post #1
How I ended up building an app for saving my son quotes and sayings.
In this short story with an open end I will describe how becoming a parent drives me to start a startup.
For those who want to get the idea from one sentence - we are developing an app we as a parents needs every day. And yes, it's about being a parent and having a baby. But things aren't so obvious so let me describe it in a bit more words.
For those who want to get the idea from one sentence - we are developing an app we as a parents needs every day. And yes, it's about being a parent and having a baby. But things aren't so obvious so let me describe it in a bit more words.
When I realised soon I will become a father I wasn't doing startups. Actually I was near, having a medium sized video company producing videos for startups. And what usually happens when you realise you will have a baby? You're running back and forth through the room/kitchen/bathroom with crazy face, Slipknot drum's heart rate, but with happy feeling. The symptoms may differ, but most dads are familiar with that bouquet I guess.
Actually, it was some sort of mix for me, very unpredictable (in a way it could usually be), but happy. Eventually I felt that life will be changing and I should too. So I did, accepting the proposal from one ambitious UA based startup that now is really near to become a unicorn. It is preply.com. (Guys, you rock!). It’s a necessary point to mention while I studied a lot about marketing, growth hacks, business dev and everything about building a company in a startup grew from 3 to 75+ people in several years and then to 200+.
Actually, it was some sort of mix for me, very unpredictable (in a way it could usually be), but happy. Eventually I felt that life will be changing and I should too. So I did, accepting the proposal from one ambitious UA based startup that now is really near to become a unicorn. It is preply.com. (Guys, you rock!). It’s a necessary point to mention while I studied a lot about marketing, growth hacks, business dev and everything about building a company in a startup grew from 3 to 75+ people in several years and then to 200+.
Rewinding further events I ended up working with prominent Dutch angel investor, again in a startup field, helping startups with product, marketing and all that stuff. And I was happy and confident, UNTIL I realized I’m struggling with a small but very meaningful task - saving my son quotes. I mean, I’m not too sensitive. Drama is not for me. But these sayings are just pure gold. I will definitely forget them without writing them down. So 2 years ago we started to save cute quotes, in the Notes.app. Did it help not to loose memories - definitely.
We tried apps like LittleHoots, but all them were bulky, slow or not intuitive. We wanted something fast, easy to use and durable to keep all funny, cute and sometimes serious sayings through the years. Beautifully designed quote cards available in one click, something like very good notebook, but in a new way.
Here is a list of features we needed but didn't find in competitors apps:
Here is a list of features we needed but didn't find in competitors apps:
- Search quotes by tags. Simple, you just need to add #eternity in the note you say. True, but I have all my son’s quotes stored in one note so navigating gets a bit tricky.
- Organise quotes and conversations by participants. For example between my son and his friend with whom I bet they have the funniest conversations. Check some below btw! Or all quotes about grand parents, for example. Or conversation between sister and brother. They are just great.
- Good visual design, good typography, nice colors, accurate layout, readable fonts. Sounds normal, but we didn’t find anything similar among the apps we tried.
- Share quotes with family. Not just text but some context, photo, good designed layout. While my parents like to print such stuff or add quotes to photo albums. That’s the next point.
- Create postcards or printable kids quotes. We feel that there must be some solution.
- Consistency. We have been documenting all the funny things kids said for years, and we feel that we need something dedicated to it. Not just one note.
- Search by age. Again, when you have a lot of quotes you need an elegant solution to filter them by age I believe.
- Speed. Add them quick like a cowboy from western movie. Yeap, sometimes you have just a couple of seconds to write down this awesome stuff. Here notes were ok.
- Collaboration. I’m adding quotes, my wife adding quotes. Notes did their job here.
I asked the families I know, read tons of unsatisfied comments and reviews of existing solutions and so the niche for the better product.
And now we are here, building an application for ourselves, for the people who want to store their memories. Maybe for those who will laugh aloud together with the kids of their kids in 20 or so years.
And now we are here, building an application for ourselves, for the people who want to store their memories. Maybe for those who will laugh aloud together with the kids of their kids in 20 or so years.
This is a brief story how it all starts. Now we already in development stage and hope soon we will switch from Notes to Cuote.app
If you have find yourself somehow touched with the idea out think we missed some great and necessary options, please send me a message.
If you have find yourself somehow touched with the idea out think we missed some great and necessary options, please send me a message.
P.S. We love paper books.
So we want to print kid quotes book for us and relatives. That’s also what we kept in mind while thinking about our product - how to make it that cool, beautiful and heart touching so you will want to have a traditional format of paper printed version in addition to digital one. So we think of option to print a book right from the app with the selected quotes. Here we need your opinion. Please tell what you think about this idea.
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