Engineers recently built a device to recreate and study bodily sounds. It’s called the Synthetic Human Acoustic Reproduction Testing machine, or SHART for short.
In today’s email:
Mental health apps are shifting strategies.
Chart: Airbnb wants more hosts.
Weekend reads to pair with a winter margarita.
Around the web: Songs for tortoises, disappearing sounds, a purple mystery, and more cool internet finds.
🎧 On the go? Listen to today’s 10-minute podcast to hear Zack and Juliet discuss mental health app hurdles, advanced chatbots, Netflix’s Preview Club, and more.
The big idea
Mental health apps are changing strategies
Sometimes looking for a therapist is so frustrating, you need a therapist just to talk about that.
In the US, patients face financial barriers, confusing insurance systems, too few providers, and long wait times.
Tech startups have tried to make it easier, receiving $7.8B in funding over the last two years, perBusiness Insider.
In 2020, the American Psychological Association reported there were as many as 20k mental health apps — online talk therapy, meditation, journaling, etc. But few are FDA approved, and hurdles remain:
Many don’t accept insurance, remaining unaffordable for some patients.
Some cost-cutting efforts come at the expense of care (e.g., shorter visits).
Cerebral drew attention from the DOJ over allegations that it was overprescribing drugs, like Adderall.
Additionally, the costs for a startup to acquire a patient for D2C care has skyrocketed from ~$150 in 2018 to $500-$1k today, thanks to competitors flooding the market and Apple’s privacy updates.
What’s next?
Startups are changing their strategies, relying on referrals over expensive digital ads and targeting employers, who pay a fee for employee access, over individual patients.
Example: Talk therapy app Ginger merged with meditation app Headspace last summer. CEO Russell Glass told BI the company is now targeting enterprises, not individuals.
Others, like Alma, are working with therapists to help them accept insurance. Many providers don’t, citing lower pay and more paperwork than with out-of-pocket clients, but as of August, Alma had 8k professionals on its platform.
TRENDING
Ummm… Universal Pictures dropped the trailer for Cocaine Bear, an action comedy based extremely loosely on a true story.
SNIPPETS
A consumer price index that tracks personal expenditures (besides food and energy) rose 0.2% in October, less than the 0.3% Dow Jones estimate, suggesting price increases could be slowing.
Monkey think, monkey do: Elon Musk’s Neuralink is hoping to hold human clinical trials of its brain implant next year. For now, here’s a monkey “telepathically” typing.
Netflix is expanding its Preview Club from ~2k subscribers to tens of thousands. The group gets to provide feedback on Netflix content prior to release.
Coinbase is the latest in a long line of Big Tech companies calling out Apple’s 30% commission fee on the App Store.
Less is more: Japan defeated Spain 2-1 in the World Cup on Thursday despite possessing the ball for just 17.7% of the match, the lowest share in tournament history.
Mind-boggler: OpenAIdropped ChatGPT, a chatbot that can answer detailed questions, write code, type essays, and more.
On that note, Disney researchers showed off a cool new AI re-aging tool that could save visual effects artists weeks of work. Speaking of movies… Indiana Jonesis back.
Future’s future: Andreessen Horowitz’s future-focused tech publication is reportedly shutting down. The VC giant continues to make popular podcasts, videos, and newsletters.
Why build a community? Because it’s one of the best ways to build a business. We unpack seven keys to community-based success inside Trends.
SPREAD THE WORD
Brad — our boss and a huge Swiftie — somehow got Taylor tickets, and said there’s a microscopic chance he’ll let us go with him if 100 people share The Hustle.
Airbnb may have 6m+ listings, but that doesn’t mean it’s fine kicking back and relaxing in a cozy cabin.
CEO Brian Chesky told TechCrunch that one of his goals is to avoid “a supply-constrained era.” To ensure that doesn’t happen, Airbnb’s working to make it easier to become a host.
This week, the company launched “Airbnb-friendly apartments” in the US — a platform highlighting apartments that renters are allowed to put on Airbnb.
While Airbnb doesn’t take a cut of their rent, the property owners “take a revenue share of between 20-25% of a host’s booking amount.”
So, while the program could help renters earn some extra cash, it’s also possible that property owners could be incentivized to charge more for rent in the first place — because the renters can just “make it back.”
Related throwback: Remember the time Zack visited the world’s most booked Airbnb?
Free Resource
15 holiday-themed email marketing templates
No, they’re not all Christmas-themed. That would be downright ridiculous.
But if you would prefer that, just say the word… We have ideas.
For now — 15 holiday email templates from HubSpot to help you hit the list in style. They cover the days people most actively wait for, from one New Year’s to the next.
For messaging contacts and customers on:
Christmas 🙂
New Year’s
Black Friday
Labor Day
All the days
The play is to give them another reason to celebrate.
… Recs to pair with a festive winter margarita. In case you missed ’em, here was our week’s best…
Story: Zack explored one of life’s most puzzling questions: Can you get sued for using a meme? He also took a deep dive into meme economics.
Podcast: The puns were out of bounds on our latest “Shark Tank” rewatch pod about a fancy chicken coop, a mother-daughter duo, and a dating app that needs a date with a distribution plan.
Chart: Did Netflix make the right move with Glass Onion? It appears not.
Video: Catch this “Hustlenomics” episode on why most gas stations don’t make money selling gas.
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