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Comment by vbad | Hacker News Reader

> After meeting the founders last summer during their YC batch, I’ve been pretty consistently using the app InFlow, which I described to a friend as “super chill easy cognitive behavioural skill-building around ADHD.” I feel like I’ve made real progress using it.

This blog post reads like an advertisement for InFlow (YC S21), which was roundly criticized for being exploitative of people with ADHD, when it was posted to HN last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28877003

[Edit: the author has clarified below that this wasn't actually an advertisement, she just enjoyed the app. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions and overreacting and ranting about it. My apologies for writing all the bullshit above and below.]

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They mention it once... and cover a lot of other things. So while I agree with the linked threads, this doesn't really read as an ad for InFlow any more than it reads as an ad for CBT or Intuniv.

My impression.

The author mentions it right after the introduction, with no criticism whatsoever, only praise. Unlike the rest of the piece which is more balanced. It certainly set the advertisement alarm bells ringing in my mind.

Hey there! I used inflow for like a year and liked it, but churned for now. I’ll probably use it again in the future though, it’s a good app. I have no affiliation with the founders aside from meeting them through YC, fwiw.

If it was an ad it wasn’t a very good one, lmao (it was not an ad)

Well, that is how the best content marketing works. You make a good write-up of an area, then casually mention the product somewhere -- also needs to look natural. If author got paid it needs to be marked as sponsored in some jurisdictions.

I'd also guess that many with the condition have tried all the common treatment options and will zero in on the one thing new that the person saying they have the condition under control offers as new treatment option.

As I’ve said elsewhere, this wasn’t a paid post, and I’m scrupulous about disclosing conflicts of interest when they do occur. Amusingly I’m an investor in two other ADHD related services, but didn’t mention either in the post :)

I don’t really agree. The author mentions many books, methods, and apps and that just happens to be the first.

Ty for the kind edit

Yeah, I switched off the moment I saw their first recommendation was a $50 a month app.

I feel like if the author actually uses the app daily, that’s a pretty strong endorsement.

I did like 40% of the content over the year I used it - it’s got some great stuff in it. I churned at the end of the year but I’ll probably pick it back up again soon; I definitely feel it was worth the price of admission (especially compared to like… a single session of therapy)

As I said elsethread, I have no connection or financial interest in inflow aside from having met them through YC and generally finding them to be nice folks. I’m actually extremely scrupulous about noting when I do have a conflict of interest like that, for what it’s worth!

Can you give some details on the good parts?

To me it sounds like one of those ADHD self-management guru talks that try to apply something generic to an issue that's very personal and individual. Some solution that gets ADHD folks interested, hyperfocus on it as the next productivity solution, just to lose interest after 2-3 weeks and forget to cancel.

I want to believe that I understand my ADHD better than anyone else, and my warnings signals go off when I see things like that, because I can absolutely see myself getting hooked on a new productivity paradigm for a short while

The thing I found useful about it was it arranged a bunch of useful CBT content on a number of different ADHD coping skills into 5 minute chunks with 4-7 chunks per module/topic that I could listen to AND read along with (I also listen to audio books on 2x while staring at the kindle book, lol) while I emptied my dishwasher in the morning. I had a pretty good routine going with that for a while and did a dozen or maybe 20 of the modules? I can’t see the list since my sub expired, but I remember modules on relationships, organizing (that one sucked), anger management, emotions, overwhelm, and lots of other good stuff.

I found the content modules the most helpful; I joined their coworking sessions a few times and those were fun too. I found the sort of “task” things you’d get assigned in the modules less helpful as I’d just sign up for all of them and then do none of them lol. But the content itself was v good.

A little ironic, considering the site here versus: http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

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