Why I spent 14 months building Celi

Last week was my 33rd birthday.

I received 34 posts on my Facebook wall. Only 1 was from a "friend."

I received 26 LinkedIn messages. Only 1 was from someone I knew.

I received 138 texts, WhatsApps, and FaceTimes from Celi connections. All of whom I knew.

That's the Celi difference.

Celi is your local network, not social network.

It's an opportunity to exit what social media has become and draw a new social graph.

Unlike social media platforms, Celi is not incentivized by session time, quantity of connections, or any of the other vanity metrics that are in direct contrast with your well-being.

We have 1 goal: Build a product that helps you strengthen your connections with your most important people.

In a world where phone calls became texts, texts became acronyms, and acronyms became emoji reacts, conversation is eroding.

We don't want to contribute to that.

Celi was built in protest of it.

That's why we don't have on-platform messaging, to encourage direct communication and open conversations you wouldn't otherwise have.

But that came second.

I originally built Celi to solve my own problem.

It turns out that other people have that problem too.

Problem

There's no effective way to effortlessly and accurately know and remember your friends' and family's birthdays and other important dates.

Before we wrote a line of Celi’s code we asked 400+ people how they manage birthdays and other important dates.

• 92% admitted forgetting a friend's birthday.
  

• 76% admitted forgetting a friend's important life date.
  

• 75% said they tried and failed to solve this with calendars or apps.

Facebook's noisy and has your friends from a decade ago.

LinkedIn birthday wishes come from total strangers.

By the time you see an Instagram story reshare, it's too late.

And, none of these have any dates beyond a birthday.

Calendars do.

But calendars are cumbersome.

With calendars, you have to:

1. Make a list of everyone important to you

2. Ask them for their birthday and beyond dates

3. Wait for them to respond

4. Manually add each date to your calendar

5. Remember to change the event to recurring

6. Turn on notifications

7. Manage the calendar clutter

In the words of Kimberly Wilkins, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Celi’s simply easier.

Solution

Celi is a networked relationship manager that naturally nudges you into more frequent and meaningful connections with your most important people, on their most important days.

To use it, all you do is: Create → Connect → Celi

Create your profile with your own important dates and information. 

Connect with your friends and family to learn their dates.

Once connected, like magic, their dates display in your upcoming feed, and you receive reminders whenever they have a date to celi.

Celi your connections. 

Whenever a connection of yours has a date to celi, Celi sends you a friendly text, WhatsApp, or email reminder.

You can also check your dashboard's upcoming feed to see who you'll celi next.

Note from founder

I'm a biased and unreliable narrator, but Celi truly has transformed my relationships.

I just turned 33.

My friends are leaving social media, moving further away, and building careers and families.

Things slip.

Celi catches them.

Truth be told, Celi's not even about the birthdays.

Or the anniversaries, the arrival days, or any of the other 12 dates.

Celi is about connection.

The dates are simply…excuses.

They're reminders to check in.

They nudge you into more frequent and meaningful connections with your most important relationships.

Wishing someone "Happy Birthday!" or "Happy Soberversary!" is the starting point.

At least that's how I use them.

I treat Celi like my own lightweight personal connection assistant, to strengthen my connections with those who matter most in my life.

Will you let it do that for you too?

Create your Celi profile: https://onboarding.timetoceli.com/

P.S. Here’s a less biased and unreliable narrator, my mom: