20 ms·

Launch HN: Dex (YC S19) – personal CRM that reminds you to keep in touch

189 points by ksun 7y ago

Hi HN! I’m Kevin, founder of Dex (https://getdex.com/ https://getdex.com/). Dex is a personal CRM that reminds you to keep in touch with people you might otherwise forget. I started working on Dex because I felt like I was falling out-of-touch with people I cared about. I wanted to be aware of “how long it had been” and more proactive about maintaining my relationships. Looking to solve this problem, I tried data tools like Airtable, Notion, and Google Sheets. It was easy to setup a sheet to track relationships, but I eventually found these tools difficult to keep up with. I’d end up procrastinating on updating my records and would rarely find the time to revisit them. Dex is a personal CRM that aims to be simple, intuitive, and accessible. To get started, users sign up for a web application that connects with their Google contacts and calendar (and optionally Facebook and LinkedIn data). With this information, Dex suggests people to contact every day. Over time, these suggestions become better as users customize how frequently they’d like to reach out. Dex includes the functionality you might include from a CRM: logging notes, setting reminders, and organizing contacts. A feature which makes Dex unique is a Chrome extension, which allows you to view relationship history and add people without leaving social networking sites like LinkedIn, Messenger, Twitter, and Facebook. Most people realize the value and fulfillment that come from maintaining relationships, but occasionally still fall out of touch due to forgetfulness. Dex helps these people with a system of regular reminders to keep in touch. I’ve noticed many people already have their own ‘system’ for managing relationships, and I’m always interested in hearing about different people think about dealing with staying on top of relationships. I’d also welcome any other feedback about Dex! Feel free to also email me directly at kevin [at] getdex [dot] com. Thanks for your attention! :)

sansnomme 7y ago
Comparison with Monica?
- ksun 7y ago
  Overall: Dex isn't open source, but integrates with your Google Calendar, has a Chrome extension that integrates with social media workflows. We're definitely solving a similar problem, and in the past I was a user of Monica until I found it too much work to keep up with. Monica notably does have more fields and performs functions (like journaling) that Dex does not.
  - trilila 7y ago
    Keep up the good work. Some HN types beg for freeware and yet wonder why they cant escape the rat race. Quality software should be rewarded and should not be free of cost.
    - emptysongglass 7y ago
      Free =/= open source. What these HN types you are so aggravated by are asking for is open source (not free as in beer) software, which some (like me) consider an ethical imperative.
      - dymk 7y ago
        Can you explain why having the source code to the software you run is an "ethical imperative"?
        SEJeff 7y ago
        See the entire exhausting body of "Open Source is not Free Software" arguments from fsf apologists. RMS literally stated once he wanted proprietary software to be illegal. Properly answering the question you asked is a whole can of worms, much like asking "vim or emacs" or "macOS or Windows or Linux" or maybe even "python or ruby or rust / go?".
      - trilila 7y ago
        I agree with open source =/= free but what most comments like “open source alternative to” mean is exactly that. HN is a forum promoting ideas both for the benefit of everyone and / or commercial, yet each time someone showcases their work there is someone posting a “free alternative” post as if it’s meant to mean something. Cargo culting open source is really not doing anyone a favour and instead it is pushing more and more entrepreneurs types away from hackernews. Unless some drug maker made a commercial drug to cure cancer and someone else made a free open alternative to it, i really don't care about free github star whoring on hn.
philip1209 7y ago
Cool! I keep a personal CRM in Airtable. But, my biggest problem is that it doesn't have an awareness of when I contact people (e.g., via email, messenger, Whatsapp, Twitter, etc). How do you plan on addressing this with Dex?
- ksun 7y ago
  Right now we do this with the Chrome extension (you can have a panel in Twitter / Messenger without leaving the page). The calendar integration also helps if you use calendar invites, but that isn't relevant to all interactions. Email is on the roadmap. For other channels like Messenger and Whatsapp, a big constraint is no API for messages. Making an integration for these channels the 'right way' is a challenge we're still working on -- we could ask for user credentials but that doesn't seem like a great long-term solution.
AIME15 7y ago
> Add "Dex for Chrome"? >> It can: >> Read and change all your data on the websites you visit No thanks
- rudedogg 7y ago
  Not sure what functionality their extension has, but this is pretty hard to avoid. To run javascript you can basically do whatever you want — so the browsers let users know that. I wish the security could be more fine grained, but I’m not sure that’s possible. Edit: Looked at the extension and maybe it could limit itself to social network domains though.
- gitgud 7y ago
  With chrome extensions, unfortunately that's the only option for developers; read all urls/data or no access to urls/data
  - skeletonjelly 7y ago
    Are you sure that's current? I made an extension (just for myself) a few months back and I could restrict the domains via the permissions array in the manifest.json https://developer.chrome.com/apps/declare_permissions https://developer.chrome.com/apps/declare_permissions (see reference to "match pattern") This then in turn populates the list of sites in the extension settings where you can choose to deny access to the aforementioned websites listed in the manifest
    - gitgud 7y ago
      Oh sorry, yes I am mistaken (been a while for me). I guess a lot of developers just use permissions "host": " * " because it's easier... What extension did you make? I made [1] an extension a while ago, and spent more time than I'd care to admit. Now that I think about it, I used "host": " * " too! (even though it's necessary for that particular extension)... [1] https://newsit.benwinding.com/ https://newsit.benwinding.com/
      - 7y ago
akgvn 7y ago
An open-source alternative, Monica, has been discussed before: * (2018) "Monica – Personal CRM, Remember everything about friends and family" -> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318547 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318547 * (2017) "Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family" -> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14497295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14497295
- ksun 7y ago
  Thanks for bringing this up! Monica is definitely an inspiration for what Dex is working on. I think it'd be fair to characterize two main contrasts: 1) Dex is for relationships that are both professional and personal 2) tries to be more integrated with existing workflows (using your calendar)
- trilila 7y ago
  Downvoting any “open source alternative” to anything as those are usually crapware.
  - dang 7y ago
    "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- simulate 7y ago
  I've been using Monica for a couple of years now and I'm very happy with it for my personal network. It's a great tool to remind me who is connected to whom and what to ask about before attending a party. The online version is here: https://app.monicahq.com/register https://app.monicahq.com/register
  - shostack 7y ago
    Any thoughts on the security model for the hosted service?
lars_francke 7y ago
How do you plan to make money? Right now everything seems to be free. I'm asking because I hate to be surprised after investing time to curate a CRM.
- ksun 7y ago
  There is a free tier now; we'll be building out the features of a premium tier ($7.99 / month) for other features. Since data is meant to be private and never shared, we're following a subscription model.
  - atemerev 7y ago
    Why you are collecting personal contacts pervasively, then?
    - reificator 7y ago
      I mean, the app is meant to help organize your contacts, is it not? If I see an app ask for my contact data without good reason, I'm immediately out in most cases. But they've got a good reason: it's what the app is supposed to do...
      - atemerev 7y ago
        The app is "a personal CRM that reminds you to keep in touch". There are people that I want to keep in touch with (which I can add manually), and the rest of my contact list, who don't need any organizing.
  - wtmt 7y ago
    Quick thought: $7.99 looks like it should be the highest tier in a four tier scheme (free, a dollar or two, way less than $7.99, and $7.99) since you're talking about per month prices. Even then the price looks steep to me (currency conversion and other factors considered).
  - lars_francke 7y ago
louisswiss 7y ago
Great stuff! I've been thinking about a way to solve the exact same problem on and off for a long time (I'm terrible at proactively keeping in touch with friends). My original solution was the same as yours, but it quickly broke down for me because I just couldn't get all of the data (in particular when I last talked to someone) into the app. I imagine you'll face the same challenge. Two approaches have worked well for me though... 1. a dumb version of Dex. Basically just a list of friends/acquaintances and a periodic reminder (weekly, monthly, quarterly) to make sure I'd been in touch 2. a weekly prompt to reach out to anyone who fits a certain set of criteria. For example, "send a message to the last person you met at a networking event" or "reach out to the contact you'd be most likely to recommend for a marketing role" Weirdly, the latter version has been way better for me at maintaining and growing relationships outside of my closest circle of friends. Especially on the professional side of things. If you want to chat more about my experience or the problem in general, my email is in my profile and I find this super interesting :) Good luck!
- ksun 7y ago
  Will follow-up via email :). I'll note I think one thing that Dex does different is it tries to be actionable as best as possible (like your #2 weekly prompt). Without a prompt, it's much harder to get regular value out of the product!
sbuccini 7y ago
I really, really need something like this in my life. In a previous life, I ran for political office and raising money would have been so much easier if I had kept those contacts warm over time. Big problem here is that it requires Google Contacts. Do people actually use that? Phone/FB contacts would be much more useful in my book. I actually was just thinking about this type of product just yesterday while walking around a part of the city I've never been to -- how cool would it be to proactively shoot folks a text whenever I'm in their part of town (determined by GPS)? I end up doing this manually and I always forget folks until it's too late.
- wodenokoto 7y ago
  Doesn't every Android phone sync to google contacts by default?
- ksun 7y ago
  Google Contacts are useful for email data (since folks often add to Google Contacts, which does create issues with noise...) I'll add you can add your iCloud contacts into Dex if you're an iPhone user!
kilroy123 7y ago
Funny coincidence, just today I was toying around with Monica and looking around for another person CRM. I'm a bit frustrated by the lack of features in Monica. What I want is this, reminders to stay in contact with someone. I want a notification to appear on my phone saying something like, "hey you told us to stay in touch with Bob every month, click to open WhatsApp and message them." Or slack, text, email, etc. I also want a central location for all my contacts and info about this. Notes, when we last got in touch and how we communicate (messenger, slack, email, LinkedIn, etc.) I really want it to stay synced with iCloud, Google, Next loud, etc. I want as much automation as possible. Every CRM I've looked into seems to revolve around a lot of manual work. I'll have to give getdex a try.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- ksun 7y ago
  Automation is definitely an area I've thought a lot about -- it's the most common feature request by far. If you actively use your calendar, Dex does a reasonable job of integrating your calendar events with your records. Email is on the roadmap. We've built the Chrome extension as a temporary substitute, but full automation is definitely the eventual vision. Unfortunately the more interesting channels (Messenger / Facebook) don't have accessible APIs so integrating with them has been an ongoing challenge. Would appreciate any automation suggestions as you try it out!
egourlao 7y ago
Do you have a privacy policy? I don't see anything on your landing page, or in the web app.
- ksun 7y ago
  Yup, the privacy policy is on the start page (https://getdex.com/start https://getdex.com/start) and can be found at https://getdex.com/privacypolicy https://getdex.com/privacypolicy. I'll work to make it more clear!
  - SEJeff 7y ago
    It took me awhile to literally find the exact same thing. What is your goal for monetization? This looks really nice, but how do you plan to make this viable in the long run? You can have a million users and still lose money. Just look at Uber as an idea of how not to build a company!
michaelmior 7y ago
Sounds exactly like what Socialfly was doing several years ago. (Different Socialfly from what you'll find from a Google search now. I couldn't seem to find any trace of the Socialfly I'm referring to online.) Anyway, I did find that service helpful so I hope Dex works out.
- ksun 7y ago
  Thanks for the note! Curious to hear more about Socialfly if you have any more info -- there have been a lot of attempts at a Personal CRM and always interested in learning from past examples.
  - michaelmior 7y ago
    I don't remember much about it tbh. It would import contacts and let you add birthday info and other personal details and schedule follow ups. I don't think it was anything groundbreaking tech-wise, but the concept seemed unique at the time.
ticmasta 7y ago
I'm confused; it goes beyond the big, GP social networks by focusing on more meaningful relationships (how?) but I create them by pulling directly from these sources of relationships? What exactly is a "personal" CRM that doesn't focus on selling? A curated address book? >> Most people realize the value and fulfillment that come from maintaining relationships, but occasionally still fall out of touch due to forgetfulness I think these is the fundamental premise that I don't personally agree with; the value of the relationship is what keeps you engaged. It's not simple forgetfulness that causes you to lose touch - you are prioritizing other activities over the relationship. This doesn't seem right or make me feel good though; it makes me seem like a self-centered jerk, so can't be true - I must be lacking (yet more) networking applications that "promote keeping in touch". I think there is opportunity for very specific purpose networking tools, like linkedin before they decided to be a general-purpose social network or centered around communities and activities. I don't think "relationships" is specific enough, unless you're focusing on physical relationships like dating or hookups. Also, the amount of private information you're asking to expose right out the gate is a non-starter for me. If it's curated (and thus meaningful) make your on-boarding & setup reflect this. I realize it's largely due to eas-of-use, but to me the process is a giant data vacuum.
- readme 7y ago
  I would be interested to hear from someone here who has utilized this method of networking effectively. Over the past year I've met plenty of contacts/got cards etc. I have not felt the need to contact any of the people I've met, so I honestly don't know what it would be like if I did. I don't have any needs/problems that aren't already solved by the people who are in my life now, and if someone was really important I'd put them in my phone contacts, which also, is at about 5% utilization, compared to the total number of people in there, and all those people I at least had some good reason to contact at some point. I think true meaningful networks cannot be built by exchanging a card on a one-off meeting. Am I wrong?
- ksun 7y ago
  I agree with your statement that the value of a relationships is what keep relationships alive. I'll add we do believe forgetfulness plays a role in how you prioritize. One benefit of using Dex is just having visibility into who you know so you can do this prioritization better. Dex as a 'personal CRM' does intend to provide professional utility as a tool that helps you keep in touch. People who depend on relationships for their work, but might not already have a CRM with their company, are part of Dex's core target audience. Thanks for your point on private information: we know that our onboarding experience isn't perfect and it's something we're working on.
