The Hustle - 📱 How to build the next Noom

Happy Trends Tuesday!

Today we’ve got:

• 1 trend alert

• 1 piece of operator wisdom

• 1 startup you should know about

Let's get to it.

🚨 TREND ALERT

Weight loss app Noom has raised $650m since its 2008 launch, and was valued at $10B last year.

The secret behind its success? Using behavioral science to help people tackle psychological roadblocks and develop habits.

If it works for weight loss, it can work for other stuff. Plus, as the cost of living rises, people may be eager to ditch life coaches and personal trainers in favor of cheaper digital solutions.

There’s plenty of opportunity for behavioral coaching apps to help people:

1. Manage lifestyle-related illnesses. The diabetes management industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of ~25% through 2026. Research shows that good habits and psychological health have a positive impact on diabetes outcomes. Chronic pain management is another area where lifestyle coaching can make a difference.
   
   
2. Reach training goals. Sports psychology app Champion’s Mind has raised $98k. Couch to 5K, an app that helps users run 5km, has over 5m downloads. You could lean into marathon training, bodybuilding, or injury rehab, or create a plan to help users raise their testosterone levels.
   
   
3. Complete a personal project. Five percent of startups fail because of burnout or lack of passion. And 85% of Americans believe they have at least one book in them. Behavioral coaching could help people start, stick with, and finish projects.

🧮 CALCULATE CRITICAL METRICS

🧠 OPERATOR WISDOM

Creating a great company culture is one of the most valuable things you can do as a founder. But how do you pull it off, especially as more of us move to remote work?

Trendster Kendall Bachman, who runs six remote companies, dropped some wisdom on how to keep your remote team engaged:

• Create clear expectations for when people should be available for collaboration (e.g. five hours in the middle of the day) and how communication happens (e.g., 48-hour turnaround on email, eight hours on Slack, two on text, etc.).
  
  
• Trust, don’t micromanage. Verify progress with trackable outcomes, which can be as simple as billable hours in a Google sheet. “If things are moving, there is not a problem — don’t go looking for problems in your team’s work ethic,” advised Kendall.
  
  
• Foster connections. Since you won’t have the same level of facetime, make a deliberate effort to celebrate people publicly. Birthdays, contributions, promotions — shout them out on Slack/your chosen platform. Also consider giving everyone ~$200/quarter to buy a co-worker something nice.

🔥 STARTUP YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

When you burp at the dinner table, it’s rude. But when cows burp in their pastures, it can actually have big consequences on the environment (we’re talkin’ 27% of annual methane emissions big). 

That’s why agtech startup Alga is looking to help those gassy guys stop burping with a science-backed, algae-based cow feed.

Read more about the startup’s progress and future plans for other four-legged belchers on The Hustle blog.

P.S. HubSpot for Startups and LinkedIn have teamed up to tell stories about what it takes to go from early-stage startup to unicorn status.

Season 2 kicks off with the inspiring story of Dawn Dickson, a serial entrepreneur and inventor. Hers is the consummate startup founder’s story of trusting your gut and never giving up. Watch it now.

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