A 99M product · Archived experiment
Kids’ activities, together with friends.
KidSync helped families do the thing kids actually ask for — playdates, camps, and activities with their friends — by coordinating it across families over text. No app to install; it lived right in your messages. We built a working prototype, ran the demo, tested the idea with parents — and decided not to take it further. This is the story of that experiment.
The idea we set out to test
Plenty of tools can read a school email and drop events on a calendar. But the part that actually lights kids up — and that no calendar does — is coordinating an activity across two families: “Liya keeps asking for a playdate with Maya.” Our bet was that if an assistant could start a group text with the other family, find a time that works for both, and book it for both kids, every coordinated activity would pull a second family in. The coordination was the product; AI reading the flyer was just the hook.
Activities with friends
Playdates, camps, and shared signups — KidSync helped kids do things together, not just track a solo calendar.
Coordinated across families
It started a group text with the other family, found a time that worked for both, and booked it on both kids’ schedules.
SMS-first — no app
The whole thing lived in your texts. Nothing to download; a parent got value the same day, right where the group chats already happen.
AI did the typing
Forward a school email or snap a photo of the soccer flyer — KidSync read it and filled the week, so onboarding was instant.
A clickable, SMS-first prototype — 10 screens, no app to install
What we built
Tell it about your kids
A two-minute questionnaire captured the kids, their ages, and their activities — then the parent opted in to get help over text.
Forward the mess — get a schedule
A photo of the soccer flyer or a forwarded school email came back as proposed events, added once the parent confirmed.
Turn a rec into a plan
Daily, age-matched ideas for the open afternoon — and when a kid asked to bring a friend, KidSync offered to set it up with that family.
Coordinate across families — the killer demo
KidSync started a group text with the other family, proposed times that worked for both calendars, and booked the playdate on both kids’ schedules. Each activity pulled a new family in.
Why we closed it
This is exactly what the studio is for: take a notion to something you can click, put it in front of real people, and get an honest read — fast. The cross-family coordination was a genuinely interesting problem, but after building the prototype and testing the idea, the pull wasn’t strong enough to justify the road ahead. So we wrote up what we learned and moved on. No hard feelings — that’s the process working.