Julian: Hey everyone. Thank you so much for joining the Behind Company Lines podcast. Today we have Jonah Salita, CEO and co-founder of Diall Making Mental Health. Approachable Diall is Gen Z's home for mental health, content and community that's as fun as TikTok, but as reputable as care from leading PhDs.

Jonah, thank you so much for joining. I love to always have another LA based startup in in, in our show. And not only get to dive into your background, your experience, but you know, kind of what, what is the, the environment that you're seeing in this city and, and, and within you're a startup.

But before we get into all that good stuff, what were you doing before you started Diall?

Jonah: Yeah, good question, honestly. And yeah, thank you so much for having me. It's crazy to think that we both had journeyed our way to LA around a similar time and actually lived very close to each other. So before Diall, I had been living in many different places.

I went to school in New York, played college tennis. Then I had an opportunity to live and work and take photo, take photos in, in Hong Kong. So that was an incredible experience. And then after Hong Kong, I moved to London and worked for a FinTech. And then after London, I got covid really, really early on before anyone really knew what it was.

And I got stuck at home in Minnesota when the borders closed. And, and then after being in Minnesota, I was really doing a lot of consulting. So my work kind of came into the creative consulting world where I was a Swiss Army knife, kind of being a software engineer, a web dev designer, a photographer, a a marketer, a media buyer, any of those things altogether, Copy.

and I kind of pulled all of my experience from previous roles that I had and built this kind of one man army agency that was called Vasco Creative. I'm Portuguese American and have both passports, so that was something I felt really passionate about, making sure that it was a Portuguese name, and I absolutely love doing it because I love nothing more than getting to learn new things constantly and throw myself into the deep end.

It naturally made a lot of sense to make the, the transition to something like Diall because even though I had never imagined or never had the intent of starting a startup, let alone a venture back startup, because I had never even heard of VC until 10 months ago I really knew that I was always gonna be someone who got to pull out multiple tools and try all them.

Julian: Yeah, man, that it's crazy how all those experiences, like doing every bit of, of part of most businesses, you know, design development and, and also the creative side, it really gives you kind of a holistic perspective of, of what it takes to you know, start a company and build one. And I guess during that experience, what was the most important piece that you thought.

You know, really has helped you today to kind of build and, and work on Diall and, and kind of, you know, create this, this, you know, startup and this community and this application, Everything that really encompasses you know, the, the company.  

Jonah: That's a really good question, especially because when you run in a product design or just an agency in general it's so much different than working at an agency because I had worked at other ad agencies or big, bigger firms before, and then you're kind of like a cog machine and you're doing your one role, very specialized.

Maybe you're a copywriter and if you go outside of that lane, it's kind of like, just, just don't do that. Like stay in your lane. And when you're running your own agency, of course you have to have the ability to do everything from the accounting to the legal, to setting up your llc, to sending out the proper work scope agreements, to making sure that you can get your money and get paid.

Because freelancers, you know, always struggle. And that's before anything has even been built or any of the work has actually been done. And so I think that was just such a great preparation for thinking about running my own ship or running a ship with someone else. Cuz you know, at Diall I'm a co-founder, so my co-founder, Marcel and I, we split everything 50 50 and.

for the first two years we were fully bootstrapped and it makes me think a lot about my time when I was also, you know, working as a service provider with my agency because you have to do everything from the social media to the marketing, to the accounting, to the legal, to coming up with the ideas and testing it and yeah, something that I found really, really.

Beneficial from having that experience beforehand? Was that going into, into Diall, like if you have a partner, you also need to eventually understand where are your roles going to separate and how can you clearly communicate those? And fortunately my company is about mental health and setting boundaries between friends cuz he's also my close friend and, and work.

It's like an initial step that you have to take. And then the next step is like how if we have all these overlapping skills, how can we separate those? And I think having the experience prior to running my own thing, at least let me show up for those conversations in the best way I could. And so both of us had the opportunity to say, Yes, this is what we were really passionate about.

Here's where our skills are. Here's also where we see ourselves going in the. And so having kind of that hard conversation, but also doing it proactively, I think made all the difference. And I don't think that I would've had the skills necessary if I hadn't started something like Vasco Creative beforehand.

