Hi PH I’m Mikas, a student from Vilnius, and a $50 bill made me build an app
My birthday is on the same day as one of my close friends’. This year we met up to celebrate, and we swapped gifts: I gave him a $50 bill, and he gave me… a $50 bill.
We laughed, but it stuck with me. Neither of us is a bad friend. We just had no idea what the other actually wanted, so we both picked the safe option. And I don’t think we’re the only ones.
So for the past few months I’ve been building Giver on my own, alongside my studies. The idea is simple: the person getting the gift knows best what they’d love. Each friend fills in a short gift profile once: what they’re into, what they’ve been wanting, what they can’t have (allergies, vegan, already owns every coffee gadget…). When their birthday comes around, you pick a budget and get a handful of real products, each with a line on why it fits them.
A few other things it does:
Friends’ birthdays go straight into your calendar, with a reminder two weeks before
Wishlists where friends can quietly reserve a gift, so nobody buys the same thing twice and the surprise isn’t spoiled
Profiles are only visible to friends you accept: no public profiles, no ads
We’re launching here on Product Hunt in about two weeks. Before then I’d really like to hear from you:
What’s the most “safe” gift you’ve ever given or received, and what would you rather have gotten?
And honestly, would you fill in a gift profile for your friends, or does that feel like too much? I’m a solo student founder, so every opinion actually changes what I build next. 🙏
Replies
Great origin story, the two $50 bills say it all. I build in a neighbouring space, personalised songs as gifts, so two things from my side. On the profile: I would fill one in for a close friend, but only if it is short. My own intake asks three questions and nothing more, because every extra field loses people before they see any value. Maybe let the profile start with one question and grow later, when a birthday is actually close and people are motivated. On reminders: two weeks makes sense for a physical gift. Whatever the lead time, keep it to a fixed small number of messages per date, and stay silent if the gift is already reserved. A reminder about something already handled is how an app gets muted.