Kinfo
Web app, 2008
WHAT: A social network for your extended family, with a wiki approach to genealogy.
HOW: It started as my Master's Thesis at NYU and became a startup that raised a $5M Series A.
WHY: I was fascinated by the idea that we are all related to each other, and wanted to make the familial connections between us all.
WHO: For anyone curious about their living family or ancestors.
Development
Concept
No one actually wants to read a personal finance self-help book. Even if you do, you have to slog through all the stuff that doesn’t apply to you. For that reason, I thought a “Choose Your Own Adventure” format would work really well.
Brain Dump
With the general goal in mind, I like to do a brain dump into an infinite-bullet app called Workflowy.
User Stories
In my Workflowy outlines, I listed a series of simple user stories that I could refer back to throughout development to make sure I was on track.
Quick n’ Dirty Wireframes
Once I have my goals written out, I like to start wireframing in Balsamiq. The interface is starting to take shape.
Logic
The most challenging aspect of building this app was ensuring the logic flow was correct. I created and re-created a logic flowhart in Lucidchart four times until I got it right.
Components Components Components
I ended up creating 36 different screens for different paths the user might take. This required some fairly ridiculous naming conventions. For Roth IRAs alone, I had 15 different scenarios.
Testing
Actually, upon second thought, testing was the most difficult part of this project. The user could take ten different possible routes through the app, so the best way I could think to manage this was to diagram out each path and document what happened. This was grueling!
Visit DebtorToInvestor.com
Read more about the thinking behind DebtorToInvestor in the following post I wrote for The Mission.org on Medium: