
Apply HN: Anonymous P2P therapy phone calls (going through a rough time?) - yshajahan16
What we do:
We like to think of it as a ‘Anonymous User to User therapy sessions’. We are building a mobile app that allows users who are going through a rough time in their life to be connected to a random person around the world to have a real phone call with.<p>Why:
We all go through rough times. It can be school, love life, or not getting into YC fellowship (hint). Some of these things are very tough to talk about with people you know IRL (judgmental, embarrassing, they don’t care, ect). And we all know for a fact that talking it out with someone and getting advice is a great way to fix problems. This is done much easier when it’s an anonymous person on the other end so you can be 100% free.<p>How it works:
Imagine you just got denied from YC fellowship. You’re there lying in bed all embarrassed and sad, but you can’t tell anyone about it because you’re just not that close to someone else. You pick up Yusuf’s app and automatically connect to a random person around the world who is also going through a tough time. You tell each other the story of what you’re going through and comfort each other. It’s simple as that.<p>Sure, I can talk more about our marketing strategy, product features, monetization, ect. But I’ll let you guys ask those questions (if you want to!)<p>Wanna know more about US (4 founders), past startup experience, more on our product, ect? ASK!!
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jwise0
I talked to a friend who was considering building this kind of startup
recently. The two 'hard questions' that I found were:

1) How do you plan to deal with abuse? Connecting anonymous Internet users to
people who are at their most vulnerable seems like a recipe ripe for disaster.

2) How do you plan to differentiate from, for instance, 7 Cups?

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yshajahan16
Hey, jwise. I'm gonna call you Justin wise.

Seems like everyone suddenly is having this idea now lol. Hopefully you don't
delete your comment after I respond like the last two guys.

Well, Justin 1\. It may seem like a recipe for disaster and we won't say that
every interaction will be golden. That's why we have a review system to make
sure there's no trolls and everyone is being nice. And we also have a key
feature on our current build, which is 'find help' or 'help'.

2\. We think 7 cups isn't doing it efficiently. They are chat based and their
listeners have to go through a sign up process that takes too long. We want
things on demand. And voice.

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jwise0
Well, you can call me that, but that's not my name :-)

I'll not delete my comment. I'm worried, really, about two categories of
abuse: 1) Abusers who are not persistent, but who create multiple accounts
rapidly (i.e., aiming to get a quick laugh). They use Tor or VPNs to create
accounts for 'easy' harassment. 2) Abusers who will take advantage of
vulnerable users (i.e., "the long con") over multiple sessions, or who will
act in bad faith over the long term.

Do you have data that indicates that people are unhappy with the level of
service that 7 Cups provides?

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yshajahan16
With any product created, you'll have the potential of having trolls. I'm sure
even 7 cups has it too. And generally trolls don't attack vulnerable people to
the point where they're using proxy or VPN's. Let alone on voice calls.

There's not much data of how unhappy 7 cups members are (maybe they're happy).

But neither of those reasons are good enough to NOT try something. Because you
won't know if you're gonna have trolls or if your users will have a better
experience from a competitor unless you try it.

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Operarisk
Have you considered using this idea as a way to change the way suicide hotline
works?

it is true that as humans we all have experienced stressful and difficult
times in our lives,and knowing that there's an easy to reach-shoulder that is
willing to hear your problem and advice you is something that I'm willing to
try. Great concept and idea! Wish guys the best of luck!

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yshajahan16
Suicide hotline is very inefficient. Anyone who has ever called them will tell
you that it's like calling the police on yourself because they force you to do
certain things (like keep a watch on you (like sending the police to your
house).

Sometimes users just want another human being to talk to them and hear their
problems, and possibly give advice too.

Thanks so much for your positive feedback! We thought of this idea not long
ago and already started building it.

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aacook
Recently I read a story about how a Veterans suicide line went to a voicemail.
Horrifying. There is a startup here, maybe it's a non-profit.

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yshajahan16
Thanks for your feedback!

Do you mind elaborating on your comment a bit more?

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aacook
Here's the story I read recently. I think I may have first heard about it on
NPR. [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/va-suicide-hotline-calls-went-
to...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/va-suicide-hotline-calls-went-to-voicemail-
report-finds)

It's a heartbreaking story about the VA suicide hotline going to voicemail.
Every day there are 22 veterans who commit suicide, which sparked the
formation of an Instagram account and eventual non-profit called 22 Too Many.
[http://www.22toomany.com](http://www.22toomany.com)

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Gargoyle
Would it be truly random, or would there be some effort to match people likely
to understand each other's backgrounds and problems?

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yshajahan16
It would be random at first to bring in users (gotta get them somehow), but as
our user base continues to grow larger we will be creating categories (school,
relationships, family, ect.)

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wehadfun
How much you plan to charge for this?

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yshajahan16
We do not plan on charging anyone for the usage of this app.

Monetization isn't exactly our FIRST priority (user experience is for now),
but we do have some ideas behind it. For examples, ads can easily bring in
revenue if needed. Or even qualified trained therapist are able to provide
'exceptionally higher' help for a fee (this is further in the future of
course).

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johndoe786
How far into development are you?

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grutalampa
Chatroulette, and tons of similars, already do this if you wanna just chat in
audio without the webcam.

