1) A team created an app called PocketRobin to help adults with autism build skills and form healthy habits through reminders and goal setting. 2) User feedback showed forming habits was more important than skills alone, so the app pivoted to focus on habit formation with a virtual assistant. 3) Testing found users engaged more with an accountability buddy feature, but willingness to pay was unclear. 4) After further customer discovery, a redesigned landing page promoted the app's value of managing meltdowns and reducing caregiver stress, resulting in an 8% conversion rate for a $9.99 monthly subscription.

1. Our Journey

2. NEURODIVERSITY NERDS

3. KIM SCHREIBER
MBA
“Picker”
KIM SALONER
MBA
“Hustler”
EMMA CHEN
Master’s in CS
“Hacker”
PAULINA BIERNACKI
Education PhD
“SM Expert”
TIFFANY LIU
CS Undergrad
“Hacker”
Week 1
App to help adults with autism
develop confidence and
independence
MARIA LENA POPO
“Mentor”
SABRINA RAMOS
“Designer”
NEURODIVERSITY NERDSPocketRobin
Now
Intelligent Meltdown Manager
for adults with autism
120
interview
s

4. Value Propositions
Channels
Customer Relationships Customer Segments
Key Resources
Key ActivitiesKey Partners
Cost Structure Revenue Streams
Local resource centers
& non-profits
particularly with
housing and vocational
resource matching
Local Governments
National NGOS: Autism
Speaks, Easter Seals
Initial skill assessment
Individualized goal setting
Interactive learning
modules
Engineering
Neurodiversity expertise
Week1
Suppliers: App
platforms and cloud
service providers
Gamification & certification
Community-building
Education Curriculum
Design
Marketing
To increase
independence and
confidence of adults
with autism
To relieve caregiver
burnout and increase
caregiver confidence
in abilities of their
dependents
To provide fun and
simple to use skill-
building curriculum
built specifically for
adults with autism via
a mobile app
Automated services -
personal online profile,
customized user
experience via
assessment
Communities
App platform 30% fee
Continued
development costs
Marketing/advertising
Content development
& research
Technology support
services
Mobile App Via
Caregivers
Mobile App via Word
of Mouth
• Local resource
centers
• Meetups
• Blogs
Adults with DSM 5
Level 1 and Level 2
autism spectrum
disorder
Caregivers of adults
with DSM 5 Level 1 and
Level 2 autism
spectrum disorder
Caregivers of adults
with autism via a
monthly subscription
Employers of adults
with autism
Monthly
subscription fee
(private pay) by
caregivers
Fun and simple-to-use
skill-building curriculum
built for adults with
autism via a mobile app
1) Adults with
Autism Spectrum
Disorder (user)
2) Parents
(payers)
Increase self-sufficiency
Reduce parent burnout

5. 1
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4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
Our starting hypothesis was that skill-building is the major
challenge for adults with autism facing “the cliff.”
Skill-Building
Curriculum
MVP 1:
Paper Prototype
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0

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5
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8
9
1
0
We found that it’s not new skills, but turning new skills into
HABITS.
“Without reminders, I’ll
forget to take a shower or
set an alarm.”
Adult with autism
"I think habits make a bigger
impact. It’s easy to learn
skills but hard to integrate
them into daily life.”
Parent
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0

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2
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9
1
0
Habit
Formation Tool
Skill-Building
Curriculum
Skill-building
curriculum
Would you like to match with a peer with similar goals?
Yes
No. I want to do
it alone
Great! You have set a reminder for:
Wake up at 8 am everyday,, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Every day, 8 am
MVP 2:
PocketRobin
Virtual Assistant for Reminders
So we pivoted to become a virtual assistant to form healthy habits
4
5
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9
1
0

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1
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Adults with autism wanted this virtual assistant,
Parents wanted a resource-sharing platform.
“I need a virtual
assistant that gets me
out of the house.”
Adult with autism
“I wish there was a single
place I could go to have all
my questions about autism
answered.”
Parent
Resource
Sharing
Virtual
Assistant
5
6
7
8
9
1
0

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9
1
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We tested a virtual assistant vs. a resource sharing app.
Virtual Assistant tool
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
vs
“Siri for Autism”
Resource Sharing
“Yelp for Autism”
6% conversion
rate for BOTH!
213268 Landing page visits
5093 Comments, likes, and shares
1215 Form fills

10. 1
2
3
4
5
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7
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9
1
0
Virtual Assistant
vs
“Siri for
Autism”
Resource Sharing
“Yelp for Autism”
The winner was...
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
Because VIRALITY is key
to our Word of Mouth
channel strategy!

