Inspiration
In the summer of 2013, my wife and I attended two 90 yr-old birthday parties. One party was for her grandfather Joe ("Opa") and one was for my grandfather, Dean. Remarkably, we each have all four of our grandparents alive. After hearing some recorded audio interviews from my grandparents, I came up with the idea of an on-line audio memory box, similar in many ways to a photo scrapbook. This voice archive would be a way to preserve all the stories from family members in their very own words.
How it works
The iPhone app works like this:
- Record a voice or sound
- Tag a photo and caption
- Label with a theme (Message, Music momentos, Guestbooks, Kid Chronicle, Journal, or Audio Ancestry)
- Automatically saves in your timeline
- Send to a friend, share on Facebook or twitter, or save for yourself
Challenges I ran into
I am not a software engineer. I tried to teach myself on codecademy.com but soon learned I needed help. I searched on oDesk and Elance and interviewed several web development studios. Finally I found Codequest (codequest.com) in Poland by referral from a friend of a friend. Codequest has since turned my dream into a reality.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
I have never given up on the idea. I took the first step (which is always the biggest step) by dipping into some savings to get Version 1 built. Since then I have found some believers and in the project and have secured my first angel investment.
What I learned
It always helps to ask for help. Passion and persistence are powerful things. Dreams can and do come true.
What's next for Soal App
Version 1.2 will be released in January and will allow for direct Soal to Soal messaging. Then we plan to add a website and Android version depending, of course, on funding.
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