Joyable, a San Francisco-based behavioral health technology startup has layed off 20 people (half its staff) and pivoted its business, with plans to refocus on its enterprise emloyee wellness offering rather than the direct-to-consumer business that has been the company's main focus up until now. Fortune broke the news.

"We let a number of talented people and friends go this week," CEO Peter Shalek said in an emailed statement. "We did this in order to refocus our efforts on partnering with employers, insurers, and providers to increase access to evidence-based mental health care and to reduce costs. We are positioned financially to pursue this new strategy over the next several years. We’ve built a product known for having the best engagement and outcomes of any mental health-focused digital therapeutic, and we believe that our evolved strategy will allow us to reach and help the most people."

In an interview, Shalek clarified that Joyable's direct-to-consumer offering, an online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and coaching program for social anxiety, isn't going away completely: people currently using it will still be able to use it and new sign-ups will still be supported. But the company won't put any more resources into developing or marketing the direct-to-consumer offering, and most of the staff involved in marketing and support for that product specifically were let go.

Shalek said that the company had always planned to go in this direction anyway and that, while they reached a lot of people, they recognized that the best way to move the needle meaningfully on social anxiety would be to help more people, which the company could accomplish by targeting populations that don't need to pay for the service directly (the company charges individuals $23 per week for a 12-week course after a seven-day free trial).

With Joyable's platform, first users are paired with a coach who has been trained in CBT techniques. Before starting the program, users are invited to speak to the coach for 30 minutes on a phone call about how social anxiety affects them and what they want to get out of the program. After that, the program helps consumers identify and understand their social anxiety triggers. Users must complete activities such as challenging anxious thoughts with evidence and developing alternative thoughts that are more helpful. Each activity takes around 10 minutes to complete.

From there, Joyable teaches users techniques to reduce their anxiety by putting themselves in anxious situations and working on applying the skills they learned. The coach supports the user throughout the program through text and email, and the user can also reach out for help whenever they want. The program is available online, and can also be accessed from smartphones and tablets. 

The company raised two rounds of funding back in 2015: a $2 million round in March and an $8 million round in November. Investors include Thrive Capital, Harrison Metal, and Collaborative Fund.