If you were looking for a way to collect and store ideas on your iPad, where would you start? The first thing that popped into my mind was Evernote, but even though it’s the closest to a one-size-fits-all solution, it doesn’t nail every use case.
When Daniel Nordh, the Swedish founder of Curator first got his iPad, he figured there must be exactly the type of app he had in mind that put all of his images, text, and websites right in front of him, but after some digging he realized there just wasn’t an app out there that fit his use case.
“As an architect I was used to seeing everything together and organizing it. I tried Evernote and hated it, and looked at so many others as well. they just weren’t iPad first, and didn’t work for adding content. They were slow and un-fun.”
So he put together Curator, despite not being that technical. Curator’s solution divides concepts into boards where you can collect and add images, text and websites in a grid style, right in front of you. You can grab images from Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox, Google Drive, or search for images on the web from within the app. It’s smooth and seamless, and puts all of you inspiration and thoughts right in one place.
Nordh says he sees a strong response with people in his circles, like designers, architects, and photographers, who work a lot with images and immediately get it.
Curator – visual thinking from Curator & Co on Vimeo.
Also on the list of people that enjoyed the app (at least to an extent) was Paul Graham, of YCombinator fame. Nordh applied to the last batch and was on that 12 hour flight for the 10 minute interview. The story goes that Graham immediately grabbed the iPad and stared adding pictures of airplanes and stuff that he likes. Then he scratched his head and said something along the lines that they love the app and he should continue to work on it, but he’s not sure if investors would be interested in it. Nordh says he’s undeterred however, and is basing his work on the fact that more and more work is getting moved to the tablet.
“I was suprised by him not being so keyed up on the tablet. When I started working on this it was when I was using my iPad as my primary device. For people that don’t do that, it might not be that obvious,” says Nordh.
Still, Nordh is a single founder and not really a technical founder (even though he did the work himself) so it’s pretty impressive he made it to the interview.
An iPhone version might be the next goal for Curator, and long-term they want to be the go-to tool for creative thinking on any platform.
On the business side, Curator uses a fremium model, where you can work on up to five boards at the same time for free. If you like the app and want to use any more boards, then you can pay to unlock more. The app can be downloaded in the App Store here.
