Pinar Gorgulu on Building MindFrame, Precision Mental Healthcare, and the Personal Journey That Fueled Her Mission
“A small percentage of society is quite comfortable finding the right kind of mental healthcare and getting their needs met, but since the pandemic, that’s not been the case for most people, both in the US and globally. I experienced that firsthand through a family member who was struggling with something quite severe… The question became: how do we intelligently match what people need with the right kind of care at the right time? That’s an ideal AI problem, and we decided to focus on that.”
I had the pleasure of talking with Pinar Gorgulu of MindFrame. Pinar’s professional life has been shaped by a curiosity about systems and a determination to make them work better for people. As the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of MindFrame, she is now applying that drive to one of society’s most complex challenges: mental health care.
Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Gorgulu describes herself as a lifelong nomad. She left Turkey to study in the United States, completing her undergraduate degree before beginning her career in technology. Later, she spent more than a decade in the United Kingdom, earning credentials from institutions such as Harvard University and Imperial College London. Her early years in the field coincided with a formative period in data science and artificial intelligence. At Microsoft, she worked under a manager she calls “visionary,” one of the first to experiment with predictive analytics and early forms of AI. “None of these terms were really coined,” she recalled. “But he was building a little predictive analytics AI team within Microsoft. He always encouraged me to keep following that track.”
That encouragement set the course for her career. While Gorgulu does not come from a technical background, her instinct for systems thinking and her interest in applied technology led her into product management, particularly within data and AI. Over the years, she worked across multiple industries, including finance, healthcare, and legal technology, focusing on how data-driven insights could bring efficiency to outdated structures. Her later work at JPMorgan Chase, where she led AI initiatives to improve operational efficiency, gave her firsthand experience inside one of the world’s largest and most tightly regulated organizations.
But Gorgulu’s pivot toward mental health technology was shaped as much by her personal life as by her professional path. Her family’s experience with severe mental illness, along with her own positive experience with therapy, led her to see how much work remained to be done in making care accessible and effective. “When I decided to start my own venture, it felt like a no-brainer to give back to this space,” she said. “I wanted to see if we could bring innovation that would sincerely help patients as well as providers.”
In 2023, she and her co-founder launched MindFrame, a digital platform designed to help health systems and mental health providers connect people with the right care at the right time. The company’s technology uses AI to assess patients’ needs through screening and then navigate them toward the most appropriate form of support — whether that’s self-guided tools, group sessions, collaborative care, or specialized treatment. The goal, she explained, is not to replace therapists but to improve how care is delivered. “We’re building a navigation layer for healthcare systems,” she said. “It’s about observing how treatment is going and improving how that navigation evolves along the way.”
MindFrame’s work attracted the attention of Techstars and Kaiser Permanente, leading to the company’s acceptance into the Techstars Kaiser Permanente Accelerator program. For Gorgulu and her co-founder, the moment was a turning point. “The entrepreneurship journey is not an easy one,” she said. “So, being accepted into the Techstars program was incredible validation. It changed our lives considerably — packing up and coming to DC, being part of the program, and now planning the next steps.”
That mix of perseverance and purpose runs throughout her story. One of the most meaningful moments of her career, she said, came when she earned her British citizenship, which gave her the freedom to pursue her own path without the visa restrictions that had followed her for years. “That freedom, and in one way or another the validation it gives you, enabled me to want to take a risk and start my own venture.”
Her time at JPMorgan also offered a lesson in the power of redirection. When her ideas about innovation clashed with the constraints of a large institution, she took it as a signal to move on. “I got a lot of ‘nos’ for the things I wanted to do,” she said. “But internalizing that I didn’t belong there led me to quit and start my own thing.”
Gorgulu’s approach to leadership reflects what she has learned from both corporate and startup settings. She credits early experiences in fast-paced startup environments with teaching her flexibility and humility. “I was an extremely opinionated product manager,” she said. “But startups are beds for ambiguity. You should have strong opinions, but hold them loosely.”
Her father’s death a few years ago was another turning point. He had been a mentor and source of encouragement, and his passing, she said, made her re-evaluate her sense of purpose. “It made me feel that life has more meaning than what I was doing,” she said. “That realization pushed me toward something aligned with what I truly care about.”
Now leading MindFrame, Gorgulu is focused on expanding the platform’s capabilities. Beyond matching patients to care, she envisions a future of “precision mental healthcare,” where AI can integrate data from patients’ histories, treatments, and ongoing interactions to personalize care more effectively. “With generative AI, we can leverage conversational data to really tell what the right care is for the right person,” she explained.