Julian: Yeah. What, what are some of the questions that you asked each other that helped you define roles? Cause I'm, I'm assuming, you know, both of you are, are, have some overlapping competencies, but also some very different, The distinct ones I feel like are a little easier, right? Whether it's personality type or.

Or maybe a certain background or experience, certain specialization. But what about the stuff that's like, Hey, I'm actually pretty good at this. Oh no, I'm actually pretty good at this as well. What are the questions you ask each other to really define those roles? Cause I don't think a lot of founders talk about the, the identifying the different roles and responsibilities that they have to communicate with their co-founders.

Jonah: That's a, Yeah. That's amazing. Because most people also don't realize that, you know, it's just like getting married. So, you know, I've never been married, so maybe that's a bad statement to make and I can't, I don't have any validity behind that. But I would like to believe that, you know, starting a company with someone is like getting married because there's so many, like, you know, when you sign equity, a agreements, it's like a prenuptial agreement.

And all of this is making sure that you can do everything correctly. And one thing that I was really, really passionate about is I love. Take away assignments where you're asynchronously doing something and you come back together. I don't remember where I heard it, but I know that there's a study that's been done on a group.

Think about brainstorming, saying that if everyone is given the problem and you all have to go back to a room for 10 minutes alone and you come up with solutions, then you come together to discuss them. It leads to significantly better results than all of you chatting about it all immediately because group think it's just such a human trait like everyone wants.

Loved and heard and validated, and at some point they all converge. And so what we actually did is we kind of did this little assignment where we, we both wrote out like kind of five core questions that we wanted each other to ask ourselves and to ask each other. So for example, one of 'em might be like, where do I see myself in the company in five years?

What do I care the most about personally in the company? What, where do I want to grow the most in the company? And this all has to do with like, role division and where you think. Best be there. What titles of of the role make sense for what my current skills are? What titles make sense for where I could be?

And so if you do this exercise on your own and you come back together, Instead of just having a conversation, it's like, look, like no one can lie and say like, I didn't write this down. Cause you like open up the, the paper and you're like, Hey, this is what we both wrote down. And so we looked at it and honestly most of it was very much things that we already knew, which was really cool.

Cause we both obviously are putting our best foot forward. And then the few, the few things that were. Like needed to be hashed out. We now had like a framework to say, Okay, here's where we see ourselves growing. Has the train left the station on this part? Have we already been doing this on this thing?

And so it really just like helped again, like create a framework for how to address the conversation cuz otherwise, It could be very easy for one person to try to take the lead and someone to follow, but it should be done together, in my opinion, especially if you're co-founding a business where you're equal equity partners.

And so that's what worked for us. And obviously it doesn't necessarily work for everyone, but it was a fun trait to do. And, and I kind of took it from the idea of, you know, the therapy world and working with other patients. Yeah. Yeah. What, what do you care about? Oh, good question. Honestly Marcel has reminded me of what I think we both care about the most, and this is something I do too.

I always say that like if our company was to fail for any reason, it would not be because we can't figure out a go-to-market strategy, or we can't build an amazing product, or we can't get user feedback. It will be that if we don't uphold our mission and our values and. I think like what I care the most and what I've consistently care the most about is just continuing to learn while staying true to the mission.

So like, it's really easy for me, like one of my faults is I can so easily get sucked into the excitement of being that, you know, jack of all trades trying new things, loving the technology side, and, and I don't wanna get to the point where I could eventually pivot the company out of. It has nothing to do with what we originally started it for.

Because that it would be so easy, just from a passion perspective to like love what we're building. Yeah. And so that's why having a co-founder is amazing because someone like Marcel is incredibly grounding and is just such an amazing person to hold you accountable, not only as a friend, but a business partner, so that we can both be really championing championing what matters the most to us, which is, you know, making this.

This difference, like our platform has lots of interesting parallels to the social media world, to just a media world in general. We've had investors and other potential people say like, Wow, maybe you've solved this type of like content production thing that could be used in other verticals. But we've been very, very clear that we care the most about making this difference in the early se early side of mental health.

And like that's where we're gonna stay focused. And specifically on helping, you know, underrepresented communities and making sure that this is something that works for everyone and is not just for a subset privileged population.  

Julian: Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I appreciate the answer. What inspired you Diall and, and the startup you were working in, the creative space, you were doing, you know, a lot for other companies getting contracts and things like that.

