The simplest way to remember birthdays
How to read this
Don't copy the product. Copy the pattern.
Notice the constraint, the stack pick, the narrow launch, and what they kept building after the first version went live. That's the real playbook.
What’s the story behind birthdays.app—what problem does it solve?
I bought the birthdays.app domain a few years ago and decided to build a simple birthday reminder app, with just text message reminders.
I had hacked together a duct-tape version for myself a couple years prior (using Zapier + Google Sheets), and found it useful. It was a pain sifting through Facebook birthdays (90% irrelevant), and I found the text reminders simpler than a calendar.
It’s certainly not “impossible” to remember birthdays without text reminders. But I found the text reminders to be the simplest, most delightful solution, and wanted to share that experience with the world.
What differentiates birthdays.app from Facebook birthday reminders or calendar notifications?
I wanted an alternative to Facebook birthday reminders, and the noise that surrounds them. I care about 10-15 friends’ birthdays, but had notifications for 1000+ friends. The UX didn’t make sense, I didn’t want to risk getting sucked into Facebook first thing in the morning. I see the text message birthday reminders as a more focused and reliable way to remember.
What is your no-code stack? How did you build birthdays.app?
I built birthdays.app on Bubble, after taking the NoCodeMBA course to build a reddit clone. I did have some coding experience from college, but started to prefer no-code (for how easy it is to maintain and organize the app’s logic).
I connect to Twilio to send the text reminders, Stripe to process payments, and recently built a Google Calendar integration to sync birthdays from a user’s calendar.
Do some people call the app too simple? What do you say to this?
Many people do call the app too simple, but it’s usually people who haven’t tried the app. For me, the simplicity is the entire point—to solve the problem of remembering birthdays without over-solving it.
Someone recently shared this quote from Charlie Munger with me:
“Take a simple idea and take it seriously”
Hoping for the app to embody that, to create an easy and wholesome birthday reminder experience.
What is the business model?
The model is simple—$9 per year for most users (if they have over 10 friends, otherwise $3/yr)
Is the app profitable? How much do you currently make from it?
birthdays.app is profitable as a side-hustle currently. There are currently 741 paying users, mostly on the $9/yr plan. This amounts to ~ $550 MRR.
What’s next for birthdays.app—new features, or will it stay lean?
I don't want the app to fall victim to a "big feature set"
My mindset is to make it the simplest app to import and remember birthdays. Some features (iPhone contacts sync, easier FB birthday importing, etc) feel like they truly will improve the user experience, and should be added. But others (general reminders, random social features) don't excite me much.
How to you plan to get new users for birthdays.app?
I’d like to find the right balance between new features and marketing. My mindset around marketing is that celebrating strangers' birthdays (and making videos from it) will be enough.
I want the birthdays.app brand to represent generosity, connection, and celebrating people (like going to a farmer’s market with an “is it your birthday” sign).
What’s your advice to someone non-technical who has a simple but powerful idea?
If you’re excited about an idea, you can figure out how to build it.
Take a few NoCodeMBA tutorials, especially the ones that use Bubble and the API connector.
Use AI in your workflow to learn faster, get guidance about figuring out the tech, etc. Often only limit is the question you can think of.
Patience is key. It’s easy to want to build A-Z right away, but staying present with each task is a powerful skill when doing self-directed work.
How can people try birthdays.app?
You can sign up for a free trial at birthdays.app
