We sat in two chairs. The owner's. The client's.
In each one, we observed, we felt, we lived the problems, and there were many, not just one.
Hours and days sitting there, watching the same thing over and over.
We had to find answers to the hardest questions:
how do we improve customer service?
how do we offer what other apps don't?
how do we avoid repetitive tasks and get time back?
We don't want to be just another app. There are already plenty.
We want to use the best technology available today, but without you noticing it.
That you can't tell the difference between an app and a person.
That you feel like you hired someone, not that you installed something.
As the owner, we lived this:
- Clients weren't the problem. A person to attend them without interrupting the work was.
- Hours lost on the phone. Scheduling, explaining, confirming, afraid of getting it wrong.
- Clients who only asked and never booked. Time thrown away.
- No same-day reply, and the client feels poorly attended. They leave.
- Without a fast reply, the client is gone. New or returning, doesn't matter.
- Hands busy with a client, phone ringing. Tedious work.
- The same questions. Over and over.
- Get home, stay glued to the phone. Because the client wants to book, any hour.
- No time to organize the business. The little free time goes into answering messages.
- Coordinating with coworkers to avoid double bookings. Chaos.
- Someone walks in. Do they have an appointment? Same question, every time.
- A regular comes back. What was their last service? Digging for the photo on the phone.
- Someone who doesn't speak your language well. A lost client.
- Simple stats about the business. Would be nice to have them.
- Two calls at once. Or several messages together. Impossible.
- A client who never comes back. Not knowing why, or even how many.
And if you already have a booking app... this doesn't go away either:
- Using an app means explaining which one, where to get it, how to spell it, how to use it.
- A new app on the market. And struggling just to understand it.
- One app for SMS. Another for WhatsApp. Another for appointments.
- Change one setting in any app. And not even know where to start.
- A problem with the app you use. You're just a number. Terrible support.
- A canceled appointment leaves a gap. No app fills it like a human would.
- You have an app, but it doesn't answer calls. After hours means lost appointments, lost money.
These were the most important ones. We could keep going, but this would stop being a story and start being a book.
As the client, we felt this:
- An SMS. And silence.
- A WhatsApp. Maybe the business doesn't even use it.
- A call that no one picks up. If they do, they scribble down what you're saying by hand.
- Speak in another language. Your time, day, or service, booked wrong.
- Write on a Sunday for a Monday slot. Nothing. No one answers.
- Driving, wanting to book. Only option: a call, or a WhatsApp voice note.
- Explaining your last service in detail. A photo would say it a thousand times better.
- Sending a message and actually feeling heard. Patiently. Until it's resolved.
And if the business already has a booking app... this doesn't change either:
- Downloading an app just to book. Finding its name, its space on your phone, learning it.
- A business that only takes appointments, with clunky tech. You go somewhere simpler instead.
- Having to open a website just to book, because there's no other way.
For some of these things, there was already a solution.
Not 24/7, but it worked.
The problem: not everyone could afford it.
A receptionist. 48 hours a week.
$2,500–$3,500 a month.
Gets sick.
One person at a time.
Needs lunch.
One single channel.
No Sundays, no holidays.
And if she quits: goodbye appointments, hello problems again...
iwanna is born from those experiences, and many more, lived in both chairs.
Technology on one side. Human empathy on the other.
Feeling and living this, as the owner. And as the client.
That's iwanna: technology and experience, together.
Hours given back to businesses. The same hours that used to disappear into the phone.
Something we didn't expect happened: iwanna pays for itself.
The appointments that no longer get lost, the hours you recover, cover its own cost.
If it already pays for itself, everything else it gives you is pure benefit.
That's success, for us.
And that changes the question.
Hiring iwanna stops being about cost.
It's about deciding if you want your business to get better. Or not.
So much "human" time spent observing businesses, to give you back time.
- Remove all the complexity we can. Make the technology feel natural.
- Every screen answers one question: what does the user need to do right now?
- Every click has to justify its existence.
- Hiring iwanna should feel like hiring a human.
- Talk, answer, book. Like a receptionist. No forms.
- No learning. No searching. No waiting.
- Your client already knows how to send a message or make a call. That's all.
The best technology is the one you don't feel.