Our mission is to boost the collective health of the human race.
HI THERE. WE’RE SQUAD TECHNOLOGIES
We build technology to help people get off technology.
Well kinda. Let us explain…
We imagine a world where it is easy to be healthy.
A world where you don’t need to ‘try’ to be healthy.
A world where the default is healthy.
A world where our environment is set up for our success.
Unfortunately, this is not the case today.
9/10 items in the grocery store are bad for you.
9/10 of the advertisements you see are bad for you.
9/10 of school cafeteria food is bad for you.
If you live the default life, you will be unhealthy.
60% of the U.S. has a chronic disease.
~ Less than 6% in the 1960s.
Dramatic rise in cancer in people under 50.
More than 50% of the U.S. reports being lonely.
~ Before the pandemic
70% of the U.S. is overweight.
~ Obesity has tripled since the 1960s
16% of the U.S. has an autoimmune disease.
~ Less 3% in the 1960s
The fertility rate (1.7) has more than halved since 1960 (3.7).
~ The replacement rate is 2.1, meaning we are now dying faster than we are creating.
Our environment is failing us.
Today much of our environment has become digital.
Over half the world is on social media.
This environment is designed to get you hooked.
Like the ultra-processed sugar, social media utilizes cheap dopamine…
…the precursor to more destruction.
Its business model is a breeding ground for temptation which creates an itch that is difficult to resist.
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For 99.99% of all human history, there was no social media.
Today, the number of people using social media is over 4.95 billion worldwide. That’s over 50% of the world’s population.
Now consider this quote from Harvard Business Review…
“95% of all cognition, all the thinking that drives our decisions and behaviors, occurs unconsciously—and that includes consumer decisions.”
On top of this, according to habit expert James Clear, approximately 50% of our daily actions are driven by our unconscious habits.
Look at these similarities
Consumer technology psychology alongside its partner in crime, advertising psychology, is very similar to habit-forming psychology. The business model is to get you hooked so they can use your data to sell more ads. The more you view, the more money they make.
Look at the similarities between the Habit Loop, the Hooked Model, and the AIDA Framework…
The Habit Loop by James Clear (Author of Atomic Habits) [Habit Psychology]
Cue
Craving
Action
Reward
Hooked Model by Nir Eyal (Author of Hooked) [Consumer Tech Psychology]
Trigger
Action
Variable Reward
Investment
The AIDA Framework [Advertising Psychology]
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Whether it is tapping into our habits and getting us hooked to their platforms, or repeated marketing using the “8 touches” method to get us to buy, the ecosystem of social media is programming our subconscious and therefore our lives.
But the thing that concerns us most is this...
Our Children Are Most Exposed
On the Lex Friedman Podcast, former CIA agent, Andrew Bustamante, brought to light the well-understood suggestibility of our youth. Based on the works of Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Lawrence Kohlberg, and others the CIA breaks the stages of psychological development into three phases.
1) Ages 1-7: The Absorbent Mind
Rapid Learning: Children are extremely open to learning new things.
Unfiltered Absorption: They absorb information without much discrimination or critical analysis.
Formative Years: Fundamental cognitive, emotional, and social skills are formed.
Fortunately, during this phase, children tend to be protected from social media. But it does not protect them from things like YouTube which is often used as a tool by parents to "calm their children." YouTube's entire business model is ad-based so while watching their friendly shows, children still are susceptible to this advertising psychology.
2) Ages 8-13: The Programmable Mind
Critical Learning Period: They begin to form lasting beliefs, values, and attitudes.
Selective Absorption: Information absorbed during this period tends to have a lasting impact.
Peer Influence: Peers and social interactions become increasingly important.
40%-60% of children in this age group are on social media. During this period, children's beliefs and values are being formed. These values used to be formed by nature and strong family dynamics, but have quietly been replaced by the vicious ecosystem which resides in social media.
3) Ages 14-25: The Hardening Mind
Cognitive Maturity: Critical thinking skills develop, and individuals become more analytical and skeptical.
Identity Formation: This is a key period for identity formation and solidifying one's sense of self.
Resistance to Change: Existing beliefs and values become more entrenched, making it harder to change them.
