Solution: Golaso – An app that enables families to remind each other about goals and apply savings towards goals
Conception Time: 5 to 6 hours to come up with app and key feature ideas
Construction Time: About 30 hours to code a working proof of concept app
Platform: iOS (iPhone/iPad)
American’s are not the greatest savers in the world. Our culture of instant gratification makes it hard for the average family to reach financial goals like saving for new cars, taking big family trips or paying down/off existing debt.
The thought for this app was pretty simple. Our founder, Tom Ortega, wanted to take something lonely, painful and uncomfortable (breaking out of a routine/habit when you’re alone) and turn it into something fun and social. He created four main screens to facilitate this: Reminders, Inspiration, Rewards, and Celebration. He sketched them out on paper and sent them to our designer, Anthony Tanaka, to convert into a proper, usable digital design.
These are the 4 things that our founder wanted to convey with the application.
Golaso Reminder – Don’t do it!
Reminders: It’s hard to break habits. They make us feel good because it’s the same familiar thing every day. Unfortunately, many habits cost money. It’s like death by 1000 cuts. Since habits are consistent, we created this little Reminder screen for the family. You can send someone you love a gentle reminder/nudge that despite it’s time to partake in their regular habit, they don’t have to do it and if they don’t, they’ll be working towards a family goal.
Golaso Inspiration – Keep focused!
On the Inspiration screen, Tom wanted to provide users a way to get a little pick me up when they were all alone. Sometimes, you’re at work and you’re having a particularly bad day, you could come to this page and be reminded of why you’re working so hard. Family can create fun little messages for each other to keep the love going even when they’re not around.
Golaso Rewards – Earning those goals!
Lastly, the Reward screen is the fun screen of the app. Like a puzzle game, overtime you earn enough money, you can pay off a portion of your prize puzzle. In theory, this would automatically transfer funds into a special account setup for the goal or go to payoff the balance of something already paid for on credit.
Golaso Celebration – You did it! Congrats!
Once the full goal is met, there’s a huge drop down and particles and music to celebrate reaching your goal. Tom knew that it’s not easy to reach a goal and there needs to be a celebration. Now a real life celebration costs money, which is counter-productive to our goals. However, in app, you can throw a little mini party for free. You can then celebrate the news by posting to social media to encourage others to follow suite.
