Loyalty

2024.08.22.

Sometimes, things don't turn out the way we planned. We envision something at the beginning, fall in love with our idea, and believe in it. Then we dive in, start working, and the money seems to go out faster than it comes in. The number of stressful days increases rapidly, and you begin to wonder if it was a good idea to start this at all. Should I continue or just abandon it? How long should I hold on?

I believe in my instincts; I believe in love at first sight. When something unexplainable tingles inside you from the very first moment, when you just know that this is what you need. You want it, even if there's no logical explanation. You want to be in it. You want to be a part of it, no matter what.

That's exactly how I felt when, in November 2020, Bogi Kőszegi and Krisztina Sutka approached me with the idea of creating an app for families and parents that would help them deal with the challenges of everyday life, work together as a well-organized team, and find a way to communicate that allows the family to achieve the highest efficiency with the least amount of stress.

But what does efficiency mean in a family? What does efficiency mean in parenting? For me, first and foremost, it means doing my job well. Being a good husband, a good partner, a good father. A good father. I want to be a good father. I've always wanted to be a good father. Around the time of my divorce, this was one of the most painful questions in my life. Can I be a good father while I'm moving away from my family? Moving out of my home? As Bogi and Suti passionately talked about the app, I barely heard what they were saying. It didn't matter what the app would be like, whether it would be successful or not. I wanted to do something for it.

For better fatherhood.

Will this make me better? I don't know. But I didn't care. I just knew I wanted to be part of the journey, and we would see what would come of it. So, we dived in. And the events started to unfold.

Week after week, the meetings came: what the app would be like, what features it would have, what features it could have, what the experts say, a specification was made, we announced a tender, asked for and received offers, a financial plan was made, a marketing plan was prepared, my investment was arranged, we documented everything necessary, development started, we tested, development continued, the girls started writing professional articles for the app on how to be a good parent, we argued, we tested, and so on... The app was completed by the spring of 2023. We had user testing with American families. The feedback was mixed.

But everyone loved the writings in the app.

We worked on the app for two and a half years. A lot of time, energy, and money burned up in the process. A lot of planning, development, and re-planning. And finally, the app was released in the stores. We started the negotiations. Everyone liked the concept, but no one used it. Everyone we showed it to, everyone we talked to about it, everyone who heard about it, said, "What a great idea! It's so good that you're doing this."

But for some reason, it didn't take off.

What should we do? The money is running out; it's not really possible or worthwhile to look for investors like this. Let's reach more people! We continued the negotiations, at home and abroad. We started a blog. Bogi writes brilliantly. Super, more than super, in fact, I think the most superb stories were published on the Medium blog.

But for some reason, it didn't take off.

Three years went into it. A lot of time, money, and energy burned up in the story. And that doesn't even take into account the cost of this continuous search, while a lot of money, time, and energy burned up—what was the price? How much uncertainty, tension, maybe even despair... Is it worth it?

It is worth it.

I believe in my instincts. I believe that love at first sight is something that connects to the deepest desires of my soul. It fits me so perfectly that it can connect and fill me with a faith that is rarely given.

What's next?

I believe that what has been born in these almost four years is valuable. Pure, honest, and important. I believe that most of us, as parents, long to be good parents. I believe that Bogi and Suti are good parents. Humanly good parents. With all that it entails. I believe that the many texts they have written in these almost four years can help others.

It can help you become a little better parents. But at the very least, to see that others are struggling just like you, like us.

So, we decided to share all the content we've created with you. A test site, familynavigator.online, is now available, where a significant portion of the articles is already up. And where we are continuously uploading the materials. Both in Hungarian and English.

The website is for parents.

For parents who have children somewhere between 5 and 18 years old. For parents who are struggling with parenting and looking for help. For those who like to read.

We hope that the articles touch you, make you think, and help you. But it’s okay if you don’t agree and write on the site why not. We would be happy if the site encouraged dialogue, if you shared your thoughts.

And if you find any mistakes, let us know! If you have ideas, if you miss something, write to us!

I believe in Bogi and Suti. I believe in the purity of the idea and that it can become something others can believe in. Something that can bring value to many.

I believe it is worth sticking to our idea!

The website link: familynavigator.online

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The article was translated from Hungarian to English by ChatGPT. Thank you, ChatGPT, for being here.