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Please shut this down or pivot. This isn't a mindfulness or meditation app. It's a serious medical issue to which you're presenting an untested solution. If I c
by dumbfoundded 5y ago
Please shut this down or pivot. This isn't a mindfulness or meditation app. It's a serious medical issue to which you're presenting an untested solution. If I created a new pill and said it helps ADHD, I would be shutdown. You're doing this with an app. You hope it will work but really you don't know. I started and sold a CBD business and the entire time, we made sure to never claim that it cures or helps any medical condition despite it having FDA approval for some specific medical conditions & 100,000s of customers saying it did. We refused to work with any company that did and cheered when the FDA sent them letters. You on the other hand, have a top nav page labeled: "Science" & you're laundering the reputation of a single doctor and some "advisors" to bypass the actual process.
As you read the other criticisms about your predatory business model, you should understand that this isn't just some pricing thing you can change, it's the fundamental misalignment between you and your customers. For example, you claim that the average cost of ADHD CBT is $200-$300. WebMD (1) & Consumer Reports (2), and every other result on the first page of google says it's more like $100 to $200. In your marketing, you're now spreading likely false information to make your app seem like a better solution, potentially turning people away from therapy by exaggerating the costs.
Look at your app marketing vs Charlotte's Web (3). Notice the difference? Charlotte's Web doesn't push BS science to sell their products. They don't feature doctors on their page or have a "Science" page in the top nav. They actually started to help a single little girl specifically and once it did, they fought to make their solution available to give people the chance to try it. You on the other hand, took a treatment clinic and thought, "Hey, if I turn this into an app, I could make a lot of money".
Because you position yourself as a medical treatment, your team won't care if it actually works, only if they can sell it. You will continue to spread false information that puts your app in the most favorable light. You will continue to creatively cheat your customers out of money with subscriptions and add-ons they don't need. This path you have set yourselves on inevitably pits you against your customers the same way Purdue pharma did with Oxy. You could pivot to a "Focus" app or something that doesn't position itself as a snake oil treatment to ADHD.
Honestly, I think you will probably continue on your path and just label me a hater. 3 years from now, maybe you've made a lot of money or not. I don't know. Lots of snake oil salesmen make it. But you certainly won't help people in any significant way. If you actually care about that, you should really reconsider.
(1) https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/costs-of-adhd https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/costs-of-adhd
(2) https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2013/01/how-much-does-it-cost-to-test-for-adhd/index.htm https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2013/01/how-much-does-it...
(3) https://www.charlottesweb.com/ https://www.charlottesweb.com/
- comprev 5y agoDoctor of Philosophy not Medicine I seem to remember from a previous reply.
- dumbfoundded 5y agoIf that's true, I think YC has a responsibility to shut this down. Potential customers will clearly make the same mistake I did.