I’ve recently been working on a project called WriteBug, which is essentially an exercise app for writers. It’s in the very early stages of development, which means I get to dig my fingers into everything. We’ve done some initial branding (which you can see below) and a whole lot of roadmapping, product development, and fundraising.
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- A pet project for a writing app.
I’ve worked with a number of start ups over the years and one of the things I like best about them is how much freedom is allowed in the initial stages. When a company is just being thought of, the sky is the limit. Can the app also deliver pizza? What if we analyze tweets, cross reference with the seasons, and figure out the mood of the planet based on the time of year? Or maybe we could launch the store as a truck first, allowing New Yorker’s to build robots in Union Square.
Eventually all the random ideas get tightened, thrown away, or honed to some semblance of a plan. It’s necessary and exciting in its own way, but I always have a hint of sadness when we have to take off the “anything is possible” hat and put on the “yeah, but we have to do this” hat.
As a note, I always think it’s a good idea to take breaks from long-term projects and step back. Change location (get away from the store or office) and go back to the brainstorming stage. Forget about what’s possible, come up with what would be the most fun, and see if you can get excited about your business again. You may be surprised by the direction it takes you, but even if you stay the course, you’ll most likely find yourself envigorated.