Some would say like, things were already working. But what made you or inspired you to focus on mental health and, and focus on a product that addresses it? And I think in, in a very digestible way, but also in a, in a way that kind of, we all need to, or, or, or the average person may need to dive into to, to even introduce themselves to the idea of, of, you know, addressing their own kind of mental wellbeing. What inspired you to, to move in this direction?  

Jonah: Yeah. You know, like me personally, cuz again, this was really started by, he and I, it started as a, a phone call. everything going on it, right When the pandemic was starting, there was lots of social political unrest. Everyone was turning to social media to figure out how to deal with, you know, the death of George Floyd or Ahmed Aubrey.

And I think there was just so many conversations being thrown around. But the thing that wasn't covered the most is how to help people that are actually needing help at that time. And how can we actually make true progress outside of just value signaling everything that like, Oh, we care, but we, you're not doing anything.

So Marcel and I. The first ever alternative to 9 1 1 speed Diall, hence the name Diall. And we added the second L to make it inclusive of all. And that started from a phone call he gave me where he was sharing his personal mental health journey. And it was an opportunity for me to be a friend and like he says all the time, to listen to him and really be able to show up for him.

And I was the one who said, You know Marcel, I bet there's other people just like you that we could build something towards. So this really wouldn't have started without either of us, cuz he, he gave me the call and was struggling and I was the one that said, Hey, we should. Officially, like, let's actually make this happen.

And so, but even, even though like that story, you know, that, that's documented in, in other interviews and fun things that we've done, I think the, the thing that's really interesting that, that you just asked, that I've never shared is like, me personally, why I was ready to be doing this is even though I loved working for my own agency and it was amazing being a young person, making really good amount of money and working in diverse different areas, I think I was looking for something that had more meaning behind it and wasn't just monetary.

And I've been raised in a household where giving and and caring for other people was an incredibly high, highly valuable thing that was passed down to me. And so as I had this opportunity to make, make a difference and, and I've had personal connections to mental health my whole life, just like everyone has, and people don't realize that, you know, you don't need to have a mental illness to really take care of your mental health.

In fact, you shouldn't. You should take care of it as early and as frequently as you possibly can, cuz it's one of the building blocks of everything When you start to think about everyone having a story and everyone having a connection to mental health, it was really clear cuz my whole childhood and time growing up was playing really competitive tennis.

And competitive tennis is a sport where you're all alone and you have to work through problems and, and solve them on your own. And if you're choking away I'm at or you're losing something, it's up to you cuz there's no time timeouts in tennis, you know? Okay. And as someone who, who like really, really cared a lot about being a, a good learner.

Who was also, I was really small growing up. I really wanted to find a way of like, how can I share all the things I'm passionate with and be a hard worker and feel bigger? And so this felt bigger than myself, even in that sense. And it felt like such an incredible mission to be able to push forward. .  

Julian: Yeah, no, I think the way, you know, there's so many different, you know, whether it's applications or companies or non-profits.

I work, I actually worked for a non-profit for a year called suicide tax line. So it was very much people who were in, you know, moments of, of deep distress or going through some situation that they needed kind of help or guidance. We would have text conversations with them and there was some, there's so.

Strategies you can do to address someone, not only by just supporting them, but not giving them advice. There's this kind of weird middle ground that, I wouldn't say weird, but there's, there's this very, there's an opportunity within this middle ground to kind of help empower somebody to, to take their own actions.

And I love the idea behind Diall because it seems like, you know, you're empowering people to digest the content that they. Frequently, often enough without, you know, more commitment than they need, but also proactively before things get maybe outta hand or, or they feel kind of heavy with, with all this you know, with all that they're going through, which is, which is important.

What is the current state of mental health? You know, when you dove into mental health, you know, what were you seeing outside in the world, outside of, you know, the external kind of, you know, big events that we were all facing. Collectively personally, what are some trends that, that are just out there that, that you've researched that, that you can say are, are maybe different from before or that we're maybe being illuminated on now?

Jonah: Yeah. You know, from a industry standard, I think that there are more mental health companies now than ever, which is amazing because we need as many teammates in this space as we. But I think when more companies enter the space, it also becomes more of an obstacle course, unfortunately. And I think one of the trends that I've seen is there are an incredible number of therapy alternatives out there.

