How We Got 5,000 Users On Our AI Note-Taking App

July 18th, 2025
Michael Reider and Alexander Anastasin
Founder, Yung Sidekick
3
Founders
10
Employees
Yung Sidekick
from Miami
started December 2023
3
Founders
10
Employees
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Who are you and what business did you start?

We are the founding team behind Yung Sidekick, and I serve as co-founder and CEO. Our SaaS platform lets mental-health clinicians record a session, then automatically produces precise clinical notes while flagging early markers of depression, anxiety, and disengagement straight from the audio. We were among the first movers in this niche and still direct an unusually large slice of our funding into R&D to keep a technical edge. To date we have processed more than 135,000 therapy sessions and attracted over five thousand registered clinicians. We do not disclose revenue figures.

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How do you come up with the idea for Yung Sidekick?

The idea surfaced while we were experimenting with self-help programs driven by minimal therapist input. During therapist interviews somebody casually mentioned that documentation swallowed absurd amounts of their time, so we started to ask more therapists whether that matched their reality; every single one confirmed the pain without prompting. One practitioner even asked if we had a job opening because she wanted to quit feeling burned out because of paperwork. That validation pushed us to shelve the self-help angle and tackle note taking head-on.

My background covers tech startups and years of meditative study, while my co-founder Alexander Anastasin brings clinical expertise. We hacked a half-manual prototype, showed 20 clinicians, and most of them immediately asked when they could start paying.

How did you launch Yung Sidekick and get initial traction?

We skipped the big reveal. Each founder spent hours on LinkedIn adding therapists, explaining the problem in plain language, and inviting them to use the product free in exchange for blunt feedback. Those chats onboarded every early user for three months. When bug lists shrank and gratitude notes appeared, we switched on billing, and the first payment landed about ninety days after outreach began. The experience proved that honest conversation beats polished marketing at the start, and that objections heard firsthand shape the roadmap faster than any analytics dashboard.

What was the growth strategy for Yung Sidekick and how did you scale?

Growth began with the same founder-led outreach, now refined into daily personalised messages that still out-convert paid channels. Early adopters became allies; we asked each for introductions to practice owners, opening doors to multi-provider clinics and larger contracts. Content followed. Instead of generic blogs we publish deep guides on documentation law, audit preparation, and insurance coding, then share them in therapist Facebook groups and niche newsletters, driving steady organic trials. Paid ads on Facebook and Google stayed unprofitable, so we killed them and redirected the budget to product polish. Credibility was the final hurdle. We cold-emailed university researchers, offered the platform free for independent study, and after months of data collection secured the first peer-reviewed paper showing meaningful time savings and better adherence to treatment plans. It is helping a lot with our outreach to clinics. The common thread: direct dialogue with decision makers, objective proof they trust, and a ruthless willingness to abandon tactics that burn cash.

What were the biggest lessons learned from building Yung Sidekick?

We clung to Facebook ads too long—optimism can be expensive. Kill slow channels fast. Answering every support ticket ourselves exposed edge-case bugs and turned users into advisors. Cold outreach feels awkward but nothing replaces it in B2B; make it daily hygiene. Bring neutral validators on board early—scientists, journalists, power users—because their evidence sells while you sleep. Timing helps; global AI buzz raised interest only because we were already shipping. Talk to customers daily, ship weekly, and reserve quarterly slots for bold course corrections.

Yung Sidekick Acquisition: How much did Yung Sidekick sell for and what was the acquisition price?

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More about Yung Sidekick:

Who is the owner of Yung Sidekick?

Michael Reider and Alexander Anastasin is the founder of Yung Sidekick.

When did Michael Reider and Alexander Anastasin start Yung Sidekick?

2023

How much money has Michael Reider and Alexander Anastasin made from Yung Sidekick?

Michael Reider and Alexander Anastasin started the business in 2023, and currently makes an average of .

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