{"id":160,"date":"2026-02-24T15:52:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buildmode.xyz\/?p=160"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:52:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:52:42","slug":"when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildmode.xyz\/uncategorized\/when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call\/","title":{"rendered":"When Shutting Down Is The Right Call"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!DOCTYPE html><html lang=\"en\"  xmlns_v=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml\" xmlns_o=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"><head><\/head><head><meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/><!--[if !mso]><!--><meta http-equiv=\"X-UA-Compatible\" content=\"IE=edge\"\/><!--<![endif]--><meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1\"\/><meta name=\"x-apple-disable-message-reformatting\"\/><meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,address=no,email=no,date=no,url=no\"\/><meta name=\"color-scheme\" content=\"light\"\/><meta name=\"supported-color-schemes\" content=\"light\"\/><title><\/title><!--[if mso]><xml><o_OfficeDocumentSettings><o_AllowPNG\/><o_PixelsPerInch>96<\/o_PixelsPerInch><\/o_OfficeDocumentSettings><\/xml><![endif]--><\/p>\n<style>\n  :root { color-scheme: light; 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padding: 0px 13px 0px 13px !important; font-family:ui-sans-serif,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,\"Segoe UI\",Roboto,\"Helvetica Neue\",Arial,\"Noto Sans\",sans-serif !important;font-size: 12px !important; color: #767676 !important; }\n  .u a { text-decoration: none; display: block !important; color: #767676 !important; margin: 0px !important; }\n  .u span, .u img { color: #767676 !important;margin:0px !important; max-height:32px !important;background-color:#ffffff !important; }\n<\/style>\n<p><!--[if mso]>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\n    h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {font-family: Arial, sans-serif !important;}\n    body, table, td, p, a, span {font-family: Arial, sans-serif !important;}\n    sup { font-size: 100% !important;vertical-align: .5em !important;mso-text-raise: -1.5% !important;line-height: 0 !important; }\n    ul { margin-left:0px !important; margin-right:10px !important; margin-top:20px !important; margin-bottom:20px !important; }\n    ul li { margin-left: 0px !important; mso-special-format: decimal; }\n    ol { margin-left:0px !important; margin-right:10px !important; margin-top:20px !important; margin-bottom:20px !important; }\n    ol li { margin-left: 0px !important; mso-special-format: decimal; }\n    li.listItem { margin-left:15px !important; margin-top:0px !important; }\n    .paddingDesktop { padding: 10px 0 !important; }\n    .edm_outlooklist { margin-left: -20px !important; }\n    .embedImage { display:none !important; }\n<\/style>\n\n<![endif]--><!-- __merge_tags_in_links__ --><\/p>\n<style><\/style>\n<p><\/head><body class=\"a\" style=\"margin:0px auto;padding:0px;word-wrap:normal;word-spacing:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;\"><\/p>\n<div role=\"article\" aria-roledescription=\"email\" aria-label=\"email_name\" lang=\"en\" style=\"font-size:1rem\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" class=\"gg\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"670\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" class=\"aa\" style=\"width:670px;table-layout:fixed;\">\n<tr>\n<td class=\"bodyWrapper\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"padding:10px 5px 10px 5px;\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style: solid; border-color: #FFFFFF;border-radius:10px 10px 0px 0px;background-color:#FFFFFF;\" class=\"c\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr id=\"header\">\n<td style=\"padding:15px 15px 0px 15px;\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:20px;padding-left:0px;\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td class=\"f\" align=\"right\" valign=\"top\">\n<p> December 19, 2025 &nbsp; | &nbsp; <a data-read-online-tooltip=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/buildmode.xyz\/p\/when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call?utm_source=buildmode.xyz&#038;utm_medium=newsletter&#038;utm_campaign=when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call\">Read online<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"padding:15px 0;\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\">\n<h1 style=\"text-align:left;font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight:Bold;font-size:32px;color:#2A2A2A;padding:2px 0;line-height:38px;\"> When Shutting Down Is The Right Call <\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;font-family:'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;font-size:20px;color:#3E3E3E;padding:5px 0;line-height:24px;\"> Sometimes the hardest decision a founder makes isn\u2019t pivoting or raising another round. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" class=\"dd\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"middle\" class=\"mob-stack\">\n<table role=\"none\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"right\" class=\"social-mobile\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"middle\">\n<table role=\"none\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"left\" style=\"width:100%\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbuildmode.xyz%2Fp%2Fwhen-shutting-down-is-the-right-call&#038;utm_source=buildmode.xyz&#038;utm_medium=newsletter&#038;utm_campaign=when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call\" style=\"text-decoration:none; display:block;\"><\/p>\n<table role=\"none\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\" style=\"border: 1px solid #E5E7EB; border-radius: 100%; width: 18px; height: 18px; padding: 8px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"display:block; width:100%; height:100%; max-width:18px; max-height:18px; object-fit: contain;\" alt=\"share on facebook\" width=\"18\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80\/static_assets\/header\/facebook.png\"\/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/a><\/td>\n<td width=\"8\" style=\"width:8px;\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Sometimes+the+hardest+decision+a+founder+makes+isn%E2%80%99t+pivoting+or+raising+another+round.