Ask HN: Pricing for a Jet Lag App?

2 points by pokoleo 2 years ago | 7 comments
After some years of international travel, we've found a way to reduce jet lag using intentional sleep/wake timing.

We apply patterns used in NTP to gradually guide your body's natural sleep rhythm to the new time zone, all without adding losing precious time at home or at your destination.

The general idea is that we apply an 8h leap smear to your body clock. For instance:

A flight from LHR → SFO has an 8h time difference. By gradually sleeping in and staying up later over a ~56h period, you can avoid missing out on life on both sides of the flight.

What pricing models should we try using for this kind of app?

  • evanlivingston 2 years ago
    My wife flies internationally a number of times a year, and I'm sometimes with her. We've been using timeshifter for a couple of years. It's current pricing of 24.99 a year is in an awkward spot where if we _know_ we're only flying internationally _once_ that year, it's expensive, but if there are three trips planned, it seems cheap.

    I would love to just pay $5 a (round) trip. The price per trip model becomes funky if the user needs to modify their flights at some point.

    The first time we used Timeshifter it worked so well we knew we needed to always use it.

    My one gripe with Timeshifter is that is assumes I can keep to it's schedule perfectly. What happens if I couldn't sleep on one of my flights, or had to wake up earlier to catch a train to the airport?

    • scombridae 2 years ago
      A dollar upfront. Then, an additional dollar every time it catches you dozing off.
      • dave4420 2 years ago
        What’s the target market?

        Holiday makers?

        People travelling round the world?

        People emigrating?

        People travelling for work? CxOs? Salespeople? Rich world managers checking in on offshore manufacturers? Their employers?

        • anovikov 2 years ago
          Logically, main market should be business travellers. For everyone else, this lost time isn't that critical.
          • ponyous 2 years ago
            Agree. I travelled mostly in non business context and I would not pay for it, even when I travelled for work.

            So I imagine only people that travel a lot for work and are truly time sensitive. How many people like that are there?

        • Dicey84 2 years ago
          How does this compare to the ‘Timeshifter’app?

          I’ve used this quite successfully a few times on Aus to US/EUR trips in the past, with zero jet lag.

          • wizwit999 2 years ago
            56h period kind of makes this a non starter imo.