drwl 7y ago
What's behind the name?
- ksun 7y ago
  It's meant to evoke 'Rolodex' but not directly :)
lifeisstillgood 7y ago
Oh my god I have had the same idea and have hacked on the first pass. Yes. Keep going ! It's a good idea. 1. Tiny bit confused over whether I was signing up or logging in. 2. I can't read their names on my phone (portrait mode). Landscape is ok. Maybe reduce the font size or something 3. What's the algorithm for displaying the recommend "get in touch"? Some people are friends I have a beer with some Inhomestly can not recognise My idea was to only recommend people whom I had replied to on email - the presumption being I must have wanted something So perhaps in the info field show me their last email or two so I can work out who they are Keep up the good work !
- ksun 7y ago
  Appreciate the product feedback -- it's super actionable. We haven't completed a full-on email integration yet because we want to be relatively conservative and make an email integration opt-in (but to come son!) The algorithm is primarily focused on your calendar data and when you've last had an event (if you don't use your calendar, these recommendations might not be great but will get better as you snooze/check off people) I like your idea on emails that you've actually replied too - will consider that for a future release!
  - lifeisstillgood 7y ago
    Some more notes 1. You recommend I get in touch with me ... and I am only third on the list :-) 2. I generally don't book events / calendar things. It's one of the reasons i think focusing on emails is so useful - I do those all the time and there is digital footprint that can be used to help me (as opposed to sell me ads) 3. Maybe I missed something but I tried to click on the arrow and then the mail icon, but no mail popped up - I would like to send a mail right there and then as a minimum "get in touch"
    - crawfordcomeaux 7y ago
      Maybe #1 means you've recently connected with yourself and so it isn't the most urgent, but something is still there needing addressing, so it stays close to the top of the stack until you connect with yourself around it? ;) Don't mind me. I'm just having fun projecting meaning onto things.
SEJeff 7y ago
https://github.com/dexidp/dex https://github.com/dexidp/dex is an existing project which was part of CoreOS's commercial kubernetes offering.
- dymk 7y ago
  "dex" is also the file extension for Dalvik VM bytecode files, and "Pokedex" is for keeping lists of Pokemon, "Roladex" is yet another product for keeping lists of people, and it means "dexterity" in role playing games, but nobody is getting confused with CoreOS's thing.
  - SEJeff 7y ago
    I have literally no idea why I'm getting downvoted for pointing out something with the same name. I just figured it added value to the "dex" convo. I realize it isn't going to confuse people as it is vastly different. It is still relevant as it has the same name, even if you downvote me.
    - lubujackson 7y ago
      It is probably because you seem to be unaware of rolodexes, which is what everyone used to manage contacts before computers, and the source for all the "dex" naming trends: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolodex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolodex
      - SEJeff 7y ago
        I was born in the early 80s, can confirm, am aware of a Rolodex :)
Invictus0 7y ago
I currently use Notion for my personal CRM but I'm frustrated by the reminders and poor note taking features. Will be giving Dex a try.
- scrollaway 7y ago
  I'm curious, what's your workflow in Notion for CRM stuff?
nickporter 7y ago
I need this in my life. Great idea!
atemerev 7y ago
Trying to fetch my Gmail contacts at the first sign-up? No option to continue without that? I am sorry, I can't do that. I don't know anything about your offer, how you will be using my data. Will it be resold later? In your privacy policy, there is an option of using my data (my contacts network) to run targeted advertising, etc. While I need something like this, I'll now have to search for more privacy-conscious alternatives.
omarhaneef 7y ago
I've been looking for something like this for a while -- months. The key for me -- other than privacy etc -- is that it be automated. It should take the info from my email, Facebook and maybe messenger/text and figure out who my friends are and who I have not been in touch with. How does this decide whom to recommend to reach out to?
- ksun 7y ago
  Right now the recommendations are based on your calendar history and your past activity with recommendations -- we're hoping to include more signals as we develop ways to ingest this data. One of the biggest challenges is the interesting integrations (Facebook/SMS/etc) aren't super easy to do (unless we straight up ask for credentials!). It's an area we're still working on, as more automation is the most requested direction of features.
simonebrunozzi 7y ago
Congrats on launching, and good luck with your startup. Personally I am much more old fashion - I stubbornly don't want a CRM to remind me of keeping in touch. I want to have my own mind to tell me...
- reificator 7y ago
  > Personally I am much more old fashion - I stubbornly don't want a CRM to remind me of keeping in touch. I want to have my own mind to tell me... My own mind has proven itself incompetent at this task, so I'm good with a little assistance. I was actually planning on re-reviewing Monica soon, so I'll add this to compare against. For me my goal is just about tracking what people enjoy or don't, what we last did, important developments in their lives, whether I've updated them on my own important developments, etc... Just offloading all the things my brain has repeatedly failed at in favor of garbage like song lyrics or API documentation.
karimf 7y ago
Well, I plan to built this since last year, but haven't got energy to actually build that. Congratulations on launching! From the website it seems that your MVP is a Chrome extension. A lot of time I remember to keep in touch with my friends are when I'm outside, away from my keyboard. When using computer my mind is habituated for works and leisures. Do you have any plan to build apps for mobile?
tamasnet 7y ago
I don't use Chrome. Or Gmail. Am I SOL? Also, I used to use Contactually for this a few years ago, was great with email integration and FB before they killed the API. Good luck!
Zaskoda 7y ago
A personal CRM should be federated. I shouldn't need to keep my friend's contact details up to date manually. If they run a digital address book of some kind, my software should just ask their software for the latest data and subsequently update my local data. This should be an open protocol like email or calendaring.
zhicong 7y ago
Ugh, I wish this existed before I went to build a simpler extension to help remember my Facebook friends better! (http://trybackstory.com http://trybackstory.com - shameless plug) It's great that you support all the social sites - it was enough work for me just to integrate private notes and tags into Facebook. If only I had put in more time into Backstory to turn it from a side project into a full-fledged product like yours! One thing I don't like is how intrusive the sidebar integrations are. They take up so much space that I can no longer see the other content in the sidebar at first glance. The Messenger integration also doesn't seem to be working for me. Congrats on launch! I'm going to start using Dex, hope it helps me keep up with friends in the next few weeks! :)
- ksun 7y ago
  Backstory looks super interesting! Will definitely try it out too :) Thanks for the feedback about the sidebar integrations; we're in the process of revamping it and will likely move some of this information to a popup instead.
caust1c 7y ago
Give me an option to pay and be more clear in your data policy and maybe I'll give it a shot. I've been wanting something like this for a while but the privacy policy is pretty vague and far too broad for me to trust a service like this: https://getdex.com/privacypolicy https://getdex.com/privacypolicy
- ksun 7y ago
  I'm happy to take your money and also clarify the privacy policy -- will follow-up with you when that's done!
  - _ah 7y ago
    The data security / privacy policy is super important. I've also wanted a personal CRM for some time so this definitely hits my pain point. However, I anticipate this would become most useful when I start adding personal, honest notes for all my contacts. That's obviously a problem if this database were ever to be leaked, or (worse) subpoenaed. I'd be much more excited about this product if it used zero-knowledge encryption for my data. Yes you can't data-mine it (and if I lose my password I'm hosed), but I'd prefer having the only copy of the decryption key.
rodolphoarruda 7y ago
My first CRM implementation in a large enterprise was back in 2004, so 15 years ago, OMG. Since then, I have seen and heard of many implementations that failed miserably because one critical factor: data entry was too hard/complicated. Just look at any CRM solution out there, pick up any entity, let's say, an Account. Click 'add new' and you will see 3 thousand different fields populating your screen, for those you won't have 30% of the data to fill in. Some process will mandate that you fill in at least 60% of that data somehow, so you cancel that creation and move ahead using a workaround. In my opinion, CRM data entry should always be incremental/progressive, very granular, allowing processes to flow without frustrating users. That is key to user adoption and to any project success. Just my 2cents on this.
wil5for 7y ago
I've been thinking about solving the same problem for myself personally (Even made an app here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/prim-relationship-manager/id1455596937 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/prim-relationship-manager/id14...). How are you avoiding manual data entry given social media's reluctance to release this information? Semi-related, how are you respecting user's data?
- ksun 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing Prim! Really interesting. Manual data entry as you know is the hard part -- any personal CRM will require some data entry. We try to make this easy with a calendar integration and Chrome extension, but it's not perfect and always a challenge. With user data: our privacy policy is here (https://getdex.com/privacypolicy https://getdex.com/privacypolicy) and we chose a subscription model so your data stays yours -- and private.
Chirael 7y ago
I thought I was going to have to build something like this myself but finally found a “good enough” app (ABC / Always Be in Contact). It has a few warts but since it’s free I can’t complain and it’s definitely helped me stay in touch with people
scrollaway 7y ago
Do you have a demo or some more insightful screenshots of what the app is? Even if I wanted to sign up to the site, I'd have to fill in a bunch of stuff to actually have a meaningful overview of the UI. I appreciate you have two-way contact syncing with Google Contacts which is a big thing that's lacking in monica. I also appreciate the Chrome Extension you mentioned. Is there deeper integration there, eg. do you allow me to back up / view data on my facebook friends through Dex? What I looked for in Monica, and simply did not find, was a true single-source-of-truth for all my contact interactions, be those on Facebook, Twitter, Discord, SMS, Hangouts …. It's less a matter of wanting to keep in touch with people (I love being able to set reminders for specific things, but lacking a good UI I just end up making those in Google Calendar), and more a matter of being able to quickly find things I may have discussed with someone. For example I talk to my girlfriend through all three of Messenger, Discord and SMS, and I'd like to be able to have a single history to sift through should I look for something she told me (groceries to get, an address / door code to remember, a photo she sent …). Again, to me the selling point of these kinds of personal-service websites are to offload parts of my brain to software that is more efficient at the task. Notion does a great job being a generic note-keeping / database app. Calendar does a great job at helping me remember everything time-bound events. A personal CRM should do a great job at helping me remember everything there is to remember about another person / a relationship with that person.
- ksun 7y ago
  Re: demo / screenshots, I totally get this. Honestly the landing page hasn't been a huge concern, but I'll take your feedback that you actually want to see the feedback first; we'll make changes. The Chrome Extension unfortunately doesn't do a deeper integration -- we're looking into how to make this happen! You're absolutely right that a personal CRM needs to be a single source of truth -- the hard part is getting data in the actual product!
  - scrollaway 7y ago
    Do you consider messaging history as mentioned to be in scope? I'd love to be able to quickly refer to emails, convos etc. And the best CRMs do let you keep track of people based on conversations. I get you that getting the data in is difficult though. A lot of API work. This is one thing where if you were open source and had a plugin / provider API people could contribute. I certainly would.
maz1b 7y ago
I also planned on doing a startup for this, but didn't have enough time. Best of luck to you!
bravura 7y ago
I was very excited to try this. Particularly as a hypersocial super-connector, I've dreamed about my ideal personal CRM. What I want is: * The ability to do something like a spaced repetition with my contacts. If it proposes I connect with someone, and I'm like "great", they stay high priority. Or I can snooze that contact for a little while or a long while. (There might be an orthogonal feature to track who is important but I only need infrequent contact with.) * The ability to accurately search my contacts. e.g. Friends who are into crypto and art. So I went all in on Dex for ten minutes and granted read permissions for my calendar + contacts and added the extension access to read and change data on all websites. The results were pretty underwhelming. It showed me a handful of contacts scraped from Google, many of which I didn't even recognize. I understand that this is perhaps I'm not much of an email guy, so I do know that a scrape of my Google contacts (or even my emails) will poorly reflect my social graph. Here's what I want: * Scrape and import my contacts across all platforms. If you need to use a Chrome extension to read my Facebook activity (not the messages, but just the people involved), fine. If you want me to spend 20 minutes downloading Facebook exports that don't include message text, or maybe screenshotting my message feed subjects for Facebook and Instagram and emailing them to you to OCR, to avoid you being liable for TOS breaking, fine. * Auto-tag contacts, and allow me to update my tags. * Auto-prioritize my contacts, and allow me to update the priorities. Dex isn't really what I need, but thank you. I appreciate you trying to solve this problem. [edit: Give me a Chrome extension to take screenshots of pages with key information about my social graph, whenever I browse onto them, that will then find sensitive info like message text and black them over and then allow me to easily email them to you?]