There are a ton now of mindfulness companies out there. In addition, I think there are a lot of companies that are out there prescribing medication online. And so digital health has really had those three categories blow up. The one category that I don't think we've seen really any real big innovation in, which is where we are really trying to go in, is the side of content.

Because if you think about content, content is really easily accessible across all platforms. Everyone expects it to be free, cuz all these normal social media platforms are ad ad revenue based. So everything seems free and something that I think is a huge way to democratize a step into mental health, which is something that we have never shared yet, but it's some insights that we have.

In in cultural backgrounds or just go backgrounds in general that aren't very comfortable with mental health or if they're stigmatized. None of those backgrounds feel stigmatized around content or entertainment because they all love TV or movies or film. And so even if you come from a family that's like not okay with you going to therapy, a lot of them will say, I love watching comedy, or like watching skits, or I'm on TikTok or something like that.

And so Unfortu. We're seeing that there's a massive, a mass exodus from places of like safe security in a home to platforms like a TikTok. Yeah. Where you're just looking for all the resources and advice and in that exodus to all these platforms, you have to realize that those platforms aren't designed to take care of your mental health.

Yeah. They also don't only have to be used for bad, so I think people bash social media way too much. There's so many ways to use it as a tool, but just like therapy, you have to use it as a. You can't expect a therapist to go fix your whole life for you. You have to put in the work before then and use it as something to help you.

I think a lot of people are looking for that silver bullet, and social media is such a great illuminator because if you go on these platforms, it is fun. It is engaging. You see people who look like you, who represent your stories, your background, and something that we're really passionate about trying to solve is how can we help younger people?

So again, before this becomes an issue that they've ever. Two, How can we find a way to relay the information in a way that feels native to them that's actually fun and not like homework or an assignment or like someone talking down. in addition, how can we make it more intersectional? So less about like, let's learn about anxiety, or let's learn about depression, and more about like, Hey, you play sports and you wanna perform better.

How do you think about your nerves in sports? Or like, Hey, you are in a romantic relationship and you're struggling to communicate and express your boundaries. How can you be better at that? So it's, again, it's about day to day interests and then how it relates to mental health. That's like a huge place that we're pushing forward.

And again, the final thing that is really cool, I think that's a trend that we're seeing is people really trust their best friends. People care the most about their best. We've done so many studies around this area, like privately on one-on-one interviews, and we found all the time that yeah, people trust their best friends more than professionals or parents or coaches or anyone else out there.

And that's why you see apps like Be Real and these social media apps going, going completely viral. A main reason is because people love validation and so at the end of the day, I think Diall is not in the business of mental health. We're not even in the business of content. We're in the business of making people feel valid.

Making people feel heard, making them feel like they can build confidence, like they can build new skills and ultimately use those new skills and take action in their day to day life and something that's easy and then you don't feel alone. So that's kind of what we're really pushing forward.  

Julian: Yeah, I, I love that. I love the piece about the cultural background because you know, being a American myself, you know, traditionally speaking, there was a lot of avoidance of, you know, going to therapy because it, it, it, it kind of creates this this. Experience where, where it, it's very serious, right? But there's such a spectrum of help that you need, you know, going through mental, mental health and, and getting help and everything along that nature.

So how, how are you addressing the, the cultural differences that people face? Because I don't think a lot of apps or a lot of mental health professionals, at least for me, it's, it's hard. You know, it's hard to trust someone who doesn't come from a similar background because there's just, and, and me and partner talk about this all the time because they just don't understand some of the subtleties that come with coming from a certain culture or tradition or what have you because You know, you can't just say stick up for yourself to your parent, cuz they might say, Hey, well alright, leave.

You know, they might, they might challenge you versus, you know, try to kind of validate you, but that doesn't mean that they don't care. It's just finding a different avenue to communicate. How are you addressing like the cultural bound or the cultural differences amongst, you know, our population and, and just kind of in, in the grand scheme of, of people who are seeking out mental health.

Jonah: Yeah, so like that's a great point. One is like we don't only wanna be PE for people who are seeking out help for their mental health. We wanna be a platform that is just incredibly fun and engaging, and that's why content's so cool. Also. Yeah, Content by nature is diverse as a default. If you think about any craters that we bring on, if we brought on a Mexican American creator, they would hopefully be sharing more of a similar experience with you than I would being Portuguese American or something else.

