GM. This is Needs to Exist (aka NTE), delivering you a startup idea that makes intermittent fasting actually stick.

6,500 startup ideas later, NTE Pro is how you stop scrolling and start building.

WhoFiled shows you which startups are raising, hiring, and moving before they’re obvious.

Check out all the past newsletters here

Here’s what we’ve got for you today.

• Daily Idea - Make Fasting Stick

• The Fasting Council

Fasting Works. Structure Makes It Stick

The One Liner

A fasting system that helps you stick.

The 140 character tweet (or X) version

Trying intermittent fasting? This app builds your plan, reminds you, tracks progress, explains the why, and keeps you consistent daily up.

The Longer Story Version

The Problem

Most people don’t fail intermittent fasting because it doesn’t work. They fail because the experience is brittle.

They download a timer.
They pick 16:8 because Twitter said so.
They miss a day. Then two. Then they quietly quit.

Generic fasting apps treat everyone the same. Health data gets logged but not explained. Education lives in random YouTube videos and Reddit threads. Motivation fades fast when there’s no feedback loop or social pressure.

Interest isn’t the issue. Structure is.

The Solution

This is not a fasting timer. It’s a fasting operating system.

You start with a plan that fits your actual life. 16:8, 18:6, OMAD, alternate-day, whatever makes sense for your schedule and goals. The app adapts as you go, nudging you with smart reminders instead of guilt.

It tracks what matters, not just hours fasted. Consistency. Energy. Habits. Patterns. Then it explains what’s happening in plain English so the data actually changes behavior.

Layer in lightweight community and accountability so you’re not doing this alone. Add clear, credible education so users stop guessing and start understanding.

The result: people don’t just try fasting. They stick with it.

How We’d Build It

Phase 1: Prove the behavior
Focus: one clean loop that works.

Personalized fasting plans + reminders
Simple streaks and progress feedback
Educational snippets triggered by user behavior
Built fast with tools like Glide or Lovable for vibe-coded speed
Apple HealthKit or Google Health Connect for basic data ingestion

Goal: show users complete more fasts, more consistently.

Phase 2: Deepen engagement
Focus: feedback and accountability.

Adaptive schedules based on missed fasts or energy signals
Community via Circle, small groups not feeds
Interpretation of health data instead of raw charts
Push + SMS nudges with Twilio, real-time updates with Pusher

Goal: turn fasting into a habit, not a challenge.

Phase 3: Scale + distribution
Focus: outcomes and growth.

Integrations with wearables like Oura or WHOOP
Advanced personalization and coaching add-ons
Creator-led programs and challenges as acquisition
Content-to-outcome GTM through TikTok, podcasts, and email

Goal: move from “fasting app” to trusted metabolic health companion.

Why It Needs to Exist
Intermittent fasting is mainstream, but the tooling is stuck in timer mode.

People want personalization, not templates.
They want outcomes, not content sprawl.
They want to know if it’s working for them.

Fasting works. But only if people actually do it.

The Fasting Council

The room is quiet. Phones face down. Someone locks the door. This idea is on trial.

The Anthropologist goes first.
“Everyone treats fasting like a health optimization problem. It’s not. It’s a ritual problem. Humans don’t fail because they lack information. They fail because the behavior never becomes part of their identity. If this app doesn’t turn fasting into a thing people do, not a thing people try, it’s dead.”

The Product Skeptic leans back.
“Let’s be honest. Every fasting app starts as a timer with aspirations. They all say ‘personalized.’ They all promise consistency. Then Day 5 hits, the streak breaks, and the app becomes a guilt machine. What’s different here besides better copy?”

The Behavior Scientist cuts in.
“That’s the wrong lens. The product isn’t fasting. The product is adherence. Hours fasted are a vanity metric. Comeback rate is the real KPI. If the system adapts when users fail - adjusts schedules, reframes progress, removes shame you get behavior change. If not, you get churn.”

The Capital Allocator raises an eyebrow.
“But is this a durable habit or a wellness phase? Fasting spikes every January. Then it disappears. Are we building infrastructure for a long-term behavior or monetizing motivation while it lasts?”

The Anthropologist responds.
“Identity answers that. If users see themselves as ‘someone who fasts,’ the phase ends. Education, ritual cues, and community reinforce that identity.”

The Skeptic fires back.
“Community can also accelerate dropout. Watching other people crush 20-hour fasts is demoralizing. Accountability can turn into comparison poison fast.”

The Scientist nods.
“Which is why community has to be contextual. Small groups. Similar stages. No leaderboards. The goal isn’t inspiration, it’s normalization.”

The Allocator delivers the final question.
“If this worked perfectly, would users even need it?”

Silence.

Then:
“Yes,” says the Scientist. “Because habits decay without reinforcement. The best systems aren’t used forever but they’re returned to.”

The vote isn’t unanimous. But it’s close.

This isn’t a fasting app.
It’s a system designed to make quitting harder than continuing.

The council adjourns.

Imagine opening a doc and instantly feeling behind.
That’s NTE Pro.
6,500 ideas, patterns you can’t unsee, and problems hiding in plain sight.
Not motivation. Not inspiration.
Just unfair advantages for people who like building.

Sign Up Today

Most startup tools show you what already happened.
WhoFiled Personalization shows you what’s starting to happen.

Tell WhoFiled the companies you care about or the thesis you’re tracking.
It cuts the noise and builds a feed around your interests like fundraising signals, hiring spikes, quiet momentum.

No endless searching.
No generic alerts.

Just the startups that matter to you, surfacing before they’re obvious.

This isn’t more data.
It’s a sharper lens.

Set up your personalization and see what you’ve been missing.

Sign Up For Free for a Limited Time

One More Meme