Orgo

Background

In March 2023, my boss's boss at Webster Bank quit to solve a problem. Zoya had been a tech exec for 20+ years but became a sports mom and realized that managing the logistics of her daily life - simply getting the right people, to the right places, on time - had become untenable.

She tagged me in to help. I was 24, working on digital banking products for 800K users, and moonlighting seemed like a good challenge. We met at a Starbucks in Morristown, New Jersey with a developer and got started.

My first question: "How do we know this is actually a problem?" Zoya had experienced it firsthand, but one person's frustration doesn't validate a market. We needed to talk to real families before building anything. So we got to work recruiting parents and setting up interviews.

The Problem

Picture this: Your kid has soccer at 5:30 PM. The field is 20 minutes away. You want to arrive 10 minutes early. You need 15 minutes to get them ready. Suddenly, you're doing T-minus mental math to figure out you need to start at 4:45 PM.

Now multiply that by three kids, across different activities, with different drivers, at different locations.

30 million sports families in the US manage this complexity daily. They're juggling Google Calendar, team apps like TeamSnap, group texts, and carpools, all while simply trying to be on time.

I facilitated a focus group with 20 parents, and we individually interviewed 12 more.

What we heard from parents:

Five core pain points:

1. 1
   Coordinating people, places, and times across multiple kids and activities
2. 2
   Reverse-calculating departure times and forgetting prep steps
3. 3
   Adapting to constant changes (weather, cancellations, carpool swaps)
4. 4
   Collaborating across families for carpools without endless texts
5. 5
   Maintaining an accurate view of what the day actually looks like

The core problem: Schedules live everywhere - emails, team apps, group texts, Google Calendar. No single tool brought it all together while handling prep time, travel time, early arrival, driver coordination, or the reality that you have to traverse space and time to actually execute on commitments.

The insight: People don't just need a calendar. They need a logistics engine that works backward from when things happen to when they need to act.

We had our problem. Now we needed to build the solution.

Ideation: Designing the Core Experience

I started in FigJam, sketching the four core areas:

1. Registration - Get people in fast
2. Crew Management - Who's in your family/circle
3. Activity Addition - The heart of the product
4. Calendar Views - See your day unfold realistically

Then I moved to Figma to create detailed wireframes and user flows.

The First Big Decision: Activity Structure

Traditional calendars ask: "What time does it start?"

We needed to ask: "When do you need to START PREPARING?"

I designed events with multiple segments:

• Early arrival buffer (don't be late)
• Travel time (auto-calculated from home)
• Event time (the actual activity)

This meant building something fundamentally different from Google Calendar. It was riskier, but it solved the actual problem. Getting the activity addition screen right took three iterations - refining the structure, testing different UI approaches, and figuring out how much information to show without overwhelming users.

Iteration

1

• Early arrival buffer
• Role assignment (driving TO, AT, FROM)

Iteration

2

• Variant cards for recurring activities
• Transportation method selection

Iteration

3

• Prep time field
• Redesigned timing UI
• Notes field

October 2023: Alpha Testing

We launched to 25 users via Expo (not even TestFlight yet - they had to scan QR codes to download). The alpha group used the app for a couple of weeks, and we had a GroupMe where they could report bugs, feedback, and issues.

The feedback was swift and humbling. Users understood the concept but kept asking: "Can I import my Google Calendar?" and "How do I change the default location?"

Two critical flaws emerged:

The hard truth: We'd built for our idealized version of the problem, not the messy reality of how families actually live.

We went back to the drawing board. Between October 2023 and April 2024, I redesigned the activity structure to support flexible origin and return locations. Users could now go from school → soccer → home, not just home → soccer → home.

We also knew Google Calendar integration was critical - it was the #1 request. But we considered Google a fast follower. If we waited to build everything perfectly, someone else would launch first. So we shipped what we had and planned to iterate fast.

Between alpha and public launch, there was significant under-the-hood work to get the app production-ready for Apple's App Store - setting up TestFlight for beta distribution, implementing App Store Connect workflows, and ensuring compliance with Apple's review guidelines.

April 2024: Public Launch

We pushed a public App Store release with the updated activity structure. Users came in from our waitlist - 500 registered users.

For 8 months, we iterated within the constraints of our initial platform. Our developers were talented but moonlighting like we were, which meant limited bandwidth for the ambitious features users wanted.

By January 2025, we faced a strategic choice: continue incremental improvements or rebuild the foundation to unlock faster iteration. We chose the latter.

The Pivot: Rebuilding Everything

We converted from LLC to C-Corp, restacked the cap table, and raised $80K from angel investors. We brought on new developers - a full-time development team in Brazil - and started a complete rewrite.

May-July 2025: Three months of ground-up rebuilding. We migrated from Firebase to Supabase, rewrote the entire codebase, and professionalized the infrastructure.

During this rebuild, I took on the operational work:

• Set up RevenueCat for monetization
• Implemented PostHog for analytics
• Configured iOS SKAN tracking for Meta ads
• Managed app deployments

The new foundation unlocked the speed we needed to build and iterate.

Feature Evolution: Building What Mattered

Once we had a solid foundation, we moved fast. Here's how the product evolved through user feedback:

1

Round 1: Calendar Integration (June 2025)

The problem: Manual entry was limiting adoption.

The solution: Leveraged existing APIs, webhooks (Google), and ICS link parsing to automatically translate 2D calendar events into our 3D logistics model - capturing not just when events happen, but how families actually move through their day.

Why it mattered: This was the #1 user request. It went from "nice idea" to "actively using daily."

2

Round 2: Monetization Strategy (September 2025)

The problem: App was entirely free until August. First attempt at monetization (free trial, no credit card) had only 10% conversion.

The solution: Switched to upfront payment in September. Users pay $6.95/month from day one, with clear value proposition. We grandfathered all existing users into a free year to reward early adopters.

Why it mattered: Conversion jumped from 10% to 40% - 4x better than before, and 3-4x industry standard. Got 150 paid families in first 2 months.

3

Round 3: Import Rules (October 2025)

The problem: When 50 events imported from Google, they all defaulted to the user. But "Tommy's Soccer Practice" should auto-assign to Tommy.

The solution: Smart import rules that let users set defaults (participants, drivers, locations) + AI name detection in event titles.

Why it mattered: Turned 2 hours of setup into 5 minutes.

4

Round 4: Multi-Stop Trips (September 2025)

The problem: Real life has stops. "Grab Starbucks on the way" or "Pick up Emma before practice."

The solution: Let users add multiple stops to any trip, with time buffers for each.

Why it mattered: Finally reflected how people actually move through their day.

5

Round 5: Other Crews (November 2025)

The problem: Carpooling required coordinating across families via endless texts.

The solution: Connect with other families ("crews") in the app. Assign drivers from other crews, they get notified, confirm or decline.

Why it mattered: Eliminated the "who's driving?" group text chaos.

Current Product: The Full Experience

Video created from scratch in After Effects, including 3D phone model

What makes Orgo different:

The Results

From Launch to Traction

Marketing Efficiency

• $50.61 CAC with 30% install-to-paid (3-4x industry standard)
• Grew organically to 2,500 users before any paid marketing
• Started paid ads in August 2025, now at 250K+ monthly impressions

What Users Say:

What I Learned

What's Next

We're not done. The vision is bigger than sports families.

The core insight remains: Calendars should reflect reality, not just record events. We built that, and we're continuing to refine it as we grow.