No Story Lost

@mqsley Hi Matthew, I hear you. Interviewing, designing and printing all take time (and cost money). And to do so to a quality standard that our customers expect. Unfortunately, that's how much it costs :( We've tried to make it as affordable as possible keeping in mind we want to run a healthy business with healthy margins. While still creating a quality product. We have found that although it can be perceived as pricey for some, families usually go in on it together. We also have a payment plan for those in Canada.

@mqsley @smgrieser For sure. I commend you as a maker and business person. Not my place to judge.

@mqsley Thank you :)

@gregw Hi Greg! Appreciate the feedback. And I hear you. Here is why automating everything is really hard. The people we've interviewing are older and unfortunately aren't that technologically savvy. I did this with my older dad (he's 84) and there is no way a Typeform would have worked with him. And keep in mind our books are long! Our lowest package starts at 7000 words, the highest goes up to 15,000 words!! I am not sure that would work with Typeform? We also want the experience for the Storyteller to be pleasant! Fun, even. We do use templates for the design and are automating what we can! While keeping in mind we want to make sure we run a healthy business too. Curious to know if you have any thoughts on how automating could or would work with an older generation? There is a similar product/service called Storyworth at a lower price point that emails your loved one a prompt/question, they respond and they put it in a book after a year. It wouldn't have worked for my dad (and others I know), but I do think it's clever way to drive down price :)

@smgrieser it sounds like you've given this a fair amount of thought. How do older generations feel about strangers asking personal questions, I wonder? Do you let a loved one make the hand off to the interviewer? In what way are the interviewers trained? Are they coming from a journalism or UX research background? Are the questions the same for everyone? So many questions, but I really like where you're going.

@gregw Haha!! I love it! Love all the rapid-fire questions. Answering below! "How do older generations feel about strangers asking personal questions, I wonder? Do you let a loved one make the handoff to the interviewer?" Yes! This is SUCH a good question. I have a personal experience with exactly this. When I asked my dad he said he didn’t want to do it. Full stop. Talk to someone he didn’t know about his life? No thank you. But when I told him he’d be doing it for me and for his future grandkids. That sure got him 😉. And after the first interview, he was totally fine! More than fine. I think people are naturally a bit nervous, but it goes away in the first interview because we hire interviewers who are amazing at making someone feel comfortable and holding space. And yes! There is a handoff between the client (person who wants the book) and the Storyteller. "In what way are the interviewers trained? In what way are the interviewers trained? Are they coming from a journalism or UX research background?" >> We look for interviewers who LOVE talking to people - and are genuinely excited to hear and write their stories. Our first hires are amazing conversationalists and they listen more than you talk. Our first interviewer is actually a therapist! Though we've had our fair share of journalists apply for our job postings. "Are the questions the same for everyone?" >> We have a document with secret sauce questions but we also trust our interviewers to go where the story is leading them. We want the conversation to feel authentic and genuine versus awkward or forced. Those were some GREAT questions. Love it! Any more?

@oligardner Oli!! Thank you!! And agreed. Great experience for a loved one that's isolated due to COVID. I think this experience would bring them so much joy.

@megan_sakakibara Megan!! Hello you :) Such. Good. Questions. "With a 6-hour interview, is this broken into smaller digestible calls?" >> (sidenote: we should maybe explain this better on the site, haha). Typically we do 1-hour interviews 6-times. Does that make sense? A 6-hour long phone call would be way too long for most people! And the interviews would be carried out over a few weeks. But we've actually had clients who preferred shorter interviews (30 minutes) because they got tired. Basically, we can work with you and the storyteller on what works best! "Are the questions provided in advance so she could think about it vs be on the fly?" >> another solid question. Right now we don't, but I just emailed my partners. I think if a client wanted some questions ahead of time, we could do that! Let me circle back with you to confirm. A note: we might not follow or stick to the questions. We also trust and train our interviewers to go where the story is leading them. We want the conversation to feel authentic and genuine versus awkward or forced. Also a note: I think some Storytellers are naturally a bit nervous, but it goes away in the first interview because we hire interviewers who are amazing at making someone feel comfortable and holding space. Hope that helps 😊

@megan_sakakibara Following back up! From my Co-Founder Andrew (not on Product Hunt), "Once you're signed up, we can send along the list of questions that we begin with. But you should also know that our interviewers follow the flow of conversation and we won't necessarily ask all of these questions, or in this exact order. If there are favorite questions that Oma or your dad is excited to answer, please feel free to let us know and our interviewer can try to focus on them."

@justgogrind oooo very interesting! Never heard of Try Saga before. Will 100% check it. Thank you Justin :)

@kmarrouche Thank you so much, Karim!

@anum_hussain Thank you, Anum!! 😊