Bee Informed

I'm writing this update for the third time. Not because it's hard to confront the facts, but it's because of some technical difficulties. IH clears this text if you do some other things, for example scrolling to see the past milestones and returning back.

However, let's stick on the topic. Sadly to report, Bee Informed didn't make enough traction so I'm going to put it to sleep mode. What does that mean? I won't do any active promotion, development or changes, but will keep it as it is. There are some open discussions and opportunities, we will see what will happen. I'm going back to regular project within the company I work for. In case you didn't know, that same company (codecentric) gave me the opportunity (and budget and time) to work on my idea totally by myself.

I collected a lot of knowledge in this period, it changed me as a person. It changed my way of thinking. There is a ton of experience I've gained, especially being my first product.

That's it for now, if you have any questions - feel free to ask in the comments. Bye Bye

Hello indie hackers!

Today we're launching Bee Informed on Product Hunt. Let's try this option too. No need for waiting.

While our product is more B2B oriented, we don't expect increase in users who will start using it immediately. However, we want to tell the story. To tell the idea. Bee Informed is about new experience in getting promotions and offers without any of your data being involved. In a world where everything is tracked, where shopping habits are calculated - we offer a way to extend the reach of typical digital advertising.

Let's see if we can provoke enough interest, maybe we get some coverage. Let's aim for Top 5.

Here's the link

https://www.producthunt.com/posts/bee-informed

https://betalist.com/startups/bee-informed

This is our first featuring on several sites we've submitted. So it feels kind of a milestone-ish to us.

We will check what this brings in the next period and keep you informed.

Do you have experiences with BetaList, feel free to share it. I'm curious.

The best way to check something is to actually see it in action. That's why we make it available to create business Bee Informed account that you can use to start creating your content.

Upon creation, you'll get your Bee QR code, and even in form of a visual banner that you can re-use.

We also bought some domains, and this one will be the main from now on

https://www.beeinformed.app

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/bee-informed/id1503022241

Well, this was the next step, having in mind that we wanted to test the idea on some wider market.

We had an interesting journey, since Apple testers found out some edge use case that we couldn't even reproduce in the beginning.

But, soon all of that was behind us and we have it available for iPhones.

Soon after the first announcements (we create a Facebook page, friend invite only, not paid activity), my friend suggested to try Bee Informed in advertising his daily deals in a cake shop he owns. He wanted to try something new, while giving me some opportunities and visibility.

After some time, he get his first 20 followers and we did an experiment. We announced some cake discount which is valid only if you say that you come via app.

He get back to me next day and was quite disappointed, saying that only 1 customer showed up and called for discount because of the app.

But for me it was really a big deal. Because the whole circle of information was closed.

• business emits information to the followers
• users receive the information
• user act upon on that information and go to the specific shop
• user spends money in the shop.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ba.beeinformed

It was my first app published on Play store. I remember I wanted to do it as quick as possible, because I wanted to see it in action.

Then I realised it can't be finished as I imagined it, because you need to provide some content, which is normal, but at that time I was just having too much "C'mon" moments, when I realised I need

• graphics in specific dimension
• screenshots,
• detailed description,
• privacy policy etc

But hey, it's there. On Feb 14 we had our first live event, announced on Bee Informed, and having Bee Informed poster hanging in the pub.

So, the initial idea is to offer Bee Informed to the pubs, to help them promote their events. Use case was pretty simple, you scan a QR code and get the information about live events in the pub from that moment. You don't have to follow them on the social medias or to check frequently for their updates. After scanning, you would be subscribed to their channel, and would get the notifications about the future events.

We were building the Bee Informed idea around the local events. One of the idea was to use Bee to decide where you'll go out tonight.

We had one week kickoff training. I found out about a lot of stuff there. Most of them I wasn't even aware of before. But, the end of the training meant we need to prepare a real pitch in front of the innovation council. That wasn't easy. Although my idea was chosen before, it could happen that presented material in the pitch doesn't meet the criteria. Luckily, that wasn't the case and this was the official start of the project.

For me it wasn't the date where I focused 100% on it, since I was still part of the other project in company, so I couldn't start building it. But, with every day I wanted to start doing "business" more and more.

So, after a New Year, I was on a vacation, waiting for the initial training and kickoff for idea winners.

My mindset was - I can't go to the training without actually building something to show there.

So, you know how developers go on vacation, they start another side project. This was the case for me as well. I've built a POC version of Android app, that is capable to scan QR codes, and to send push notifications only to the devices who scanned the particular QR code. For me that was enough. Technically, idea is feasible.