Hey HN - I built Stopping (https://stopping.app/) to help people quit drinking with the support of a small group (your "cohort"). It's free[5] to participate and there's no app to download. All communication is anonymous and done through SMS[1]. I finally stopped drinking after many failed attempts and having the support of a group that was going thru it with me was critical.
Problem:
Giving up alcohol, for some people, is really f-ing hard.
In the US, 15M people have Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Only 7% get any form of treatment and most programs are ineffective (the success rate of AA is between 5 and 10 percent[6]).
Abusing alcohol has wide ranging effects:
- Financial costs (spending money on drinking)
- Strains on relationships
- Health risks (increased risk of liver disease, cancer, etc.)
- Reduced confidence and effectiveness
In summary, alcohol can ruin your life and kill you. Many people don't think of alcohol in these blunt terms because of how common and accepted drinking is, but for people people that abuse alcohol, it's the truth.
Solution:
1. Quit with a cohort - *Stopping* places you in a group of people quitting with you at the same time. You can safely and anonymously share struggles and triumphs. It might not sound like a lot, but just telling someone else you have an urge to drink and talking about it can make all the difference.
2. Guidance - Get concrete actions and routines you can implement to improve your odds of quitting and make it easier on you.
For example, many people don't realize how many calories they consume from alcohol and are extra hungry after quitting. Knowing this is coming and completely normal helps make the process smoother. It's also good to know it's ok to indulge in some treats you might not normally have (e.g. ice cream) if it helps you stop drinking. There are hundreds of little things like this that can make a difference in stopping.
Another step is prescribing medication. Less than 4 percent of people with AUD are prescribed a medication[7] but there's solid evidence[8] these drugs can help.
3. SMS based - No new app to check. It's easy to access and anonymous.
Context:
I've always pushed hard during the day and used alcohol as a way to "wind down" and reduce the RPMs of my brain at night. As I got older, it seriously degraded my performance and general attitude.
Future:
I know this app seems like too little to make a difference (for some people it certainly is), but this is a first step.
I want to destroy AUD and I'm obsessed with the problem, not the solution. If you have feedback on how to make *Stopping* more effective, I'd love to hear from you. If you think this is a terrible idea and have a way better solution, I'd love to hear that too. Having quit last year myself, I can still clearly see the distinction between "drinking me" and "not drinking me". The contrast is stark. I'm an order of magnitude better without alcohol and I'm pretty fired up to help others beat this thing.
Drop me a note at mike@stopping.app if you have any feedback or questions you don't want to share here.
Looks fantastic. What did you use to build this? Any interesting changes/user insights since you posted to HN in July?
I love the low-friction approach to signing up and getting started right away with a cohort. I have a family member battling alcohol addiction, and while I feel the group accountability/support of AA can be helpful, AA often focus too much on the 12-steps with a heavy dose of religion. When my family member entered an in-patient rehab program, one of the "highlights" was the close connections with their intake cohort (phones weren't allowed, so staying connected was up to them - so higher friction to staying in touch for support).
Lockdowns during the pandemic have likely exacerbated conditions that lead to and enable alcohol addiction, with less physical interaction with others to detect warning signs or get access to traditionally "in-person" services.
To be completely honest, this is a labor of love and I don't see any ethical way to monetize it so I haven't been marketing it. I'm planning to post it a few more places to try to get an initial core group of users, but it'll need to spread thru word of mouth to stay alive.
Totally agree on AA. I don't see the need to involve religion in order to quit drinking and it's off-putting to many people.
This is pretty cool, have you thought about also implementing it to help quit smoking? I believe the same cohort approach can be used...would just have to divide into smokers cohorts and drinkers cohorts.
Re: labor of love, according to AA's Form 990 for the year ending 2019[1]
Revenue: $11.3M
General Manager salary: $352k
7 other execs making ~$150-200k
There are lots of impact accelerators out there who might fund solutions like this. Saving people's lives comes in different forms and there is a big societal economic benefit created, there could be different ways to capture a fair share of that. Maybe it's solving another problem, like job placement or sober housing, that creates a revenue stream down the road.