90% of children in this age group are on social media. During this period, children's identities are being formed. But they are not being formed on their own. They are being formed with the constant comparison traps and artificial expressions they are repetitively exposed to on social media.
This is not to say that social media is pure evil. There is some good, particularly in the distribution of truth and protection of freedom of speech (thank you Elon). But it is important to be aware of the harm as well. Past generations did not have nearly as much temptation. And our ancestors have warned us how to handle such things...
Teachings on Temptations
In Christianity, temptations are viewed as a test of faith and moral strengths and are embedded in the most well-known scripture such as the story of the Garden of Eden and Jesus being tempted by the devil during his 40-day fast.
In Buddhism, temptations are linked to desires and attachments that lead to suffering. It is highlighted in the second of the Four Noble Truths and in the story of Mara's temptations of worldly pleasures to pull the Buddha away from enlightenment.
In Philosophy, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all spoke on temptations and the importance of self-knowledge and virtue in resisting them.
In Classical Literature, including the works of Homer's "Odyssey" and Dante's "Divine Comedy" the theme of resisting temptation and its consequences if you do/don't are very common.
Yet today, thanks to social media and the advertisements that reside within, we have more temptation than ever before. Maybe even more temptation in one day than our ancestors had in a lifetime.
It is time to ask ourselves… if we are constantly bombarded with temptations corrupting our subconscious which drives most of our behavior...
Are we truly free?
Our subconscious thoughts (95% of thoughts) and habitual behavior (50% of actions) make up the majority of our lives. Both these have been targeted leading to destructive behavior that no sane human would choose.
A free human filled with contentment and love would never choose to self-destruct. Yet we find ourselves in a society loaded with self-destructive behavior such as the consumption of poisonous artificial foods, drugs, pornography, negative media, etc. which have all led to radical rises in anxiety, depression, and even suicide... especially in our youth!
But there is hope...
'Reverse Psychology'
The same technology and psychology that has been used to get people hooked to bad, can also be used for good.
We can use this technology and psychology to give people mastery over their habits and become sovereign again.
You become a master of one habit and you realize you can be a master of them all. This mastery gives you 50% of your daily actions and 95% of your daily thoughts back.
One habit at a time, we become sovereign again.
Shaughnessy
But what has been used for bad, can also be used for good.
We are fighting for this. Not by trying to end it, but by empowering the individual to resist it.
88% of the world has a smartphone.
That is distribution power.
A power that can be used to empower.
We leverage technology and media to heal the world.
We have a unique model of how we do things.
1) Build Software
We recognize a common problem and brainstorm a solution. We gather conceptual feedback on the solution. If conceptually validated, in 6-week cycles we build a super simple, scalable consumer app. One feature apps can have the most impact.
The reason we focus on software is because of its scalability.
2) Validate Solution
We put a price tag on it and test the product by marketing through our internal team/resources and observing how users adopt it. The price confirms people are willing to pay to make it sustainable and the observation confirms that it is solving the problem. If it starts to grow organically, we move to phase 3.
3) Partner for distribution
We partner with an ‘expert with an audience.’ This could be a creator, athlete, author, etc. The key is they have a large loyal audience to who they already speak upon the product’s value prop. They get founding equity in this product. Each product is their own company under Squad Technologies.
Some of the fastest growing consumer brands (Prime, Feastables, Skims, etc.) leverage this model, but for CPG which requires lots of overhead. Doing this with software, we can scale much faster and much farther.
4) Repeat
Once we reach product-market fit and find a distribution partner, we add more resources around it (capital, team, etc.) and then go back to phase 1 to find a new problem we can solve.
We have two products so far.
SquadUp
A habit-building system to build a new habit in 28 days. It includes the SquadUp App, AI Habit Assistant, and Habit Education Suite. It’s like BeReal but for habits.
Master your habits, master your life. SquadUp is a path to more psychological sovereignty.
Upspace
A platform to find health content like workouts, meditations, or recipes shared by your favorite creators. It’s like Spotify but for health.
Go to the digital to take action in the physical. Upspace gives guidance for your new healthy habits.
We are using consumer tech psychology and mass-marketing ideology not for greed but for peace.
