There is mounting evidence that social networks are greatly affecting our mental health with higher reports of depression for those who spent more time on the various platforms. There is also a growing body of research that shows the transformative benefits of embracing gratitude that include better sleep, lower stress, minimizing health risks, improving generosity, and decreasing materialism. Happyfeed is a self-care app that enables you to seamlessly establish a ritual of daily gratitude journaling with its private journaling platform available for iOS, Android, and the Web. The app prompts you daily to reflect on three things that are currently bringing you joy and gives you the ability to share your reflections with private groups of friends and loved ones. The practice of reflecting on joyous moments is said to train your brain to focus on the bright side and over time will increase overall happiness. Happyfeed is free to use with a paid premium version available that allows users to post more frequently and access a calendaring function.
AlleyWatch caught up with Founder and CEO Matt Kandler to learn more about the inspiration for the app, how the practice of positive psychology improves mental well-being, and the company’strategic plans.
Tell us about the product or service that Happyfeed offers.
Happyfeed is a mental health app that focuses on sharing positive memories in private groups with friends and family. The concept is based on gratitude journaling: a practice from positive psychology that is proven to help train your brain to focus on good things even during difficult times. Studies have found that gratitude journaling can improve your overall happiness, quality of sleep, and even your relationships.
How is it different?
Happyfeed uniquely combines group sharing with a proven mood-boosting technique. Most mental health apps focus on private practice because mental health and self-care are traditionally viewed as deeply personal. However, sharing those feelings can help amplify the benefits and strengthen our relationships.
Additionally, Happyfeed offers an alternative to social networks as an environment with a positive focus and more intimate groups. People are increasingly aware of the negative effects of big social networks: unhealthy comparison, FOMO (fear of missing out), and doom-scrolling.
What market does Happyfeed target and how big is it?
Mental health has been a growing market for the past few years. In 2018, Apple named “self-care” the breakout trend of the App Store. Since the pandemic, self-care is more crucial than ever, with isolation and depression from lockdowns and unemployment.
Most of the big players in the wellness app market are fitness and meditation apps, like Fitbit or Calm. Last December, Calm raised a venture round that reportedly valued the company at $2 billion.
What is the business model?
Happyfeed has a freemium business model. Users can subscribe to a monthly or annual Plus membership that includes features like additional daily posts and photos or access to a calendar mode. Over 10% of daily active users currently pay for Plus.
What inspired the start of Happyfeed?
After graduate school, I cofounded another startup that needed to be shut down. To cope with the stress, I read every mental health blog I could find and decided to start gratitude journaling (in a Word doc at the time). During that low point, it helped me to focus on little things that were going well to get through each day.
When that ended, I decided that a gratitude journal app would be the perfect project to share my new habit with others while learning how to design and build iOS apps.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
COVID-19 transformed group sharing from a novel idea into a feature that people were actively looking for. The first version was released in early 2020 as a way to see other’s progress and sends in-app cheers. As the lockdowns started, users wanted to be able to share moments with family and friends who were far away. So, we redesigned the entire feature from the ground up.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
Growth and retention are my main concerns at the moment. As a bootstrapped company, it’s hard to grow through ads so we’re experimenting with several growth loops in the app. I’d like to consistently see a 20% monthly growth rate in 6 months from organic methods.
On the product side, I’m planning to launch a more polished version of Pods: adding group discussions, tagging friends in your moments, and exploring new ways to view your memories.
Growth and retention are my main concerns at the moment. As a bootstrapped company, it’s hard to grow through ads so we’re experimenting with several growth loops in the app. I’d like to consistently see a 20% monthly growth rate in 6 months from organic methods.
On the product side, I’m planning to launch a more polished version of Pods: adding group discussions, tagging friends in your moments, and exploring new ways to view your memories.
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
Experimentation and measurement are crucial for finding product-market fit. The Pods concept wasn’t our first attempt at building a social component and it definitely won’t be the last. Roughly, out of every ten new features we’ve released, only two or three have a positive effect on the business and maybe one will significantly change the growth trajectory. Without treating this process like an experiment, defining hypotheses and measurements, it’s too easy to get lost in the process and lose motivation.
People will tell you to embrace failure, but you need to make sure that you have a structure in place to learn from your mistakes and continuously improve.
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
The founder of Foursquare, Dennis Crowley, immediately comes to mind. He played a major role in the first wave of mobile consumer apps. I’ve also been active using Foursquare since 2011 and probably used it more than the weather app before the pandemic.
Why did you launch in New York?
The energy and diversity of thought in New York City is unmatched with any other city I’ve lived in. This makes it the perfect place to grow a team with diverse ideas and background. Consumer software startups are more commonly associated with the west coast, but I hope to have a part in changing that.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC?
I haven’t been dining out much since winter, but Rule of Thirds in North Williamsburg was my favorite spot in the fall. The outdoor space is especially unique and you can’t go wrong with the karaage (fried chicken).
