Notiss is a social app which helps you to discover and remember to connect around the life events of the people you care about most.
- Where did you get the idea for Notiss?
"We actually got the idea because of a frustration we experienced. Pieter, a good friend of mine and the other co-founder, had moved to London from Holland and was finding it increasingly hard to keep track of important things that were happening to his friends and family back home. Quite often he wouldn’t remember important dates or vice versa and when he looked for something to help he couldn’t find it. I had the same problem but it really hit home when I forgot the anniversary of a bereavement. With the exception of birthdays, very little has been done by social networks to help people remember to connect beyond the news feed, and that’s a very important thing."
What I find interesting about this app is the focus on remembering moments, that are coming up, not memories but important moments like anniversaries, birthday's and other such events you share with those close to you. You can then create memories around these as you experience them. I think our reliance on technology is also probably harming our memory and this certainly is a nice way of ensuring you don't forget beyond the calendar.
- How are you tackling this problem?
"We started out building a product that highlighted life events from social networks, we initially thought discovery was the problem. However, we pivoted slightly after our MVP when we spoke to more consumers. Finding the moments wasn’t too difficult, but remembering them was really hard, there wasn’t one place to do this. Notiss now lets you connect with people through the app and share moments, it also discovers moments from social networks and crucially lets you add moments to other people’s profiles. The latter make sure that moments that aren’t shared, usually negative ones, are still captured. Users then simply set reminders and receive alerts to make contact when the moment calls for it."
The team just raised $250,000 as they push forward on their journey. A strong team of advisers is on hand to take them forward.
- How will the $250k round help you grow? What will it go towards?
"The money will be spent on development and driving traction, really at such an early stage product and user adoption are the only things that matter. What we are trying to do is a new look at how social products work, and we need to make sure this works seamlessly across as many networks as possible."
That's a lot of money and at such an early stage. How did they do it I hear you... erm, think.
- What was key in helping you raise your $250k round?
"I think our vision was really important, right from the beginning we were clear that we wanted a social product that actually helps to sustain relationships, and this resonated with our investor. We are fortunate to be working with someone that shares this vision and is so forthcoming with help and advice. Beyond that I think we were realistic with our expectations, it’s easy to get caught up in the ‘excitement’ of a start-up, get carried away and set goals which can’t be achieved."
To be totally honest I didn't get the point of it or even exactly what it was, until I saw their video, so definitely take a look:
