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Timeful, a Time Management App, Launches on iOS (techcrunch.com)
41 points by jebank 4341 days ago
7 comments

This looks really interesting. I'm always curious about new techniques to improve my habits and time management, but I've never really found a system that "clicks", so to speak. This looks promising.

Problem is, it requires you to sign up with an account to use the app. This, for an app that I would likely be inputting my entire life into. It raises a lot of questions about data privacy, especially given the app's current $0 price tag. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.

The "Founders Pledge" acknowledges this concern: http://www.timeful.com/founders-pledge
> “How do you make money? And does it involve selling my information or otherwise sharing it?” Here’s our answer: We don’t yet know how we’ll make money.

I think this is code for "we hope to get bought by Facebook".

I'm always a little surprised when someone says "This app looks nice, but I don't trust you, especially when you don't even try to take my money."

It's not that I don't understand what you mean, but I think it's silly to say: personal data? no thanks... exact same situation as before, but now you're taking my money? Yes!

I think it comes down to the old "If you're not paying for the product, you are the product" idea. We like to think that if we're paying (anything) for something, then we are the customer and there is an implied contract between us and the vendor.

That's not to say that being a paying customer means a company won't also sell your data (just look at nearly every major retailer).

I'm so incredibly excited to download this app, sign up, play around with it for 3 mins max and never use it again! Can't wait!

EDIT: Before people start getting mad, I was referring to the real problem of app saturation and how incredibly difficult it is to change people's workflows even if your productivity task is in fact actually better. Marginal improvements aren't enough. It has to be radical. Tying things together isn't radical. Mailbox was radical (though they've largely ignored their product since getting acquired).

Amazing to me that this was able to secure a $7m series A PRE-LAUNCH.

20 person engineering team to build a calendar app? I guess they must be doing some serious work on the ML side of things to need a team that large.

Right, and then it's free.

Unless I'm missing something there's no business model here beyond the potential exit via acquisition.

Well they make a loss per user, but they intend to make it up in scale!
Looks like a really interesting project! I started on this route, out of a need to balance everything in life, but quickly realized that the kind of AI I'd need would likely be a lot of work.

I personally opted for an assistant off Odesk & Trello. Assistant got to know me better over time, understood priorities etc. I certainly think there's a need for something like this, and so far haven't found anything that quite fits the bill (besides hiring another human being, which isn't terribly efficient either).

This is largely the approach I've had to scheduling commitments for >2yrs now. I found the initial challenges being: - accurately estimating time - being honest & disciplined about your daily capacity.
Yeah, looks nice, but I don't want to carry my iphone again. Waiting for android version.
How is this different from Lifebalance from the 90ies?

http://www.llamagraphics.com/products