Rootd started from personal experience. Like many, I went through life thinking that anxiety and panic attacks wouldn't happen to me. But when my first panic attack came out of nowhere during my final year of University, I realized my misconceptions were wrong.

Finding the Gap

Far away from home, on student loans, and with no family doctor, I couldn't find or afford the support I needed. My instinct was to reach for my phone to find an app that could help me process what was happening, but couldn't find anything useful.

Building Without Code

For version one, I turned my notebook sketches into wireframes using Photoshop. Then I found a student developer and worked with him to publish an app to the App Store and Google Play, which I launched on World Mental Health Day.

This first version had way less features than today, but it had Rootd's core components of stigma-breaking design and accessibility. The big red panic attack button was front and center.

App Store Optimization

My key focuses at the start were focusing on the niche of "panic attack relief" in the app's keywords and App Store Optimization efforts. I responded to every single review and started conversations with users as much as possible.

Scaling to Millions

Rootd is now scientifically validated, won multiple awards, used by over 2 million users in over 150 countries, and has tens of thousands of 5-star reviews. All with zero employees.

• First version: Built with a few thousand dollars
• Current users: 2M+ in 150+ countries
• Reviews: 36,000+ across Apple & Google
• Revenue: 7-figures annually
• Team size: Zero employees