There’s a special kind of panic that hits when you’re exhausted but your mind refuses to be quiet. You’re tired, you want to sleep, but your brain is running a full-day recap, tomorrow’s to-do list and three random memories from 2008.
Most sleep apps tell you to “relax” or “clear your mind,” but if clearing your mind were that easy, we’d all be asleep by now.
WikiSleep takes a different approach: one that doesn’t demand calm, but creates it.
So how did a simple storytelling idea turn into one of the most-loved sleep tools we’ve seen? Let’s take a closer look.
From Sleepless Nights to an Idea That Stuck
Founder Adrien Sala knows that restless feeling firsthand. A writer, radio documentary producer and longtime storyteller, he spent years creating podcasts and audio pieces… and many, many nights trying to turn off his own racing mind. As he put it:
“I built WikiSleep for myself. I have suffered with sleep issues for years. I was listening to podcasts to help me sleep, but they weren’t designed for rest and the ads kept jolting me awake. So I thought: I can make something for myself.”
Leaning on his audio production and storytelling experience, his original concept was simple: he’d read Wikipedia pages over meditation music and release it as a sleep podcast. It was project he built just for himself, but WikiSleep Podcast soon found an audience and within long, it was getting roughly 30,000 listens a month.
But even then, it wasn’t the perfect fit. “I couldn’t put ads in it because people were trying to sleep,” Adrien explained. “So that’s why I built the app.”
What began as a personal solution became WikiSleep… now a growing app that helps thousands of people fall asleep more easily each night.
What Makes WikiSleep Different
Most sleep tools ask you to do something before you rest: breathe deeply, meditate, clear your thoughts. WikiSleep flips that script. It works by distraction with purpose: giving you a gentle but engaging story that holds just enough of your attention to keep you from spiraling through late-night thoughts.
Adrien calls it “Cognitive Diversion,” but also says “that’s just a fancy way of saying we give you something better to think about than whatever is keeping you up at night.”
Each episode follows a few quiet rules:
The pacing slows down gradually so the rhythm itself becomes soothing.
No sharp inhales or sudden volume changes that could wake you.
A calm tone from start to finish, without the spikes of normal conversation.
And of course, no ads.
The topics are delightfully random yet comforting: from The History of Dogs to a peaceful retelling of the life of Notorious B.I.G., even curious stories about Scientology, Sriracha Hot Sauce and Agatha Christie. They’re just intriguing enough to make your brain listen, but soft enough that you’ll likely never hear the ending.
In fact, one of the most common user messages Adrien gets is:
“I’ve listened to the history of dogs five times and still don’t know how it ends.”
That’s the perfect review.
Proof That It Works
Since launching, WikiSleep has quietly built real traction. The app is live on both iOS and Android, with more than 230 episodes available to subscribers. Reviews are consistently five stars, and churn (the rate at which people cancel) is impressively low, often below five percent.
When Adrien tested an App Store Optimization campaign, WikiSleep shot to the top 10 for dozens of key sleep-related searches, ranking just behind Calm in some categories. Growth was steady and organic, and trial-to-paid conversions were strong; in some months, more than 40 percent of users who tried the app became subscribers.
But the most convincing proof comes from users themselves. Many say they now fall asleep faster than ever, using the same episodes night after night because they never make it to the end.
As Adrien likes to say, “When people don’t finish your stories, that’s how you know you’re winning.”
Building the Team and the Road Ahead
For a long time, Adrien did everything himself: writing scripts, recording, editing and maintaining the app. It was rewarding but isolating. Now, he’s surrounded by a small but talented team who share his passion for building a calmer, kinder sleep experience.
New advisors and partners are helping him grow WikiSleep in three main directions:
Product stability and polish. Cleaning up legacy code, improving speed, and making the app smoother to use.
New content and creativity. Expanding the library with more diverse stories and light educational themes that still feel restful.
Smart growth. Restarting marketing efforts, improving App Store presence, and introducing new features that help users understand their own sleep patterns, without turning rest into homework.
Adrien’s vision for the next year is simple: make the experience effortless, beautiful and truly helpful. Long term, he wants WikiSleep to define and lead the “cognitive diversion” category… the place people think of when they want to fall asleep to something gentle and human.
Why We Backed WikiSleep
When we first met Adrien and tried WikiSleep ourselves, we instantly understood the appeal. It wasn’t just another sleep app; it was a carefully crafted tool born from lived experience, with results you could literally feel overnight.
At Cindicates, we look for founders who build from personal need, show clear traction with limited resources, and create products that genuinely help people. WikiSleep checked all of those boxes. The simplicity of the idea, the quality of execution, and the deep user connection made it stand out immediately.
What impressed us most was Adrien’s combination of craft and clarity, the way he balances creativity with data and storytelling with science. It’s rare to find a founder who can produce content that feels both emotionally resonant and measurable in its results.
That’s why we’re proud to welcome WikiSleep as the newest addition to the Cindicates portfolio, and we’re excited to help Adrien scale his vision for a world that sleeps a little easier.
The Bigger Picture
Sleep is universal, but good sleep has become a luxury. Between busy schedules, constant screens and endless noise, finding calm feels harder than ever. What WikiSleep offers is something refreshingly simple: not another task or technique, but a moment of softness at the end of the day.
It’s storytelling with purpose: something gentle to hold onto while you let go.
And for us, that’s exactly the kind of innovation worth backing… thoughtful, human, and built to make life just a little better.
If you’re an investor who believes in backing thoughtful founders building real, human-centered solutions, we’d love to connect.