RSSAugust 19th, 2008
LAUNCH: FeedMyInbox.com
“What’s a feed?”
I hear this question at least a few times per week. In short, feeds are the future. A feed is a document that keeps track of updated content on a website. Blogs and news sites are the most common places to find feeds since the content is updated pretty often.
When you subscribe to a feed, you can be notified when the content is updated without having to visit the website. Geeks use feed readers, like the one google has. I personally follow about 60 different feeds from my reader. It is much more convenient to have all the new content from those sites on-demand rather than visiting the sites individually.
Since experts say that only 3% of people use feed readers, we need a way to bridge the gap and help people figure it out. Feed My Inbox is our solution. When a feed you have subscribed to is updated, we will send you an email with the new post(s).
About Feed My Inbox
The concept is designed to be as easy as possible for the 97% out there that is figuring out the feed scene. All you have to do is enter a website, and enter your email on the home page. The application will go to the website, find any available feeds there and subscribe you. Simply click the link we email you to confirm the subscription, and it’s all set.
It literally takes 30 seconds or less to add a feed. No new software or learning is required.
Each time the feed is updated, you will be notified through email. However, if a feed is updated more than once in a 24-hour period, you receive one email with all the updates. This is designed to keep your inbox tidy, as no one wants more email than they already get.
How Long Did it Take?
I talked about this a lot on my twitter feed, but we tried to create this entire application in 1 day. All in all it took a little over 2 full days, but all the design and front-end stuff was done within the first day. We just wanted to make sure the technical side and emails were done right, so that part took a little longer.
Building something this way is great for a number of reasons:
- We built ONLY features that were absolutely necessary to launch, then added the rest to a list for “someday maybe”.
- All working together, 100% focused on the goal for an entire day, was a great source of momentum. We all pushed each other, and as a result, things happened quicker.
- After only a couple full days of work, we have an extraordinary sense of accomplishment! You can’t beat that with a stick.
I Thought You Built Websites, not Software
We DO build websites, and thoroughly enjoy it! However, we like to work with our own ideas too. It keeps us sharp, motivated and always learning new things. So to make these ideas a reality, I partnered with the same two guys to create a software company called Brightwurks. I will make Brightwurks announcements on this blog from time-to-time.
Feed My Inbox is the first of many web-based software applications Brightwurks is building. We have 3 more in the works. We would love to hear what you think of this one.
Posted in Brightwurks, Software, Web Development - 3 Comments