We abandoned our app and started again.
Introducing Fanzine.
You may remember we built an iOS app called Indie World and shared with you last year. It was not good.
The app was unpleasant to use, difficult to understand and the point of what we were doing was lost in a mist of technical issues and fatal compromises. We know because you told us. And we agreed with you. So we decided to abandon our attempts to make a “startup.” Why were we trying to make something we ourselves didn’t enjoy using?
Pierce and I went back to the drawing board and spent many hours lurking in the common areas of New York museums not ordering anything and talking about what it is we’re really trying to express. Five months later, we have the start of something. It’s fun and it mostly works. And we’d like to share it with you.
It’s called Fanzine and it helps you discover creators to follow via recommendations from people like you.
Fanzine is web-only — no apps, no logins, nothing. It’s also desktop-first. Get on your computer for the full experience. (We’re bringing bookmarking back, goddamit.)
1. Browse an IMDB of 10,000 curated creators. Search by keyword, go down rabbit holes, find a new passion.
2. Get recommendations from real people by browsing what we call "fanzines" - little top 5 playlists made by users.
3. Make your own fanzine in seconds. Share your taste with the world.
This is a MVP of all our ideas on the creator economy:
That we should be able to discover creators no matter what platform they are on.
That human recommendations are better than algorithms.
That modern creators are the indie artists of our time.
That there is nothing more exciting than the joy of discovering a new passion.
Please hit reply and tell us if we’re on the right track.