Health & Mind · Mobile + Web
StartNow: an ADHD task initiation app that rewards starting
A task system for ADHD brains that rewards starting, not finishing a perfect list.
StartNow is an ADHD task initiation app for adults who know what to do and cannot get the first move out of their head. It puts one next action on the screen and a two-minute start button under it.
Waitlist Not built yet Updated 5 September 2026
What problem does StartNow solve?
The task is answering one email. You know the address, you know roughly what it says, and you have known since Tuesday. You open the app where the task lives, see forty other things sitting next to it, close the app, and do something else. None of that is a knowledge problem. The email is not hard. Getting from this chair to the first typed line is the hard part, and no list makes that part shorter. Task apps tend to make it longer. They want you to sort, tag, schedule, and estimate before anything can be done, which is a second job built out of exactly the work you are avoiding. Then a streak breaks during a bad week and the screen turns red, so opening the app starts to cost something. A fortnight later the list is a tidy record of everything undone, sitting on your home screen, and the advice on offer is a better list.
Two-minute starter
Name one task, start two minutes. Finishing is optional; starting is the point.
Free to use. No account. Nothing you type here is stored.
What would StartNow do?
StartNow would treat starting as the only thing that needs help. You dump tasks in whatever shape they arrive, spoken, pasted, or half a sentence, and the app pulls out one next action and shows it on its own. Underneath sits a button that starts two minutes. When those end, the app says you started, and offers fifteen more or nothing. Both count. There are no streaks to break, no red, and no badge that disappears. A task you skipped returns quietly a few days later instead of becoming a debt with a date on it. If working beside someone gets you moving, you can open a shared timer with a friend and sit in the same window without a call. The list stays short deliberately, because a long list is what stopped you.
How would it work?
- 1Dump tasks in any messy form, spoken or pasted, and let the app pull out one next action.
- 2Press start, work two minutes, then take fifteen more or stop. Both count.
- 3Skip freely. Skipped items return later instead of turning red and staying there.
- 4Open a shared timer with a friend when working alongside someone is what gets you going.
Who is it for?
- Adults who have bought four task apps and abandoned each one inside a fortnight.
- Students who can write the essay but cannot open the document.
- Remote workers who focus fine on a call and stall in the silence afterwards.
How do you get started today without a new system or a body doubling app?
Make starting cheaper rather than making the task smaller. Take the thing you have been circling and write the next physical action on a sticky note, in verbs your hands could follow: open the document, find the invoice, put the shoes by the door. Not do the taxes. If the note needs a decision before your hands can move, the decision is the next action, so write that down instead. Then buy the start with two minutes. Set a timer, say aloud what you are starting, and agree with yourself that stopping at two minutes is allowed and is not a failure. Often you will keep going, because the expensive part was the first thirty seconds. When you do stop, stop deliberately and leave the work open at the exact line you reached, so tomorrow's start is already half made. Leaving a sentence unfinished on purpose works for the same reason. Put the note where your eyes already land. On the laptop lid, on the kettle, on the bathroom mirror. One note, not six. Six notes is a list again, and a list is the thing you are avoiding. When it is done, replace the note rather than ticking it, so what you see is always the next move and never the pile behind it. If you stall anyway, put another person in the room. Ring a friend, say what you are about to do, lay the phone face up, and work in silence for twenty-five minutes. Neither of you needs the same job and neither of you should talk. Working beside someone is the oldest version of this, and it costs nothing. A housemate at the other end of the table counts.
What do people use today?
| Option | Good at | The gap |
|---|---|---|
| Full-featured task managers | Projects, due dates, recurring items, and one trusted place for everything you might ever do. | Sorting and scheduling happen before any work does, and the backlog stays on screen as a running score. |
| Timer and pomodoro apps | One button, a clear block of time, and no setup at all before you can begin. | The timer has no idea what the task is, so choosing what to point it at is still entirely on you. |
| Body doubling and coworking rooms | Another person present, a start time you did not have to set, and a pull no notification matches. | You attend when the room runs, and joining a scheduled session is itself a thing you have to start. |
| Sticky notes and a kitchen timer | Free, visible, and impossible to open in the wrong tab. One note in your eyeline works well. | Nothing carries over, notes get lost or multiply into a list, and a skipped task has no gentle way back. |
What would it cost?
Free
$0
- One next action and the two-minute start
- Quiet return of skipped tasks
Plus
$6/mo
- Everything in Free
- Shared timers with a friend or a room
- Calendar shielding around a work block
- Web and mobile kept in step
Prices are proposed. Founding members lock in the lowest price if we build StartNow.
Questions people ask
What is an ADHD task initiation app?
An ADHD task initiation app is built around the moment before work starts rather than the list that holds it. StartNow would show one next action, offer a two-minute start, and drop the streaks, scores, and overdue flags that make an app expensive to open.
Is StartNow a diagnostic tool?
No. StartNow does not assess, score, or diagnose anything, and it asks no questions about symptoms. StartNow is a task tool shaped around a common complaint, and it is no substitute for talking with a clinician about your own situation.
How is this different from a task app for ADHD adults already on the market?
Ordinary to-do apps optimise for capture and planning. StartNow would optimise for the first thirty seconds: one action visible, a start button, no penalty for skipping, and a list that shrinks itself so yesterday does not greet you each morning.
What happens when I break a streak?
Nothing happens, because there are no streaks. Skipped tasks come back quietly a few days later with no color change and no counter. A gap in use is a gap in use, not a score you have to rebuild from zero.
Does body doubling need a video call?
No. A shared timer with a friend, both of you working in silence on different things, does most of the job. StartNow would offer that as a window you leave open rather than a meeting you have to join at a set hour.
Will there be a web version?
Yes. Web and mobile from the start and in step, so a block at a laptop counts the same as one at a kitchen table. The two-minute starter on this page already runs in any browser.
When will StartNow launch?
There is no date. StartNow gets built only if enough people join this list and say they would use it. Joining costs nothing, and the two-minute starter on this page is free either way.
Where does this stand?
StartNow is a proposal, not a product. This page collects demand from search and answer engines. Askwright builds it only if enough people join the waitlist and say they would pay. Read how this works.
StartNow is not a diagnostic tool and this page is not medical advice. Nothing here assesses or treats anything. If you want an assessment or support, talk to a clinician.