Our Story
“On Thanksgiving Day 2018, he woke up in a parking lot.”
Chris Thompson struggled with alcohol and drugs from age 21 to 24. More than 10 emergency room visits. On Thanksgiving Day 2018, he woke up in a parking lot. Two hospitals turned him away. When he finally got help, everything changed.
About 30 days into sobriety, Chris realized something: the most powerful moment in recovery wasn't a therapy session or a medication — it was opening up to another person who understood.
He asked a simple question: “What if we built an algorithm that worked to get people to help people at scale?”
In January 2019, he built Sober Sidekick as a personal project. On day one — with zero marketing — strangers from different states started supporting each other.
Venture capitalists offered $850K. The catch: the business model depended on body brokering — selling leads of people seeking treatment to rehab facilities. The more people relapsed, the more money everyone made.
“I don't want to have a customer that wins when my members relapse.”
Chris cut the partnerships, forfeited his salary for 18 months, and rebuilt the company around value-based contracts — where Sober Sidekick only succeeds when its members do.
Create the most epic wave of real-life comeback stories the world has ever seen.
That's the mission. Everything — the algorithm, the anonymity, the peer model — exists to make it real. And it's working.
1.1M+
Downloads
68%
Stay in Recovery
2x
Fortune Magazine
1
HBS Case Study
Our Values
PROVE IT.
People First — Every decision starts with the person in recovery.
Resilience — We build for the long haul, not the quick win.
Own It — No excuses. We take responsibility and move forward.
Value Simplicity — Strip away everything that doesn’t serve the mission.
Empathy in Action — Understanding isn’t enough — we act on it.
Innovate with Purpose — Technology should solve real problems, not create new ones.
Team Over Ego — The mission is bigger than any one of us.