And so we work with contract craters purposefully so we can work with way more of them, like a lot more. And then we can constant be bringing in different things. And in the future we're obviously gonna expand to different languages and also different backgrounds, like actually different countries.

And so content is really gonna be that vehicle that I think really helps our business overcome some of the other hurdles that other mental health companies struggle with, which are like retention. And turn. So we, we see content as a really big force for us to have people stay engaged for longer. And then the main place that we're gonna really be helping people is when they're taking action.

So like these small challenges and things that we can help build tiny habits around. Cuz if, if you're seeing your favorite creators and you know that the content that they're sharing has been vetted and, and they've worked with a mental health professional to make it really, really accurate and it's still super fun and you're like, Oh my God.

Like I was just laughing like crazy. And then there's just like one key takeaway to. That's so much simpler than having to, you know, go and say like, Oh, I need to take this massive step to go to therapy. But the other thing that's so interesting and why, why I think like I said, we need more teammates is because I think if you were to talk to any person regardless of cultural background, and you say, Is it important if you're playing sports to have a coach, I think almost everyone would say yes for a fact.

Yes. Even Roger Feder, you know, just retired, had a coach and he was, you know, maybe the best of all time. And even these, you know, LeBron James, they have whole coaching teams. And so you say, Okay, so are you saying you just got your mental health all on your own? You don't need any support at all. You just, it's all you.

You know, you're the best person in the world. And so of course that's like an easy justification for coaching or therapy or. , but even further than that, if you just think about needing help in general, like needing help is a superpower. If you can identify places that you're weak and then you can improve them, that is called being proactive and learning and becoming a better person.

And so what Diall's really trying to do is we're saying, Hey, if your second step option is. Is meditation. That's great. If your third step option is therapy, if your four step option is psychiatry, and let's say your, your negative one step is just talking, chatting with your friends, what's kind of an in between here that's been this gap that's missing that helps you take your first step into the mental health world that doesn't feel like mental health.

You know, it doesn't feel like you're, you're actually getting healthcare, but it feels really fun and you know that at least it's healthy. So like, you know, TikTok, but good for you type experience. Yeah. That's what Diall's really gonna be, where like everything is really built to make sure that you're gonna get the most out of it, that you're gonna complete videos rather than just swipe through infinitely that you're gonna actually do challenges and see what other people are doing cuz it's fun. And at the end of the day, know that over time, if you do little by little, you'll be building your skills and be in a better position when things do come up.

Cuz they're definitely gonna come up. Everyone has to deal with stuff throughout their life. So yeah, that's a big on how we're doing it.  

Julian: Yeah. No, I, I love that. I love that. Tell us a little bit about the, your, your traction. So you, you mentioned that you, you raised funding recently. Tell us about how that process was, what was compelling about Diall's story that, that you feel really got in investors to, to kind of back the idea and, and back not only the idea, but, but you and Marcella's founders.

And then tell us about the, the users. I, I, I read somewhere that, you know, use base increase. I would love to hear some numbers, but share a little bit about the traction, the set, the recent success that you've had with.

Jonah: Yeah, so like I said, it's now like 10 or 11 months ago. I had never heard of the word venture capital, which is so funny.

I didn't come from that world. Being born in Minnesota, going to school in New York, living internationally, other places, it just never was something that crossed my radar. My parents are both lawyers. I just didn't come from that world. So when we started Diall, there was no intention of raising money or building this into some super high growth startup.

It just kind of occurred naturally because we were so scrappy. So we just kept. Juicing the orange, even the sticker on the peel, for the first two years we were building it and we were just finding every possible way to self-fund it and to get people to volunteer and help build this small thing and learn this thing.

And so we released three different MVPs and over that period of time, we kind of capped all of our users to around a thousand users. And so we were able to get a ton of data and then. Brought on someone to help be our, our head of community. And he, with his help, we did an average of like 50 to 60 user interviews a week, like one on one interviews.

These are not like a type form, like this is chatting with people and pulling all these responses. And so we did hundreds of interviews, like so many, and that's where we were really getting our data. And so by the time it came, it came to raising. We decided to raise money because we were like, Look, we're making all this progress, but we could be going way faster and we could be helping way more people.

