YayPlanner

Jimmy Amash, co-founder of YayPlanner, a social platform, designed to connect people through their bucket lists and activities, sits down to talk with us about how he came up with the idea and what's next for YayPlanner. Find out from our interview with Jimmy below.

You recently founded YayPlanner, what's your background and have you always been involved in web development?

I come from a dynamic background. From web development to management and marketing, I was lucky enough to experience the world from multiple angles. Through this, I worked with a wide array of people – and developed a keen understanding of how to create a product that would find its way into the hands of others. Which led me to where I am now.

Can you explain in a few words the idea behind this social bucket list platform and how it all started?

We wanted to create a dynamic, social tool that helped people discover, plan, and do new things around the world – shifting the focus away from static travel blogs and advertisements.

Can you convince anyone to sign up and start using YayPlanner in less than 50 words?

Absolutely! You should experience something new everyday, but you probably don’t. And the problem is, you're not alone. YayPlanner is the solution - as the world's first social platform strictly for real-world activities, where people can help each other discover, plan and do new things around the world.

What differs YayPlanner from other similar apps on the market?

At YayPlanner, we focus on connecting people strictly through activities – not through status updates, check-ins, and just photos. We believe what people do in the real world defines who they are – and the energy behind that mentality is what moves the world forward.

Has YayPlanner got the feedback and growth you expected since its launch?

Feedback should play a vital role in the development of any product. It’s at the forefront of our philosophy at YayPlanner. Build, get feedback, iterate, and grow. In consistently practicing this routine we’ve been able to effectively grow our user base. We couldn’t be more excited about the momentum we have, and where we’re headed.

What strategies do you use to market your platform and get people to sign up?

When it comes down to marketing and conversion, it’s all about knowing your target market and demographics. In our case, YayPlanner is for adventurers, or explorers. We’ve been able to build partnerships with popular influencers in these groups, on both personal and digital levels, where the word has been spread to the right people, organically.

What's the biggest milestone you had to overcome as a company?

Moving our product from a private beta to a public site. As a startup founder, I see my product everyday. And I love it. And I want to see it perfect, the same way I want others to see it perfect. But letting go of this mentality was one of the most important things we could have done. We launched an effective minimal viable product, without perfection, got feedback, and iterated quickly – which made our product better than it could have ever been. If we kept thinking on the inside, about what we thought was good for YayPlanner, we would be running circles around ourselves, instead of the industry.

YayPlanner is currently available for web, are you planning on developing a mobile version as well?

The future of YayPlanner is mobile. Our web-based product allowed us to create a minimal product with the right features, and give us insight and direction as we shift to more location-based services. The steps we’ve taken graciously allowed us to plan an intuitive, smart experience for our mobile apps.

If you were to start again, what might you do differently?

We get excited about a lot of things. Which is good. But getting excited about one thing, rather than everything, creates focus. Every startup learns this, one way or another. We did, early on. More importantly, we have a “no regrets” mentality at YayPlanner, because every experience, both good and bad, offers an opportunity – to make good things better, and make wrong things right.

What is the best advice you have ever been given?

Stay hungry, make mistakes, and move fast.

Can you describe the team behind YayPlanner in a few sentences?

We look at ourselves as one collective mind. We’re all a little bit different from each other, like different parts of the mind, however, we share the same passion. It’s what holds us together and propels us forward. We have the desire to create something new that will be both useful and impactful in the lives of others.

What is the coolest feature of YayPlanner in your opinion?

The ability to share and discover new things to do in a matter of seconds. We’ve found an effective way to truly make experiencing the world an easy thing.

What are you most excited about at the moment?

I’m excited about our mobile development. We’ve managed to build a community of adventurers and explorers with our web-based version. And our plans for iOS and Android will engage and deepen the connection with our current user base and future users. Our ultimate goal is to change the world - and that’s a beautiful thing to say, really.