Move Slow and Fix Things
Facebook’s audacious mantra defined the “disruptive” energy of the Web 2.0 era, but now we need to change the way we work and be more considered with our tech builds
Have you heard the news, the move fast and break things era is over?
Moving quickly and destroying everything may have been exciting back in the noughties, giving us the platforms that defined a generation (Facebook, Uber and Airbnb et al.), but their extraordinary success came at deep societal costs.
The Next-Gen of tech has to be different.
Trying To Fix Mental Health
I’m cofounding a mental health app called, Reach Out.
In short, Reach Out is a video chat platform that links psychotherapists in emerging nations with people in need everywhere.
By making psychotherapy instant, remote and mobile, the app has one obvious benefit to potential users: it will make psychotherapy cheaper. A psychotherapist in Sri Lanka may charge as little as £15 a session, whereas in advanced economies the standard rate (£50-£150) remains unaffordable to most.
In some respects — and I don’t say this lightly — Reach Out could be seen as “the Uber for mental health”.
The app undercuts local service providers by giving users access to a new, lower-cost workforce.
However, Reach Out is not this.
We have are not hell-bent on Unicorn status. In fact, we are subscribing to the new Zebras Unite approach: “the ethical and inclusive movement to counter existing startup and venture capital culture”.
Or in other words, a more socially-aware alternative to unicorns. The below chart sums up this change in ethics and ambition from Unicorn to Zebra.
Slowing Down
Work started on Reach Out in August 2019.
The message from the initial ‘early adopter’ research and interviews was clear: Why hasn’t this happened already?
We were being told that the concept is so compelling that we should just “make it happen” (regardless of any obstacles).
Therefore, we planned to launch at the beginning of 2020.
Then we realised this ambition was based on two unreal versions of reality:
- We are in a race to get our product to market unless someone will steal our idea
- The beginning of the year is the best time to launch a health and well-being product
Then we had an epiphany. We realised we were acting with the bloodthirst of a Unicorn.
- There is no rush to market. If someone wants to make a similar app, go for it! There are thousands of psychotherapists around the world and there are far too many people in need to support. We don’t need to monopolise the market. It’s only a good thing if more people get support and more psychotherapists get access to lucrative markets
- We’re not ready. It doesn’t matter if it’s January or August, psychotherapists will be offering their service and people will be looking for it. Let’s slow down and get it right.
Stop Building A Monster
I must confess, I’ve had a fear that Reach Out could mutate into something monstrous.
What if Reach Out motivated psychotherapists in emerging nations to only want to talk to people in London because they can get paid better, leaving people in need locally, without provision.
It would be brain drain 3.0. Or neo-colonialism. Either way, it was a genuine concern.
But then I spoke to a Valli, an Indian psychotherapist who explained the reality of offering psychotherapy in India and how Reach Out could revolutionise it.
Valli explained that her sessions cost R’s 800 (approx £8), but when clients cannot afford to pay this rate — which happens very often — her clinic completes an income assessment and they offer the therapy at a discount (or for free).
Together, we then realised the impact Reach Out could have:
Valli could offer one therapy session a day to someone in London for, say £30, (R’s 3,000), enabling her to offer THREE free sessions to people in need locally in India.
Bingo.
We figured it out. We aren’t making a monster. We’re creating a high-value business opportunity for international psychotherapists so they can advance their service locally.
Advice and Guidance
Now that I have realised Reach Out isn’t “the uber for mental health”, we can move on with the tech build.
Or can we?
There are several grey areas that are proving difficult to make black and white. But we are determined to fix these issues and this article in itself is a call for advice and guidance.
Qualifications and Accreditations
- Psychotherapist qualifications and accreditations differ from country to country. How do we formulise the accreditation process of onboarding psychotherapists? How do we distinguish between psychotherapists and counsellors (and is there a need to make the distinction)?
Data and Privacy
- The conversations between psychotherapist and client are confidential and need to remain that way. I have spoken to many psychotherapists who currently offer video therapy via WhatsApp, Facetime, Skype, etc al. None of these platforms are secure: the data gathered by these platforms is ‘owned’ by the platform and they can sell/exploit it. How can Reach Out be a secure platform and guarantee data privacy?
Legality
- Is offering psychotherapy via video call, internationally, illegal? Despite countless psychotherapists already offering video via Whatsapp etc al, when I asked the major psychotherapy bodies in the UK (UKCP and BACP) there is no clear answer. My hunch is that the governing bodies will have to catch up with the social change that digital culture brings. But for the time being, it remains another grey area that we welcome expert advice on.
Reach Out 2020
Here’s our plan for the first half of 2020:
Jan: Gather 50–100 responses from psychotherapists worldwide via our online questionnaire & ask interested psychotherapists to register their interest.
Feb: Have 200 early adoptors (clients) register their interest.
March: Build a prototype of the app (the data from the psychotherapist questionnaire will inform the build)
April: Test product with approx 5–10 psychotherapists in different parts of the world with 10–20 clients
May: Iterate product as per feedback. Add approx 5–10 psychotherapists/clients and continuously iterate to iron out any issues and build the perfect product for psychotherapists and clients
June: Fundraise (£50–100k)
July: Build a full version of the app and officially launch
Craig is co-founding Reach Out, the world’s first global mental health service. The video-chat platform will link highly qualified psychotherapists from around the world with people in-need, everywhere.
