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Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

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Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#121

Post by christalwang »

weinzierl wrote: post #75

What differentiates you offering from Inflow ( https://www.getinflow.io )? The description of your app sounds almost like a one to one copy. EDIT: I checked the Inflow offering and even the pricing is similar to yours. 2nd EDIT: Also, the 'coaching, but not therapy' thing is similar.

Inflow, to my understanding, is a primarily education-based app with community & coaching components. I use Inflow myself, and find their education extremely valuable and easy to digest.

Our service (Shimmer) is focused on the coaching relationship itself. So you get matched with a 1:1 coach and meet every week over video/audio to develop that relationship and work on specific focuses. We do have a smaller element of education in it but it's only deployed in the context of your coaching journey (e.g. your coach may send you a resource related to the task you're working on for the week).

For each person, something different will resonate. For some people, multiple things will resonate! We have members who use or have used Inflow as well.

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#122

Post by christalwang »

treeman79 wrote: post #73
TheTaytay wrote: post #32

Im really surprised to see the intense skepticism here. As someone who is just stumbling into this world and studying ADHD as an otherwise successful adult, Chris’ description (and $99 price frankly) resonated with me and made me think I might be in the target market. Even one of his responses to someone thanking someone for feedback is being downvoted. Is there a connotation of ADHD being associated with snake-oil o…

ADHD runs very strong in my family. My mom never learned to control it and lets it ruin her interactions. Changing topics 2-3 times in a sentience is not uncommon. My career was a mix of major success and failures. Basically depending how routine or novel the problem set was. Took medication at 40 for the first time. First time in my life I was able to work on something boring where it didn’t feel physically painful…

You got a good chuckle from me on that last comment.

Thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry about the pain re: Medication :(

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#123

Post by christalwang »

TheTaytay wrote: post #87
treeman79 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ADHD runs very strong in my family. My mom never learned to control it and lets it ruin her interactions. Changing topics 2-3 times in a sentience is not uncommon. My career was a mix of major success and failures. Basically depending how routine or novel the problem set was. Took medication at 40 for the first time. First time in my life I was able to work on something boring where it didn’t feel physically painful…

My mom is similar, but I am not. I can stay on topic quite well and inability to do so is bothersome to me, so I see that and think, “I don’t have any of that.” But when you said boring tasks are painful, and wanting someone to tap you on the shoulder when you get off task, I was nodding along vigorously. My best solution to this (so far) is to ensure my way of contributing meaningfully to things doesn’t require rote…

Maybe the two of you can be that person for each other!

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#125

Post by vsreed »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #91
vsreed wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you so much for signing up and really looking forward to your feedback about your experience on our platform! What Android device are you using for our app? We'll definitely investigate on our backend and see if we can reproduce the stuttering on our Android test devices as well. You can always email support@shimmer.care or message the Shimmer admin account directly within the app and we'll make sure to log you…

Thanks, I see the admin chat. I saw it after I posted this. It is a Pixel 3. It also took a while for the video just show up on the page, so I think it really is something with server overload, possibly from being on front page of HN? I'll message again if it is still happening in 24 hours.

Thank you for letting us know! It does seem like that may have been the issue and we'll be looking more into how we can improve that with the team, feel free to DM us within the admin chat if you notice it still later on as well.

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#126

Post by christalwang »

fragmede wrote: post #116
iamdbtoo wrote: post #88

> We understand that life doesn't always go according to plan. Shimmer members can cancel or reschedule a coaching video call without penalty 24 hours in advance. If cancellation is within 24 hours, the session will be forfeited for the week. Thank you for your understanding! I understand your need to ensure your time is not wasted, but policies like this can wreak havoc on people struggling with executive dysfunctio…

the right answer, with a pool of VC money, is to have a pool of coaches on tap, so the appointment is NOW. no scheduling stuff in the future to be missed or forgotten. expensive on the back end, but that's what the VC money is for. And also to have it in the middle of the night - so many people I know have their awake hours from 1-3am, meet people with ADHD where they are.

Thank you for the suggestion!

Unfortunately for our specific service, where the focus is on the coaching relationship between the specific coach and member, doesn't make us best fit for a "drop in" session, at least for the core model. Creating and maintaining a trusting relationship with the coach is a multi-step (multi-week) process and for many members redeveloping this trust with a 2nd/3rd coach may be out of the question.

However, I could imagine this being kind of an add on to our normal sessions, and there could be times you could talk about something separate from your specific coaching journey with a coach that may or may not be yours.

You got my wheels turning.

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#127

Post by fragmede »

s-video wrote: post #42

I'm an adult with ADHD but this doesn't appeal to me because I've already found behavioral techniques that work really well for ~free. I'll try and describe one briefly: I use a free app called Virtual Motivaider[1] to make my phone vibrate every 2 to 6 minutes. I'll print a sheet[2] that has a table with two columns. Every row is the same: the first column has the text "Am I on Task?" and the second column has two c…

congrats on finding something that works for you!

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#129

Post by christalwang »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #99
iamdbtoo wrote: post #88

> We understand that life doesn't always go according to plan. Shimmer members can cancel or reschedule a coaching video call without penalty 24 hours in advance. If cancellation is within 24 hours, the session will be forfeited for the week. Thank you for your understanding! I understand your need to ensure your time is not wasted, but policies like this can wreak havoc on people struggling with executive dysfunctio…

Maybe an optional plan that costs a little extra but allows for last minute rescheduling within the week. And everyone starts with this feature at no extra cost at the beginning. The company leaves extra slots open for this possibility, treating it like an insurance scheme. Also last minute rescheduling means last minute scheduling for other people too. They may find that they just offer this to everyone and the cost…

Yes! Actually we kind of have a soft rule that in the first few weeks we always make sure you get your session, even if it means rescheduling last minute. This isn't of course the best scenario for our coaches who are waiting on the other end, but we're happy to invest in this to make sure our members get off on the right foot (the onboarding call is very important and must happen to start the coaching relationship).

However, after the first few weeks, we try our best to uphold the policy because the nature of our coaching service (and we want to keep the integrity) is that the member is best fit to meet their specific assigned coach to continue the relationship (trust, openness, safe space, etc.). In practice though, as long as our coaches have time, most of them will offer a rescheduling of some sort. We do want to set good examples and boundaries and have members practice this wherever possible, while of course being sensitive to ADHD accomodations.

cc: OP, iamdbtoo

Re: Launch HN: Shimmer (YC S21) – ADHD coaching for adults

#130

Post by christalwang »

all2 wrote: post #109
Ilasky wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another ADHD founder here. I've found that having someone else around when I need to to that thing, or a "body double" ( https://doubleapp.xyz/blog/body-doubling-proxy ), is a super useful tactic to "unblock" myself and overcome motivational hurdles like the ones you may experience.

I realized when I was rather young that I performed much better when I was around other people. I always chalked it up to being a show-off or needing someone else's validation. TIL this is a thing.

You got me a chuckle here!

I have the same. Body doubling is the single most effective strategy I use whenever I can. I'm extremely accountability (or maybe... validation?) driven.

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