OhLife
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
Some sections are still being researched2 / 4
Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
OhLife was a Y Combinator-funded personal journaling service that brought the personal journal to users' inboxes. After signing up, users received an email prompt every day at 8PM inviting them to submit a journal entry — to post, they simply replied to the email. All entries were archived on the web for future reference and kept totally private. To help keep users engaged, each email prompt also included a random past entry, letting them reflect on where their life was weeks, months, or years earlier. The team reported that 50% of users who completed their first entry kept adding entries at least once every other day. No shutdown, bankruptcy, or acquisition has been publicly documented.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Received media coverage
OhLife's email-based personal journal service received coverage, noting 50% of first-entry users posted at least once every other day.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.