What is ili pika?

Last weekend, the ili pika project went from closed testing to release in the app store (version 0.8). 
Website
App store link

Now the version for iOS is presented, and within one or two weeks the application will become available for Android. This is a project for the global market. 

A bit about the project. 

Ili pika is an application for creating and maintaining micro-forums. The so-called "One to many" product.
The user can be an author-administrator (admin-author), create communities (open / closed community) and invite followers (followers). Or become someone else's subscriber. 

Communities go by list, not by tape, so they do not overlap. You can invite subscribers to your community from your contact list by phone number or simply tell everyone your community ID.
The admin has access to all subscriber contacts. A subscriber has access in a specific community only to those subscribers that he has in his contacts. With the rest - a ban (asterisks instead of a phone number).
ili pika exist only as an application, without a web version. And we do not plan to create it. 

For the project, we attracted a business angel with a minimum amount ($ 5000) of investment. The rest was achieved on their own. Development cost a lot more - both money and man-hours.

A heated discussion broke out about us- Is it worth it to write about such a small investment? 

The idea is 2 days. 
Design / usability - month.
Coding - 3 months (of which one went to phonegap, which, of course, did not fit).
Closed testing - month (January).
Release and preparation - month (February).

Idea The

idea appeared after the closure of the group of psychological help for LGBT adolescents in VK. For me personally, this was unacceptable. I am an adherent of freedom of speech. 
And I wanted to create something where it would be possible to lead groups and not have a web version, not to fall under the indexation of search engines.

During the development period, we met a lot of interesting people, and we had a Skype conference with Y combinator in the Yellow door. This was during closed beta testing. 
They helped a lot, formed a description and presentation of the product, asked to test. Since all testing goes through testflight (the entry threshold is large for users), and the release was on the nose, we decided to immediately release the release. 

For whom / what is it for? 

Examples:  

You are a teacher. You have 4 classes where you teach, as well as 4 groups of parents. You create a community for each class and post assignments or messages according to your topic. 

You are a coach. You have several groups that you train. For each of them you create a community. Etc.

One of the founders of ili pika is an employee of a well-known IT company in the Russian Federation. There (as in all more or less large companies) the intranet is actively used. There are a lot of small groups on the intranet: learning Chinese, rocking, a group of fans of ping pong, anime, etc.
All intranet systems as a forum have one big problem. Access to the intranet - only at work. 

Accordingly, we have created a product in which there can be both personal and working communities. 

The question ... 

... to which we answer is not this: 
- How are you different from FB or VK groups?

And this one:
- It’s inconvenient for me to conduct whatsapp chat, because when there are more than 5 users, any message is lost and chaos begins. What to use to convey information to a specific group?  

- So why is there no chaos in ili pika?
- Because only the community administrator has the right to create new messages. The rest of them either read or comment.

If the user does not need such a tool, we will not convince of the convenience and necessity of the product. It is simply not possible. 
If the user is really looking for such a product, because others do not solve current problems, then when testing the idea becomes clear. 

And the boom of shit on this topic can be immediately stopped. Not starting. 

Analogs

FB group, VK group, Telegram Channels, Whatsapp chat. 
Personally, my opinion is that we are closer to Telegram Channels, but with advanced functionality and another task. 

Team 

Two founders (first investors) 
One co-founder (manager / investor)
Backend developer
iOS developer
Android developer
Two server admins. 
Designer + team.
Business angel
+
mentor

Pros and cons. 

As the founder of the project, it was important for me to launch ili pika. To at least somehow work. Crooked, askew, but it worked. Therefore, version 0.8

+ the project is functioning;
+ you can create communities;
+ invite user;
+ receive push notifications;
+ delete / leave communities;
+ Post photos and text in communities;
- no search by contact;
- sometimes SMS does not come during registration (delete and reinstall);
- problems in some places with the design;
- there are glitches and bugs;
- push notifications do not come instantly;
etc.

Afterword 

The main task of, say, Instagram or Snapchat is to keep the user in the application for as long as possible. Scroll and waste user time. The more the user is inside, the more money the creators earn. 

We don’t give a damn about how long you have been in the application. We wanted to create a product that you will need in everyday life. The right product, not entertainment. 
It is important for us that ili pika communicates information to a particular user. Necessity. Like an alarm clock. Like a toothbrush. Like shoelaces. 

Well, accordingly, to earn a lot of money on this necessary product.   

About me

I am also the founder of another project in the Russian Federation - iRuPay.
About iRuPay is simple - it is a Russian Paypal with payments inside and outside your personal account.
It’s difficult about iRuPay - it is a third-party processing with the possibility of payment from your personal account. 

I created iRuPay 4 years ago and am still trying to run it. The reason is simple - there is no funding. But I still believe in him. About 6 people work there (remotely).
Then there were no competitors at all. They didn’t even think this way. Now they grow like mushrooms, but still no global approach. Without a single (one) and scalable solution for the user.
But this is a separate article. 

PS 

I hope you really need ili pika. Everyday. 
Good luck. 
NAMASTE! 

Regards 

Suro Jr
(Suren Mkrtchyan)