stickK
stickK is a behavioral economics platform founded at Yale that lets individuals create commitment contracts with financial stakes to achieve personal goals, with additional subscription tiers for professionals and enterprise workplace wellness programs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What stickK does
stickK is a U.S.-based behavioral economics platform founded in 2007 by Yale University economists Dean Karlan and Ian Ayres, commercializing Richard Thaler's nudge theory and commitment contract research into a consumer-facing goal achievement product. The platform's core mechanic allows individuals to create self-imposed commitment contracts with real financial stakes attached — money is pledged and forfeited (to charity, an anti-charity, or a referee) if the user fails to meet a stated goal such as weight loss, exercise frequency, smoking cessation, study habits, or productivity targets. Progress is tracked publicly, reinforced through peer accountability, and supported by 10+ topic-based communities with over 500,000 combined members.
The product surface is organized in three tiers: (1) stickK Core, a free self-service platform distributed via stickk.com and native iOS and Android applications; (2) stickK for Pros, a subscription product for coaches, influencers, and professionals who want to create and monitor commitment campaigns for their clients and audiences; and (3) stickK for Workplaces, a white-label enterprise offering sold through consultation-based sales for corporate wellness and accountability programs. Underlying functionality is built around a commitment contract methodology validated by Thaler's academic research and supported by TRUSTe privacy certification.
The business model combines a freemium consumer base (no per-user revenue from individuals) with subscription revenue from the Workplace and Pros tiers, priced via quote-based multi-year contracts. Go-to-market is hybrid: product-led growth and community-driven virality for consumers, paired with an enterprise field sales motion for workplace wellness deployments. Marketing relies heavily on earned media (LA Times, NY Times, BBC, Financial Times, Scientific American, Time) and user-generated commitment testimonials distributed through YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. The company is privately held, employs 1-10 people, and has raised approximately $2.225M in disclosed seed funding across 2008-2009.
stickK firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- stickK
- Legal name
- stickK.com
- Website
- https://stickK.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- stickK is a behavioral economics platform founded at Yale that lets individuals create commitment contracts with financial stakes to achieve personal goals, with additional subscription tiers for professionals and enterprise workplace wellness programs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where stickK is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
stickK business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Freemium Individual Platform: Core platform is free for individual users who create commitment contracts and participate in communities.
- Workplace/Enterprise Solutions: White-label goal-setting platforms for enterprises to provide holistic wellbeing programs to employees with rewards and accountability frameworks.
- Professional Campaigns (ForPros): Platform for professionals to incentivize and monitor progress of goals created by their customers, clients, or followers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free Individual Access |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Workplace Solutions |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels4 records
stickK product offering
Product offeringCore offering
stickK operates a commitment contract platform that lets users set personal or professional goals and put real money on the line, with stakes forfeited to charity, a friend, or an anti-charity if the goal is not met. The platform is offered as a free consumer product, a paid professionals/influencers tool (stickK for Pros), and a white-label enterprise wellbeing solution (stickK for Workplaces), all grounded in Yale-developed behavioral economics and nudge theory.
Product overview
stickK is a commitment contract platform based on behavioral economics research from Yale University, built on Richard Thaler's nudge theory. The company offers three distinct product tiers: (1) stickK Core Platform - a free goal-setting tool for individuals to create self-imposed commitment contracts with financial stakes; (2) stickK for Pros - a professional-facing platform enabling coaches, influencers, and service providers to manage commitment programs for their clients; and (3) stickK for Workplaces - a white-label solution for institutions to deliver holistic wellbeing programs with rewards and accountability frameworks to their workforce. The platform includes 10+ community groups covering areas like weight loss, fitness, career, finance, and education.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- stickK Core Platform A free goal-setting platform for individuals that allows users to create commitment contracts with financial stakes, track progress, and join topic-based communities for accountability in areas such as weight loss, exercise, study, finance, and quitting habits.
- stickK for Pros A subscription-based platform that lets professionals, coaches, and influencers set up, incentivize, and monitor commitment contracts and goal progress for their customers, clients, or followers.
- stickK for Workplaces A white-label, quote-based enterprise platform that delivers holistic employee wellbeing programs with goal-setting, rewards, and accountability frameworks for organizational workforces.
Quantifiable outcome
- Users have committed $70M to goals, created 648K commitments, completed 1M workouts, and avoided 85M cigarettes
Companies that use stickK
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
stickK technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
stickK partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
stickK competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Strava: Strava is a leading fitness tracking platform with strong community accountability features. It overlaps with stickK's exercise and fitness communities and has substantially more resources and user engagement.
- Limeade: Limeade is an enterprise wellness and employee engagement platform. It competes with stickK for Workplaces in the corporate wellbeing segment with a much broader feature set and substantial enterprise penetration.
- Noom: Noom is a large-scale weight loss and behavior change app combining coaching with psychology-based interventions. It competes with stickK in weight loss and habit change but at a substantially larger scale.
- Wellable: Wellable is a corporate wellness platform offering wellbeing programs to employers. It directly competes with stickK for Workplaces in the B2B white-label and program-management space.
- StickK for Workplaces white-label competitors: Virgin Pulse is a large enterprise wellness platform offering holistic wellbeing programs. While broader than stickK, it competes for the same enterprise wellbeing budget that stickK's white-label Workplace product targets.
Direct peers
- HealthyWage: HealthyWage uses financial incentives (cash prizes for weight loss) to drive behavior change, focusing heavily on weight loss competitions. It shares stickK's commitment-stake model with a stronger enterprise and team-based distribution orientation.
- Habitica: Habitica is a free habit-tracking and productivity app that gamifies goals with RPG mechanics and community accountability. It targets the same consumer habit-tracking segment as stickK Core with a freemium model.
- Coach.me: Coach.me (formerly Lift) is a habit-tracking platform with community features and optional coaching. It is highly comparable to stickK in combining habit tracking with community accountability and a freemium model.
- Beeminder: Beeminder is a direct competitor that uses commitment contracts with financial stakes to keep users on track with goals. It is the most analogous product to stickK in the commitment-device category, sharing the same behavioral economics philosophy and financial-consequence mechanism.
Emerging players
- Way of Will: Way of Will is a smaller lifestyle and accountability product brand. It is thematically related to stickK as a niche consumer wellbeing brand with commitments-style messaging, though it is not a direct competitor in the commitment contract category.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
stickK social profiles
Digital presencestickK compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
stickK financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
stickK leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
stickK funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
stickK M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about stickK
What does stickK do?
stickK operates a commitment contract platform that lets users set personal or professional goals and put real money on the line, with stakes forfeited to charity, a friend, or an anti-charity if the goal is not met. The platform is offered as a free consumer product, a paid professionals/influencers tool (stickK for Pros), and a white-label enterprise wellbeing solution (stickK for Workplaces), all grounded in Yale-developed behavioral economics and nudge theory.
Is stickK a public or private company?
stickK is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was stickK founded?
stickK was founded in 2007. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is stickK based?
stickK is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does stickK make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Freemium Individual Platform is the primary driver. The others are workplace/Enterprise Solutions and professional Campaigns (ForPros).
Who are stickK's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Strava, Limeade, Noom, Wellable and StickK for Workplaces white-label competitors. Direct peers are HealthyWage, Habitica, Coach.me and Beeminder. Way of Will is listed as an emerging player.
Does stickK have an API?
No public API is recorded for stickK.