Published on
May 1, 2024
Ryan Brodie
Founder & CEO
Without realising it, I’d been working with calendars for over a decade, dating back to my first startups in event ticketing and on to founding my third, building a product that centred around planning, a dating app that’s brought many millions together.
I saw first hand how difficult it was for others to communicate around their calendars. Why was it so hard to share availability? Why was it so hard to keep track of plans? And why, even once those plans were made, was it so hard to keep up with the changes being made to them?
The answer: plans are made by conversation and then put into our own diaries. This means our diaries are by design always out of sync and stuck in a silo.
I started this company to solve this problem. To bring communication into everyone’s calendars, seamlessly integrated around events and all of their updates, and making this incredibly simple to achieve.
It was just 6 months ago that we launched OurCal, the privacy-first shared calendar designed with families, couples, and friends in mind.
From the outset, we incorporated established features from both calendar and messaging products. But we went further, introducing the simplest way to share calendars: groups. All the while, we guaranteed our users’ data is always protected with certified end-to-end encryption.
I'm so proud of the experience we've created. Our community's positive response, reflected in an average 4.8 out of 5 rating from nearly a thousand reviews and a 94% recommendation rate is beyond rewarding.
Although there’s hundreds of improvements we look forward to making, I’m confident OurCal has solved our core mission, helping tens of thousands of groups easily share and communicate around their calendars, bringing them closer to their families & friends.
Now, it’s time for the next step in our journey. OurCal is a startup meaning that we’re supported by funds raised from investors (like myself!). Now is a responsible time for us to start generating revenue which will enable us to keep innovating for many years to come. To not incorporate a premium paid offering would leave us vulnerable in the future to run out of funds. Behind the scenes we’ve been building our premium offering, OurCal+, which is now available to all users.
Plus is designed to make you even more organised and connected in OurCal, packaging a collection of our advanced features for sharing calendars and coordinating life together.
Plus includes a 14-day free trial, you can cancel at anytime during your trial or subscription, and we always offer a 30 day money back guarantee. You can always continue using the free version of OurCal and upgrade at anytime too.
For specific pricing in your area, please see the App Store and Play Store.
Tens of thousands of you—families, couples, friends, teams, carers, co-parents, and communities—are using OurCal, and we are immensely grateful for your support.
I’ve personally experienced apps I love introducing a premium plan and I understand the importance of treating this transition with care and clarity.
Some features that were previously free are now included in our Plus plan. As a token of our appreciation for your early support, we're offering you a 90-day free trial with no strings attached.
Furthermore, you'll receive a 33% discount if you choose to upgrade to Plus during this trial period. If you decide not to upgrade, you'll be automatically moved to our Free plan.
Rest assured, our Free plan will continue to include our most popular features and will be improved on a frequent basis.
There is a new section of our help centre dedicated to answering your questions about Plus here.
Our focus remains on building the best shared calendar app available for free whilst always protecting your data with end-to-end encryption. Now, with Plus available, it’s all about continued improvement and growth. Our team has no intention of slowing down!
To see what we’re working on next and suggest new features, visit our public roadmap. Every time we release new features, we share an update on our What’s New blog. For major releases, we send you a notification. You can control these notifications in the app’s Settings tab.
I’m really proud of our small team for getting us to this milestone. Most startups never reach this point. Now I’m excited to be able to continue this mission for many years to come and I’m sincerely grateful for your support. Thank you.
Any questions, feedback, or thoughts for me? I always love hearing from you, reach me anytime at ryan@ourcal.com. You can always reach the whole team at hi@ourcal.com too. 💙
4.9/5
4.8/5
Published on
Apr 30, 2024
Ryan Brodie
Founder & CEO
Without realising it, I’d been working with calendars for over a decade, dating back to my first startups in event ticketing and on to founding my third, building a product that centred around planning, a dating app that’s brought many millions together.
I saw first hand how difficult it was for others to communicate around their calendars. Why was it so hard to share availability? Why was it so hard to keep track of plans? And why, even once those plans were made, was it so hard to keep up with the changes being made to them?
The answer: plans are made by conversation and then put into our own diaries. This means our diaries are by design always out of sync and stuck in a silo.
I started this company to solve this problem. To bring communication into everyone’s calendars, seamlessly integrated around events and all of their updates, and making this incredibly simple to achieve.
It was just 6 months ago that we launched OurCal, the privacy-first shared calendar designed with families, couples, and friends in mind.
From the outset, we incorporated established features from both calendar and messaging products. But we went further, introducing the simplest way to share calendars: groups. All the while, we guaranteed our users’ data is always protected with certified end-to-end encryption.
I'm so proud of the experience we've created. Our community's positive response, reflected in an average 4.8 out of 5 rating from nearly a thousand reviews and a 94% recommendation rate is beyond rewarding.
Although there’s hundreds of improvements we look forward to making, I’m confident OurCal has solved our core mission, helping tens of thousands of groups easily share and communicate around their calendars, bringing them closer to their families & friends.
Now, it’s time for the next step in our journey. OurCal is a startup meaning that we’re supported by funds raised from investors (like myself!). Now is a responsible time for us to start generating revenue which will enable us to keep innovating for many years to come. To not incorporate a premium paid offering would leave us vulnerable in the future to run out of funds. Behind the scenes we’ve been building our premium offering, OurCal+, which is now available to all users.
Plus is designed to make you even more organised and connected in OurCal, packaging a collection of our advanced features for sharing calendars and coordinating life together.
Plus includes a 14-day free trial, you can cancel at anytime during your trial or subscription, and we always offer a 30 day money back guarantee. You can always continue using the free version of OurCal and upgrade at anytime too.
For specific pricing in your area, please see the App Store and Play Store.
Tens of thousands of you—families, couples, friends, teams, carers, co-parents, and communities—are using OurCal, and we are immensely grateful for your support.
I’ve personally experienced apps I love introducing a premium plan and I understand the importance of treating this transition with care and clarity.
Some features that were previously free are now included in our Plus plan. As a token of our appreciation for your early support, we're offering you a 90-day free trial with no strings attached.
Furthermore, you'll receive a 33% discount if you choose to upgrade to Plus during this trial period. If you decide not to upgrade, you'll be automatically moved to our Free plan.
Rest assured, our Free plan will continue to include our most popular features and will be improved on a frequent basis.
There is a new section of our help centre dedicated to answering your questions about Plus here.
Our focus remains on building the best shared calendar app available for free whilst always protecting your data with end-to-end encryption. Now, with Plus available, it’s all about continued improvement and growth. Our team has no intention of slowing down!
To see what we’re working on next and suggest new features, visit our public roadmap. Every time we release new features, we share an update on our What’s New blog. For major releases, we send you a notification. You can control these notifications in the app’s Settings tab.
I’m really proud of our small team for getting us to this milestone. Most startups never reach this point. Now I’m excited to be able to continue this mission for many years to come and I’m sincerely grateful for your support. Thank you.
Any questions, feedback, or thoughts for me? I always love hearing from you, reach me anytime at ryan@ourcal.com. You can always reach the whole team at hi@ourcal.com too. 💙
Onin is a secure calendar app for your personal and social life. The app is currently invite-only as we gradually roll out early-access to our waitlist. For regular updates, follow us on Twitter.
