Before getting engaged to my now wife Liz, we had known each other for over a decade — first as roommates and then later as a couple. I preface the company origin story with my marriage origin story as a way to say Liz knows me very well. I’ve always tried to look for new ways of thinking about old problems. So after I dropped to one knee and she accepted my proposal, she was not surprised when my mind immediately went to thinking about how I could help improve the wedding process.
I started by asking all my married friends about their own wedding stories. They opined about the endless details that were ultimately worth it on their big day. But one specific aspect that continued to surface was pain of the thank you notes. You experience one of the greatest days in your life, they explained, only to follow it up with your first marital scuffle — completing your thank you’s. Rather than express genuine gratitude for the gifts and presences of your guests, many couples admitted that it became an embittered squabble that was light on the emotion.
In the age of digital invitations, I assumed that there must already be a technological solution to help. Liz and I have always been fans of making fun videos for friends and family — surely there must be a way to say thank you with video. To my surprise, there wasn’t.
So began the process of creating ThankView.
With a hard deadline of completing ThankView before my own wedding day, our team assembled and looked at the key issue and our proposed solution. How could we remove as many points of frustration from the thank you process and transform it into something that was easy, logical and enjoyable?
What you see today is the result of many questions, countless tests and a lot of heart. We cut the time that it takes to complete a single thank you down to a 1/5th of the time by removing the need for mailing addresses or timely rewrites. We worked the economics so that many users can send each ThankView for less than the price of postage (have you seen how expensive some stationary is??? It’s insane!). We removed the need for paper altogether, creating a completely green alternative. And most importantly, we created a way to display and convey your true gratitude, making every message personal in a way that can be so hard to do in writing.
So fast forward to my wedding: it was every bit the amazing day that everyone said it would be. To be surrounded by so much love and to share it with my now wife was more than I could have ever asked for. And when it was all over, ThankView was complete and ready to use! Liz and I sat down on a Saturday afternoon and in under 2 1/2 hours, we recorded and sent ThankViews to our 140 wedding guests. The best part was that by the end of it, we were in great spirits and still enjoyed each others company — something that not many couples can say! Oh, and receiving the elated replies from recipients was a gift in itself.
I’m a lucky guy. I have a wife that supports my dreams. I am part of a team that shares that dream. And I’m lucky that we now have created something that is even bigger than it’s intended purpose; never in our wildest dreams did we expect ThankView to be embraced by universities and nonprofits the world around. But it seems that they too wanted a way to connect with their supporters just as we did to our loved ones. We now work with hundreds of institutions sending millions of messages that let their recipients know they matter.
I’m lucky to be thankful for so many great moments in my life and to dedicate my work to helping others express their thanks.
So that’s ThankView. We encourage you to start saying thanks to those you love.
Thanks for reading,
JD Beebe, Co-Founder of ThankView
