Two days ago, in a thread about a new test for Alzheimer’s, the conversation went down a rabbit hole about our company. I had left a comment about our work in sleep, which was not intended as promotion. We are building Affectable Sleep, an EEG headband that enhances the restorative function of sleep without changing how long people sleep. Our technology builds on more than a decade of research and more than 50 published peer-reviewed papers, which are linked on our website, https://affectablesleep.com

There is growing interest in this space because four trials in slow-wave enhancement have shown positive results for Alzheimer’s.

Many of the comments in that thread were about our subscription model. Our view has been that subscription makes our product accessible to a broader audience thanks to a lower entry price, while also supporting the ongoing costs of a bootstrapped neurotech hardware company.

Those costs go beyond just software and servers. A product like this involves material science, industrial design, regulatory work, insurance, and more.

What's the point of being part of this community if we're not going to learn from the feedback?

So we are going to run a test to find out. We have set up a one-time purchase page that does not require a subscription, available here at https://affectablesleep.com/product-purchase-upfront-payment

We're testing this directly with HN because you asked us to remove the subscription. We'll keep this page live for 24 hours after this thread drops off the front page, or 30 hours total if it never makes it there.

Once the test is complete I will post a breakdown of the data and open a discussion about subscription models, not only for our business but for others who might be weighing the same decision.

I will do my best to answer questions, though I have meetings mid-morning Sydney time.

For context, the original post about the Alzheimer's test is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45305180