- ksun 7y ago
  Appreciate this feedback -- I recognize Dex is underwhelming for you and we''re working to fix that. We actually do have an experimental feature for Facebook import (it does take a few steps), but I don't think we come close to the automation you're looking for unfortunately (we're trying to get closer!) I think the end goal of a product we're looking to build might not be too far off from what you're looking for, and I appreciate your comments on what you want. (it's always nice when someone directly lists features they are looking for). I'll make a note to follow-up when Dex is a better solution for you!
baby_wipe 7y ago
Interesting because I did contract work for a very similar app about a year ago. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sunny-organize-your-contacts/id1399782974#?platform=iphone https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sunny-organize-your-contacts/i...
- orliesaurus 7y ago
  What happened to the company/app since?
  - baby_wipe 7y ago
    I don't think they got much traction.
getpost 7y ago
I think a personal CRM should include knowledge of Dunbar's number.[0][1] Like, "You are spending too much time with C people. Is C person Andrew now a B? B people like Joe and Jane need more attention." "You could use another A relationship. The following B people might be good candidates based on your contact frequency." This is mostly tongue-in-cheek, but it is often true that people don't attend to relationships with apprppriate priority. And, knowing your situation with regard to various relationship levels provides insight for growth. [0] https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/social-media-affect-math-dunbar-number-friendships https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/social-med... [1] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2004.2970 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2004...
- ksun 7y ago
  This is an interesting insight -- definitely aware of Dunbar's number but haven't thought about the best way to incorporate it into Dex. Appreciate the suggestions!
jeeshan 7y ago
Any functionality to log text messages, WhatsApp, and email?
AlphaWeaver 7y ago
I've tried Monica, and am optimistic about the future of personal CRMs, but nobody has taken advantage of the most obvious data source for determining frequency of communication: Why are there no apps that will read my SMS / call history and remind me to follow up with people I haven't interacted with? Monica only allows contact import, there's no direct syncing and no automatic updates when you call / text / email someone. That seems like a no brainer of a feature before anything else? Is there some huge technical barrier I'm missing here?
- judge2020 7y ago
  Would like to add that there is a "siri suggestion" in iPhone since iOS 12 that might remind you to call someone back if you missed their call. https://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/10/16/siri-shortcuts-suggestions-iphone-lock-screen-tutorial/ https://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/10/16/siri-shortcuts-sugg...
  - AlphaWeaver 7y ago
    Interesting, but I think this would be relegated to the same category as the "nudges" that Google gives you to follow up on an email in the new Gmail. That's not really what I'm (and perhaps most people) looking for in a personal CRM. I think the potential value add is the ability to "follow up" with long neglected personal relationships. (Friends who you've fallen out of touch with, etc...)
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
bprasanna 7y ago
Why the extension is targeted for Chrome only! What is so difficult about porting it to Firefox? When you come up with a product for mass user consumption, please don't assume everybody use Chrome by default. When a product is targeted for Windows only, that means the product doesn't make sense to run in Linux. But, if the product is applicable to Linux, and the person or company who developed didn't consider porting it to other platforms, then it is left to the pain of users to find the possibilities to make it run on Linux. Or pray god one day it will be available in Linux. In case of Extension for browsers, it doesn't make sense for users if the extension says it is targeted for Chrome browser only. Also, most of the extensions developed are not open source, so users don't have a chance to taken an effort to make it run on other browsers. Hope you consider porting your Extension to support other browsers as well.
- AlphaWeaver 7y ago
  This, so much this. Chrome and Firefox both use the WebExtensions standard. There's no reason not to write one extension for both. There are a few incompatibilities here and there but I wrote a FF extension (with around 1K MAUs) that I ported and added Chrome support in less than 2 hours.
  - ksun 7y ago
    This is a great point -- will look into this. I have to admit I haven't looked into this but agree it's a good idea + probably a quick thing to do!
sbr464 7y ago
It seems you have fullstory.com tracking all input & mouse events. Can you confirm? Every few seconds, a large payload goes to fullstory with all details: 47: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day blank"]]} 63: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day", [93, 2], "15", 96]]} 71: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day", [93, 2], "23", 96]]} 72: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day weekend sat", [93, 2], "24", 96]]} 73: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day weekend sun", [93, 2], "25", 96]]} 74: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day", [93, 2], 5593, 96]]} 90: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [9087, -1, [94, "Last note6m ago on 8/14/2019"]]} 91: {Kind: 4, When: 397746, Args: [8984, "class", "cell month selected"]} 92: {Kind: 4, When: 397746, Args: [8986, "class", "cell month"]} 94: {Kind: 6, When: 397746, Args: [8294, " in 14d"]} 95: {Kind: 6, When: 397746, Args: [8876, "Aug 2019"]}
- martin_a 7y ago
  How would any website or application these days work _without_ full-blown analytics tracking the hell out of every user?
  - diafygi 7y ago
    My company doesn't. However, we've had a hell of a time finding a marketing firm that will work with us since we don't use Google Analytics. Seriously, we tell them over and over that we can't use Google Analytics (due to our site terms), and they are so confused and keep asking to be given access to it. Anyone know and marketing firms that are privacy aware/friendly?
    - ChefboyOG 7y ago
      There are plenty of firms that don't do paid ads or any sort of data-based retargeting of users (think content firms), but the problem likely is that without some sort of analytics, it will be really hard for them to gauge the impact of their work. For example, a content firm wouldn't need user data to write a blogpost for your company, but they would need some sort of event tracking to measure how many signups came from users who discovered your company via the blogpost. Figuring out a way to setup attribution and basic event tracking without being invasive or sharing user data with third parties would probably make it easier to find a firm.
mr_puzzled 7y ago
It looks like Dex is fairly early stage and has a single founder(?). Many people including myself see this as a fairly rare occurence though YC insists otherwise (and YC is likely correct). I wanted to ask you a few questions about your company and journey leading up to to YC. * When did you start the company and how many founders are there? * What was your traction (MAU or anything else) prior to being accepted into YC? * How do you plan to grow the userbase? Content marketing, ads, partnering with other companies? * How do you plan to make money? * How big is the market size? * Are there any adjacent markets that you could see yourself expanding into? Good luck!
- ksun 7y ago
  You're right on both counts. The company started approximately 9 months ago, focused on different ideas in the relationship management space; traction prior to YC was minimal. The plan to grow the userbase is content marketing + advertising as we figure out unit economics. The plan to make money is to charge $7.99/month for the product. Market size estimates this early are tough to get right, but we believe anyone who uses LI (645 million users) can manage relationships better with Dex.
dantiberian 7y ago
From the privacy policy: We also may collect limited information from the people with whom you interact by email when you use the Site and Services. This information may include the recipient’s name and email address, the number of times that the recipient opens your email, the recipient’s IP address and the computer platform that the recipient is using. Is there a way to turn this off?
ArmandGrillet 7y ago
Great project. I don't see privacy being mentioned in your message nor on the website, that + the comment about the extension's permissions are a big no for me. It's 2019, I would expect such info to be given when reaching to the HN audience. We know you need to make money, the website doesn't say how, the logical assumption is that we're giving data to pay you and personally I like to know how much I have to pay before trying a new service.
- ksun 7y ago
  Totally get your concern. We'll surface the privacy policy more prominently (+ work on making this more clear), which you can access here https://getdex.com/privacypolicy https://getdex.com/privacypolicy. Dex is run as a subscription service ($7.99/mo), something we'll also make more clear on the site. Appreciate your feedback here -- this helps me understand what I need to change!
lordnacho 7y ago
Wow, this sounds an awful lot like the exact app I want. Was thinking about how to build it, but wasn't sure what services could be integrated. Tell me if does this: - Connects with FB, WhatsApp, Messenger, LinkedIn, and Gmail - Checks the message history for each person - Optionally coalesce users based on simple heuristics (similar name) - Give you a list of people according to last contact - Tells you the my turn / your turn of each conversation
- ksun 7y ago
  I would really like for the version of the product to move towards something like this -- a big struggle with relationship management now is some degree of fragmentation. Some of the integrations you mention (FB/WhatsApp/Messenger/LI) are hard to do since these companies don't expose API access (and we'd have to ask for user credentials, which aren't always straightforward!). I'm very curious -- would you be open to sending your credentials to Dex to enable these integrations?
  - lordnacho 7y ago
    When I looked at the docs it seemed a lot of the features used to be there but have now been removed, but I didn't spend much time on it. Would I send my creds, I guess if it did what I need I'd click one of those give access buttons. I hope you don't mean give user / pwd.
    - skinnymuch 7y ago
      Yeah it would likely be user password for services that don’t give API access. Access button means API.
Brajeshwar 7y ago
Nice. I so wanted something for quite a while. Brainstormed, sketched out quite a few times with my friend. Would be intereting how this progressed. Was using Contactually but was not happy.
Rainymood 7y ago
Shit. Companies with "my idea" keep getting into YC ... I always feel that my ideas are too crazy but then I see companies with exactly my idea getting into YC. I should just start building them out I guess ... Looking forward to what you guys build, Dex!
- o-__-o 7y ago
  Are you me? do you want to pair up on something and mash something out over the course of a few weekends?
  - Rainymood 7y ago
    Hell yes, feel free to reach out to me (website is in my profile)!
dgudkov 7y ago
A suggestion that I also proposed to the Monica's founder (with no reply, though) - make it possible to organize contacts around interests. In real life there almost always is some kind of common interest that you share with people - computer games, politics, cars, cooking, whatever. However with different people you have different shared interests.
- ksun 7y ago
  Thanks for this suggestion -- this is something I've thought about (especially in relation to helping users remember a good reason to reach out). You can do this sort-of with the tags in Dex now, but admittedly not a perfect solution.
gexla 7y ago
I signed up and tried to skip adding a Gmail account but it wouldn't allow me. I really don't want to just dump all contacts into an app like this because I don't really use Gmail as my contact repository and there might be stuff in there I just don't want to see. I might trigger myself. And I would rather give it a spin before committing a load of my real info. I instead used an alt which doesn't get much use. No contacts. Seems to work fine, why couldn't I just go with no contacts in the first place? I added a contact manually and... No pic? I can't upload a face? I'm visual. And what if I wanted to use this as my black book? I want pics! ;) Nice effort but I'll need to hang on the sidelines a bit. Congrats on the launch!
- ksun 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing your experience -- as you mentioned we've built Dex around the import experience for now [since typically those people get more value out of the product], but definitely trying to make Dex more fully featured for folks who would prefer to add manually!
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
DarwinMailApp 7y ago
I built something just like this years ago! It’s called Contact - People Organizer by App Addiction PS: I don’t track anything you do!!
betimsl 7y ago
So basically a smarter address book?
the-peter 7y ago
Interesting product! I recently used a mind-mapping tool to make a web of everyone (EVERYONE) I've ever known. I started with my family, all of my jobs and all of my schools, added everyone from those places and methodically looked at each person in the list adding people I met through them. Later I added trips like vacations, conferences etc and added everyone I met there. I was a nice nostalgic trip but I was amazed how many people I genuinely liked but haven't talked to in years. The thought crossed my mind to somehow track 'last contact' dates and have something popup to remind me to get in touch with people but it seemed too daunting a task to keep it up to date. I'll take a look a Dex for this now.
Mikho 7y ago
Looks like you are heavily utilizing Segment to funnel lots of private user data to unknown third party providers as also use CloudSponge -- which also basicall sucks up to all of my contacts and nobody knows what with it. That's too much third party data access without proper justification. BTW, Kevin, in your graphics you have a Russian name as an example. Are you Russian and just pretending to be westerner or you just like Russian names?

