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Easy resets for when you fall off.
I like this feature.
When the pandemic first hit, I realized how important routines and (associated) metrics would be in keeping me afloat in a tumultuous time. To that end, I built my own little CLI-based habit/checklist tracker and started analyzing trends and habits on a weekly and monthly basis.
It worked great at first, I had a privileged insight into my week and could therefore fine-tune parameters to optimize for certain metrics. However, as the pandemic dragged on, the drudgery of waking up from my bed and working from my desk (which is a foot away [0]) eventually caught up to me and I started burning out. Looking back, a relentless pursuit to optimize for certain KPIs was part of the reason. Having successfully mechanized a large of my life with little room for error (for fear of rebuke from those pretty charts in Tableau), I started dreading those weekly-check ins with myself, eventually dropping the habit altogether. My tracker went _poof_ soon after that. After all, there will be no rebuke from a chart if there is no chart to begin with :))
A couple months later, I cleared the backend database, and started anew. I had also come to realize over this "break" that I should not tie my self-worth to some graphs [1], and if I was getting the important stuff done, I had little to worry about. My "system" since then has been working fairly well, I use Trello to keep track of stuff, and if something super alarming pops up, I investigate. If not, I let things flow.
I believe it would help your user retention massively if you could remind users you are not a drill sergeant, but are there to help. And part of helping them is to sometimes remind them that (bad) metrics are not a judgement of their character and its okay to let things slide. You can always start anew.
Good luck to y'all, I wish you well! :)
[0] - I am an undergrad living in off-campus housing. Real-estate is unfortunately an expensive luxury at my time in life.
[1] - I recommend Jenny Odell's book "How to do Nothing" to anyone feeling like they are on a never-ending treadmill. There are parts of it that I didn't like, but all in all, it was a good read.
You articulated a real concern of mine. At the end of the day, literally _everything_ I set out to do seems to turn into a programming problem. Trying to get healthy? Better find the exact right diet and workout routine. Learning guitar? Better find the exact combination of scales and chords to practice.
And like every programming problem, it's only fun until I find the answer. Then it becomes maintenance work, slotted alongside all of the five million other tasks I have to keep up with: Doomed to be ignored, dismissed, or otherwise forgotten about.
I realize there is a serious flaw in my approach to building good habits. The way to circumvent it is by decoupling process from results, and finding joy in the mere act of doing.
Still, it's so hard to do when trying to improve at something. The urge to optimize is pervasive.
Definitely that's how I think about it too. I use my weekly check ins to revise or remove goals all the time. We're going for kindergarten teacher vibes over drill sergeant.
Also we live in NYC and are acutely familiar with [0] LOL
Really helpful tip that we should remind users we're not a drill sergeant and that your productivity scores don't equal your identity.
We don't yet have a profile page in the app, but when we build it, we want it to represent the user's identity with a lot of fidelity, which will include creative, professional, or personal milestones alongside productivity data that the user wants to showcase.
I.e. sometimes you will be proud of yourself for a cessation streak, but sometimes you will want to proudly display a new artwork that is difficult to map to your productivity data.
Your most favorable review comes from an account named “revdemigod.” No way that’s you, is it? Lol
That's my bff from 10th grade
Hmm, I've been a user of this kind of thing for a long time and there's quite a few 'habit-tracking' apps out there (my personal choice being Loop Habit Tracker, I dig its minimalism). Is your key differentiator the accountability check in idea? $15 per month seems quite steep for that, that's like 1/4th of a weekly session with a personal trainer.
Totally understand that $15 per month seems like a hefty price tag for a new product, but it's the lowest we could go since we pay human coaches for check-in calls with users.
The average personal trainer charges $30-39 per session depending on whose data you check. Assuming 1 session per week, the price of a personal trainer is $120-156 per month and our combined software and 1:1 human solution is <1/10th of the price.
The project looks interesting, and I like the approach. But the "Claim your habit plan" paywall after a few onboarding screens with no option to try the application does not look right and feels like another "dark pattern" we are familiar with (force to waste some time and then block the results with a paywall).
Thanks for the heads up - it's definitely our intention to demonstrate the potential value before asking for payment. We try to make the app as accessible as possible at $5 for the first month. We're offering a personalized onboarding call with a coach to everyone who onboards which is why we paywall upfront.
Thanks for the answer! It does make sense. With a few caveats, however. From my experience, this is a way to go if you:
- Identified your market fit as users who appreciate and accept calls (not the case for many. GenZ, for example, does not fit)
- These calls are the main motto for the app (but in this case, I do not understand why you hide all the other features from potential users like me. I do not need personal calls, but I could change my mind after a few trial weeks with proper motivation)
Anyway, do not get me wrong. These are just my two cents. Otherwise, good luck with the project!
[Edit]: formatting
Maybe state the cost earlier in the flow. Feels crappy to spend time giving you data about me and then get hit with the paywall, and no option to see what Demigod is even about.
Sorry this is sort of a ridiculous comment, but your company name is a turn off. I'd feel weird using, talking about or recommending it to people because of the immediate narcissism it invokes.
I'd like to second this, it was the first thought that came to mind when I read the headline.
