Published on
January 23, 2024
5 min read
Ryan Brodie
Founder & CEO
5 min read
It’s been just over a month since we launched Onin for iOS users on the App Store. As a founder, I often find myself forgetting to pause and appreciate the journey. Today, I’m working from Cupertino, California, and it felt like the perfect time to reflect on the past month.
Earlier this week, I flew to California to attend Apple's WWDC event. It was truly incredible to be in the same room as some of my heroes. I remember being in Silicon Valley during my Y-Combinator days in 2017, always surfing the buzz coming from Apple. This was my first time attending the event in person, and it lived up to all of my hopes and expectations. It’s safe to say I’m returning to the office full of excitement to continue building Onin in the iOS ecosystem.
Back in May, Onin launched on the App Store. It was a huge moment for the team. After years of development and months of testing our positioning, the moment had finally come.
Our mission at Onin has remained the same since our founding: removing the fragmentation between our calendars and conversations. In January, Onin entered beta. We quickly learned how the first iteration of our app solved this problem, but we knew things still weren't quite hitting the mark. We discovered that the switching cost to use Onin was too high. Instead of pulling people out of their existing messaging apps, we needed to better integrate into the apps they use.
Finding a hook is difficult. Finally, we landed on our magic. We had our very own ‘aha moment’ and we knew that if we felt it, then our users would feel it too. It became clear to us that the simplest way to bring fragmentation between calendar and chat to zero was to bring your calendar into the conversation in every messaging app: Onin: Keyboard Calendar.
We launched with a bang by announcing our £2.75M raise from Octopus Ventures and releasing the app publicly, on the same day - crazy but opportune! The support was tremendous. We followed this up by sponsoring the technology blog Daring Fireball, home to one of the world’s largest tech communities that are just as bullish on everything Apple as I am. I’ve been a reader of the blog for over a decade so this was very much a pinch-me moment. It was a pleasure to see this community open Onin with welcome arms, their’s was the opinion I needed most.
Our biggest priority right now is to bring Onin to Android. The team has been working towards this goal since our iOS launch, and we’re really, really close. The app will have feature parity with our iOS app but will feel entirely native to the Android operating system. Soon, Onin will truly be a tool that’s useful to you and everyone you make plans with, no matter their operating system.
Feedback is always top of mind for us. Following our Android release, we will be focussing stead-fast on releasing our most requested features (collected through our public roadmap).
First, we want to make it possible for users to edit and share non-Onin events from the keyboard. Right now, this is only possible for Onin events. This feature will help Onin truly become the connective tissue between your calendar and messaging apps, everywhere.
Second, our app is grounded in events. One of the most important pieces of information surrounding an event is its location. Right now, adding a location to an event in Onin feels sub-par. We’re aware of this and are itching to release a far better experience.
For feedback, please email hi@onin.co
To vote on or suggest features, head to Nolt
For laughs, check out our TikTok
4.9
1000+
Share calendars safely to organise life together
4.9/5
Share calendars safely to organise life together
Published on
Jun 7, 2023
5 min read
Ryan Brodie
Founder & CEO
It’s been just over a month since we launched Onin for iOS users on the App Store. As a founder, I often find myself forgetting to pause and appreciate the journey. Today, I’m working from Cupertino, California, and it felt like the perfect time to reflect on the past month.
Earlier this week, I flew to California to attend Apple's WWDC event. It was truly incredible to be in the same room as some of my heroes. I remember being in Silicon Valley during my Y-Combinator days in 2017, always surfing the buzz coming from Apple. This was my first time attending the event in person, and it lived up to all of my hopes and expectations. It’s safe to say I’m returning to the office full of excitement to continue building Onin in the iOS ecosystem.
Back in May, Onin launched on the App Store. It was a huge moment for the team. After years of development and months of testing our positioning, the moment had finally come.
Our mission at Onin has remained the same since our founding: removing the fragmentation between our calendars and conversations. In January, Onin entered beta. We quickly learned how the first iteration of our app solved this problem, but we knew things still weren't quite hitting the mark. We discovered that the switching cost to use Onin was too high. Instead of pulling people out of their existing messaging apps, we needed to better integrate into the apps they use.
Finding a hook is difficult. Finally, we landed on our magic. We had our very own ‘aha moment’ and we knew that if we felt it, then our users would feel it too. It became clear to us that the simplest way to bring fragmentation between calendar and chat to zero was to bring your calendar into the conversation in every messaging app: Onin: Keyboard Calendar.
We launched with a bang by announcing our £2.75M raise from Octopus Ventures and releasing the app publicly, on the same day - crazy but opportune! The support was tremendous. We followed this up by sponsoring the technology blog Daring Fireball, home to one of the world’s largest tech communities that are just as bullish on everything Apple as I am. I’ve been a reader of the blog for over a decade so this was very much a pinch-me moment. It was a pleasure to see this community open Onin with welcome arms, their’s was the opinion I needed most.
Our biggest priority right now is to bring Onin to Android. The team has been working towards this goal since our iOS launch, and we’re really, really close. The app will have feature parity with our iOS app but will feel entirely native to the Android operating system. Soon, Onin will truly be a tool that’s useful to you and everyone you make plans with, no matter their operating system.
Feedback is always top of mind for us. Following our Android release, we will be focussing stead-fast on releasing our most requested features (collected through our public roadmap).
First, we want to make it possible for users to edit and share non-Onin events from the keyboard. Right now, this is only possible for Onin events. This feature will help Onin truly become the connective tissue between your calendar and messaging apps, everywhere.
Second, our app is grounded in events. One of the most important pieces of information surrounding an event is its location. Right now, adding a location to an event in Onin feels sub-par. We’re aware of this and are itching to release a far better experience.
For feedback, please email hi@onin.co
To vote on or suggest features, head to Nolt
For laughs, check out our TikTok
Onin is a secure calendar app for your personal and social life. The app is currently invite-only as we gradually roll out early-access to our waitlist. For regular updates, follow us on Twitter.
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