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Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

shimmer.care

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Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

#41

Post by Nevermark »

christalwang wrote: post #13
brulard wrote: post #3

As an ADHD person, the landing page is absolutely anti-ADHD - a lot of stuff with basically no info about what it really does. It should have been all concise and tangible information, simple example, demo. Instead just a lot of marketing fluff. I spent all the focus budget there and I have no idea what it does.

Perhaps try to go directly into the app store, I think that copy and the screenshots is a lot more straight forward. Our care team has skewed the landing page to be a bit more of "show the benefit" rather than the functionality (since a lot of the functionality looks like chat bots) but we can definitely take another look through it and I love the idea of including a demo! For now, the youtube demo is here: https://w…

I am going to second the comment you are replying to. Strongly.

Why are you (indirectly by omission) asking a cohort of people who need information to be direct, to redirect? That's a serious market/message mismatch.

> Our care team has skewed the landing page to be a bit more of "show the benefit" rather than the functionality

That is what the snake oil industry does. Or enterprise sales. Even cults. ("Look at what we say these people say about us!" "We have a solution to your problem! [restated several times in different ways]!"

I am baffled by the term "care team" in this context.

I find that being concrete and credible, instead of asking people who don't know you for trust and unrewarded interest out of the gate, is a much better way to communicate something that is real.

If you do have a way to help ADHD people, I wish you luck communicating that. As an ADHD person myself, I have system creation/adoption fatigue. You seem to be aware of this. So be very direct about exactly what you do that helps, so someone that has tried many things, i.e. a sophisticated customer by necessity, can judge anything you say. (As they say in science, non-testable claims are not worth much. When marketing solutions to serious problems, this relates to the first thing you show people.)

Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

#42

Post by christalwang »

user_7832 wrote: post #40
cromulent wrote: post #30

Good stuff, I appreciate your work. I suspect that the ADHD audience on HN would skew towards people who have already developed coping mechanisms and systems (and some people seem to have very high intellectual horsepower), so you might not find the best market fit or feedback here. I think I am past the point where this may have been a fit for me, but earlier in my life it may have been very useful. Edit: Can you ex…

> I suspect that the ADHD audience on HN would skew towards people who have already developed coping mechanisms... Can't speak for everyone, but as one guy - I wish lol. I'm just raw dogging life - to use Gen Z (or is it Alpha?) lingo. (I wanted to add a sarcastic thing to my message but I'm too tired to even do that without sounding rude.)

Hahaha, I'm a millennial and that still resonates with me, so I get it. I think within every community there's always a really big span and hopefully our new product experience can be helpful to a subset of that span! With the AI chats, it's substantially more personalized and less restrictive than last gen text box flows!

Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

#43

Post by theCodeStig »

I’m an adult with combined type ADHD. I feel very strongly that any device which has other apps is a terrible tool for ADHD management and organization. No matter how well intentioned, and I know that you are.

One needs to spend less time on devices. Go analogue. Pen and paper. The best tool that I have found is the Bullet Journal Method. It takes time, effort, and there is a learning curve. The ROI is higher than from any app. No other tool has impacted my life and productivity more.

That said, I have found some tertiary apps to be helpful, though my BuJo is my compass. Endel for time boxing/Pomodoro, and sleep. Headspace for guided meditation.

No, it doesn’t have to be aesthetic, with pretty lettering and doodles (as seen in social media).

Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

#44

Post by christalwang »

desmondl wrote: post #39

This new product might be better, but Shimmer was publicly criticized exploitative when it launched. I saw those criticisms at the time, gave the product a fair chance anyway, and unfortunately found them to be accurate. I used Shimmer in 2022. The app had poor UX and frequent bugs, and the core offering (weekly Google Meet sessions with a “coach”) felt like generic self-help and not personalized coaching. The promis…

I'm sorry you had a poor experience! 2022 was the year I got diagnosed and the app definitely wasn't nearly as good as it is now, and I'm sorry you went through those bugs. But more importantly, I'm sorry about the experience you had with your coach. We take these flags really seriously and since then, we've put in several rounds of guardrails in the hiring process, with ongoing contract renewals with our coaches, and general culture & training. Now, we only take https://testimonial.to/shimmer-care/all

Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

#45

Post by christalwang »

Nevermark wrote: post #41
christalwang wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps try to go directly into the app store, I think that copy and the screenshots is a lot more straight forward. Our care team has skewed the landing page to be a bit more of "show the benefit" rather than the functionality (since a lot of the functionality looks like chat bots) but we can definitely take another look through it and I love the idea of including a demo! For now, the youtube demo is here: https://w…

I am going to second the comment you are replying to. Strongly. Why are you (indirectly by omission) asking a cohort of people who need information to be direct, to redirect? That's a serious market/message mismatch. > Our care team has skewed the landing page to be a bit more of "show the benefit" rather than the functionality That is what the snake oil industry does. Or enterprise sales. Even cults. ("Look at what…

Fair, feedback heard from multiple people here on: being more direct, concrete, credible. I'll take this back for the next iteration of the landing page!

Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

#46

Post by n8cpdx »

alienreborn wrote: post #35
n8cpdx wrote: post #7

As an ADHD person, this app looks like a repackaging (with nice design) of all the stuff I’ve built up over years - habit tracking, daily/weekly/yearly reflection, detailed task management, etc. This isn’t for me (because I’ve already built a system that works), but this looks like something that would be very useful. For the target user who does feel stuck and hasn’t successfully built their system, this looks like…

Do you mind sharing your system that worked for you in detail or re-direct any good posts that detail them? Appreciate it.

Here is my template from obsidian that I use for my weekly reflection - customize reflection based on your values and priorities. I have goals to improve work-life balance, social connections (social isolation was a factor driving poor outcomes, and through deliberate consistent effort I have solved this problem).

Hyper scheduling: https://dev.to/maxpatiiuk/series/32301 (I stumbled upon this and implemented a form of it, although mostly I just like the colors in my calendar)

Yearly reflection: https://yearcompass.com/

Weekly reflection:

```md ## Preparation

- [ ] Review year compass - [ ] Review journal entries from the week - [ ] Review last week's reflection

## Quick summary

> *Headline for the week*:

## Basic planning

- [ ] Set up outline of the week in Outlook - [ ] Plan a fun weekend activity: - [ ] Plan to visit one new restaurant: - [ ] Plan one meet up or social activity:

## Values-based reflection

1. Health: - 2. Resilience: - 3. Social connection: - 4. Mindfulness: - 5. Adventure: -

## Retrospective

1. Went Well - 2. To improve - 3. Plan to improve/action items -

## Other notes

- ```

Daily reflection/journal:

```md

_Created: {{date}} {{time}}_ ({{date:DDD}}/365)

Gratitude (I am for three items):

Healthy Living Plan:

- Diet: - Exercise: - Work+Learning:

Daily reflection:

- Overall wellbeing (1-10): - Career: - Lifestyle hygiene: - Rose and thorn:

Journal:

```

I use TickTick because of the habit-tracking feature. Used to be todoist loyalist but it sucks for habits. https://help.ticktick.com/articles/7055781878401335296

Key habits I track:

- meditation (I combine with a fancy LED face mask to help reinforce the habit via my desire to combat wrinkles and acne - the cryoglow is better at acne than wrinkles so far) - exercise (you can add notes) - evening leisure time (if I don’t have dedicated leisure time, I end up revenge bedtime procrastinating/doomscrolling) - stretching (there are two simple band stretching exercises that solved what I thought would be life-long neck and shoulder pain)

When I really struggle with productivity, I find the pomodoro system is a good bootstrap, and TickTick makes it easy to start. I like seeing the pomos on the built-in calendar.

Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

#47

Post by codygman »

ndiag_adhder wrote: post #23

As a privacy concious ADHDer, it is a sad reality that OP's product is never going to be something I can trust enough to use. Anyone has any experience of similar/alternative local-first FOSS alternatives / replacements, or resources on how you figured out how to build workflows that worked with you with non-ADHD focused tools? I have come to the point where I am going to be losing my job very soon because I have 0 e…

I use an emacs based system with org-mode, org-habits, and howm.

Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

#49

Post by Battleshack »

egiboy wrote: post #28

I’ll give this app a try later.

Subtle joke right there, if I may venture?

I think technological systems for managing ADHD are targeted mainly towards J-type personalities (Myers-Briggs).

As a hard P-type, I generally perceive Systems as detrimental to my well-being. A take which of course is riddled with both fallacies and exceptions (so don't hold me too harshly to it).

What's holding me back from checking out any sort of recommandation is the fear of commitment.

Everything eventually becomes one (or more) of the following:

- A joyous commitment - A meaningfull commitment - A stressfull commitment

Having a kitten is joyous. Having a 17 year old cat is all of the above.

Systems—good, usefull and fascinating as they may be—generally tend to fit in the 'stressfull' category. Especially those who encroach toward a hobby/hyper-fixation during the honeymoon period.

(The one system I still use on a day-to-day basis is a calendar. Because I have to. It's not joyous, but it's meaningfull.)

Re: Launch HN: Indy (YC S21) – A support app designed for ADHD brains

#50

Post by christalwang »

NoSalt wrote: post #48

My son (12 year old) has ADHD ... I wonder if they did any testing of this with kids.

The app is for 18+ only, currently! (but we do have a coaching program specifically built for teens between 13-17 y/o if you're interested in the future!)
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