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I got tired of packing my own capsules so I made Nootrobox (nootrobox.com)

35 points by geoffwoo ↗ HN
Excited to launch Nootrobox (www.nootrobox.com) today! We have two goals: 1.) we want to make it drop-dead convenient to use nootropic stacks, and 2.) make nootropics more accessible and safer to a wider community of people.

We've been curious about nootropics for awhile and have experimented with different stacks, and it was a huge pain to buy everything in bulk and mix the right proportions of compounds together. The goal of Nootrobox is to abstract that pain away so it's as convenient to taking a vitamin.

Nootropics is somewhat of a mysterious and shady concept for most people, and we want to fix that. Many people take supplements for maximizing physical performance, and there's very little social stigma for that. But for cognitive supplements, the response is much more wary. We want to make mental supplements just as mainstream and commonplace because we ourselves have felt the effectiveness of nootropics.

So Nootrobox is going for convenience and accessibility. Our first stack “Rise” is actually based off a common mix of Bacopa monnieri, L-theanine, and caffeine.

We're providing a limited 15% discount to our first 500 orders and we're letting you guys know about this first here. We also have a referral program that gives $5 discount/credit for each person that buys through your referral link!

Would love to hear your feedback.

47 comments

[ 1.4 ms ] story [ 87.0 ms ] thread
caublestone
Just curious, was the soylent site a design guide at all?
geoffwoo
Yup! Soylent's definitely an inspiration around innovation around nutrition!
caublestone
Cool! We will have to give this a try :)
DanBC
Soylent is not innovative.
gnopgnip
It is innovative in the sense that it is still a work in progress, unlike many meal replacement shakes.
munro
Seeing a site blatantly cop their style makes me distrust them, since they put very little time into their company. It doesn't convey seriousness.

I think there is room for a company that simplifies nootropics though, it's a wild world out there. It can be hard to find capsules.

geoffwoo
Soylent's an inspiration but I think it's overly harsh to say we're just copping their style. The design patterns were using are pretty common!
FreedomFiber
You got tired of packing your own capsules, so now you want to start packing other peoples capsules for money? This title doesn't make much sense.

I do like the idea though, it can be a strenuous task filling capsules one at a time for a months worth of supplements. I would recommend The Capsule Machine (http://www.amazon.com/The-Capsule-Machine-00-Kit/dp/B006OQ43...) for anyone who would like to do it themselves more efficiently.

geoffwoo
Well, the idea was sort of those typical 'startup idea' tropes where it was a pain in the ass to make capsules... so why not abstract that away as a service!
FreedomFiber
Haha yeah I get it, and think it's a good idea. I just thought it was ironic that you'll be making even more capsules now that you're starting a service to help other people with the issue.
pbhjpbhj
Rather like the focus on laundry services I was reading here (or was it on Digg?) the other day - lots of [primarily] young men hate laundry and so think "I know I'll start a laundry business" apparently.
sp332
"dudes, or duos of dudes, who have only recently experienced the crushing realization that their laundry is now their own responsibility, forever. Paradoxically, many of these dudes start companies that make laundry the central focus of their lives." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7817895
comrh
Depending on the strength of your morning coffee 50mg of caffeine will probably be a surprise to your body as most are 100-200mg range.
loganu
Did you get those backwards? Or are you saying that only getting 50 mg will make your body react funny because it's only getting 1/2- 1/4 of what your coffee has?
geoffwoo
Yeah, we wanted to minimize the caffeine dose because we don't want to mess with people's caffeine tolerance. Big coffee drinkers (3+ cups a day) who've helped us 'beta test' this were pleasantly surprised by how much alertness they derived from our product.
mdip
Thanks for that. I found myself gaining a sensitivity to caffeine later in life. A cup of coffee makes me so shaky that I rarely touch coffee or caffeinated beverages anymore.

50mg hits me about the way I remember I'd feel after downing a 16oz coffee drink when I was a teenager. Any plans for a caffeine-free variety?

buckbova
> Don't waste money on $5 frappuchinos.

Does this nootrobox contain 1000 calories of delicious icy cold coffee goodness?

maj0rhn
Consistently sleeping 8 hours a night will do more for your brain than these chemicals. What a waste.
sp332
That's true, but irrelevant. If you're consistently getting enough sleep, these will still improve your cognition.
maj0rhn
Prove it.
buckbova
There are multiple studies that show a link between caffeine with improved cognitive or physical performance. This has been proven.
DanBC
It is unfortunate that OPs name contains "woo" - a common term in sceptic community to describe things that are bunk.

However, OPs site does contain links to abstracts for the extracts they're using, and OPs site seems to be calmer than similar nootropic websites.

maj0rhn
Moreover, prove there is no harm from these chemicals. Good luck with that!
sp332
Even air and water can harm you, so that's an impossible bar to reach. If the costs and risks of a particular dose are worth it for someone, you can't say it's a waste.
maj0rhn
The reductio ad absurdum does not work here. You are advocating (or at least facilitating) that people put things into the their bodies, in the manner of pharmaceuticals, that would not otherwise go there. The responsibility is on you to prove it's ok. "First do no harm" -- this has been the credo of western medicine since 400 BC.

You want people to ingest these substances without knowing the cost. Unethical.

loganu
How about you prove that they are harmful? I'm happy to assume that some research was done, and that a handful of peer-reviewed studies suggest these nutrients have some positive effects (or at the very least are neutral and customers are paying for a placebo. That's okay too.) Saying "prove there's no harm" is like saying "prove pencils don't give people headaches" or "prove God doesn't exist."

If you're on a mission to prove something, maybe start by refuting the information put into the FAQ regarding safety or the various studies that have been linked.

dang
The submitter included a text description of the project, but those don't show up if the post has a URL. You need to post it as a comment in a thread.
geoffwoo
Whoops. Thanks for the heads up!
teh_klev
Great, another start up trying to ruin the pleasure of a tasty balanced breakfast.
geoffwoo
Just trying to replace your morning coffee. Keep eating those waffles and bacon!
DanBC
The FAQ links to abstracts. Have you read the full papers or just the abstracts?

The title bar is fixed. This is not a pleasant experience on iOS.

The site is nice! Text was clean and readable.

Good Luck!

geoffwoo
We did pretty extensive academic review on the ingredients and consulted folks at Stanford. We wouldn't want to ingest stuff that would mess ourselves up!

Thanks for checking us out!

pbhjpbhj
FWIW I'm not sure that the note that this project was started in June 2014 really helps the credence of the site.
geoffwoo
We're launching it today!
pbhjpbhj
Usually the time preceding launch of nutritional products is less than a day, was my point. So, the project could have been "in development since I learnt of nootropics several years ago" and I'd be a bit more inclined to trust the parties behind it [assuming that was true] even if they'd only cemented the final form of the project in the last weekend.
geoffwoo
Excited to launch Nootrobox (www.nootrobox.com) today! We have two goals: 1.) we want to make it drop-dead convenient to use nootropic stacks, and 2.) make nootropics more accessible and safer to a wider community of people.

We've been curious about nootropics for awhile and have experimented with different stacks, and it was a huge pain to buy everything in bulk and mix the right proportions of compounds together. The goal of Nootrobox is to abstract that pain away so it's as convenient to taking a vitamin.

Nootropics is somewhat of a mysterious and shady concept for most people, and we want to fix that. Many people take supplements for maximizing physical performance, and there's very little social stigma for that. But for cognitive supplements, the response is much more wary. We want to make mental supplements just as mainstream and commonplace because we ourselves have felt the effectiveness of nootropics.

So Nootrobox is going for convenience and accessibility. Our first stack “Rise” is actually based off a common mix of Bacopa monnieri, L-theanine, and caffeine.

We're providing a limited 15% discount to our first 500 orders and we're letting you guys know about this first here. We also have a referral program that gives $5 discount/credit for each person that buys through your referral link!

jsun
what's your thoughts on chemicals like nicotine, which could be a powerful nootropic?
thecage411
FWIW if nootropics are seen as somewhat "mysterious and shady" I wouldn't use the words "drop-dead".
CurrentB
To be honest I like this type of thing and I would have impulse-bought this on the spot if it weren't for the fact that it's a pre-order, and now I just looked on amazon for a competing product and got it shipped to me prime.

I understand how in these days of crowd funding everyone wants to eliminate all risk in launching new products and I'm sure it works sometimes and when it doesn't you the product-launcher don't lose much. But these are also days of consumer impatience (at least with me). This isn't a video game or a robot or something you're making, why not just order some powder and make an initial batch before launching this? The cost of doing so can't be that big relative to the cost of getting the site up.

thowar2
Very cool, your mission of open-sourcing the nootropic supplements industry is very similar to http://naturalstacks.com

It will be interesting to watch you two evolve together.