And this opportunity has never been like it is, like mental health is something that people are openly chatting about in the news constantly. So the barrier to entry for awareness and breaking stigma is much lower than it ever has been. So we're like, we have to, we have to really go all in on this. And it was also at a point in time when Marcella and I hadn't paid ourselves in two years and we're like, look at a certain point, like, we need to also live and we really care about making this mission happen.

So let's find some incredible people to help get behind us. And the first big believers in us, were F seven Ventures, Kelly and Joanna. They are two of the most just outstanding human beings ever. And I really give them so much credit. Just being honest, kind people. We came into our first ever meeting with them really again, having, we've tried so hard.

We researched everything we possibly could, but we were thinking like, you know, for our precede round that we were gonna need to build a board and like all these different things we had no idea about and they really set us straight in that meeting when they could have totally taken advantage of us and said, Oh yes, we need all these rights.

We need this stuff. They were honest and just said, No, this is where you are at. This is what you need. We believe in you. And I think investors like them really helped us realize that even if we had other term sheets come our way, unless we really cared about them as people, we thought that they were aligned with our mission and that they were gonna help contribute to it and help us evolve in more diverse ways.

We were not gonna be partnering with them, so we then, Continue to fundraise, and I just spent so much, so much time chatting with investors, like spoke with hundreds of investors. We provide really, really detailed unique investor updates. I think that's something that I'm, one of the most proud things that I've done so far is because we always challenge our assumptions.

So whenever we send investor updates, they're much more personalized and they're much longer, and they include opinions that we're trying to say, This is why we believe this, this is our reasoning. Here's why this number is not just a number, but what we're thinking about. And and we often come to the light with lots of positivity too.

So during tough times like this recession or like when it could be really hard to fundraise, I think people really wanna invest in Marcel people because we have just been so resilient and shown so much grit. And that has to do with our product too. Like all of the products that we had put out onto the app store beforehand were terrible looking, in my opinion, like UI wise, like they had so many things wrong with them, and still we were able to get on press, and go on the news and do other things because the mission was so important.

And so people have given us so much more leeway than I honestly ever thought we would have. And let alone, when you think about a consumer product, they kind of either go like super sky skyrocket or they go down. And we've been fortunate enough over these two years that like as we've been figuring and learning all this stuff out, that we've been able to grow linearly.

So it hasn't completely flatlined. And even though we're obviously on the quest of this crazy exponential growth, like we're definitely on that road to escape velocity. Which is a really fortunate position to be in. So now coming up in the near the very, very, very near future we are gonna be releasing the first ever like, full version of Diall that looks like actually sexy.

And it's pretty, and it has this gorgeous UI that we've been working on from all of our user testing. And we're gonna start, you know, really building in the right way. So from other more traction metrics, you know, like from our previous builds when we had those a thousand. We also had this one B2B to C contract that we executed and did some really interesting research with a bunch of students and staff members to see if that's a route we want to go.

And now we're just taking all of those learnings and also learnings from the the dev process. So we redesigned lots of our, our database and system architecture and now, We're really set up to actually scale and pour kind of all this money in into what we're, what we're passionate about. So in the upcoming version of Diall, it's gonna look much more like a well polished app, and it's gonna be super luscious and full of all these experiences that we're building.

And so, I'm really, really excited because for the first time ever, all I get to say this is an app that I would actually use as opposed to all of our just validation that we've thrown out there. But I guess they say that if you're not embarrassed to launch something that you're probably launching too late.

And so our goal is to like one of our like seven, you know, values is like don't overbuild. Yeah. And it's so easy to overbuild. Actually, the easiest thing for us to do is over design because we're really all very designed forward in our company. We're just constantly trying to push ourselves to simplify rather than to add, and that has to do with any engagement metrics too.

So like when we're gonna think about in the future getting to the next rounds or being successful, our main focus is, is gonna be on growth. Right now, we're not 1000% focused on only how we can monetize. We care a lot about reaching a certain level of consistent daily active user growth. We care a lot about 30 day retention of those daily active users.

We care a lot, a lot about what type of content are they engaging. How long are they engaging with it? How long are they staying? Why are they staying? All of those qualitative sides of the quantitative metrics. And then of course, like measuring stickiness and like how long are they staying and. And then from there, if we really solve those like cohorts of users, we're gonna obviously then learn what does this have to do with improving our products so that we can increase those metrics and then eventually monetize so that we can do subscriber cohorts and start to understand what is the subscription way that we're doing it or other ways that we choose to monetize.

