PocketConfidant started almost three years ago with two inspired people meeting for tea in the French Riviera to talk about an idea: a virtual coach powered by AI which would listen to people and help them question themselves to discover their own solutions.
During two and a half years of work:
- Many people advised us to pivot or gave us opinions that would have moved us away from our initial vision.
- A lot of investors were unwilling to look at and consider the market trends we were observing, and many just wanted to wait and see how and what we would do.
But we knew our intuition was good, and we were sure we could achieve positive results, so we kept working on:
- Building and testing prototypes
- Building relationships with experts
- Building a passionate and smart team
- Building a Scientific Board
- Trialing our product with innovative customers
- Funding our team with smart investors, experts in their field
- Observing and listening to market trends
- Questioning ourselves, constantly
- Building carefully, with passion and perseverance
- Talking, learning, exploring, reading, drawing, testing, etc.
We are still far from what we want to achieve, we are still at the beginning, we are early stage, but we wanted to share with you some validating feedback, that will help you understand what we are striving for, excited about and what we are envisioning for the future.
Here is one of our user’s experience…
What did you use PocketConfidant for? Did you come to PocketConfidant with a problem or concern and if so, what was it?
– Both professional and personal problems.
– Professional
– One very specific decision I was trying to make: Should I create a video of myself before meeting a new client for the first time and post it as solution to the challenge they are having and then share it with them before we meet in person or should I just create a presentation and then meet with them? Would the video help smooth the first time introduction? Would it also demonstrate my ability to help them? Could it act as a sales tool on my behalf?
– A very general problem I have been having: How can I prioritize my time better? How can I stop taking on more than I can complete in a day? How can I feel more productive without getting overwhelmed?
– Personal
– How can I share the truth about how I feel to my partner without offending him or sending him off on a rant? How can I speak how I honestly feel without getting him angry? How can I develop a better understanding as to why I am not meeting my fitness and health goals? How can I understand why I am not making the progress that I want?
What were you able do with PocketConfidant?
- Ask myself smarter questions.
- Identify my strengths faster – which helped begin to solve my challenges. For some reason, on my own I don’t think about my strengths. I always seem to think more about my perceived weaknesses.
- PocketConfidant helped me dedicate some time to a single problem I am having without distraction.
- Helped me avoid feeling like I am leaning too much on a friend with my problems.
- Develop a mission/vision statement to help me get into a solution. – the one sentence – ten words – to help me identify what I want to happen.
- Get more specific about the outcome I want.
- Identify people or obstacles that might be getting in the way of my progress.
What impact did the coaching conversation have for you?
– It is helping me become more thoughtful about myself. Freeing me to feel like it is okay to take time to spend on my problems without feeling guilty – like I should be working on something else. I feel like I have a thought partner that is always there for me.
On the situation you were dealing with?
– The most impactful way in which PocketConfidant has helped is with identifying my strengths and empowering me to think about the abilities I have to fix my problems. For example. The problem I have with prioritizing my time. PocketConfidant helped to remind me that I have a very strong ability to focus. I forgot about this. I have been told by professors and colleagues that I am a very focused person and that I am very thoughtful and I give each situation I am in – a lot of attention. This helped me realize that I can use my focus to help 1. prioritize my day and 2. move through projects and problems more efficiently.
On the personal observations or learnings that you took away from the conversation?
– I tend to avoid expressing the details about my situation, but because PocketConfidant continues to ask for more details – the who, what, when, where, how questions – it is easier to develop a better picture of the problem I have. PocketConfidant has me thinking better than I would on my own.
Would you recommend PocketConfidant?
– Yes I would. Especially to people I know who are stuck on a problem. I think PocketConfidant could help them move forward and get out of their own loop.
- We are working on making critical thinking at scale possible.
- We are working on making resilience a priority for our society.
- We are working on disrupting education and empowering people.
- We are working on creating a good future with AI.
- We’ll be at CES 2018, come see us and share your thoughts.
We believe we all have the resources to create what we want, and we want to create a good future where people will become aware of their behaviors, become resilient and find purpose.
Self-coaching conversations with AI. Facilitate awareness, reflection and learning.