Rippy on Kernal

I'm trying out that whole "validate your idea before writing any code" approach this time :)

I've thought about this problem for years. After seeing someone on Twitter talking about it, I decided to take it seriously and figure out if there's a market.

Copied from kern.al post:

Opportunity
The first online generation is aging. We’re now middle-aged or older, and thinking about our mortality.

When we die, we’ll leave behind computers, phones, and accounts that are locked with military-grade encryption.

We’ll want to send certain passwords to certain people, automatically close some accounts, and maybe make a posthumous final Tweet.

Customers
Tech savvy people with a strong online presence or a lot of files should quickly see the benefits of making it easy on their heirs to access those files and to posthumously manage their online presence.

Early adopters are probably Gen-X tech folks with families. Tech savvy boomers are also a good target.

Problem
Without securely passing a few passwords down to the right family member, a lot of your life may be lost forever. Priceless family photo files, crypto wallets, and that manuscript you were almost finished with can be lost forever on an encrypted hard drive.

An entire generation of tech saavy people are aging and potentially leaving behind a heart breaking digital block box.

The target audience knows they’ve got a complex digital life, and unraveling might be overwhelming for their heirs and loved ones.

Solution
Rippy makes it easy and secure to pass your digital life on after you pass away. By using end to end encryption, Rippy ensures that only those that you choose can see what you want them to see.

You enter details into Rippy, add people as successors, and choose who sees what when you die. Rippy will guide and remind you of important things to write down, like where your MFA codes are stored.

When you die, one of your designated successors can upload a death certificate. We’ll verify that and then unlock access to everyone you listed. We’ll also shut down accounts and take other actions upon your death.

We’ll also email your successors to let them know. They’ll need to log in to decrypt and access anything you share with them.

Existing Alternatives
Paper: write down your passwords, put them in a safe for your family to find, and be sure to keep them up to date.

Lawyers and estate planners: write your passwords down, give them to a professional and trust that they have strong security practices. And don’t forget to keep them up to date.

http://clocr.in appears to be addressing the same space, but with a different approach.

If you search for “digital legacy”, you’ll find a bunch of stuff that’s not terribly helpful for Gen X or millennials. Long lawyer-looking pages that tell you to “make a plan” and talk to a lawyer.

Rippy will be for the digital generation at its core. Simple, automated, self-service.

If Dead Then That.