Private beta
It’s been
a minute.
Everyone has people they would swear they are close to and have not spoken to since spring. IBAM keeps a quiet record of who you actually see, and tells you who it has been too long since you talked to.
Still early and invitation-only — ask for a way in.
Nobody loses touch on purpose. It happens because there is no moment at which anyone tells you that it has been four months — and by the time you notice, reaching out feels like it needs an occasion.
How it works
Three things, and only the middle one is a habit you have to keep.
Write down who matters
Not everyone you have ever met — the people you would be sorry to drift away from. Give someone a rhythm if you know it ("every few weeks"), or leave it blank and let the app work it out from what actually happens.
Log the moment, not the meeting
A coffee, a phone call, a long walk, a text thread that turned into something. It takes a few seconds and you can log one moment against several people at once, because that is usually how it happens.
See who is slipping
The home screen is a single ranked list: who you are most overdue to reach out to, right now. People you have never spoken to since adding them come first, and anyone you have starred is pushed up the list.
It installs to a phone’s home screen like an app, and the list is readable even when you are somewhere with no signal.
Why
Attention goes to whatever is loudest, and the people who matter most are rarely the ones making noise. A close friend who is doing fine generates no notifications at all, so they lose every time to a group chat that will not stop. IBAM is a deliberately small correction: keep a record of the real moments, and let the quiet ones surface on their own instead of waiting to become an emergency.
Is this a CRM for my friends?
It is the same shape and the opposite intent. A CRM exists to help you extract something from a relationship. This exists because you already care about these people and the months get away from you anyway.
Will it nag me?
No — and it cannot, today. There are no notifications and no emails about who you are overdue to see. It is somewhere you go when you have a free evening and want to know who to call. A weekly summary is the most likely first addition, and it will be something you turn on.
Who else can see any of this?
Nobody. There is no sharing, no social graph and no way for one account to read another's. The people on your list do not have accounts and are never contacted.
What does it cost?
Nothing during the beta. Eventually, people paying for it — there is no advertising, which means nothing here is trying to keep you on it any longer than the minute it takes to see who to call.
Why the name?
“It’s been a minute” is what you say when you finally reach someone and realise it has been far longer than you thought. The whole app is an attempt to make that sentence land less often.
Get in
IBAM is in a private beta while the rough edges come off. If you have an account it will take you straight in; if you do not, write and tell us who you keep meaning to call.