3 commenters provided the same feedback. We can change the name. What do you guys think about calen.com? I can nab it for $40K (pricey but seems reasonable for a .com domain)
My rules for naming:
Rules for naming a startup
1. Easy to pronounce
2. Easy to spell
3. Easy to remember
4. As few syllables as possible
5. .com unless very good reason otherwise
6. Related to the product/service
Calen.com would be a no go if it were me because it violates rules 1,2,3 and 6.
I’d go with something like habitkeeper.com which is only $2.5k.
Calen doesn't really violate #6 (it's short for calendar), but definitely violates #1 and #2. I took me a while to see the calendar connection because it looked like "Kay-len" to me. Also, 40k seems a bit steep for an early-stage company.
I would add uniqueness as a good criteria because it helps with SEO and branding and because unique names are often easier-to-remember (#3) than generic names.
What I would recommend if you want to go the calendar-based route is start with "cal", "calen", or "calend" and find a random syllable to complete the word in a unique and phonetically-obvious way. You probably can find something suitable for under $10k.
Maybe you could go with "Caltic" ($8k). Then you could go with a Celtic theme, like use a 4-leaf-clover as the icon and a tagline like "Make your own luck" or something like that
Or if you don't mind spending some money, calenda is 30k
40K for a .com domain? do you have users? does your income justify dropping 40k in a domain? you can hire a couple of devs/designers/ux overseas for that money. Or is vc money you dont care to spend? Not judging (well, a little bit) , I really what to understand the mindset behind "40k for a domain is reasonable", on an early stage startup. I wish you luck, im i will for sure download the app. I also think "demigod" gives a "fake guru grindset" vibe.
You sound like PG - thanks for the honesty
I wouldn't abandon the sentiment behind the name entirely, but 'god' is a loaded suffix. I'd explore companion spirit nomenclature, I'm sure there is a good one out there. Like the little Navi faerie from Zelda :)
A shame, I actually like Demigod.
Your signup flow is repetitive.
I "signed up" with Apple Login and then it asks for all the info again.
Sign in with apple has an option to obfuscate the data being shared with the devs, so we get this random relay like 89yzx94n77@privaterelay.appleid.com. We ask for name and email again in case
Asking for email after sign-in with Apple is against their TOS. At some point when you release an update they'll notice and require you to change this. (It happened to me ~6mo after we launched!)
Y'all are right, we're removing this now
But as icloud user that’s my #1 reason to use apple signin.
Why isn’t that information enough?
The point of enabling that option is that users want you to use the relay so they don't have to give you their real email address. If you're just trying to send an email, why isn't the relay acceptable?
Then you've missed the point of Apple Sign In
My cofounder had been using Demigod for awhile (I was excited to try it out, but I'm an Android user). So I've been able to see him work through habits vicariously with his coach.
Seems like a great idea!
Can confirm. Am cofounder. I used Demigod to get everything in my habits really tight so that I could find 4 hours EXTRA every week in my life to learn to paint. I did it, it worked, and after about 3 months I made a pretty good painting as a gift for my friend. <3 to Demigod
Much love
So I've been trying out
(similar coaching concept for fitness).
While I really like the concept (esp since it means I don't need to make my own workouts, which was often an excuse I used not to workout) I haven't found the accountability aspect very effective, I was at it for a few months and then dropped off, despite the daily "YOU GOT THIS!!" text from a stranger on the other side of the country.
It's entirely plausible that at the end of the day I'm just lazy/not motivated enough and no amount of accountability will be helpful, but I wonder if there's a better form of accountability, particularly through likeminded social circles, you could integrate.
Just riffing (using workout as the habit, since I will absolutely pay big $ if something gets me to work out more, future is $150/m);
1. Social shaming
a. the app notifies a bunch of friends every time you miss a workout.
b. I pay for someone to blow up my phone / texts ad infinatum at a certain time until I'm in the gym's geofence.
2. Material loss
a. you use Plaid to pull $XX out of my account and send it to my buddy every time I miss a workout.
b. set aside some large amount of $ like $1000 and if I don't get to the gym 20x in a month, confirmed by a third party, the money is gone forever.
3. Material gain;
a. join a group of friends; y'all put $100 in a pot, add 1 point for every workout and subtract 3 points for every miss. When the squad hits 100 points you spend the money on a trip to Fogo de ChĂŁo. If you go below 0 the money is gone forever.
b. partner with gyms & give a 40% membership discount if the person has a rolling 15 days / month attendance.
Re: the app; love the idea, the design is gorgeous, but the name is not something I'd be comfortable sharing with friends :)
> b. set aside some large amount of $ like $1000 and if I don't get to the gym 20x in a month, confirmed by a third party, the money is gone forever.
I was thinking of creating an app like this one, my major issue was that the app's incentives (making money) and the user's incentives (working out) were not aligned. I like the idea of giving money to your buddy (or charity) better.
beeminder.com has a product that fills some of these needs.
why two years to launch?
Two years? That's nothing. RescueTime took 14 years:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28683597
Is there an Index Fund for YC and their startups I can hedge?
The latest crop of note taking & productivity apps is really disappointing.
What is the business model behind it?
It's $5 for the first month and $15 for each month after that. Each user gets a personalized onboarding call with a human coach ($5), with the option for weekly calls thereafter ($15) to reflect on the past week's data and plan tasks and habit goals for the following week.
No Android app? Any plans?
Not just yet but we built on React Native so it could be soon!