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1
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And word of mouth was already working for us – we went viral in
Colorado!
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1
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1
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So we doubled down on virtual assistant… but how would we keep
users engaged?
6
7
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1
0
Engagement

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3
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1
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We found social engagement was a huge motivator.
I wish I could make friends
and have friends to come
over.
Adult with ASD
Friends, social activity and
helping others motivates me.
Adult with ASD
6
7
8
9
1
0

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2
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5
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7
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9
1
0
So we built our 4th MVP to be an accountability buddy app.
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1
0

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1
0
Hydrate more
Ennio
Study 30 min
Dan
Exercise
Tameem
Leave by 8:45
Nicholas
Pray daily
Brian
Shave daily
Nick
Shower
Patrick
Make bed
Katie
“Want to continue for another week?”
Users were more motivated with accountability buddies.
6
7
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9
1
0

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2
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5
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9
1
0
We thought we’d found product-market fit!
Habit
Formation Tool
with
accountability
buddy system
6
7
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9
1
0

17. 1
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4
5
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7
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1
0
Ok, customers
like your product,
but can you
make money??
...but the teaching team encouraged us to make sure we were on
the right track...
7
8
9
1
0
Ok, customers
like your product,
but can you make
money??

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9
1
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We asked our customers: “How much would you pay for our app?”
How much
would you pay
for that mom? It’s your money,
son, how much
would you pay?
Uhh...
Uhh...
Willingness to pay was… unclear.
We needed to run more tests.
7
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9
1
0

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1
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$9.99 / month
0.00% Conversion Rate .6% Conversion Rate
(not statistically significant but still sad)
We built a new pricing test, hoping for the same 6% conversion
rate
7
8
9
1
0
Free

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9
1
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We reached out to all the people who were excited about our first
landing page
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9
1
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4
5
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7
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1
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Parents wanted peace of mind, and adults with autism wanted
support to prevent meltdowns
Adults with AutismParents
9
1
0
8
9
1
0
“peace of
mind”
“manage
my fears”
“I have coping
skills but forget
to use them and
then have
meltdowns.”

23. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
We redesigned our landing page with these value props and got
8% conversion for $9.99/month!
MVP 6
9
1
0
8% conversion

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1
0
MVP 7: Mitigating meltdowns through emotional regulation
1
0

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1
0
Next, we explored revenue streams beyond private pay.
“Anxiety attacks and
meltdowns cost
$20,000 per hospital
stay per person.”
“We invest in products
that lead to higher
employment rates for
our clients.”
1
0

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1
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Institutional partners ARE willing to pay for PocketRobin.
“I’ll give you $5,000 to
run a 6-month pilot on
100 of our clients.”
- Labor & Employment
Specialist at the
Colorado Regional
Center
1
0

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1
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World-renowned autism self-advocate Temple Grandin
is consulting with us.
“You
should find
Key
Opinion
Leaders!”
Emmy and
Golden Globe
Winner
Time 100’s Most Influential People,
National Women’s Hall of Fame inductee

28. Continuing
the business
?
YES! We are all in :)
Milestones:
● March 2019: Continuing testing assumptions
around emotional support app
● April 2019: Apply for grant funding for initial
development & launch website for early sign-ups
● May 2019: Build initial app with emotion trackers
and anxiety reduction modules
● May 2019: Initial investor meetings with impact
funds and foundations begin
● June 2019: Roadshow across the U.S. to share app
and collect user feedback
● September 2019: Secure seed funding
● October 2019: Launch Version 2
Year - Round - Fundraise - Revenue Milestone
● 2019 Seed $1 million
● 2020 Series A $5 million
$120K
● 2021 Series B $15 million
$1.2M

29. Acknowledgements
Thank you so much to:
Our designer, Sabrina
Our mentor, Maria Popo
The teaching team
Shire House group home
And all of the LLP
students/teams!

31. Total Addressable Market: $71.5B
(5.5M US citizens w/ autism) * ($13,000 avg cost of disability support programs)
Target Market: $15.7B
44% of high functioning autistic adults
Served Available Market: $35.8B
(50% of 5.5M paying for college-level support) * ($13,000 avg cost of disability support programs)
31
Y1-Y3 Revenue: $120, $1.2M, $12M
Estimating $10/mo subscription fee *
subscribed users (1000; 10,000; 100,000)
Sources: US News Autism Housing Network Autism Speaks
Market Size