

Ask HN: iPhone app or mobile website for nanny management website? - nmaio

We just launched our MVP, http://akfamilies.com - a nanny management website. We know that we have to take this thing mobile since nannies are always on the go (picking up the kids, getting groceries, going on playdates). I would know BECAUSE I am a nanny (or "manny" actually, ha). It's a pain in the rear-end to get your schedule via text message and sloppily written to-do lists on a pieces of paper - so we want to keep everything in one place and on your smartphone.<p>Anyway, what's the route we should take this? And of course, feel free to bash away on the website and/or idea. All feedback is appreciated, even if it's harsh.<p>Thanks,
-Nick
======
codeslush
Nick - congrats on getting something out the door. We have a nanny and I don't
think we would use this application for her. It's possible that we are in the
minority, but we have had her for almost 5 years and she knows what needs to
be done. It's pretty rare for us to ask anything out of the ordinary -
certainly not prevalent enough to require an app to manage it.

HOWEVER - as a family, we could ABSOLUTELY use something like this. We have a
big family - and a lot is expected of each of us. We have kids that aren't in
school yet, and kids that are in high school. Keeping things straight is a
real pain in the arse.

My wife should be able to view my schedule, or a family schedule, etc... Each
member would be responsible for updating their calendar. Todo's can be tasked
to whomever - and tracked - just like reminders. Heck, I would even like to
see a chore-chart type thing in an app like this where it creates some todo's
based on recurring chores.

So, this doesn't really answer your question - but maybe it could expand your
market a bit!

To answer your question: How about a different approach. Our nanny doesn't
have a smart phone - so mobile or iphone/android is out of the question. But
she can get sms messages. How about making adding sms support to what you
already have using a library like twilio to support uni or bi-directional
updates/notifications? Nanny gets notified and can reply to txt or whatever
but the website is always available for additional interface/views/etc...

Well, just an idea. If you expanded into the "family" concept, I would
definitely recommend an iphone (smart phone) approach over mobile web because
of the enhanced notifications and alerts and whatnot offered by native apps.

Hope this helps a little.

~~~
nmaio
Thanks for sharing your family dynamics - it really helps to get a picture of
how other families operate. The family I work for has four kids and uhhh, four
part-time nannies (don't ask, ha).

We'll have to look into Twilio some more and see if it's a better option for
the project right now.

Although, expanding to bigger sized families that have lots going on is a good
idea. I think we'll be leaning the iPhone route because of this, but
unfortunately, we don't have any experience in that area - so it'll be
interesting.

Thanks again for the detailed and varied feedback!

------
stray
Both.

