Abel

Following User feedback, we changed "Next of Kin", to Emergency Contacts.

The term, "Next of Kin" was very confusing to the users we spoke to, and did not convey its purpose, which was to be a reliable contact in case of emergencies.

Users generally thought a Next of Kin would get all their digital assets, when this was the furthest thing from how it worked.

Abel works via a check-in system. We check-in on our Users at intervals (usually weekly), and when we get worried about their well being, we reach out to their Emergency Contacts to check on them.

Finally, we had something we could show users. An MVP! It looked perfect, or so we thought.

We began reaching out to friends, asking them to check it out, and give feedback. They gave tons of feedback, bless their hearts!

Some were ecstatic, a few were skeptical, so we asked them what we could do to make them more confident in the app, and we did those things.

We tracked user feedback with a spreadsheet, making sure to reach out to users when we made changes to address their feedback. We found this a great way to keep users interested in what we were building.

Perhaps, it was new year resolutions, the trauma of 2020, or a combination, but we began improving our product in January, and have not stopped since.

We want it ready, so anyone can use from anywhere in the world.

As we put more of our lives online, we need better plans for our digital assets.

Raymond makes the first commit. We set out to build a simple MVP we could use ourselves.

Worked continued happily, with us adding features and fixing bugs, till June 2020, when we finally had the simplest form of the service for our needs.

The Abel protocol was born.

I remember missing a loved one who'd left behind a blog that was just starting to make money.

The idea initially started as a way to automatically backup blogs so they can remain on the internet, even after their hosting expires.

But it soon evolved, as I felt that it was necessary to be able to pass online accounts for blogs, crypto, social media and more on to people who can care for them the way we want.

I spoke to Raymond, about it, and he liked the idea.

We called it the Abel protocol, partly inspired by Ironman's E.D.I.T.H