Her philosophy toward innovation in mental health is clear: technology should enhance, not replace, the human relationship at the center of therapy. MindFrame’s tools are designed to reduce administrative burdens, improve client engagement, and let therapists focus more on connection than on paperwork.
Asked what advice she would offer to others starting out, Gorgulu listed five lessons. “Patience,” she said first, followed by “being open-minded and flexible.” She emphasized the importance of connection — to one’s work, to one’s values, and to people. “People really make up your experiences and memories,” she said. “Prioritize that.” Her final lesson was about ambition. “Always think big,” she said. “Never limit yourself with a core belief that something isn’t possible.”
When asked what idea she would most like to spread, her answer was simple: emotional openness. “I am a very strong believer in emotional expression and availability,” she said. “We just want to be able to say, ‘I’m feeling terrible today. I can’t do this,’ and for some reason, that’s not okay to share. Being able to express ourselves emotionally would generate a lot more understanding of one another.”
For now, MindFrame continues to grow, with new partnerships forming and fundraising planned for 2026. Through her work, Gorgulu hopes to help reshape how technology serves mental health — not as a replacement for care, but as a tool that helps people, and the systems that support them, function more humanely.
Yitzi: Pinar, it’s so nice to meet you. Before we dive in deep, our readers would love to learn about your personal origin story. Can you share with us the story of your childhood, how you grew up, and the seeds for all the amazing things that have come since then?
Pinar: Yes, of course. I am originally from Istanbul, Turkey. My life and career have been centered around being a bit of a nomad. I’ve lived in multiple countries. I did my undergraduate degree in the US and then started my career there in tech. I then moved to the UK, where I spent over 10 years, and now I’m back in the US. I have always been fascinated with innovation and bringing about change to systems that I feel are not really keeping up with the current status quo — I don’t want to necessarily call them legacy. Being in the tech sector has really taught me how to go about changing some of those. I’ve been very naturally attracted to some of the most recent technologies, including data science and AI. A pivotal moment in my career was working with a very visionary manager at Microsoft, who was way ahead of the big data and AI curve. None of these terms were really coined; “data scientist” wasn’t a thing, and yet he was building a little predictive analytics AI team within Microsoft. He always encouraged me to keep following that track, and I did my best. I’m not a technical person by nature, but I’ve always been technically very curious, so I’ve kept that going and dedicated myself to being a product manager in the data and AI space. This is what I did across all the different countries I just mentioned. I’ve worked in various industries — finance, healthcare, pure tech, legal tech — always solving a very similar problem of how we bring efficiency and innovation to systems using data and AI. All of this has brought me to where I am today, which is having started my own venture. Along the journey, I became really attracted to the healthcare space. Going back to the personal a little bit, I have a personal story through a family member with severe mental illness, as well as my own journey with therapy, which was life-changing for me in a very positive way. When I decided to start my own venture, it felt like a no-brainer to try and give back to this space, using all of these experiences I mentioned in tech and AI to see if we can bring about some innovation that’ll sincerely help patients as well as providers. We started MindFrame as part of that journey a year and a half ago, and we’re going strong and continuing to build the company. I hope that answers your question.
Yitzi: Please tell us more about your venture. Tell us the story behind why you started it and about its first initial developments.
Pinar: The origins of starting it, as I mentioned, are very tied to my personal history and a family member. A small percentage of society is quite comfortable finding the right kind of mental healthcare and getting their needs met, but since the pandemic, that’s not been the case for most people, both in the US and globally. I experienced that firsthand through a family member who was struggling with something quite severe. With the stigma attached, it was very difficult to find the right kind of care. It’s been 10 or 12 years since they had a severe episode, and I still don’t know for sure whether the care they’re getting is exactly right for them. That’s where my curiosity grew.
I was working with my co-founder at a previous company in finance, and she also had a personal connection to this space. We thought it was a worthy problem to solve. We both had a lot of experience working in enterprise settings, so approaching this problem from the provider’s perspective — understanding how they see the crisis and what solutions they envision — was a natural draw for us. There was also a strong fit with the accelerator we’re currently in, which is in partnership with Kaiser Permanente. Through that experience, we’ve come to understand that resources do exist. There are many different ways to help people, and not everyone needs to see a therapist right away. The question became: how do we intelligently match what people need with the right kind of care at the right time? That’s an ideal AI problem, and we decided to focus on that.
