# Business Model & Market Positioning

*Updated: 2026-04-05*

## The Problem

People living with trauma, anxiety, and mental health conditions lack tools that respect their autonomy while providing genuine safety infrastructure. Existing apps are either:
- **Clinical tools** that feel like medical forms (CBT apps, mood trackers)
- **Wellness apps** that trivialise serious conditions (meditation, gratitude journals)
- **Crisis hotlines** that only activate at the extreme end

There's nothing in between — nothing for the 90% of time that isn't crisis but isn't fine either.

## The Position

Angels sits in the gap: **a personal safety platform that works across the full emotional spectrum**, from daily check-ins to crisis response. The key insight is the **escalation ladder** — one continuum from "daily glance" to "emergency", not separate apps for separate states.

## Revenue Model — Triple Stream

### 1. Free Tier (Always Free)
- Daily check-ins (mood + journal)
- Safety plan creation and access
- Crisis activation (one-tap)
- 1 angel connection
- 7-day mood history

**Why free:** Crisis features must never be paywalled. The free tier IS the product — it demonstrates the core value loop.

### 2. Premium (£4.99/month or £39.99/year)
- Unlimited angel connections
- Full mood history + trend visualisation
- Streak insights and contextual reflections
- Consent wizard (granular sharing controls)
- Custom notification preferences
- Export data

**Conversion trigger:** Users hit the angel limit (1 free) or want trend data. Natural upsell after ~2 weeks of daily use.

### 3. Care Provider Dashboard (£29/month per provider)
- Aggregated insights across consented patients/clients
- Pattern alerts (declining trends, missed check-ins)
- Integration with care planning
- HIPAA-adjacent compliance reporting

**Channel:** B2B2C — therapists, counsellors, support groups recommend Angels to clients, then subscribe to the dashboard for clinical oversight.

## Market

### Initial: UK
- 1 in 4 adults experience mental health conditions annually (Mind UK)
- NHS waiting lists for talking therapies: 18+ weeks average
- Growing private therapy market hungry for between-session tools
- Strong charity/third-sector partnerships available (Mind, Samaritans, SANE)

### Expansion: English-speaking markets
- Australia, Canada, US — similar healthcare gaps, similar cultural fit
- Localisation = regulatory compliance + crisis line numbers, not language

## Competitive Moat

1. **Journey-verified UX** — every user flow is a verified directed graph. No broken paths, no dead ends, no emotional ambushes. This is structurally impossible in competitor apps.
2. **Research-driven design** — features trace back to user research transcripts. Not guesswork.
3. **Built-in viral loop** — every survivor invites their angels. Every angel might become a user. Growth is organic and trust-based.
4. **Privacy as product** — consent wizard, coercion detection, quiet exit. Privacy isn't a feature; it's the architecture.

## Unit Economics (Target)

| Metric | Target |
|--------|--------|
| CAC (organic/referral) | < £5 |
| CAC (paid/partnerships) | < £25 |
| Free → Premium conversion | 8-12% |
| Monthly churn (premium) | < 5% |
| LTV (premium annual) | £120+ |
| LTV:CAC ratio | > 5:1 |

## Funding Ask

**Seed: £1.5M — 18 months runway to product-market fit**

Allocation:
- 50% Engineering (3 engineers + 1 lead)
- 20% Clinical advisory & research
- 15% Design & user testing
- 10% Ops & compliance
- 5% Marketing (primarily partnership development)

Milestone: 5,000 weekly active users with >60% 30-day retention.