So that's a long answer, but maybe shed some into how we're thinking.  

Julian: Yeah, no, that, that, that was fantastic. And it's exciting to see all the learnings kind of be adopted and, and applied to, you know, the next version of this application, which is you know, I think, think what every founder strives for.

And as soon as you launch that, I'm sure you'll have a plan to launch a new version shortly after. So another question I always like to ask is, is just coming from a different perspective, is what are some of the biggest risks that Diall faces today?  

Jonah: Yeah, good question. When you work in the media world, cuz like technically our company is in the intersection of, you know, mental health, social media, media, all of that in the equator economy the hardest, the risk that I think we face is figuring out a way to automate.

Content that's validated, automate creating content that's that's really vetted and validated because we don't let users post to our app. This is not ugc, even though it looks like ugc. And so the amazing, the amazing feat that we're able to do right now because we have amazing investors, is that we're able to build this incredible content library to make it look like it's constantly being published.

But a big challenge that we're gonna have to figure out in the future is how can we find a way to automate that and scale up content. in a way that's still val, you know, valid from our proprietary curriculum where our IP is being built. And and another challenge I think is, is obviously the hurdle of, of getting the initial massive boost of users so that the network effects can really start.

Because our platform, even though it's not social media, there are very many elements of it that are social by nature. Yeah. And we want them to be social because if we're thinking about behavioral science, it's much easier to do something when other people are doing it and you don't feel. So for example, like I, I think a big part of where we're gonna continue building out our product, the hunch I have is on these day-to-day challenges or small things that you can implement in your real life right away, not just on your phone, because content is very, very hard to differentiate at the end of the day.

Netflix versus Hulu versus Amazon Prime. Like they're all just amazing content. They can't really say we have the best content. It's like, it's very subjective. Same thing with social media companies and on social media companies, there are plenty of therapists who make content, plenty of professionals. So what's unique about us is one, we have a proprietary curriculum.

Our content is structured in a way that's unique to us, but end users will they really care or think enough about that probably to download it for free, but would they care to pay? Maybe not. And so the place that we are really diving deep into, The social element of doing these takeaways, like these challenges, and, and that's something that in our upcoming app, like you'll get, you'll get a chance to see more of what we're, what I'm talking about with that when it launches.

But it's gonna be hopefully really, really disruptive and really new, something that we haven't seen before because it's gonna make people. Take action in their real life and actually interact with the app. Because again, if you think about any of these other apps, I think a big reason why they struggle specifically in the mindfulness sector with retention in turn is cuz if you close your eyes, you can imagine it being on Spotify or YouTube or somewhere else.

Cuz you're not doing anything physically using the app or using your phone or even in your real life using your device. It's just a guide, like something that you can guide. So if you've done it enough, it becomes hard to, to see that extra value. But for our platform, we really wanna make sure. You can actually get some extra value that you're actively doing.

And when you think content, again, is helping with retention and the interaction is gonna be that differentiator, hopefully when those two are put together it'll solve that big risk, which is how to find a way to get those network effects to start. So those two things I think are, are really the biggest.

Julian: Yeah. Yeah. If everything goes well, what's the long term vision for Diall?  

Jonah: Oh, totally. Long term vision is to be available worldwide in many, many different languages, many different cultures, different backgrounds, to have creators from all different backgrounds and to be essentially that first step that anyone ever thinks about when they think about mental health.

So, or living your best life. So if you're, even if you're in Gen Z, like right now we're focusing on Gen Z cause that's the area to be, but of any walk of life. If you think about work or technology or beauty or fashion, Sports or any of these things and how they relate to your mental health. We want to be the place that you're going to search and to explore and to learn and to see what other people are doing and to know that it's vetted.

And if we can do a really good job of that, then we'll be the quarterback in mental health. And that means we can also build things in the future that are the wide receiver that we're passing to. You know, like we could eventually build something out that helps in a therapy sense, or getting connected to therapists or even our own version.

We could build a mindfulness side of it where we're helping connect you to the next step we could eventually build into. Prescription medicine world, we don't necessarily have a vision of doing any of those three, but it's an example of like, if you can become that top of funnel, we're gonna be getting so many people to access help.

And our goal is to be doing that globally. So get as many people onboarded into taking care of their mental health every day globally as we possibly can. Incredible, man.  

Julian: Well, I know we're coming close to time, but I always like to ask this question not only for selfish research, but for my audience as well to, to kind of, you know, find different avenues of, of knowledge.

But what are some books or people who have influenced you the most?  

Jonah: Hmm, Well, people who have influenced me the most. I would definitely say my parents. I think that they've made a huge impact in my life, seeing with my grand. And also some chosen family. Like I have an amazing mentor who helped when I was in super injured with tennis, who's been like an incredible person in, in the back of my corner.

Previous employers have been really, really beneficial. I just, I learned so much when I was constantly working. And I think some other people that have been really instrumental or honestly the rapper logic, So funny, I was a massive logic fan way before the song one 800. Obviously you work for the text line, so it's funny.

But I met him a long, long time ago. I actually forced my two best friends to drive to Wisconsin to go visit one of his concerts and we got these VIP tickets and got to meet him backstage. And again, this was before he was very open about his mental health, but I always loved his lyricism, loved that.

And so he's been pretty inspirational in my life, which is funny. I think some tennis legends like Rapha and the Doll and Roger Feder are phenomenal examples of what it means to be a true sport and be really, really graceful, even when you're losing points constantly and having to overcome them. I think.

I think another thing like when it comes to books and podcasts, I know we were chatting before this recording, but like I absolutely love the audio world cuz I like going on walks and I like, I like listening and closing my eyes and taking notes and so Love Guy Raz is how I built this love Tim Ferris.

I like Dr. Peter AEA when it comes to longevity. I really, really am fascinated by the All-In podcast. They've obviously been lightning in a bottle, crushing it in the tech world, and I think like some of the, those people are so inspirational because they're really open about being authentic. And if I had to pick a, a word for my year that I've been focusing on, it's really authenticity because in a world when you are a startup founder, it's so easy to start exaggerating and to pitch in every way of your whole life.

And while that's a beautiful skill to. I think it's a skill that doesn't necessarily line up with being your best self or really taking care of, of the needs that you have as a day-to-day person. Cuz you can all sudden start thinking, Oh, I'm just gonna weave all these big stories and, and it's, it's easier to get back down to reality.

So with, with all those podcasts and books and people in my life, I'm really just trying to think about how I can take all their learnings and become the most authentic self that I can be.  

Julian: Incredible, incredible. Before we end here, I do like, I do love to give all my founders a chance to give us your plugs.

What are your LinkedIns, What, what is your website? What's your Twitter? Where can we be a part of the mission? Not only, you know, beca from the application side, but also from the vision and, and the content that you're, you're putting out. What are the plugs? Where, where can we find your shoot 'em all here.

Jonah: And I appreciate it.

Well, the first plug that I would say is I leave my open or my email open to everyone, just like Mark Cuban, like I will respond to anyone. So my email is jonah, jonahdiallapp.com. So that's jonah Diall app.com and Diall has two Ls. And so that's like the first place. If you ever wanna be in touch with me, regardless of who you are, I would be so happy to.

To do it. I, I can always guarantee that I will read it. So even if I don't have an opportunity to respond, I will a hundred percent read it. And I think the second good, good place is you can find me on TikTok or Twitter or Instagram. All of them are Jon at Jonas Alita. But more importantly, for Diall our, our landing pages, Diall app.com with two Ls, and it'll be in the app store very, very soon, the newest updates.

So if you go right now, it'll still be our old version as we're migrating people over. But go to the app store and look for Diall With Two L's and download it and please give us all of your feedback, even the things that you absolutely. because we want all of your honest feedback. That's how we're gonna get better.

Tell a friend about it and and yeah, just keep, keep supporting us. I think that, that, that's the biggest thing that we're looking for, is just to stay along for the journey.  

Julian: Love it, man. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. I'm really excited to share this with the audience. I'm not only excited about what you're doing in the mental health space, but, but how you're influencing you know, not only the the previous generation, but I think people overall who, who really want a easy way to digest and step into mental health.

So I hope you enjoyed yourself and thank you again for being on the show.  

Jonah: Yeah. Thank you Julian. I really appreciate it.  

Julian: Bye.