The challenges and costs for health systems are significant, both in terms of patient experience and the penalties they face when people aren’t connected to the right care in time, as well as the general administrative load. At MindFrame, we’re building a navigation layer for healthcare systems. It’s an AI-powered system that assesses a patient’s needs through screening and connects them to the most appropriate care, whether that’s self-guided support, group therapy, collaborative care, or specialist treatments. We continue to observe how that process is going, evaluate whether the treatment is effective, and keep improving the navigation along the way.
But that’s just the beginning for us. In the long run, we want to collect more comprehensive data than just intake and navigation — details about each patient’s characteristics, general medical and care history, and how they’re being treated by their care team. That forms the foundation of what we call precision mental healthcare. Now, with generative AI, we can leverage detailed conversational data to better identify the right care for each person. That’s where we’re headed.
Another key moment that influenced why I started this business was when my father passed away three and a half years ago. He was a close mentor to me and someone I deeply loved. After he passed, I felt that life had to have more meaning, and I needed my work to align with what I truly care about. That realization was another defining moment for me.
Yitzi: You probably have some amazing stories, both from this venture and from your career in general. Can you share with our readers one or two stories that most stand out in your mind from your professional life?
Pinar: I can start with the most meaningful. The acceptance of MindFrame into the Techstars Kaiser Permanente program was a very meaningful and pivotal point for me and my co-founder. The entrepreneurship journey is not an easy one. As founders who are genuinely experienced in AI, we could have done a lot of hyper-growth ventures in fintech or other areas that solve massive opportunities. But being impact-driven and meaning-driven, we decided that this is the space we want to operate in, and that makes life slightly harder in some ways. It’s been a bit of an uphill battle over the last year and a half, trying to create that narrative, build the product, and convince people that this is the right thing to do. At times, as a founder, you just feel like you’re constantly hitting a wall. So, it was quite a life-changing moment for us to have been accepted into the Techstars program because it was incredible validation by an amazing brand in the industry, saying, “We believe in you, we believe in making this change.” And not just them; Kaiser Permanente is also involved. The validation coming from a healthcare system also makes it doubly satisfying. It just changed our lives considerably as well — packing up and coming to DC, being part of the program, and now planning the next steps in our personal and professional journeys as we grow the business. That’s probably the first one. A second one — I don’t know if this is exactly a career story, but I’ll tell it. I was born a Turkish citizen. There are a lot of amazing things about my culture, but there are also a lot of challenges around living in a foreign country, whether that’s the US or the UK, because you have to deal with visas and a lot of restrictions. Something that was really meaningful to me, which actually led to me starting this venture, was getting my British citizenship. That moment is tied to my career because it meant that I had to be employed and contributing to that society in a particular way. Getting that citizenship meant that I no longer had to be employed by anybody. I could stay in the UK with no questions asked. I could do whatever I wanted. I think that freedom, and in one way or another, the validation it gives you, enabled me to want to take a risk and start my own venture. That’s probably another extremely pivotal moment in this journey.
Yitzi: It’s been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a funny mistake that you made when you were first starting your career and the lesson that you learned from it?
Pinar: Yes, for sure. There are many lessons learned, especially when you’re an entrepreneur. The one that is probably worth mentioning is from when I first started my career. I was an extremely opinionated product manager, which is a quality that you’re recommended to have. If I were working in a corporate environment, that would have been really helpful. But I actually started my career at startups. Startups are beds for ambiguity and uncertainty, and you should have strong opinions but hold them loosely. I think I mastered the “strong opinions,” but the “loosely held” part didn’t always come easily to me. The chaos and the fast-moving pace of a startup environment really taught me that I need to be flexible in how I approach different people’s perspectives, execution, and strategy. Learning that lesson through that challenge is essentially what is now making me a successful founder, because I can view challenges from different viewpoints and coach people around me to do the same with the problems they’re facing.
Yitzi: There’s a saying that “no” is redirection, not rejection. Do you have a story where that was true, where somebody said no and it led to an opportunity, a discovery, or an unexpected success?
