.
That work covers content and human-delivered care, with the aim of making sure every modality has efficacy and value.
She moved from consumer work to B2B when asked to start a new team. Shearer first worked on the consumer side. She moved to B2B when she was asked to start a new team there.
B2B has become a bigger strategic focus over the last couple of years.
Adding human care let Headspace serve people it could not reach before. The 2021 merger with Ginger.io added coaching, therapy and psychiatry. Members with acute anxiety or depression could now be supported inside Headspace.
Some friends and family found meditation too woo-woo, while a licensed therapist is a familiar idea. That made the offer easier to explain.
The hardest part of the merger was joining two strong brands into one story. People know Headspace as the meditation app, so a wider offer needed a new narrative. The story Shearer's team tells is that mental health is a lifelong journey.
Mindfulness may help at one stage and a therapist may be needed in a crisis. Some new members may now arrive through coaching, therapy or psychiatry instead of meditation.
Shearer's team launches each new service small and gathers feedback early. Every added modality has to be maintained across product, engineering, business and operations. So the team places bets where the market opportunity is and expands over time.
Psychiatry is still not available to every member while the team gets it right. It carries a higher price point and more medication risk.
She uses consumers and B2B partners as test beds for each other. Some features start in B2B and move to consumers once proven, and others go the other way. The goal is the same, access to mental health services, so learnings often carry over.
She compares it to running a test on iOS and porting it to Android.
Partnering with large providers scaled Headspace faster than winning individuals. With care services in place, Headspace could position itself as an EAP. It partners with Kaiser, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield, who cannot always meet demand for mental health care.
This builds awareness and a bigger book of business in a short time. If a member leaves their employer, Headspace keeps the relationship.
Clinically backed programs filled the content gap next to human care. A PM who is a clinical psychologist and her team built three guided programs, for sleep, anxiety and stress. Each runs about 21 to 30 days.
The sleep program has new research validating benefits for insomnia. The programs may become an on-ramp or upsell to human-delivered care.
Shearer's outcomes team turned survey scores into proof the services work. The squad formed about a year after the merger. Members answer in-app surveys (PHQ-9, GAD-7, PSS) that are repeated over time, and scores are read against how often they use the app.
The hard part was building the right metrics and delivering the surveys at scale. She sees the market moving from engagement metrics to outcome metrics.
She shows members their own progress so they see the value of their effort. Members see their score over time in the app, much as learners see progress in Quizlet or Duolingo. B2B customers see the share of their population with less anxiety or depression.
"knowing how you're doing is actually a really important part of actually making progress"
Her team gets new members to an "aha" moment as fast as possible. Enough data exists to know which minimum experience makes someone feel change. Today the app opens with a "blue skies" meditation.
The marketing message is 3 minutes for 10 days.
In B2B, Headspace leans on social proof and helps partners drive usage. Where employees do not know the brand, member stories and social credibility fill the gap. Webinars teach partners how to use Headspace, such as running monthly challenges with incentives.
Shearer frames this as preventative care, so people have a toolkit before a crisis.
She is rebuilding the Today tab around routine, progress and guidance. It builds a structured journey from what members say they are working on, such as anxiety, sleep or depression. It surfaces what they already use with fewer clicks and recommends a next step.
If a score has dropped over a few months, it might suggest exploring that. People see Headspace as an expert, so it should offer guidance.
Headspace held Ebb back for years and wrote AI principles first. Ebb was an idea for at least two to three years. About a year and a half before the interview, a shared set of AI principles, written by a PM who is a clinical psychologist, gave the team alignment and momentum.
Headspace started later than others on purpose, as a beloved and reputable brand. Ebb uses AI to detect risk of suicidality or harm, and reporters say its safeguards make it feel different.
Members can opt out of AI and still get a personalized product. The Today tab is built modular, so Ebb can be present or absent. It is already personalized for members who never use Ebb.
This respects the wide range of opinions about AI in mental health.
Shearer positions Ebb as a navigator into Headspace's care services. Ebb can start with someone exploring feelings, then suggest a coach or therapist and explain options with or without insurance. There are no forms and no phone calls.
Standalone companions like Character.ai or Replika may refer users elsewhere. Ebb knows a member's context because every service is in-house.
She sees AI as lighter, cheaper support alongside human therapists. It could serve people with lower acuity who need accountability or help processing feelings, or continue practice after someone graduates therapy. One idea is Ebb acting as another participant in a group-style session, checking in and giving homework.
"AI is not going to become a replacement for therapy or psychiatry"
She runs experiments early instead of over-analyzing the right solution. Early in her career she lost time to analysis overload. Now she looks for what members say and leave unsaid, expects to get the first solution wrong, and gets data fast for the next decision.
She treats the who and why as more art, and the what and how as iterative and data driven.
She decides area by area when to go fast and when to go slow. In mental health, going fast and getting it wrong carries a huge risk and cost. New CEO Tom Pickett is pushing the team to act like a startup again, but only where it is safe for members.
Some things must be right at once, and others do not have to be right right away.
She keeps close to member impact and a purpose outside work. Shearer reads the NPS Slack channel daily to see the impact on members. She finished a two-year beekeeping apprenticeship and spends time with her bees on Sundays.
Her parting advice is to find a purpose outside work and bring some of it back into work.