Business idea targeting parents/couples: Please RIP it apart

[LemonKangroo]

Context: I feel there are too many apps/services to get into a relationship, but I haven't seen anything to keep marriages together.

Target market: Millennial career mothers with young kids (Because this is by far one of the busiest period of our lives, and we end up playing the default parent role usually).

Some common struggles for the target market (assumptions/generalising):

1. Guilt (Not enough time with kids - we are choosing to be at work and not home - a wicked choice, or the shame for self-care and leaving kids with babysitters/grandparents).
2. Burnout (Balancing Work-Parenting-Household-Relationship-Others) - Only if there was more time - I'd likely sleep/recharge.
3. Lack of support/mental load - Dealing with in-laws, planning dates, money problems, or having to constantly tell our partner to pull their weight (not always of course)
4. Other - Intimacy, lack of control, commitment, or presence in the marriage, etc.

*Apologies if this is harsh/very gender biased - I know not every relationship or partner is like this.

Solution (All-in-one subscription per month):

1. Easy way to share the house and family admin work (chores, reminders, appointments, bill payments, etc.). I know of existing solutions, but I wanted to implement the card system from the Fair Play book & gamify it.
2. Bonding/Me-time (concierge to plan and do logistics - you or a couple just turns up). Hyper-personalised date night/revisit your past.
3. Support (Connection to vetted businesses to solve legal, financial, couple conflicts, career, etc., issues) - There are issues around recognising we need help then selecting a good service on budget is tougher.

Give me every reason why this won't work, why am I wasting my time on this? E.g. the problems are way off, solutions are too weak/generic, etc.

Kudos to you for taking on the feedback here @LemonKangroo It can't have been easy to hear.

However better to realise now than when you're several thousands down with no product in sight.

Good luck to you.

Sorry what - why does my adult husband have to earn the right to leave the house to see his friends. He (and I) can stand up whenever we want and do that regardless of any chores that have or haven’t been completed. And if he has done all his jobs, does the wife now have to do childcare? What if he doesn’t want to do childcare when it’s her turn because she’s done all her jobs (for the last 10 years).

I drop that incentive from your gamification.

I think you might make more money with the idea from a PP, but using social media instead of an app. If you can get into the right men’s X/Tiktok/Youtube feeds with surreptitious marketing reminding them that they might have a happier home life if they surprise their wife with a cup of tea after seeing the video, or have they thought about cooking a surprise meal - here’s a recipe that will take 15 mins - you might get some good sponsorship deals.

Sorry what - why does my adult husband have to earn the right to leave the house to see his friends. He (and I) can stand up whenever we want and do that regardless of any chores that have or haven’t been completed. And if he has done all his jobs, does the wife now have to do childcare? What if he doesn’t want to do childcare when it’s her turn because she’s done all her jobs (for the last 10 years).

I drop that incentive from your gamification.

I think you might make more money with the idea from a PP, but using social media instead of an app. If you can get into the right men’s X/Tiktok/Youtube feeds with surreptitious marketing reminding them that they might have a happier home life if they surprise their wife with a cup of tea after seeing the video, or have they thought about cooking a surprise meal - here’s a recipe that will take 15 mins - you might get some good sponsorship deals.

The more you write @LemonKangroo the more terrible I think the idea is. You’re basically gamifying adult life for men. And requiring their wives to set up the game and keep the score.

it’s a ridiculous concept of adult life.

The mental load challenge is definitely one I’d love an app to solve. But by providing actual solutions not by giving DH more of the mental load. And not by using a calendar either. I want an app that can ‘do’ the mental load for me!

Yes it's the actual mental load. And the amount of small moving parts and tiny preferences means is just spend hours inputting data. Or would require an app that can pull from so many different places. For example my eldest has one competition level sport that results in 3 seperate memberships all with there own app or website plus Facebook groups and emails. That is one activity he does. He does more. i can not imagine a start up can handle the level of complexity and integration required.

I’m not a minority group. I’m a millennial mother of three in a long term relationship. If you are targeting new mums then more of them will be unmarried than married. You are cutting off a majority group.

It’s might be worth a reassessment to consider millennials as being the generation that is currently having their first babies and becoming new parents. Especially if your service is going to take a while to set up and grow. Some might be, but many millennials are middle aged with grown up children, paid off mortgages and planning retirement.

You need to decide who your target market is- ordinary couples just looking for some help sharing chores or couples in crisis. I understand the urge to aim at everyone but these groups have different needs, and promoting to one lot will turn off the other.

A really good app designed to help people who already want to cooperate to do so better would be great. I struggle to see how that also helps people breaking up or people with mismatched libidos etc. These seem much more complex issues that many people won’t want to trust to an app. They’re also issues that might put off half your users (no one wants to share chores on an app that’s simultaneously advertising divorce services).

First rule is to have a clear idea of your target market and what you’re offering that is new. Products intended to appeal to everyone often appeal to no one.

Sorry, i don't agree with this.
This was not the entire concept.
Gamification (for one of the 3 services) was supposed to serve two purposes:

1. Incentivising
2. Fun to admin boring jobs

May I ask if this is the biggest frustration you have? If so, what solutions have you tried?

Yes, and from the thread, there are a multitude of issues (cost, competitors, AI, incentivising action, data & privacy, etc.)

Totally agree on the target market and clarity - This is what I had in mind:

• Career mothers (25-40) with young children (<10) - I stated this in the initial post

What I assume are the problems (I talked to 23 mothers)

• Want balance so they can focus on things that matter (such as exercise, going to the salon, sleep, time with partner, etc.)
• Want to feel less guilty, burned out, and lonely
• Overwhelmed with mental load
• Some others

What I didn't figure out, and my next steps

• Which of these is the most severe (painkiller vs vitamin), urgent, and large enough
• Did I miss anything - e.g. communication and partner buy-in seem to be recurring in this thread and something I'd focus on.

If you have any feedback on the problems or how I can explore them, would appreciate it!

So what I'm hearing is that you want the husband to be more present, attentive to your needs i.e. work on the relationship. The chores etc are just a side benefit.
Further, the mental load may be an issue, but its not the big challenge?

Mainly I just check stuff and try and remember which things are glass and which are rubber before I drop them.

The solution to overwhelm isn't likely to lie in managing logistics better. Rather in developing managing feelings towards the situation.

Well, no actually, he’s the most attentive and does the vast majority of chores in our relationship. I am conscious that it doesn’t come as naturally to me, but I don’t think there’s money to be made targeting women like me as we’re in the minority. I was thinking of how things might cross my consciousness to remind me to be more present at home, and I’m certain that app notifications won’t do it.