Simple Habit launches out of Y Combinator to be the Netflix of meditation

Simple Habit, the Netflix for meditation and mindfulness, is today launching publicly out of Y Combinator.

The company has been around since June of this year, and has since launched an Android app and a web app.

Simple Habit focuses on making mindfulness as accessible as possible so that it will eventually turn into a habit. The company does this by acquiring experts in the field of meditation and mindfulness to build out five-minute sessions. These can be general-purpose meditation sessions or focus on stressful situations, like spending the holidays with your family.

As part of the official Y Combinator launch, Simple Habit is launching a New Years Challenge. Simple Habit has already been experimenting with monthly challenges, like 30 days of meditation, or 100 minutes of meditation for the month. With the New Years Challenge, the company is trying to incentive daily use of the app on the heels of New Years Resolutions.

The company is also launching social functionality, offering the ability to get notifications for when your friends are meditating.

CEO Yunha Kim believes this is a great way to motivate people to keep using the app for meditation, noting that it takes a few weeks for people to start seeing the real effects of mindfulness.

The company has also launched a lifetime subscription (beyond the monthly and annual) for $299.99, making it easier for friends and family to give the gift of mindfulness without worrying about recurring payments.

Kim sees a broad future for Simple Habit. Just as Nike did with running, or lululemon did with Yoga, Simple Habit wants to be the consumer brand for mindfulness, while also creating a back-end platform for meditation teachers and experts to distribute and promote their content.