Pinar: For sure. I just need a moment to think. The last place I worked was JP Morgan, which is also where I met my co-founder. I learned a lot of great things at that company, especially when it comes to being able to operate in another enterprise environment that is highly regulated, similar to healthcare. I’m doing my best to be nice when I say this, but being extremely innovative and operating with a “move fast and break things” mindset doesn’t always marry too well with a highly regulated environment. That attitude, combined with me wanting to be autonomous and experiment with things, often clashed in that environment. There were a lot of mentors in my life at that point who were really encouraging, but the system didn’t quite work in my favor, and I got a lot of “nos” for the things I wanted to do. In the end, I decided that it wasn’t the right place for me. That realization, at that point in my life before getting my citizenship, felt very challenging. It made me question a lot of things. But internalizing that I didn’t belong there and that my values didn’t align with the values others might share in an environment like that led me to quit and say, “I’m going to start my own thing.” I wanted to try and break things a little bit in a constructive way, and it gave me the freedom to start the venture.
Yitzi: Can you share with our readers any of the exciting new developments that you’re working on with your company?
Pinar: The most exciting thing at the moment is that we’re wrapping up our accelerator program and gearing up for our demo day at Techstars on December 3rd. That will be a big reveal for us of where we are today, how much we’ve learned and grown, and what our vision is for the future. I’m just excited to share that with everybody at that point.
Yitzi: You’ve been blessed with a lot of success and must have learned a lot from your experiences. Looking back to when you were first starting your career in tech, can you share five things that you’ve learned now over the years that would have been really nice to know when you first started?
Pinar:
- Five things. The first that comes to mind is patience. Especially if you’re a young, driven person just starting out, it’s easy to want things to happen quickly.
- Also, when you’re focused on the end goal, you can get tunnel vision, become obsessive, and miss other opportunities that might come up along the way. So that’s two things — be patient, and stay open-minded and flexible about the opportunities that arise as you move forward.
- The third would be that connection really matters, and I mean that in a few ways. First, a connection to what you’re building in your life. Your values and who you are as a person should connect with what you’re doing. I wasn’t very clear about my values early on, and I sometimes wish I had taken the time to figure them out so that each career decision aligned with them.
- The second kind of connection — and this could count as a fourth one — is that people matter. People shape your experiences and your memories. We all want to achieve and succeed, but what we end up remembering are the moments, the joy, and even the difficult experiences we share with others. Prioritizing that and being mindful of it as you move through your career is really important.
- And the fifth would be to always think big. Never limit yourself with thoughts like, “I can’t do this,” or “That’s not possible.” I say this especially as a woman. Studies show that many women think they’re not fully qualified for a job posting. Ignore that. Have a North Star, set a goal, and don’t think too small. Focus on what you can do each day to get a step closer to it. And circling back to the first point — be patient. You might not get there, and you might learn along the way that the goal wasn’t quite right for you, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have dreamed big.
Yitzi: This is our aspirational question. Because of your great work and the platform that you’ve built, you’re a person of enormous influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Pinar: That’s not a hard one for me, though I’ll do my best with the articulation. I am a very strong believer in emotional expression and availability. It doesn’t come naturally to all of us; we all have different life experiences, upbringings, and genetics. One of the reasons I’m in this business is that I think there is stigma around mental healthcare, not just for obvious things like going to therapy or suffering from a mental illness, but also at the workplace or in our personal lives. We just want to be able to say, “I’m feeling like shit today. I can’t do this,” and for some reason, that’s not okay to share. The flip side is also true; you might be really happy about something, and even that could be considered extreme. We all have a different comfort level with this, but being able to share to the extent that we’re comfortable would generate a lot more understanding of one another. I think it would give people a lot of relief in terms of their mental health just being able to show up as who they are emotionally.
Yitzi: Amazing. So how can our readers learn more about your venture and support you in any possible way?
Pinar: We do have a website and a LinkedIn presence, but those are being updated over the next couple of weeks. That’s probably where I would lead them first to find out more. My personal profile on LinkedIn is also a good place to look. At the moment, we’re trying to connect with more healthcare systems around the US who would find what we’re working on interesting and a valuable proposition for them. That’s one thing we’re looking for. Then, in Q1 of 2026, we will likely be fundraising in the US, so that’s something else that’s coming up. We’re always open to connections and people we can collaborate with on both of those fronts.
Yitzi: Amazing. Well, Pinar, it’s been so delightful to meet you. I wish you continued success, good health, and blessings, and I hope we can do this again next year.
Pinar: That would be amazing. Yitzi, thank you. This was a great experience, a lovely interview.
Yitzi: It’s a pleasure.
Pinar Gorgulu on Building MindFrame, Precision Mental Healthcare, and the Personal Journey That… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.