189 points by ksun 7y ago

sansnomme 7y ago

Comparison with Monica?

ksun 7y ago
Overall: Dex isn't open source, but integrates with your Google Calendar, has a Chrome extension that integrates with social media workflows. We're definitely solving a similar problem, and in the past I was a user of Monica until I found it too much work to keep up with. Monica notably does have more fields and performs functions (like journaling) that Dex does not.
- trilila 7y ago
  Keep up the good work. Some HN types beg for freeware and yet wonder why they cant escape the rat race. Quality software should be rewarded and should not be free of cost.
  - emptysongglass 7y ago
    Free =/= open source. What these HN types you are so aggravated by are asking for is open source (not free as in beer) software, which some (like me) consider an ethical imperative.
    - dymk 7y ago
      Can you explain why having the source code to the software you run is an "ethical imperative"?
      - SEJeff 7y ago
        See the entire exhausting body of "Open Source is not Free Software" arguments from fsf apologists. RMS literally stated once he wanted proprietary software to be illegal. Properly answering the question you asked is a whole can of worms, much like asking "vim or emacs" or "macOS or Windows or Linux" or maybe even "python or ruby or rust / go?".
    - trilila 7y ago
      I agree with open source =/= free but what most comments like “open source alternative to” mean is exactly that. HN is a forum promoting ideas both for the benefit of everyone and / or commercial, yet each time someone showcases their work there is someone posting a “free alternative” post as if it’s meant to mean something. Cargo culting open source is really not doing anyone a favour and instead it is pushing more and more entrepreneurs types away from hackernews. Unless some drug maker made a commercial drug to cure cancer and someone else made a free open alternative to it, i really don't care about free github star whoring on hn.

philip1209 7y ago

Cool! I keep a personal CRM in Airtable. But, my biggest problem is that it doesn't have an awareness of when I contact people (e.g., via email, messenger, Whatsapp, Twitter, etc). How do you plan on addressing this with Dex?

ksun 7y ago
Right now we do this with the Chrome extension (you can have a panel in Twitter / Messenger without leaving the page). The calendar integration also helps if you use calendar invites, but that isn't relevant to all interactions. Email is on the roadmap. For other channels like Messenger and Whatsapp, a big constraint is no API for messages. Making an integration for these channels the 'right way' is a challenge we're still working on -- we could ask for user credentials but that doesn't seem like a great long-term solution.

AIME15 7y ago

> Add "Dex for Chrome"? >> It can: >> Read and change all your data on the websites you visit No thanks

rudedogg 7y ago
Not sure what functionality their extension has, but this is pretty hard to avoid. To run javascript you can basically do whatever you want — so the browsers let users know that. I wish the security could be more fine grained, but I’m not sure that’s possible. Edit: Looked at the extension and maybe it could limit itself to social network domains though.
gitgud 7y ago
With chrome extensions, unfortunately that's the only option for developers; read all urls/data or no access to urls/data
- skeletonjelly 7y ago
  Are you sure that's current? I made an extension (just for myself) a few months back and I could restrict the domains via the permissions array in the manifest.json https://developer.chrome.com/apps/declare_permissions https://developer.chrome.com/apps/declare_permissions (see reference to "match pattern") This then in turn populates the list of sites in the extension settings where you can choose to deny access to the aforementioned websites listed in the manifest
  - gitgud 7y ago
    Oh sorry, yes I am mistaken (been a while for me). I guess a lot of developers just use permissions "host": " * " because it's easier... What extension did you make? I made [1] an extension a while ago, and spent more time than I'd care to admit. Now that I think about it, I used "host": " * " too! (even though it's necessary for that particular extension)... [1] https://newsit.benwinding.com/ https://newsit.benwinding.com/
    - 7y ago

akgvn 7y ago

An open-source alternative, Monica, has been discussed before: * (2018) "Monica – Personal CRM, Remember everything about friends and family" -> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318547 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318547 * (2017) "Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family" -> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14497295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14497295

ksun 7y ago
Thanks for bringing this up! Monica is definitely an inspiration for what Dex is working on. I think it'd be fair to characterize two main contrasts: 1) Dex is for relationships that are both professional and personal 2) tries to be more integrated with existing workflows (using your calendar)
trilila 7y ago
Downvoting any “open source alternative” to anything as those are usually crapware.
- dang 7y ago
  "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
simulate 7y ago
I've been using Monica for a couple of years now and I'm very happy with it for my personal network. It's a great tool to remind me who is connected to whom and what to ask about before attending a party. The online version is here: https://app.monicahq.com/register https://app.monicahq.com/register
- shostack 7y ago
  Any thoughts on the security model for the hosted service?

lars_francke 7y ago

How do you plan to make money? Right now everything seems to be free. I'm asking because I hate to be surprised after investing time to curate a CRM.

ksun 7y ago
There is a free tier now; we'll be building out the features of a premium tier ($7.99 / month) for other features. Since data is meant to be private and never shared, we're following a subscription model.
- atemerev 7y ago
  Why you are collecting personal contacts pervasively, then?
  - reificator 7y ago
    I mean, the app is meant to help organize your contacts, is it not? If I see an app ask for my contact data without good reason, I'm immediately out in most cases. But they've got a good reason: it's what the app is supposed to do...
    - atemerev 7y ago
      The app is "a personal CRM that reminds you to keep in touch". There are people that I want to keep in touch with (which I can add manually), and the rest of my contact list, who don't need any organizing.
- wtmt 7y ago
  Quick thought: $7.99 looks like it should be the highest tier in a four tier scheme (free, a dollar or two, way less than $7.99, and $7.99) since you're talking about per month prices. Even then the price looks steep to me (currency conversion and other factors considered).
- lars_francke 7y ago

louisswiss 7y ago

Great stuff! I've been thinking about a way to solve the exact same problem on and off for a long time (I'm terrible at proactively keeping in touch with friends). My original solution was the same as yours, but it quickly broke down for me because I just couldn't get all of the data (in particular when I last talked to someone) into the app. I imagine you'll face the same challenge. Two approaches have worked well for me though... 1. a dumb version of Dex. Basically just a list of friends/acquaintances and a periodic reminder (weekly, monthly, quarterly) to make sure I'd been in touch 2. a weekly prompt to reach out to anyone who fits a certain set of criteria. For example, "send a message to the last person you met at a networking event" or "reach out to the contact you'd be most likely to recommend for a marketing role" Weirdly, the latter version has been way better for me at maintaining and growing relationships outside of my closest circle of friends. Especially on the professional side of things. If you want to chat more about my experience or the problem in general, my email is in my profile and I find this super interesting :) Good luck!

ksun 7y ago
Will follow-up via email :). I'll note I think one thing that Dex does different is it tries to be actionable as best as possible (like your #2 weekly prompt). Without a prompt, it's much harder to get regular value out of the product!

sbuccini 7y ago

I really, really need something like this in my life. In a previous life, I ran for political office and raising money would have been so much easier if I had kept those contacts warm over time. Big problem here is that it requires Google Contacts. Do people actually use that? Phone/FB contacts would be much more useful in my book. I actually was just thinking about this type of product just yesterday while walking around a part of the city I've never been to -- how cool would it be to proactively shoot folks a text whenever I'm in their part of town (determined by GPS)? I end up doing this manually and I always forget folks until it's too late.

wodenokoto 7y ago
Doesn't every Android phone sync to google contacts by default?
ksun 7y ago
Google Contacts are useful for email data (since folks often add to Google Contacts, which does create issues with noise...) I'll add you can add your iCloud contacts into Dex if you're an iPhone user!

kilroy123 7y ago

Funny coincidence, just today I was toying around with Monica and looking around for another person CRM. I'm a bit frustrated by the lack of features in Monica. What I want is this, reminders to stay in contact with someone. I want a notification to appear on my phone saying something like, "hey you told us to stay in touch with Bob every month, click to open WhatsApp and message them." Or slack, text, email, etc. I also want a central location for all my contacts and info about this. Notes, when we last got in touch and how we communicate (messenger, slack, email, LinkedIn, etc.) I really want it to stay synced with iCloud, Google, Next loud, etc. I want as much automation as possible. Every CRM I've looked into seems to revolve around a lot of manual work. I'll have to give getdex a try.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ksun 7y ago
Automation is definitely an area I've thought a lot about -- it's the most common feature request by far. If you actively use your calendar, Dex does a reasonable job of integrating your calendar events with your records. Email is on the roadmap. We've built the Chrome extension as a temporary substitute, but full automation is definitely the eventual vision. Unfortunately the more interesting channels (Messenger / Facebook) don't have accessible APIs so integrating with them has been an ongoing challenge. Would appreciate any automation suggestions as you try it out!

