Yung Sidekick is an AI tool to automate therapy notes, enhance care, and improve compliance. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Yung Sidekick co-founder Alexander Anastasin to learn more about the company.
Formation Of Yung Sidekick
How did the idea for the company come together? Anastasin said:
“Founded in 2022, Yung Sidekick began with the ambitious goal of making mental health support more accessible to those unable to afford traditional therapy. Our first product was an app offering personalized and adaptive self help recommendations for patients. However, we soon pivoted to a B2B model, focusing on the needs of mental health professionals. We identified a key pain point for therapists – documentation and note-taking – and created an AI-powered platform that addresses it. With Yung Sidekick, therapists can capture therapy sessions and instantly receive AI-generated high-quality progress notes and reports with insights from these sessions.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Anastasin reflected:
“One of my favorite memories of working at Yung Sidekick happened last year when we were testing our app with real users. It was a moment of truth – after months of offering the product for free, we had to transition to the market-ready version and start charging users. I was nervous about how it would go, honestly. I had been in touch with these users for months, and the idea of asking them to pay was a little daunting.”
“When the time came, I sent out the emails, explaining the switch and what the pricing would look like. To my surprise and relief, about 80% of the users who had been with us during the free trial happily agreed to pay. These were checks of $100, $250, $500, along with messages like, “Thank you so much, your app has made our lives so much easier.” In that moment, I knew we were on the right path. It wasn’t just about the money; it was the validation from real people that what we were doing mattered and was truly helping. It was a huge sense of relief and gratitude – everything felt worth it.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Anastasin explained:
“We are building AI-powered software that helps mental health professionals save up to 90% of the time they spend on documentation.”
“Therapists, on average, dedicate 20% of their work hours to administrative tasks such as managing electronic health records (EHR). Our goal is to ease this burden and help therapists focus more on client care and less on documentation.”
“Yung Sidekick captures therapy session audio and automatically generates a transcript, which AI analyzes to extract key topics, symptoms, medications, goals, and more. In just 1 minute, it produces high-quality, EHR-ready progress notes that can be easily copied or integrated into a therapist’s clinical software.”
“The platform also generates detailed session reports for both therapists and patients, providing insights into patterns, resilience strategies, and therapeutic relationships. For patients who have had multiple sessions, it creates ‘meta’ reports that offer a complete view of their psychological history.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Anastasin and the team face in building the company? Anastasin acknowledged:
“The main challenges we’ve encountered in our sector are skepticism about AI and concerns around data security. Many therapists and professionals are cautious when it comes to adopting AI, especially when it involves handling sensitive information like session notes. They worry about where the data goes, how it’s processed, and whether it’s secure. Additionally, there’s a fear that AI might eventually replace human therapists, which creates resistance to integrating technology into their practice.”
“To overcome these challenges, we focus on two key areas. First, we address security concerns by being fully transparent about how we handle data. We strictly follow all data protection guidelines and ensure that the reports generated by our platform are completely anonymized and do not contain any identifiable information (PHI). Yung Sidekick is fully HIPAA-compliant. This reassures therapists that their clients’ privacy is safe with us.”
“Second, we emphasize that our AI is designed to support, not replace, therapists. Our tool is there to automate administrative tasks like note-taking, so therapists can focus more on their clients and less on paperwork. Through ongoing education and transparent communication, we help professionals feel more confident and comfortable using AI in their practice.”
Evolution Of Yung Sidekick
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Anastasin noted:
“Beyond automating note-taking, we’ve introduced several features to further streamline therapist’ workflows. We launched an AI assistant that therapists can consult for client-specific insights, such as quoting exact words from a session or recalling details from a client’s biography or treatment plan.”
“We also rolled out measurement-based progress tracking, which allows therapists to monitor their clients’ progress between formal assessments. This feature tracks nuanced shifts in depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction on a session-by-session basis, helping detect clinical concerns earlier.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Anastasin cited:
“Recently, we raised $825K in pre-seed funding from Altair Capital, Ultra.VC, and several angel investors. This is a major milestone for us, as this funding allows us to accelerate product development and roll out new features that will streamline supervision, assessment, and patient interaction.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Anastasin about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“One of our most powerful client success stories comes from our very first user, who started using our MVP when we initially launched. When we first met her, she was completely burned out and seriously considering shutting down her therapeutic practice to pursue something else. The administrative burden of her job, especially note-taking, had drained her to the point where she no longer enjoyed the profession she once loved.”
“But within just a few months of using our product in her practice, everything changed for her. Our tool helped eliminate the tasks she dreaded most, like spending hours on documentation, and that sparked her passion for therapy again. She rediscovered her love for the work and In her own words, Yung Sidekick became one of the main agents of change that allowed her to stay in the field and enjoy her work again. Hearing stories like this is incredibly rewarding and a reminder of why we do what we do.”
Funding
When asking Anastasin about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“We’ve secured $825K in pre-seed funding from Altair VC, Ultra VC, Pareto 20, and several angel investors. Yung Sidekick has processed over 70,000 therapy sessions, supporting hundreds of clients – group practices, clinics, and private practitioners.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Anastasin assessed:
“We’re targeting two key markets: the US behavioral health software market, which is valued at approximately $1.2 billion, and the broader US behavioral health market, with a total addressable size exceeding $83 billion.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Anastasin affirmed:
“Feedback from our clients consistently highlights the superior quality of our reports.”
“While some competitors provide simple session summaries, we deliver comprehensive ‘meta’ reports that consolidate session data into a complete patient history. This provides therapists with a holistic view of their clients’ progress over time.”
“Our newly launched AI assistant and measurement-based progress tracking feature also set us apart, offering solutions that are not readily available in the market.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Anastasin concluded:
“Our long-term vision is to transform Yung Sidekick into a comprehensive provider-patient platform. We are focused on automating more workflows for mental health professionals, while also introducing features that directly benefit patients. By streamlining administrative tasks and enhancing the therapeutic experience for both therapists and clients, we believe we can make therapy more accessible and help professionals work more efficiently. Ultimately, our goal is to create a platform that improves the overall effectiveness and accessibility of therapy.”
