HN Explorer

Ask HN: Encouragement as a Service?

3 points by bambax ↗ HN
Does "Encouragement as a Service" exist?

It would be a number that you can call as an entrepreneur, when you feel a little down or discouraged.

It would not offer advice per se, but "quality listening" (relevant questions) and comforting/encouraging words.

You would subscribe to it with a monthly payment.

It would work via phone and email, with maybe different price tiers.

Does this exist already? Does anyone want to try and build it?

4 comments

[ 1.2 ms ] story [ 22.5 ms ] thread
J_Darnley
Does an insincere "you can do it" really help? They know nothing of your situation.
FiatLuxDave
In a way it does exist. A lot of people get this kind of encouragement and "quality listening" from psychological counselors. This means that there is an opportunity here, because psychological counselors are usually overqualified for the simple encouragement an entrepreneur may need, and thus tend to be more expensive than what I expect your price point would be.

In short, I think that re-framing the service as an "entrepreneur's counseling service", including such things as a guaranty of confidentiality, has potential. The thing to remember is that counseling requires a human touch, so any technological contribution is going to be of the nature of putting entrepreneurs in need of encouragement in touch with counselors. Having a ready source of inexpensive, entrepreneur-specialized counselors is definitely a service. How much demand there is for it, I don't know.

If you get it together, tell me your rates. Cheap enough and I might use it myself.