egourlao 7y ago

Do you have a privacy policy? I don't see anything on your landing page, or in the web app.

ksun 7y ago
Yup, the privacy policy is on the start page (https://getdex.com/start https://getdex.com/start) and can be found at https://getdex.com/privacypolicy https://getdex.com/privacypolicy. I'll work to make it more clear!
- SEJeff 7y ago
  It took me awhile to literally find the exact same thing. What is your goal for monetization? This looks really nice, but how do you plan to make this viable in the long run? You can have a million users and still lose money. Just look at Uber as an idea of how not to build a company!

michaelmior 7y ago

Sounds exactly like what Socialfly was doing several years ago. (Different Socialfly from what you'll find from a Google search now. I couldn't seem to find any trace of the Socialfly I'm referring to online.) Anyway, I did find that service helpful so I hope Dex works out.

ksun 7y ago
Thanks for the note! Curious to hear more about Socialfly if you have any more info -- there have been a lot of attempts at a Personal CRM and always interested in learning from past examples.
- michaelmior 7y ago
  I don't remember much about it tbh. It would import contacts and let you add birthday info and other personal details and schedule follow ups. I don't think it was anything groundbreaking tech-wise, but the concept seemed unique at the time.

ticmasta 7y ago

I'm confused; it goes beyond the big, GP social networks by focusing on more meaningful relationships (how?) but I create them by pulling directly from these sources of relationships? What exactly is a "personal" CRM that doesn't focus on selling? A curated address book? >> Most people realize the value and fulfillment that come from maintaining relationships, but occasionally still fall out of touch due to forgetfulness I think these is the fundamental premise that I don't personally agree with; the value of the relationship is what keeps you engaged. It's not simple forgetfulness that causes you to lose touch - you are prioritizing other activities over the relationship. This doesn't seem right or make me feel good though; it makes me seem like a self-centered jerk, so can't be true - I must be lacking (yet more) networking applications that "promote keeping in touch". I think there is opportunity for very specific purpose networking tools, like linkedin before they decided to be a general-purpose social network or centered around communities and activities. I don't think "relationships" is specific enough, unless you're focusing on physical relationships like dating or hookups. Also, the amount of private information you're asking to expose right out the gate is a non-starter for me. If it's curated (and thus meaningful) make your on-boarding & setup reflect this. I realize it's largely due to eas-of-use, but to me the process is a giant data vacuum.

readme 7y ago
I would be interested to hear from someone here who has utilized this method of networking effectively. Over the past year I've met plenty of contacts/got cards etc. I have not felt the need to contact any of the people I've met, so I honestly don't know what it would be like if I did. I don't have any needs/problems that aren't already solved by the people who are in my life now, and if someone was really important I'd put them in my phone contacts, which also, is at about 5% utilization, compared to the total number of people in there, and all those people I at least had some good reason to contact at some point. I think true meaningful networks cannot be built by exchanging a card on a one-off meeting. Am I wrong?
ksun 7y ago
I agree with your statement that the value of a relationships is what keep relationships alive. I'll add we do believe forgetfulness plays a role in how you prioritize. One benefit of using Dex is just having visibility into who you know so you can do this prioritization better. Dex as a 'personal CRM' does intend to provide professional utility as a tool that helps you keep in touch. People who depend on relationships for their work, but might not already have a CRM with their company, are part of Dex's core target audience. Thanks for your point on private information: we know that our onboarding experience isn't perfect and it's something we're working on.

drwl 7y ago

What's behind the name?

ksun 7y ago
It's meant to evoke 'Rolodex' but not directly :)

lifeisstillgood 7y ago

Oh my god I have had the same idea and have hacked on the first pass. Yes. Keep going ! It's a good idea. 1. Tiny bit confused over whether I was signing up or logging in. 2. I can't read their names on my phone (portrait mode). Landscape is ok. Maybe reduce the font size or something 3. What's the algorithm for displaying the recommend "get in touch"? Some people are friends I have a beer with some Inhomestly can not recognise My idea was to only recommend people whom I had replied to on email - the presumption being I must have wanted something So perhaps in the info field show me their last email or two so I can work out who they are Keep up the good work !

ksun 7y ago
Appreciate the product feedback -- it's super actionable. We haven't completed a full-on email integration yet because we want to be relatively conservative and make an email integration opt-in (but to come son!) The algorithm is primarily focused on your calendar data and when you've last had an event (if you don't use your calendar, these recommendations might not be great but will get better as you snooze/check off people) I like your idea on emails that you've actually replied too - will consider that for a future release!
- lifeisstillgood 7y ago
  Some more notes 1. You recommend I get in touch with me ... and I am only third on the list :-) 2. I generally don't book events / calendar things. It's one of the reasons i think focusing on emails is so useful - I do those all the time and there is digital footprint that can be used to help me (as opposed to sell me ads) 3. Maybe I missed something but I tried to click on the arrow and then the mail icon, but no mail popped up - I would like to send a mail right there and then as a minimum "get in touch"
  - crawfordcomeaux 7y ago
    Maybe #1 means you've recently connected with yourself and so it isn't the most urgent, but something is still there needing addressing, so it stays close to the top of the stack until you connect with yourself around it? ;) Don't mind me. I'm just having fun projecting meaning onto things.

SEJeff 7y ago

https://github.com/dexidp/dex https://github.com/dexidp/dex is an existing project which was part of CoreOS's commercial kubernetes offering.

dymk 7y ago
"dex" is also the file extension for Dalvik VM bytecode files, and "Pokedex" is for keeping lists of Pokemon, "Roladex" is yet another product for keeping lists of people, and it means "dexterity" in role playing games, but nobody is getting confused with CoreOS's thing.
- SEJeff 7y ago
  I have literally no idea why I'm getting downvoted for pointing out something with the same name. I just figured it added value to the "dex" convo. I realize it isn't going to confuse people as it is vastly different. It is still relevant as it has the same name, even if you downvote me.
  - lubujackson 7y ago
    It is probably because you seem to be unaware of rolodexes, which is what everyone used to manage contacts before computers, and the source for all the "dex" naming trends: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolodex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolodex
    - SEJeff 7y ago
      I was born in the early 80s, can confirm, am aware of a Rolodex :)

Invictus0 7y ago

I currently use Notion for my personal CRM but I'm frustrated by the reminders and poor note taking features. Will be giving Dex a try.

scrollaway 7y ago
I'm curious, what's your workflow in Notion for CRM stuff?

nickporter 7y ago

I need this in my life. Great idea!

atemerev 7y ago

Trying to fetch my Gmail contacts at the first sign-up? No option to continue without that? I am sorry, I can't do that. I don't know anything about your offer, how you will be using my data. Will it be resold later? In your privacy policy, there is an option of using my data (my contacts network) to run targeted advertising, etc. While I need something like this, I'll now have to search for more privacy-conscious alternatives.

omarhaneef 7y ago

I've been looking for something like this for a while -- months. The key for me -- other than privacy etc -- is that it be automated. It should take the info from my email, Facebook and maybe messenger/text and figure out who my friends are and who I have not been in touch with. How does this decide whom to recommend to reach out to?

ksun 7y ago
Right now the recommendations are based on your calendar history and your past activity with recommendations -- we're hoping to include more signals as we develop ways to ingest this data. One of the biggest challenges is the interesting integrations (Facebook/SMS/etc) aren't super easy to do (unless we straight up ask for credentials!). It's an area we're still working on, as more automation is the most requested direction of features.

simonebrunozzi 7y ago

Congrats on launching, and good luck with your startup. Personally I am much more old fashion - I stubbornly don't want a CRM to remind me of keeping in touch. I want to have my own mind to tell me...

reificator 7y ago
> Personally I am much more old fashion - I stubbornly don't want a CRM to remind me of keeping in touch. I want to have my own mind to tell me... My own mind has proven itself incompetent at this task, so I'm good with a little assistance. I was actually planning on re-reviewing Monica soon, so I'll add this to compare against. For me my goal is just about tracking what people enjoy or don't, what we last did, important developments in their lives, whether I've updated them on my own important developments, etc... Just offloading all the things my brain has repeatedly failed at in favor of garbage like song lyrics or API documentation.

karimf 7y ago

Well, I plan to built this since last year, but haven't got energy to actually build that. Congratulations on launching! From the website it seems that your MVP is a Chrome extension. A lot of time I remember to keep in touch with my friends are when I'm outside, away from my keyboard. When using computer my mind is habituated for works and leisures. Do you have any plan to build apps for mobile?

tamasnet 7y ago

I don't use Chrome. Or Gmail. Am I SOL? Also, I used to use Contactually for this a few years ago, was great with email integration and FB before they killed the API. Good luck!