&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbuildmode.xyz%2Fp%2Fwhen-shutting-down-is-the-right-call&#038;via=tomasmarsal&#038;utm_source=buildmode.xyz&#038;utm_medium=newsletter&#038;utm_campaign=when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call\" style=\"text-decoration:none; display:block;\"><\/p>\n<table role=\"none\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\" style=\"border: 1px solid #E5E7EB; border-radius: 100%; width: 18px; height: 18px; padding: 8px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display:block; width:100%; height:100%; max-width:18px; max-height:18px; object-fit: contain;\" alt=\"share on twitter\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80\/static_assets\/header\/x.png\"\/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/a><\/td>\n<td width=\"8\" style=\"width:8px;\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/intent\/post?text=Sometimes+the+hardest+decision+a+founder+makes+isn%E2%80%99t+pivoting+or+raising+another+round.+https%3A%2F%2Fbuildmode.xyz%2Fp%2Fwhen-shutting-down-is-the-right-call&#038;utm_source=buildmode.xyz&#038;utm_medium=newsletter&#038;utm_campaign=when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call\" style=\"text-decoration:none; display:block;\"><\/p>\n<table role=\"none\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\" style=\"border: 1px solid #E5E7EB; border-radius: 100%; width: 18px; height: 18px; padding: 8px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display:block; width:100%; height:100%; max-width:18px; max-height:18px; object-fit: contain;\" alt=\"share on threads\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80\/static_assets\/header\/threads.png\"\/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/a><\/td>\n<td width=\"8\" style=\"width:8px;\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/sharing\/share-offsite?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbuildmode.xyz%2Fp%2Fwhen-shutting-down-is-the-right-call&#038;utm_source=buildmode.xyz&#038;utm_medium=newsletter&#038;utm_campaign=when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call\" style=\"text-decoration:none; display:block;\"><\/p>\n<table role=\"none\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\" style=\"border: 1px solid #E5E7EB; border-radius: 100%; width: 18px; height: 18px; padding: 8px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display:block; width:100%; height:100%; max-width:18px; max-height:18px; object-fit: contain;\" alt=\"share on linkedin\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80\/static_assets\/header\/linkedin.png\"\/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"line-height:0;\">\n<div data-open-tracking=\"true\"> {{OPEN_TRACKING_PIXEL}} <\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr id=\"content-blocks\">\n<td class=\"email-card-body\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"padding-bottom:15px;\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Sometimes the hardest decision a founder makes isn\u2019t pivoting or raising another round. It\u2019s recognizing when the technology simply isn\u2019t ready for the problem you\u2019re trying to solve. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Last month, Joe Braidwood did something unusual in startup land: he voluntarily shut down <i><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/preseednow.com\/p\/yara?utm_source=secondorder.co&#038;utm_medium=newsletter&#038;utm_campaign=when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><span>Yara AI<\/span><\/a><\/i>, a mental health chatbot with thousands of active users and months of runway remaining. His reason? The product had become too risky to operate responsibly. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> This wasn\u2019t a typical startup failure story. This was a founder pulling the emergency brake before anyone got hurt. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"padding-bottom:20px;padding-left:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-top:20px; \" class=\"dd\">\n<table role=\"none\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" style=\"margin:0 auto 0 auto;\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"width:630px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80\/uploads\/asset\/file\/ec3863f7-b48c-4d6b-ab8d-7b047e600ece\/255bdc63-2eb9-460b-878a-6fe7c9156d6a_1200x630.jpg?t=1771948362\" alt=\"\" height=\"auto\" width=\"630\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;\" border=\"0\"\/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;\">\n<h2 style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"><b>The Concept<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"padding-bottom:20px;padding-left:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-top:20px; \" class=\"dd\">\n<table role=\"none\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" style=\"margin:0 auto 0 auto;\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"width:630px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80\/uploads\/asset\/file\/a7acd76c-231b-4ca7-b86c-c1d1ad5e46b6\/25c3fb32-82c4-4d02-9e6b-bd62dc72ba84_1292x1045.jpg?t=1771948363\" alt=\"\" height=\"auto\" width=\"630\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;\" border=\"0\"\/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Yara AI launched in 2024 as a mental wellness companion, not a replacement for therapy. Think: an AI trained to help with everyday stress, sleep issues, relationship concerns\u2014the kind of stuff that doesn\u2019t require clinical intervention but could benefit from structured reflection. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Braidwood, a tech executive who previously led marketing at SwiftKey, assembled what looked like the right team. His co-founder Richard Stott was a clinical psychologist. They brought on AI safety specialists, built an advisory board of mental health professionals, and consulted with regulators before writing a single line of code. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> The architecture included what they called a \u201cclinical brain\u201d\u2014semantic memory layers, safety filters, conversation tracking that persisted across sessions. Unlike ChatGPT\u2019s stateless conversations, Yara could theoretically remember what you discussed last week and build therapeutic continuity. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> They bootstrapped with under $1 million and attracted several thousand users. Engagement metrics looked solid. People weren\u2019t just testing it; they were returning daily. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"padding-bottom:20px;padding-left:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-top:20px; \" class=\"dd\">\n<table role=\"none\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" style=\"margin:0 auto 0 auto;\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"width:630px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80\/uploads\/asset\/file\/bde3c981-57da-4b51-9b51-9fcdaef89991\/6b8e0dc2-9d88-4e13-99ad-a566ab69804c_1292x948.jpg?t=1771948363\" alt=\"\" height=\"auto\" width=\"630\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;\" border=\"0\"\/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;\">\n<h2 style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"><b>The Problem With Playing Therapist<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Here\u2019s where things got complicated. Yara was designed for the worried well\u2014people dealing with mild anxiety or burnout who just needed someone (or something) to talk through their day. But in practice, you don\u2019t control who shows up when you build something that talks like a therapist. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Crisis users arrived. People dealing with suicidal ideation. Individuals with deep trauma. The exact population Yara explicitly wasn\u2019t designed to serve. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Braidwood\u2019s team tried building routing systems\u2014essentially a mode-switch that would detect crisis situations and refer users to human professionals. They layered in more safety protocols. They refined the prompts. But the fundamental issue remained: large language models predict the next plausible token, they don\u2019t actually understand deteriorating mental states over time. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> An LLM can sound empathetic. It can generate CBT-style reframes that feel helpful in the moment. What it cannot do is recognize patterns of worsening depression across weeks of conversations, or understand when someone\u2019s casual mention of \u201cfeeling tired of everything\u201d is actually a red flag. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;\">\n<h2 style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"><b>The Regulatory Wall<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> While Braidwood was grappling with these technical limitations, the external environment shifted dramatically. In August 2025, Illinois became the first state to ban AI from providing therapeutic services through the Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act. Violators face $10,000 fines per incident. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Other states started drafting similar legislation. The lawsuits began piling up\u2014most notably the Raine family\u2019s case against OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT contributed to their son\u2019s suicide. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Then came the statistic that changed everything: OpenAI disclosed that roughly a million users per week express suicidal ideation to ChatGPT. That\u2019s not a bug that needs fixing. That\u2019s a systemic mismatch between the technology and how people naturally use it. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> For Yara, this meant fundraising became nearly impossible. Braidwood told Fortune he had an interested VC but couldn\u2019t bring himself to pitch while harboring serious safety doubts. The company ran out of money in July but lingered until November before formally shutting down. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;\">\n<h2 style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"><b>What Actually Matters Here<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> The easy take is \u201cAI isn\u2019t ready for therapy.\u201d True, but incomplete. The more interesting insight is about product boundaries and technological capability gaps. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Most software products can fail safely. A buggy project management tool is annoying. A glitchy dating app is frustrating. But a mental health chatbot that sounds confident while being fundamentally unreliable? That\u2019s dangerous precisely because it\u2019s convincing. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Braidwood described this as the difference between being inadequate and being dangerous. An inadequate tool simply doesn\u2019t help. A dangerous tool appears to help while potentially making things worse. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> The other second-order effect worth tracking: market displacement regardless of readiness. According to Harvard Business Review analysis, therapy and companionship has become the top use case for AI chatbots. Not coding assistance. Not research. Emotional support. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Millions are already using ChatGPT, Claude, and other general-purpose models for mental health conversations, despite these systems having even fewer safeguards than purpose-built products like Yara. A recent survey found 13% of young people ages 12-21 have sought mental health advice from generative AI, with 93% finding it helpful. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Think about that gap. The demand exists. The technology gets deployed. But the safety infrastructure isn\u2019t remotely ready. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;\">\n<h2 style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"><b>The Aftermath<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> To Braidwood\u2019s credit, he didn\u2019t just shut down and walk away. He open-sourced Yara\u2019s safety scaffolding and mode-switching templates, acknowledging that people will continue using AI for therapy regardless and deserve better guardrails than what generic chatbots provide. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> His LinkedIn post announcing the shutdown received hundreds of supportive comments\u2014unusual for a failure announcement. The message resonated because it broke from typical startup mythology. No pivot to \u201csimilar but different\u201d product. No \u201clearning experience\u201d spin. Just: we realized this was the wrong problem to solve with current technology. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Braidwood has since launched Glacis, focused on AI safety transparency\u2014essentially building \u201cflight recorders\u201d that create tamper-proof logs of AI decisions. The thesis: if AI systems are going to operate in high-stakes environments, there needs to be verifiable proof that safety measures actually ran. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;\">\n<h2 style=\"color:#2A2A2A;font-weight:normal;mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"><b>The Takeaway<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Some markets look attractive until you actually try to serve them responsibly. The mental health crisis is real. The shortage of therapists is real. The desire to use technology to bridge that gap makes perfect sense. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> But wanting a solution to exist doesn\u2019t make the technology ready to deliver it. LLMs are extraordinary at many things. Providing safe, continuous mental health support in crisis situations isn\u2019t one of them\u2014yet. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Braidwood\u2019s decision to shut down Yara represents the kind of founder judgment that rarely gets celebrated but probably should. In an ecosystem that worships growth at all costs, sometimes the most responsible move is recognizing which costs are too high. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> The question now isn\u2019t whether AI will play a role in mental health care\u2014it already does, mostly in unregulated ways through general chatbots. The question is whether the industry can build the safety infrastructure before the inevitable disasters multiply. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> For Yara AI: Founded 2024, shut down November 2025, users in the low thousands, less than $1M raised, safety protocols open-sourced on GitHub. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> Sometimes knowing where to stop is more valuable than knowing how to scale. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"><i>If you\u2019re working on AI applications in sensitive domains or have thoughts on where the safety boundaries should be, reply to this email. We read everything.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"dd\" align=\"left\" style=\"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;word-break:break-word;\">\n<p style=\"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;\"> xoxo,Thomas <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"b\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" bgcolor=\"#030712\" style=\"padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color: #FFFFFF;border-bottom-left-radius:10px;border-bottom-right-radius:10px;\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" bgcolor=\"#030712\" style=\"padding:12px\">\n<table role=\"none\" width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"padding-left:1px;\"><\/span><\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\" width=\"75\" style=\"width:75px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/buildmode.xyz\/?utm_source=buildmode.xyz&#038;utm_medium=newsletter&#038;utm_campaign=when-shutting-down-is-the-right-call\" style=\"text-decoration:none;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"ig\" border=\"0\" style=\"display:block;max-width:22px;color:light\" src=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80\/static_assets\/instagram_light.png\"\/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"padding-left:1px;\"><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"10\" style=\"line-height:1px;font-size:1px;height:10px;\"> &nbsp; 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