From a Little Newsletter to a 2,500-Person Event: The Tale of Solome Tibebu’s BHT

Solome Tibebu started a modest little newsletter in 2020 while running a philanthropic fund focused on teenage mental health for Melinda French Gates’ personal investment company, Pivotal Ventures.

Events around the world were being canceled as stay at home mandates prevailed. Subscribers to that newsletter began reaching out to Tibebu—employers, health plans, government agents—seeking scalable mental health solutions that could be adopted virtually and quickly.

“I thought maybe there should be a virtual convening of all of these different stakeholders, payers, providers, startups, investors, policymakers, and so that was the first event we did,” Tibebu told AMO. “It was 2020, virtual and it was just myself and my college intern, Danielle, and we had 2,500 registrants that first year, and an amazing day of people connecting virtually online and exchanging best practices.”

That led to two more virtual events and then for 2023, Tibebu said:

I looked at Danielle—college intern, first full time employee at the time—and said, ‘All right, I think it’s time to go in person,’ not having any idea what goes into that. Man, just looking back, what was I thinking? Neither of us had any event experience whatsoever. I didn’t even know what a room block was a week before signing myself up for a huge one to me, but we were still focused on the same mission… getting all of the stakeholders in the behavioral health ecosystem together to share best practices to advance access, ultimately, to mental health and addiction care for all through health equity, technology and innovation.

Tibebu, who has bootstrapped the “highly profitable” venture since day one, will hold her third in-person event later this year in San Diego with an expectation of at least 2,500 attendees with standard tickets costing $1,998 to $2,998. She held the first in-person event in Arizona expecting 500 attendees. They got 1,200 in 2023, and 2,000 in 2024.

She said she doesn’t expect much disruption from any of the political turmoil out of Washington, DC. as most attendees are national and the event’s not overly reliant on public servants—though there is a scholarship program for current or impacted public servants to be able to attend BHT.

“The main thing is, it’s challenging to plan, because there’s so many changes, so it’s like even people we’ve been talking about becoming speakers for this year are no longer in their job,” Tibebu said. “We’re still very domestic, so at least the tariff stuff doesn’t impact us from an attendee perspective right now.”

Mental Health

Tibebu, of Polish and Ethiopian parentage, has always worked in the arena of mental health, driven by her own struggles with panic attacks and obsessive compulsive disorder as a teenager. At age 16, in 2006, unable to easily find resources to help with her mental health, she founded Anxiety In Teens, a non-profit website designed to provide information, inspiration and community to youth with mental health disorders.

She started a mental health tech startup out of college and eventually joined a large behavioral health software company for a few years. She moved to the Bay Area and worked for a few different venture funds in digital health.

And then the pandemic hit and she landed at Gates’s investment company, helping to fund over 100 youth mental health organizations nationwide, especially those focused on LGBTQ teens and adolescents of color. And, of course, she started organizing events.

The online gatherings included pre-recorded interviews between Tibebu and over 50 featured speakers, and the speakers would participate live in the accompanying chat when the recordings aired. In 2021 and 2022, the event was expanded to two days. That third year, Tibebu, her boyfriend and Danielle the intern turned employee flew to different locations during the day to host in-person events at nights in different cities. Tibebu hit San Francisco, Nashville and New York.

The event is now a two and a half day conference from 8am to 5pm, featuring multiple tracks tailored to different behavioral health subcategories including youth mental health, neurodiversity and AI and tech. There are panels, fireside chats, interactive round tables and an exhibit hall with providers, health plans and digital mental health tools.

Tibebu emphasizes creating a comfortable environment that inspires mental well-being.

Exhibitors have added creative activations like a puppy park, ice cream stands, a mobile mindfulness bus and even a tattoo artist—over 50 people got permanent tattoos.

“Every time they look at their tattoo, they’re going to think of that conference that one year,” she said.

Amber Bullis, director of marketing at Limbic, a sponsoring company that uses clinical AI to make mental healthcare widely available, told AMO what attracts her to the event is the unparalleled attention to detail.

Every element, no matter how small, is thoughtfully curated to create an exceptional experience. From content that truly resonates with attendees, to diverse and inclusive speaker lineups, to logistics that make navigating the event seamless, it’s clear that care is at the heart of everything. Even the food, entertainment and creative touches are designed with intention. There’s an energy at this conference that’s rare. It’s motivating, inspirational and almost magnetic. It captures the spirit of behavioral health in a way that makes you feel like you have to be there.

Year Round Engagement

Keeping connected between events is equally important to Tibebu, be it via regular podcasts (5,000 to 6,000 downloads each), monthly webinars (100 to 350 registrants) or the newsletter, which has 20,000 subscribers.

“The annual event is the main thing, but year round, my goal is to continue engaging and offering opportunities for our community to connect, as well as people with lived experience having the opportunity to share their stories,” Tibebu said.

Tibebu was on her own (aside from Danielle, the intern) at the start, and eventually she realized she needed support. She created an advisory board and among the members she asked to join was Jonathan Weiner, founder of Money 20/20, bought by Ascential (itself later purchased by Informa) and HLTH, bought by Hyve last year. Weiner told AMO:

Solome has created something really special with Behavioral Health Tech, and from the beginning, I saw how aligned her vision was with where the industry needs to go. I agreed to join as an advisor because I believe in Solome’s mission and the way she’s executing it.

Solome has the instincts of a founder: she moves fast, she listens to the market, and she builds what people need. Her own mental health journey gives her credibility and empathy. That’s why she’s thrived. The fact that she was profitable from year one without prior event experience speaks to her resourcefulness, her vision, and the deep trust she’s earned in this space. That kind of brand equity is hard to manufacture. She earned it by showing up authentically and consistently.

BHT has become a trusted gathering place for the behavioral health ecosystem, Weiner said. Tibebu has created a space that’s equally compelling for providers, payers, investors, entrepreneurs and policymakers, a cross-sector appeal that is rare.

“One of my favorite parts of organizing BHT is the emails that we get: ‘I found my new job from the event, we met our investor for our startup here, and we have a new contract with a health plan that was completely a result of meeting them at your event,’” Tibebu said.

The theme has remained focused on health equity, technology and innovation, and expanded into neurodiversity more recently. And the tech in the name isn’t strictly tech.

“I’m really looking for showcasing what is the behavioral health innovation that is going to unlock high quality access for patients?” she said. “Sometimes the innovation could be a novel payment model or a new clinical methodology.”

What comes next? Doubling down on sectors that BHT already engages in. Tibebu also doesn’t dismiss potential outside funding, but would only consider it if it could truly accelerate what she’s doing now.

Weiner doesn’t discount the chance that buyers will very soon start knocking upon Tibebu’s door.

“BHT is a unique asset: strong brand, real impact, loyal audience, and it’s profitable. That’s a rare combo,” Weiner said. “The real question is what kind of future Solome wants to build and who she wants to build it with.”

Updates: Adds scholarship information to seventh paragraph.