Zaskoda 7y ago

A personal CRM should be federated. I shouldn't need to keep my friend's contact details up to date manually. If they run a digital address book of some kind, my software should just ask their software for the latest data and subsequently update my local data. This should be an open protocol like email or calendaring.

zhicong 7y ago

Ugh, I wish this existed before I went to build a simpler extension to help remember my Facebook friends better! (http://trybackstory.com http://trybackstory.com - shameless plug) It's great that you support all the social sites - it was enough work for me just to integrate private notes and tags into Facebook. If only I had put in more time into Backstory to turn it from a side project into a full-fledged product like yours! One thing I don't like is how intrusive the sidebar integrations are. They take up so much space that I can no longer see the other content in the sidebar at first glance. The Messenger integration also doesn't seem to be working for me. Congrats on launch! I'm going to start using Dex, hope it helps me keep up with friends in the next few weeks! :)

ksun 7y ago
Backstory looks super interesting! Will definitely try it out too :) Thanks for the feedback about the sidebar integrations; we're in the process of revamping it and will likely move some of this information to a popup instead.

caust1c 7y ago

Give me an option to pay and be more clear in your data policy and maybe I'll give it a shot. I've been wanting something like this for a while but the privacy policy is pretty vague and far too broad for me to trust a service like this: https://getdex.com/privacypolicy https://getdex.com/privacypolicy

ksun 7y ago
I'm happy to take your money and also clarify the privacy policy -- will follow-up with you when that's done!
- _ah 7y ago
  The data security / privacy policy is super important. I've also wanted a personal CRM for some time so this definitely hits my pain point. However, I anticipate this would become most useful when I start adding personal, honest notes for all my contacts. That's obviously a problem if this database were ever to be leaked, or (worse) subpoenaed. I'd be much more excited about this product if it used zero-knowledge encryption for my data. Yes you can't data-mine it (and if I lose my password I'm hosed), but I'd prefer having the only copy of the decryption key.

rodolphoarruda 7y ago

My first CRM implementation in a large enterprise was back in 2004, so 15 years ago, OMG. Since then, I have seen and heard of many implementations that failed miserably because one critical factor: data entry was too hard/complicated. Just look at any CRM solution out there, pick up any entity, let's say, an Account. Click 'add new' and you will see 3 thousand different fields populating your screen, for those you won't have 30% of the data to fill in. Some process will mandate that you fill in at least 60% of that data somehow, so you cancel that creation and move ahead using a workaround. In my opinion, CRM data entry should always be incremental/progressive, very granular, allowing processes to flow without frustrating users. That is key to user adoption and to any project success. Just my 2cents on this.

wil5for 7y ago

I've been thinking about solving the same problem for myself personally (Even made an app here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/prim-relationship-manager/id1455596937 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/prim-relationship-manager/id14...). How are you avoiding manual data entry given social media's reluctance to release this information? Semi-related, how are you respecting user's data?

ksun 7y ago
Thanks for sharing Prim! Really interesting. Manual data entry as you know is the hard part -- any personal CRM will require some data entry. We try to make this easy with a calendar integration and Chrome extension, but it's not perfect and always a challenge. With user data: our privacy policy is here (https://getdex.com/privacypolicy https://getdex.com/privacypolicy) and we chose a subscription model so your data stays yours -- and private.

Chirael 7y ago

I thought I was going to have to build something like this myself but finally found a “good enough” app (ABC / Always Be in Contact). It has a few warts but since it’s free I can’t complain and it’s definitely helped me stay in touch with people

scrollaway 7y ago

Do you have a demo or some more insightful screenshots of what the app is? Even if I wanted to sign up to the site, I'd have to fill in a bunch of stuff to actually have a meaningful overview of the UI. I appreciate you have two-way contact syncing with Google Contacts which is a big thing that's lacking in monica. I also appreciate the Chrome Extension you mentioned. Is there deeper integration there, eg. do you allow me to back up / view data on my facebook friends through Dex? What I looked for in Monica, and simply did not find, was a true single-source-of-truth for all my contact interactions, be those on Facebook, Twitter, Discord, SMS, Hangouts …. It's less a matter of wanting to keep in touch with people (I love being able to set reminders for specific things, but lacking a good UI I just end up making those in Google Calendar), and more a matter of being able to quickly find things I may have discussed with someone. For example I talk to my girlfriend through all three of Messenger, Discord and SMS, and I'd like to be able to have a single history to sift through should I look for something she told me (groceries to get, an address / door code to remember, a photo she sent …). Again, to me the selling point of these kinds of personal-service websites are to offload parts of my brain to software that is more efficient at the task. Notion does a great job being a generic note-keeping / database app. Calendar does a great job at helping me remember everything time-bound events. A personal CRM should do a great job at helping me remember everything there is to remember about another person / a relationship with that person.

ksun 7y ago
Re: demo / screenshots, I totally get this. Honestly the landing page hasn't been a huge concern, but I'll take your feedback that you actually want to see the feedback first; we'll make changes. The Chrome Extension unfortunately doesn't do a deeper integration -- we're looking into how to make this happen! You're absolutely right that a personal CRM needs to be a single source of truth -- the hard part is getting data in the actual product!
- scrollaway 7y ago
  Do you consider messaging history as mentioned to be in scope? I'd love to be able to quickly refer to emails, convos etc. And the best CRMs do let you keep track of people based on conversations. I get you that getting the data in is difficult though. A lot of API work. This is one thing where if you were open source and had a plugin / provider API people could contribute. I certainly would.

maz1b 7y ago

I also planned on doing a startup for this, but didn't have enough time. Best of luck to you!

bravura 7y ago

I was very excited to try this. Particularly as a hypersocial super-connector, I've dreamed about my ideal personal CRM. What I want is: * The ability to do something like a spaced repetition with my contacts. If it proposes I connect with someone, and I'm like "great", they stay high priority. Or I can snooze that contact for a little while or a long while. (There might be an orthogonal feature to track who is important but I only need infrequent contact with.) * The ability to accurately search my contacts. e.g. Friends who are into crypto and art. So I went all in on Dex for ten minutes and granted read permissions for my calendar + contacts and added the extension access to read and change data on all websites. The results were pretty underwhelming. It showed me a handful of contacts scraped from Google, many of which I didn't even recognize. I understand that this is perhaps I'm not much of an email guy, so I do know that a scrape of my Google contacts (or even my emails) will poorly reflect my social graph. Here's what I want: * Scrape and import my contacts across all platforms. If you need to use a Chrome extension to read my Facebook activity (not the messages, but just the people involved), fine. If you want me to spend 20 minutes downloading Facebook exports that don't include message text, or maybe screenshotting my message feed subjects for Facebook and Instagram and emailing them to you to OCR, to avoid you being liable for TOS breaking, fine. * Auto-tag contacts, and allow me to update my tags. * Auto-prioritize my contacts, and allow me to update the priorities. Dex isn't really what I need, but thank you. I appreciate you trying to solve this problem. [edit: Give me a Chrome extension to take screenshots of pages with key information about my social graph, whenever I browse onto them, that will then find sensitive info like message text and black them over and then allow me to easily email them to you?]

ksun 7y ago
Appreciate this feedback -- I recognize Dex is underwhelming for you and we''re working to fix that. We actually do have an experimental feature for Facebook import (it does take a few steps), but I don't think we come close to the automation you're looking for unfortunately (we're trying to get closer!) I think the end goal of a product we're looking to build might not be too far off from what you're looking for, and I appreciate your comments on what you want. (it's always nice when someone directly lists features they are looking for). I'll make a note to follow-up when Dex is a better solution for you!

baby_wipe 7y ago

Interesting because I did contract work for a very similar app about a year ago. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sunny-organize-your-contacts/id1399782974#?platform=iphone https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sunny-organize-your-contacts/i...

orliesaurus 7y ago
What happened to the company/app since?
- baby_wipe 7y ago
  I don't think they got much traction.

getpost 7y ago

I think a personal CRM should include knowledge of Dunbar's number.[0][1] Like, "You are spending too much time with C people. Is C person Andrew now a B? B people like Joe and Jane need more attention." "You could use another A relationship. The following B people might be good candidates based on your contact frequency." This is mostly tongue-in-cheek, but it is often true that people don't attend to relationships with apprppriate priority. And, knowing your situation with regard to various relationship levels provides insight for growth. [0] https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/social-media-affect-math-dunbar-number-friendships https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/social-med... [1] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2004.2970 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2004...

ksun 7y ago
This is an interesting insight -- definitely aware of Dunbar's number but haven't thought about the best way to incorporate it into Dex. Appreciate the suggestions!

jeeshan 7y ago

Any functionality to log text messages, WhatsApp, and email?

