The big reveal. Introducing will-it.
It’s been one year in the making and It’s finally time to share with you all what I’ve been doing since leaving the Agency world. One year ago, I decided to go full-time to pursue a start-up project thats been a few years in the making. This has been the most challenging (and most exhilarating) experience of my career. The personal journey that brought me here, I could easily write a book about. More about that later. For now, I’m beyond excited to announce that we’ve finally launched our MVP and moving into private beta. So here’s a bit more about will-it, how to get involved and how you can support me on my journey.
Over the years, I’ve built many tools for clients that solve problems for brands. The idea originated from both that experience, and a very personal experience. I has to do with a topic that pretty much everyone will experience at some point in their lives — but don’t want to talk about it. The death of a loved one.
Bear with me here, I know it sounds horribly depressing. I promise it’s really not. I cannot promise that you’ll think it’s a good idea. In fact, I expect many of you won’t like it at all. You may even HATE it. But nine months of research and due-diligence, user testing, and a nation-wide network of professionals who are excited about it, willing to help advise and see it brought to life tell me one thing: I need to ignore the haters. Because for the people who do embrace it, it could be a game changer.
will-it is actually more about life than it is death. It’s about history, experiences, family and relationships. Here’s the elevator pitch:
will-it is a digital estate planning tool that fosters collaboration and early dialogue; Mitigating family disputes over ‘who gets what’
I usually get an eyebrow raise there. I give it a second and continue…
It focuses on an important emotional component of estate planning. One that’s usually left to family to figure out themselves: How to divide up the sentimental and emotional things.

I’m not talking about money (I mean, yes, it has a financial component, but that’s not core to what we want to be to families). I’m talking about the little things. The things that may not be worth a dime — but to the family they are cherished memories that can cause arguments, estrangement and even legal action. I’ve heard many people say ‘I don’t care — I’ll be gone, let them fight over it.’ And to that, I call bullshit. ‘Did you really spend your life providing for your family and would not care in the least if your family stopped talking over grandma’s china, a piece of furniture, or refrigerator magnet?’ To anyone who just scoffed at the magnet, I can give you the phone number of the lawyer who was paid $500/hour to resolve that particular dispute. And to anyone who answered my retort with ‘I still don’t care, let them deal with it’, I say, ‘Ok, can you give my card to your executor? They may need me someday’.
So how does will-it aim to keep the peace? We help facilitate early dialogue, that can actually make the ‘who gets what’ portion of your will something that’s thought out, discussed and even something the family might get value out of. We can’t promise it will keep the peace. In fact, it may actually cause some arguments. Those arguments are going to happen no matter what. At least you’ll still be here to intervene and have things settled before you move on to the great beyond and leaving the whole mess for your executor to figure out (your executor is usually the person(s) who you loved and trusted the most ). Here’s one of my favorite quotes on the subject:
“A common adage in the industry is to name your enemy as your executor as a means of revenge. It’s a thankless job. If you appoint someone you love as executor, get your house in order. Otherwise, appoint someone you do not.”
— John O. McManus, estate attorney/founding principal of McManus & Associates, New York City
The foundation of the will-it web-based tool is a way to catalog personal belongings along with the stories and history that accompany them. Your heirs are invited to collaborate, discuss and request the things they want. As the planner, you get insight into which items may be problematic, the ability to see which items are important to whom and how you might distribute those items fairly. It also helps you pass on the details about the item, it’s history and why it may have had special meaning to you. As an heir, you get to discover the history of the items, share which items might be important to you and why, and the ability to discuss with the rest of the family. Here’s an example of what that might look like:

There will be a consumer version of the tool, but primarily we are working with Law Firms, Senior Advocacy organizations, and Estate Professionals who will offer the product to clients. We think that is the most direct way to get the product to those who really need it.
So that’s what I’m working on. Here’s how you can help:
Become a beta-tester. If you have a family that wants to try it out, contact me for an access code. I’m only allowing testers in through personal invite.
Refer me to a estate law professional in one of the following states to be part of our pilot program: AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, OK, OR, RI, TN, UT, VT, WV, WI or WY. Though we have firms in states not listed here covered, we will welcome any law firms who are interested in participating.
Join our Series 1 Investor team. We are 25% to our fundraising goal and looking for 4–5 personal or angel investors. If you’re interested or know someone who is, please reach out.
Follow Our Instagram channel @whogetswhat and share a personal item and story with us.
Lastly, I have a lot of people to thank for helping me over the past year. But I need to thank 3 people who believed in me and my will-it vision from the very start and pushed me outside my comfort zone. Megan VanBlarcom, Tanya Barrios, and Gary Vaynerchuk. Without their advice, passion and support, I’d have never left the starting line.
