Goody: A Remote Control to Share Joy

WHY GOODY?

A few weeks ago, just in time for the holidays, we launched Goody. In one sentence, Goody is an app that makes it easy to send gifts and warmth to the people in your life.

Why are we building this?

I have many ideas. I keep a long list that has over 1000 now, and don’t necessarily trust all of them. They come, they go.

But once in a while, one of these ideas stands out because it keeps coming back to haunt me. You may know this feeling…

Every few months, I would find myself writing down “easier way to send gifts” in my list. That made me trust this idea more. Also the HUGE gap you notice when you ask someone… “so what website or app do you use if you want to give a gift to someone?” It’s rare to find gaps like these today in what has become a very competitive consumer internet landscape.

On top of that, I am someone who is lucky to know and care about people peppered around the globe and if I log into my Amazon account, I’ve lost track of all the addresses I’ve added. And yet, though Amazon is an impressive company, the experience sending gifts there is full of friction and doesn’t have the wonder factor that I am looking for. It’s underwhelming, like buying dishwasher pods.

And I don’t think I’m alone here. People LOVE and WANT to send gifts. By making it as easy sending a text message, we unlock something new. A real superpower. It’s just so fun and it’s not about the monetary value of the thing you’re sending. It’s actually a form of messaging. The gift is just part of the message.

Yes, Goody is a messaging company more than an e-commerce company. It’s seeing someone open your gift, reading their note, and the back and forth that ensues that brings the real joy. The item that arrives a few days later just reinforces it. And usually you get another message thanking you again then! That’s an amazing feeling. Try it if you don’t believe me. Using Goody is meant to feel warm. It’s about keeping your relationships fully alive and rekindling others. (Something we all need especially in 2020!)

My friends will tell you… I have helped launch many things. A few of them have worked out, and many, many of them I have put back on the shelf.

And yet… once in a while lightning strikes. Among all of these none so far has gotten the initial reaction that Goody has. And as someone who also invests in a lot of companies I can tell you it’s really rare for people to care about something you make.

And for them to use these types of words:

“Genius” (from several people)

“I’M OBSESSED”

“LOVE LOVE LOVE”

“Brilliant”

“Feels good”

“SO FUN”

These are some of the texts we’ve gotten about Goody.

GOODY IS HIRING FOR EARLY ROLES

I am not sharing these to pat us on the shoulder. Yes, it feels great to have built a product people love using. But there is lots and lots of work ahead of us to build a successful company here.

And that’s why I’m writing this whole manifesto: we are actively recruiting for a few essential early roles at Goody.

We do not need to be a huge team to scale to millions of delighted users. We just need to be a highly efficient SWAT team. And that’s the type of profile we’re recruiting for.

Putting my investor hat on for a second, I am 100% convinced there is a massive gifting product to be built that will be used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide and putting my founder hat on, I’m pretty damn convinced it’s going to be us.

You’ve heard of the term rocket ship because you’re reading Medium. Well this is a rocket ship at its most exciting stage… infancy.

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WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

• A Head of Growth (ideally with e-commerce and / or consumer app experience)
• A Brand Partnerships / Merchandizing Lead
• A Lead Mobile Engineer (React Native)
• A Lead Backend Engineer
• And frankly anyone who thinks they can create a role for themselves here… we do believe that roles can be invented

We’re proud to say that we are HQ’d in Miami but are also open to remote (or hopefully having you move here)! We are also very well funded by some of the best investors in the world.

Email me if you are interested or know someone who would be great — I’m excited to meet you! edward@ongoody.com

(And download the app here)

Thank you!