AlphaWeaver 7y ago

I've tried Monica, and am optimistic about the future of personal CRMs, but nobody has taken advantage of the most obvious data source for determining frequency of communication: Why are there no apps that will read my SMS / call history and remind me to follow up with people I haven't interacted with? Monica only allows contact import, there's no direct syncing and no automatic updates when you call / text / email someone. That seems like a no brainer of a feature before anything else? Is there some huge technical barrier I'm missing here?

judge2020 7y ago
Would like to add that there is a "siri suggestion" in iPhone since iOS 12 that might remind you to call someone back if you missed their call. https://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/10/16/siri-shortcuts-suggestions-iphone-lock-screen-tutorial/ https://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/10/16/siri-shortcuts-sugg...
- AlphaWeaver 7y ago
  Interesting, but I think this would be relegated to the same category as the "nudges" that Google gives you to follow up on an email in the new Gmail. That's not really what I'm (and perhaps most people) looking for in a personal CRM. I think the potential value add is the ability to "follow up" with long neglected personal relationships. (Friends who you've fallen out of touch with, etc...)
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

bprasanna 7y ago

Why the extension is targeted for Chrome only! What is so difficult about porting it to Firefox? When you come up with a product for mass user consumption, please don't assume everybody use Chrome by default. When a product is targeted for Windows only, that means the product doesn't make sense to run in Linux. But, if the product is applicable to Linux, and the person or company who developed didn't consider porting it to other platforms, then it is left to the pain of users to find the possibilities to make it run on Linux. Or pray god one day it will be available in Linux. In case of Extension for browsers, it doesn't make sense for users if the extension says it is targeted for Chrome browser only. Also, most of the extensions developed are not open source, so users don't have a chance to taken an effort to make it run on other browsers. Hope you consider porting your Extension to support other browsers as well.

AlphaWeaver 7y ago
This, so much this. Chrome and Firefox both use the WebExtensions standard. There's no reason not to write one extension for both. There are a few incompatibilities here and there but I wrote a FF extension (with around 1K MAUs) that I ported and added Chrome support in less than 2 hours.
- ksun 7y ago
  This is a great point -- will look into this. I have to admit I haven't looked into this but agree it's a good idea + probably a quick thing to do!

sbr464 7y ago

It seems you have fullstory.com tracking all input & mouse events. Can you confirm? Every few seconds, a large payload goes to fullstory with all details: 47: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day blank"]]} 63: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day", [93, 2], "15", 96]]} 71: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day", [93, 2], "23", 96]]} 72: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day weekend sat", [93, 2], "24", 96]]} 73: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day weekend sun", [93, 2], "25", 96]]} 74: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [8881, -1, [[4405, 2], "cell day", [93, 2], 5593, 96]]} 90: {When: 397746, Kind: 2, Args: [9087, -1, [94, "Last note6m ago on 8/14/2019"]]} 91: {Kind: 4, When: 397746, Args: [8984, "class", "cell month selected"]} 92: {Kind: 4, When: 397746, Args: [8986, "class", "cell month"]} 94: {Kind: 6, When: 397746, Args: [8294, " in 14d"]} 95: {Kind: 6, When: 397746, Args: [8876, "Aug 2019"]}

martin_a 7y ago
How would any website or application these days work _without_ full-blown analytics tracking the hell out of every user?
- diafygi 7y ago
  My company doesn't. However, we've had a hell of a time finding a marketing firm that will work with us since we don't use Google Analytics. Seriously, we tell them over and over that we can't use Google Analytics (due to our site terms), and they are so confused and keep asking to be given access to it. Anyone know and marketing firms that are privacy aware/friendly?
  - ChefboyOG 7y ago
    There are plenty of firms that don't do paid ads or any sort of data-based retargeting of users (think content firms), but the problem likely is that without some sort of analytics, it will be really hard for them to gauge the impact of their work. For example, a content firm wouldn't need user data to write a blogpost for your company, but they would need some sort of event tracking to measure how many signups came from users who discovered your company via the blogpost. Figuring out a way to setup attribution and basic event tracking without being invasive or sharing user data with third parties would probably make it easier to find a firm.

mr_puzzled 7y ago

It looks like Dex is fairly early stage and has a single founder(?). Many people including myself see this as a fairly rare occurence though YC insists otherwise (and YC is likely correct). I wanted to ask you a few questions about your company and journey leading up to to YC. * When did you start the company and how many founders are there? * What was your traction (MAU or anything else) prior to being accepted into YC? * How do you plan to grow the userbase? Content marketing, ads, partnering with other companies? * How do you plan to make money? * How big is the market size? * Are there any adjacent markets that you could see yourself expanding into? Good luck!

ksun 7y ago
You're right on both counts. The company started approximately 9 months ago, focused on different ideas in the relationship management space; traction prior to YC was minimal. The plan to grow the userbase is content marketing + advertising as we figure out unit economics. The plan to make money is to charge $7.99/month for the product. Market size estimates this early are tough to get right, but we believe anyone who uses LI (645 million users) can manage relationships better with Dex.

dantiberian 7y ago

From the privacy policy: We also may collect limited information from the people with whom you interact by email when you use the Site and Services. This information may include the recipient’s name and email address, the number of times that the recipient opens your email, the recipient’s IP address and the computer platform that the recipient is using. Is there a way to turn this off?

ArmandGrillet 7y ago

Great project. I don't see privacy being mentioned in your message nor on the website, that + the comment about the extension's permissions are a big no for me. It's 2019, I would expect such info to be given when reaching to the HN audience. We know you need to make money, the website doesn't say how, the logical assumption is that we're giving data to pay you and personally I like to know how much I have to pay before trying a new service.

ksun 7y ago
Totally get your concern. We'll surface the privacy policy more prominently (+ work on making this more clear), which you can access here https://getdex.com/privacypolicy https://getdex.com/privacypolicy. Dex is run as a subscription service ($7.99/mo), something we'll also make more clear on the site. Appreciate your feedback here -- this helps me understand what I need to change!

lordnacho 7y ago

Wow, this sounds an awful lot like the exact app I want. Was thinking about how to build it, but wasn't sure what services could be integrated. Tell me if does this: - Connects with FB, WhatsApp, Messenger, LinkedIn, and Gmail - Checks the message history for each person - Optionally coalesce users based on simple heuristics (similar name) - Give you a list of people according to last contact - Tells you the my turn / your turn of each conversation

ksun 7y ago
I would really like for the version of the product to move towards something like this -- a big struggle with relationship management now is some degree of fragmentation. Some of the integrations you mention (FB/WhatsApp/Messenger/LI) are hard to do since these companies don't expose API access (and we'd have to ask for user credentials, which aren't always straightforward!). I'm very curious -- would you be open to sending your credentials to Dex to enable these integrations?
- lordnacho 7y ago
  When I looked at the docs it seemed a lot of the features used to be there but have now been removed, but I didn't spend much time on it. Would I send my creds, I guess if it did what I need I'd click one of those give access buttons. I hope you don't mean give user / pwd.
  - skinnymuch 7y ago
    Yeah it would likely be user password for services that don’t give API access. Access button means API.

Brajeshwar 7y ago

Nice. I so wanted something for quite a while. Brainstormed, sketched out quite a few times with my friend. Would be intereting how this progressed. Was using Contactually but was not happy.

Rainymood 7y ago

Shit. Companies with "my idea" keep getting into YC ... I always feel that my ideas are too crazy but then I see companies with exactly my idea getting into YC. I should just start building them out I guess ... Looking forward to what you guys build, Dex!

o-__-o 7y ago
Are you me? do you want to pair up on something and mash something out over the course of a few weekends?
- Rainymood 7y ago
  Hell yes, feel free to reach out to me (website is in my profile)!

dgudkov 7y ago

A suggestion that I also proposed to the Monica's founder (with no reply, though) - make it possible to organize contacts around interests. In real life there almost always is some kind of common interest that you share with people - computer games, politics, cars, cooking, whatever. However with different people you have different shared interests.

ksun 7y ago
Thanks for this suggestion -- this is something I've thought about (especially in relation to helping users remember a good reason to reach out). You can do this sort-of with the tags in Dex now, but admittedly not a perfect solution.

gexla 7y ago

I signed up and tried to skip adding a Gmail account but it wouldn't allow me. I really don't want to just dump all contacts into an app like this because I don't really use Gmail as my contact repository and there might be stuff in there I just don't want to see. I might trigger myself. And I would rather give it a spin before committing a load of my real info. I instead used an alt which doesn't get much use. No contacts. Seems to work fine, why couldn't I just go with no contacts in the first place? I added a contact manually and... No pic? I can't upload a face? I'm visual. And what if I wanted to use this as my black book? I want pics! ;) Nice effort but I'll need to hang on the sidelines a bit. Congrats on the launch!

ksun 7y ago
Thanks for sharing your experience -- as you mentioned we've built Dex around the import experience for now [since typically those people get more value out of the product], but definitely trying to make Dex more fully featured for folks who would prefer to add manually!

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

DarwinMailApp 7y ago

I built something just like this years ago! It’s called Contact - People Organizer by App Addiction PS: I don’t track anything you do!!

betimsl 7y ago

So basically a smarter address book?

the-peter 7y ago

Interesting product! I recently used a mind-mapping tool to make a web of everyone (EVERYONE) I've ever known. I started with my family, all of my jobs and all of my schools, added everyone from those places and methodically looked at each person in the list adding people I met through them. Later I added trips like vacations, conferences etc and added everyone I met there. I was a nice nostalgic trip but I was amazed how many people I genuinely liked but haven't talked to in years. The thought crossed my mind to somehow track 'last contact' dates and have something popup to remind me to get in touch with people but it seemed too daunting a task to keep it up to date. I'll take a look a Dex for this now.

Mikho 7y ago

Looks like you are heavily utilizing Segment to funnel lots of private user data to unknown third party providers as also use CloudSponge -- which also basicall sucks up to all of my contacts and nobody knows what with it. That's too much third party data access without proper justification. BTW, Kevin, in your graphics you have a Russian name as an example. Are you Russian and just pretending to be westerner or you just like Russian names?