Very family has a beautiful tale to tell. But the harsh truth is that in our disconnected world it has become all the more difficult to stay connected with our loved ones in spite of all the technology that is surrounding us.
Thus to deepen and strengthen your family bonds, we introduce you to Our Family Lives. This app is a private, online place that inspires modern families to engage in meaningful, multidimensional dialogues about the past, present, and future that is captured automatically with interactive playback forever. It’s new and something that we know you haven’t quite experienced yet.
Meet The Masterminds!
Ideated and co-founded by John B Graham and Don MacDonald, Our Family Lives is a beautiful app that lets us preserve every precious family memory.
John is a corporate misfit who started his career in the advertising and promotions agency world (running McDonald’s Kids at Leo Burnett and Frankel). He jumped out and started his own company, buzz boxx – ideas + products from the street. buzz boxx was pre-Internet and an old school “crowdsourcing” model that was light years ahead of anyone. Fast forward and after several nonlinear roles, as both Marketing Director and Creative Director, he moved to San Francisco to rejoin the startup world.
Don holds a degree in Masters in Music Composition and is a long-time Silicon Valley product technologist (Logica, Tandem, Yellowpages, BankServ, etc). He is the mastermind behind the iObjx platform with the new paradigm based on quantum entanglement.
“Together, we are a team of gray hair misfits in the Bay Area and beyond who grew up as the first generation of coders (learning Basic and Fortran) and later the very first Internet users in the ’90s. By nature, we’re a bunch of very curious people and all about possibilities. We’re looking to leave our mark on the world with a legacy business as we close out our careers”, says the team.
The X-Factor!
Our Family Lives celebrates families of all kinds by capturing and exploring the past, present, and future together and carefully preserving the most meaningful pixels and media in life forever. The application is interactive, automatic, easy to use and all about the power and benefits of “we” (i.e. the group dynamic).
This app is powered by iObjx –a new digital platform that features intelligent digital objects. iObjx was inspired by the principle of quantum entanglement in Physics and by Lego.
The Driving Force!
“I actually had a dream that involved Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Superman and my mother. (No, nothing weird happened.) The dream was all about bringing families closer together (focus on the “we” versus “all about me”) and creating the most meaningful messages for future generations to experience hundreds of years from now. My mother’s generation is totally ignored (and dare I say often disrespected) by the myriad of useless apps and social platforms that connect people but degrade the quality of our relationships.
From the dream, my co-founder and I took the concept of kitchen table collaboration and true interaction to a whole new level in the digital space”, says John.
On The Challenges Faced!
One of the biggest hurdles faced by the team was their age. The Bay Area’s lack of reception to older founders has been very surprising to the team. Audiences forget that there actually is a previous generation of developers and tech-savvy folks who never left the category. Apart from this even getting the word out about the app was a significant challenge.
On The Journey Ahead & Intended Users!
“Currently we are self-funded and focused on the iObjx platform and completing the first version of it. We have a variety of customers in beta (families, high schools, businesses, funeral homes, government organizations, etc.) and seeking additional funding. We see all kinds of possibilities and enormous potential. Many audiences have shared that they expect us to become a household name (some daring to say we could replace Facebook and YouTube). But we’ll believe that when we see it”, says the team.
At the moment, the app is mainly targeted at content creators, storytellers, group collaborators, fans, developers, event planners, media companies, brands and agencies, high schools and universities, funeral homes, general audience of consumers and businesses. Phew… yes it is quite an extensive list!
Monetizing Model
The businesses are monetized through subscriptions (SaaS), one time purchases (Group Greets), advertising, and affiliate partnerships. For example with Our Family Lives, the team close the consumer cycle by creating private TV channels for families through Roku that displays content created by families.
In short, Our Family Lives is a unique app that allows families to recollect and treasure their fond and beautiful memories!!
To know more about the app, co visit: http://www.ourfamilylives.com
