stickK

stickK.com is an American Internet start-up company that enables users to make commitment contracts in order to reach their personal goals.

stickK.com, LLC
Type of businessPrivate
FoundedNew Haven, Connecticut, United States
Headquarters
Brooklyn, New York, NY
,
United States
Founder(s)Dean Karlan[1][2]
Ian Ayres[3][4]
Jordan Goldberg[5][6]
URLwww.stickk.com
Launched2007

Service

stickK users set up a "commitment contract", a commitment device where they agree to achieve a certain goal, such as losing weight, exercising more, quitting smoking, or conserving energy.[7] They sign a legally binding contract that will send their money to third parties, including either individuals (referred to as "Friend or Foe") or a number of organizations and charities.[8] If users pick "Charity" as a recipient of their forfeited money, stickK selects the charity for the user. Users can also pick a specific organization whose views they oppose[7] referred to as "anti-charities".[9][10]

The site also allows for referees—people selected by the user to help monitor the progress of their contract. When a user submits a report to the website, the referee is asked to confirm the accuracy of the report. Users are also allowed to designate other users and friends. Such people, known as supporters, receive emails about the users' progress.

History

stickK was started by two Yale University professors, Dean Karlan and Ian Ayres. During graduate school at M.I.T., Karlan and a colleague made a wager to lose 40 pounds each, and to referee one another so as to stay on target.[11][12] Their service draws on their experiences and two principles from behavioral economics, loss aversion and time inconsistency.[13] They recruited Jordan Goldberg, then a student at the Yale School of Management, to build the company.[14]

The company was founded in New Haven in 2007[14] and subsequently moved to New York City. It was initially funded by a $150,000 investment from the three founders, and later raised about $2 million from a pool of investors in two rounds.[15] The web site was launched in the beginning of 2008.[15]

Usage of the site is free for individual users, with the initial business plan involving advertising revenues.[13] The company later created non-free B2B products, offering corporations a co-branded version of StickK for the use of their employees or members.[15] In May 2010, stickK.com launched Choose You, where individuals can write commitment contracts and have their friends or family pledge money to the American Cancer Society if the contract is fulfilled.[16]

According to Goldberg, users who put money on the line and have a referee tend to do best. 78% of these users achieve their goals, as compared to only 35% who put no money down.[17] Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics, wrote about and approved of the website and its concept.[8] StickK also appears in the [popular press] book More Than Good Intentions, where it is mentioned as an example of a type of commitment device that can be adapted to development programs in microsavings and health.[18]

According to Karlan, the company's name comes from 'stick'ing to it, and the second K is the legal shorthand for a contract.[19] It also refers to carrot and stick.[17]

Further reading
  • Ayres, Ian (2010). "A Committment Store". Carrots and Sticks. Bantam. pp. 166–189. ISBN 0-553-80763-3.
gollark: Just in general. And Desmos is doing the regressy work.
gollark: Correlation plotted against causation.
gollark: Well, it fits the data as best it can given the 40 parameters.
gollark: 40-factor model.
gollark: Oh wait, I can autogenerate the expression, right.

References
  1. "Make A Commitment". Forbes. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  2. Grayson, Pamela Weiler (February 4, 2009). "Dieting? Put Your Money Where Your Fat Is". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  3. "Make A Commitment". Forbes. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  4. Grayson, Pamela Weiler (February 4, 2009). "Dieting? Put Your Money Where Your Fat Is". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  5. "Make A Commitment". Forbes. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  6. Grayson, Pamela Weiler (February 4, 2009). "Dieting? Put Your Money Where Your Fat Is". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  7. "An idea for Lent – Carrot and stickK". The Economist. February 7, 2008. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
  8. Levitt, Steven D. (January 21, 2008). "StickK To Your Commitments". Freakonomics Blog. New York Times. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
  9. Hood, Duncan (March 24, 2008). "Self-help: How to buy a will of iron". MoneySense. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  10. "stickK – FAQ". Retrieved December 23, 2008.
  11. Grimshaw, Jeff; Gregg Baron (2010). Leadership Without Excuses. McGraw Hill Professional. p. 148. ISBN 0-07-160004-3. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
  12. Sunstein, Cass; Richard Thaler (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Yale U Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-14-311526-7. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
  13. Aubrey, Allison (March 6, 2008). "Put Your Money Where Your Girth Is". NPR. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
  14. Pantin, Travis (November 23, 2007). "How Yale Professors Lose Weight". New York Sun. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
  15. Wouters, Robin (September 30, 2009). "StickK Raises More Funding For Self-Commitment Service, Eyes B2B Play". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
  17. Schweitzer, Sarah (April 15, 2008). "A Web contract for personal goals". The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
  18. Appel, Jacob; Karlan, Dean (2011). More Than Good Intentions. Dutton Press. pp. 160–161, 235–236.
  19. Sittenfeld, Linda R. (March 11, 2008). "StickK.com: Take a Contract Out On Yourself". CNBC. Retrieved December 23, 2008.

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