Hi, I'm Johnny. I'm building Feel (https://www.feelapp.io/), an emotionally intelligent wellness app that helps you navigate your emotions and shift your mood on demand.
I built the viral website cryonceaweek.com that received millions of users and I've since grown the Feel social media to 40k+ followers and over 150 million views. We also have thousands of people on the waitlist for the app.
We've built the MVP but need someone who can help take it to the next level. We're a small team of artists, designers, and scientists. Looking for a talented and skilled developer to join the team with creative engineering skills and experience with LLMs, NLP, chatbots and prompt engineering. Experience or interest in psychology, mental health, or art is a big plus.
Ideally looking for someone who:
-Has built and shipped real products
-Loves LLMs, prompt engineering, or emotional AI
-Is curious about mental health, mood tech, or creative computing
-Can work across frontend/backend
-Wants to build something creative, weird, and useful, not just optimize metrics
This is a founding role with equity to start and salary post-funding, likely within 2-3 months. We have strong interest from investors but we are waiting to start fundraising until after we launch.
This is a mission driven project with a lot of room for creativity, impact, and ownership.
If this resonates or you’re curious, I’d love to talk: [email protected]
Thanks so much for signing up and sharing this with me.
When you say "not sure if related" I would say most probably yes. Most emotional issues come from our childhood. It's interesting that your parents are German too. There have been a few other Germans that said the site didn't work for them and they have trouble crying. Seems like definitely a cultural thing there.
Many of us as kids are told things like "don't cry, cheer up, calm down" etc, etc by our parents and other adults who we are desperately seeking approval from and reliant on for care and survival. So we may not even realize it at the time, but we conform and change to please them. We feel like we need to be a certain way in order to receive their love and care and attention.
I think the answer could be in that one day you suddenly stopped crying. It's interesting that you say you're not sure why. Sometimes we can forget moments like this because they can seem insignificant at the time but they actually are meaningful. Sometimes it can be more difficult than people who experienced something super traumatic and are able to pinpoint that that was when things changed.
What often happens is we either experience or suppress an emotion without much awareness, and rather than letting it pass or move through us, we ruminate on it and get caught in emotional loops. Then that emotion or the suppression of it becomes a mood. Then that mood becomes a personality trait. Then that personality trait becomes who we are. And years later we can find ourselves wondering why we feel the way we do or how the hell we ended up this way, because it was something that started when we were kids and we didn't understand how all this stuff works and unfortunately no one really told us or guided us.
I'm really excited for you to try the app. We are designing it so you can input things like this and it can help guide you to deeper understanding while processing and releasing necessary emotions. I'm building it for people like you where you are now, and also for younger people so they can catch these issues before 40 years fly by without shedding a single tear. It's never too late though. It's great that you are recognizing all this and I hope the app is able to help you.
It could be considered similar to this. In a way the Penfield Mood Organ could be seen as something that gives people emotional autonomy and optimization, not too different than choosing the right music for the moment to shift your mood.
Of course with something like this there are also concerns about emotional conformity and losing authenticity. And questions about what is considered a real authentic emotional experience vs a manufactured one.
Some might consider what we're building "manufactured" emotional experiences. But are emotions elicited from music and movies manufactured? Just because something is happening on a screen or coming through speakers doesn't make it any less meaningful. Our brains don't know the difference and the feeling is real.
Media influences our emotions probably more than anything right now and for the most part is currently being fed to us by algorithms designed to prey on our most vulnerable feelings. What we're building gives you the ability to regain control over your emotions and inner world. It's more about using art, audiovisual, media, storytelling, and guided practices to move you through something real. It's about emotional awareness, exploration, and transformation more than artificially induced control. Of course like any tech it's up to people how they choose to use it. But we are trying to design it in a way that prioritizes the emotional benefit and personal growth of each user.
It's an interesting philosophical conversation that could go much deeper. I appreciate the feedback and reflection.
I thought about making that but there are so many comedy sites and platforms already. Funny or Die, Comedy Central, comedians on youtube, memes on social media, etc.
I'm an artist and not a psychologist, but the project is directly based on real psychological and scientific research and we have top psychologists and neuroscientists on the team who have been advising. I've also had clinical psychologists reach out in support of the site. One was featured in a USA Today article about it.
I'm working on a new project that goes deeper and helps you identify the root causes of things like this so you can better process and release your emotions. Would love for you to test it out when it's ready if you want. You are kind of who I'm building this for: https://www.feelapp.io
Look I get it. You hate social media and what it is doing to people's attention spans. I do too for the most part and I'm sure we agree on many things regarding this. But there is value in short form content. It's the type of content that matters, not the length. Short films, short stories, 2-3 minute songs, etc. These things can and do evoke meaningful emotional experiences. I actually made the site as an antidote to the doomscroll which many have found it helpful to be.
I'm actually a filmmaker and highly value full length feature films. I'm not arguing against watching whole movies. But there is also value in short films, short form videos, and even just watching specific scenes of a film at times. If it makes you feel something meaningful that's all that matters. There is room for all types of experiences, no matter the length. Emotions only last for around 90 seconds so sometimes that's all you need in the moment. If you want a deeper or longer experience by all means please watch a full movie, I am not trying to stop you or anyone from doing that.
I mean the projects are connected. If you enjoyed cryonceaweek.com you will probably like https://www.feelapp.io. I guess it could be considered a funnel promotion but it's more me just trying to share a new project with people who use the previous one. It didn't always link to the app - I added that later after we launched the app page and waitlist.
Emotions aren't so black and white and I think both can be true. Sometimes letting yourself feel and release your emotions, even with something unrelated, opens up your capacity to confront something. The site is based on scientific and psychological research. There are plenty of studies but here is one if you want to check it out: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/benefits-of-a-good-cry-crying...
I built the viral website cryonceaweek.com that received millions of users and I've since grown the Feel social media to 40k+ followers and over 150 million views. We also have thousands of people on the waitlist for the app.
We've built the MVP but need someone who can help take it to the next level. We're a small team of artists, designers, and scientists. Looking for a talented and skilled developer to join the team with creative engineering skills and experience with LLMs, NLP, chatbots and prompt engineering. Experience or interest in psychology, mental health, or art is a big plus.
Ideally looking for someone who:
-Has built and shipped real products -Loves LLMs, prompt engineering, or emotional AI -Is curious about mental health, mood tech, or creative computing -Can work across frontend/backend -Wants to build something creative, weird, and useful, not just optimize metrics
This is a founding role with equity to start and salary post-funding, likely within 2-3 months. We have strong interest from investors but we are waiting to start fundraising until after we launch.
This is a mission driven project with a lot of room for creativity, impact, and ownership.
If this resonates or you’re curious, I’d love to talk: [email protected]