This couple can get you organised

Being a parent is tough. So is running a business. Imagine doing both, at the same time. And trying to ensure your business helps make the lives of millions of others easier. Sounds daunting, right?

For Liat Mordechay Hertanu and Gilad Hertanu, this is their reality. Helpfully, it was in creating their smart personal-assistant app, 24me, that they learned to juggle the myriad things that this involves.

That’s because 24me is an app born out of need – one that many of us can relate to: the need to be more organised with the little time we have.

After having three children in four years, the husband-and-wife team – who had worked in tech but had never created an app – were feeling swamped. “We found ourselves overwhelmed by daily life management,” says Liat.

“The things we needed to do for work; the things we needed to do for the household and kids. It just felt like we needed something to help us keep on top of everything.”

Having tried various solutions – from shared calendars to mutual to-do lists – the pair were still struggling. They wanted a tool that brought everything together: their calendars, tasks, notes, reminders and alerts from other apps. It was something that didn’t exist – yet.

The couple decided to make it themselves.

“We built 24me out of our own experiences and our own needs,” says Gilad. “We came up with this solution because we found that nothing else really worked for us. There were gaps we were still experiencing.

“It was something we discussed with other people and we quickly realised that the same problems existed for all of us. Trying to juggle our careers and families. Trying to do everything at once.

“It was a big decision to leave our jobs and go our own way, but it was fun. Everything is now our responsibility. We spoke about it a lot, but ultimately we thought, ‘Let’s do it, let’s try it.’”

The couple launched the app in 2012. It became an overnight success.

“We put it out as inexperienced developers – this was our first app,” says Gilad. “Within a couple of days we woke up and saw that it was being featured all over the world. The app got traction and we quickly got loads of emails from users about the app. It was an amazing experience.”

Not content, the pair grew their team, and in subsequent years 24me has gone from strength to strength.

Having been acknowledged with multiple awards, today 24me is more helpful than ever. You can make notes and set tasks using your voice, receive alerts on your wrist and get quick updates through widgets. You can enjoy smart alerts about when you need to leave for an appointment, and benefit from instant directions. You can receive upcoming birthday or anniversary reminders and order gifts within the app.

Although 24me was originally aimed at busy parents, it’s an app that has grown to be so much more to so many different users.

“I remember someone writing to us, explaining how he had a brain injury and some memory issues but now used 24me to overcome his day-to-day challenges,” says Gilad. “Stories like that, on a personal level, make you emotional as a developer. [The fact] that something you created is actually helping people is very powerful.”

This isn’t an isolated case.

“People write to us explaining how 24me helps them to be more focused, complete things and not postpone their tasks or responsibilities,” adds Liat.

“One of the reasons we started to build the app is because I have ADHD, and the app is really something that helps me with what I need to be focusing on. Now there are other people using the app who have ADHD.

“There have also been people who have had strokes or have other disabilities who say the app helps them. They tell us that their lives were changed dramatically by using the app. We read those emails with tears in our eyes.”

24me Smart Personal Assistant

Calendar, To Do List and Notes

View