Where did the time go? Statistically speaking, probably to your smartphone.
In 2007, a person spent a third of their discretionary time on their phone, says Sean Higgins, co-founder and CEO of BetterYou, a digital coaching app designed to help users track and take back their free time. Now, it’s more like 90 percent of that time is spent gazing into screens.
He’s hoping to change that with BetterYou, which allows users to set goals in various health and wellness areas, and then tracks their progress. It uses artificial intelligence to identify good time management that will help them reach those goals, as well as time-wasters that work against them, nudging users in the direction of their ambitions.
“Every time when I think about that 90 percent, I get kind of scared. It is a scary number,” Higgins said. “It’s also a really powerful opportunity. What better way to help someone be someone they want to see in the mirror tomorrow than helping them make better use of their time?”
BetterYou connects with users through their employers. It’s an employee wellness-type service available to colleges and companies. Organizations pay a subscription that unlocks the service to all of their students or employees. The subscription rate varies based on the number of users the subscription will support.
While individuals benefit from having their own digital coach to help them get more sleep, be more active, make time to learn new skills, or meet other goals, BetterYou allows employers to get insight into the general health of their employees and helps them take action to promote the kinds of habits that will benefit the organization.
Higgins founded BetterYou with Edwin Melendez in October. The company has hit several milestones already in its first year. Launched in October, BetterYou raised $400,000 in pre-seed funding. Since January, it has taken on 10 customers. Minne Inno included BetterYou in its latest list of “on fire” companies in the Twin Cities.
BetterYou will be one of seven companies presenting at MinneDemo on July 18.
Before starting BetterYou, Higgins was the entrepreneur in residence with Techstars + Target retail accelerator. He previously founded ilos, a video platform that now goes by the name VidGrid. He has an MBA from St. Thomas in entrepreneurship and finance.
He uses BetterYou to track a few goals of his own. For example, the app helps him stay in touch with friends and family by tracking how often (and for how long) he calls the contacts he added to the app. “That’s been absolutely huge in terms of finding time in my busy week to call somebody,” he said.
He identifies with anyone who has a long list of things they want to accomplish but see those priorities go out the window when a new season of a favorite show comes up in their Netflix queue. That’s why he proposes that rather than competing for users’ time and attention by capturing them in a spiral of content, tech companies could aspire to something higher: “Instead of competing over time-on-page and views and all these other things … let’s compete over how we can help our users use their time the best. That’ll be most rewarding for them and for us.”
It’s a daunting endeavor, working against the design so many other tech companies have embraced. But the way he sees it, the most difficult problems needing attention in the world right now have at least one thing in common: “It’s going to take a lot of undivided time to solve them,” he said. “What better hill worth climbing than the one that helps people reclaim their time?”
