Promiser: quit your bad habits and get rewarded!

Have you ever tried to quit a bad habit or at least wanted to do so? It could be smoking, drinking alcohol, eating too much or anything else? Very often we give up because we are not encouraged or stimulated enough. But what if you openly make a promise about getting rid of your bad habit to those you love or respect – your parents, friends or employer – and they will in return reward you for it? With this fantastic idea Promiser was created.

I had the opportunity to interview Arunas Valancius, the founder of this original Lithuanian startup, to find out more about his project:

Helena: What is Promiser mainly about? 

Arunas: Mainly it can be described like this: Now, people who suffer from addictions, their family members, friends and even employers have a new tool in the fight against these harmful habits.

We have an extended description on our website:  https://promiser.pro/en/about-project

We have some statistics:

Over one billion people around the world smoke cigarettes
More than two thirds of them want to quit smoking
More than half of them try to quit smoking every year

Statistics about other harmful habits (such as overweight caused by an unhealthy lifestyle, alcoholism or gambling addiction) provide little comfort.

We also have plans for the second stage of our project:

Users who fail to keep their promises and don’t quit their harmful habits will be provided with professional online consulting. If necessary, they may also be referred to local clinics and rehabilitation centers.

Helena: Who are your target users?
Arunas: Three types of users:
1. people who suffer from addictions;
2. their family members and close friends;
3. employers.

Helena: How long have you been on the market?
Arunas: We’re just entering the market now.

Helena: What was the main reason of your presence at the Web summit: looking for possible investors, visibility or possibly something else? Where you satisfied with the event?

Arunas: First of all it was visibility. We were also looking for investments that we would use for marketing.

Helena: What are the business conditions, especially conditions for start-ups in your country like? Can you rely on any support from your government?

Arunas: A new parliament has just been elected and we are looking for their support. They have plans to invest into addiction prevention. We have support from the Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis from the European Commission: “It is a wonderful initiative proving that there are no costs but rather gains in pursuing healthier and happier lifestyles.”

Helena: What is the main marketing strategy you use to promote your services?

Arunas: Since we are entering the market on our own, we can only afford social networks – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Here are our social links:
https://www.facebook.com/promiser.pro
https://www.instagram.com/promiser.pro/
https://twitter.com/promiserpro