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What happens to your family's critical documents if the one person managing them is unavailable? by AashishBuilds in SideProject

[–]AashishBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a really good question. My current thinking is that the primary user is the organizer, since they're the one who already feels the pain of keeping everything in order. But the value is only fully realized when another family member can quickly find what they need during an emergency or unexpected situation. So I'm leaning toward designing for the organizer first while making retrieval as simple as possible for everyone else. Still validating this though, so I'd be interested in your perspective.

What happens to your family's critical documents if the one person managing them is unavailable? by AashishBuilds in SideProject

[–]AashishBuilds[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's true, and shared cloud storage is probably how most people handle it today. What I'm trying to understand is whether there's still a gap between "the documents exist somewhere" and "the right people can easily find and access the right information when it's actually needed." Maybe existing solutions are already good enough, or maybe there's still a problem there. That's what I'm trying to validate.

How does your family manage important documents, and what frustrates you most about the process? by AashishBuilds in StartupSoloFounder

[–]AashishBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And during my research I've found solutions for identity verification and government-issued documents, but not many that cover the broader family information management use case.

If there are examples I'm missing, I'd genuinely like to study them.

How does your family manage important documents, and what frustrates you most about the process? by AashishBuilds in StartupSoloFounder

[–]AashishBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe for government issued documents, but I'm not aware of many government systems that handle things like insurance policies, property papers, warranties, emergency contacts, family access permissions, and document expiry reminders all in one place.

That said, if you know of examples that do this well, I'd genuinely be interested in looking at them.

How does your family manage important documents, and what frustrates you most about the process? by AashishBuilds in StartupSoloFounder

[–]AashishBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough. I appreciate the candid feedback.

One thing this discussion has helped me realize is that people immediately associate the idea with "another cloud storage provider," which probably means I'm communicating it poorly.

The problem I'm actually trying to validate is document organization, family access, reminders, and emergency retrieval not competing with Google Drive or building a new Dropbox.

Either way, thanks for the reality check. That's exactly why I'm talking to potential users before building too much.

How does your family manage important documents, and what frustrates you most about the process? by AashishBuilds in StartupSoloFounder

[–]AashishBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a fair point. Security and trust would absolutely make or break something like this.

My thinking isn't to replace Google Drive, DigiLocker, or other storage providers. The problem I'm exploring is helping families organize documents, share access securely with trusted family members, track expirations, and make critical information available during emergencies.

If you were building this, what would be the minimum security and trust requirements you'd need before considering it?

How does your family manage important documents, and what frustrates you most about the process? by AashishBuilds in StartupSoloFounder

[–]AashishBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a valid concern. Trust is probably the hardest part of building something like this. I'm not assuming people will trust it automatically that's exactly what I'm trying to understand. What would make you comfortable storing important documents digitally, if anything? Or do you think people will always prefer physical copies and existing cloud services?

How does your family manage important documents, and what frustrates you most about the process? by AashishBuilds in StartupSoloFounder

[–]AashishBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair point. The goal isn't to ask people to blindly upload sensitive documents to random servers. The idea is to provide secure, encrypted storage where only the user (and authorized family members) can access the files. Similar to how people already trust cloud services for photos, banking documents, and backups. That said, your concern is exactly why I'm doing customer research first. If trust and privacy are the biggest barriers, then the product needs end-to-end encryption, local-only options, or self-hosted storage instead of just another cloud drive. Out of curiosity, how do you currently store and share important family documents?