7 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 20.3 ms ] threadProblem:
Giving up alcohol, for some people, is really f-ing hard.
In the US, 15M people have Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Only 7% get any form of treatment and most programs are ineffective (the success rate of AA is between 5 and 10 percent[6]).
Abusing alcohol has wide ranging effects:
- Financial costs (spending money on drinking)
- Strains on relationships
- Health risks (increased risk of liver disease, cancer, etc.)
- Reduced confidence and effectiveness
In summary, alcohol can ruin your life and kill you. Many people don't think of alcohol in these blunt terms because of how common and accepted drinking is, but for people people that abuse alcohol, it's the truth.
Solution:
1. Quit with a cohort - *Stopping* places you in a group of people quitting with you at the same time. You can safely and anonymously share struggles and triumphs. It might not sound like a lot, but just telling someone else you have an urge to drink and talking about it can make all the difference.
2. Guidance - Get concrete actions and routines you can implement to improve your odds of quitting and make it easier on you.
For example, many people don't realize how many calories they consume from alcohol and are extra hungry after quitting. Knowing this is coming and completely normal helps make the process smoother. It's also good to know it's ok to indulge in some treats you might not normally have (e.g. ice cream) if it helps you stop drinking. There are hundreds of little things like this that can make a difference in stopping.
Another step is prescribing medication. Less than 4 percent of people with AUD are prescribed a medication[7] but there's solid evidence[8] these drugs can help.
3. SMS based - No new app to check. It's easy to access and anonymous.
Context:
I've always pushed hard during the day and used alcohol as a way to "wind down" and reduce the RPMs of my brain at night. As I got older, it seriously degraded my performance and general attitude.
Future:
I know this app seems like too little to make a difference (for some people it certainly is), but this is a first step.
I want to destroy AUD and I'm obsessed with the problem, not the solution. If you have feedback on how to make *Stopping* more effective, I'd love to hear from you. If you think this is a terrible idea and have a way better solution, I'd love to hear that too. Having quit last year myself, I can still clearly see the distinction between "drinking me" and "not drinking me". The contrast is stark. I'm an order of magnitude better without alcohol and I'm pretty fired up to help others beat this thing.
Drop me a note at mike@stopping.app if you have any feedback or questions you don't want to share here.
[0] https://stopping.app/
[1] *Stopping* receives all the messages and relays them (using Twilio) based on the group you belong to.
[2] National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sh...
[3] 14.5 million people ages 12 and older had Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), ~5% of the US population. Men are almost twice as likely to have AUD.
[4] 7.2 percent of people ages 12 and older who had AUD in the past year received any treatment in t...
I love the low-friction approach to signing up and getting started right away with a cohort. I have a family member battling alcohol addiction, and while I feel the group accountability/support of AA can be helpful, AA often focus too much on the 12-steps with a heavy dose of religion. When my family member entered an in-patient rehab program, one of the "highlights" was the close connections with their intake cohort (phones weren't allowed, so staying connected was up to them - so higher friction to staying in touch for support).
Lockdowns during the pandemic have likely exacerbated conditions that lead to and enable alcohol addiction, with less physical interaction with others to detect warning signs or get access to traditionally "in-person" services.
To be completely honest, this is a labor of love and I don't see any ethical way to monetize it so I haven't been marketing it. I'm planning to post it a few more places to try to get an initial core group of users, but it'll need to spread thru word of mouth to stay alive.
Totally agree on AA. I don't see the need to involve religion in order to quit drinking and it's off-putting to many people.
Revenue: $11.3M General Manager salary: $352k 7 other execs making ~$150-200k
There are lots of impact accelerators out there who might fund solutions like this. Saving people's lives comes in different forms and there is a big societal economic benefit created, there could be different ways to capture a fair share of that. Maybe it's solving another problem, like job placement or sober housing, that creates a revenue stream down the road.
[1] https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/13167...