How this South Jordan-based app aims to help you parent better

SOUTH JORDAN — ParentPlaybook CEO and cofounder Philip Anderson did hundreds of hours of research for his company's app, but one focus group in particular stands out to him.

He pitched the app idea to nine moms and then left the room, observing through video as a moderator asked the moms questions about what they liked and disliked about the idea. At one point, he said, a mom talked about how hard parenting is and then broke down in tears.

That's when "a moment of natural connection" happened, Anderson said. One mom reached across the table and took the crying woman's hand. Another stood up and hugged the mom; a third whispered comforting words. One by one, the group rallied around the exhausted mother.

"I thought to myself, in that moment, 'Holy cow! That's what this is about,'" Anderson said. "It's about a digital version of what happened at that conference room table."

That goal — fostering genuine connections between parents and caregivers — is apparent in the company's slogan: "It takes a village to raise a child. We put that village in your pocket."

Anderson said the ParentPlaybook app uses artificial intelligence to curate content specific to the needs of a family's children.

For instance, Anderson said a parent might have a child with a bed-wetting problem. ParentPlaybook can gather articles and other resources with relevant information, presenting it in a newsfeed format for the parent's perusal. Additionally, users can create separate newsfeeds for individual children in order to hone in more closely on specific needs.

The app can also connect users with parents in similar situations; maybe a mom wants to talk with other moms about a particular problem her child is having and hear how they handled it, Anderson said.

The company is also working on a feature that will allow parents to connect directly with doctors, therapists and other professionals. This is the only feature that will require payment, Anderson said; otherwise, ParentPlaybook is entirely free to use.

The app launched several weeks ago after about three years of development. Anderson said they currently have around 400 users, with plans to onboard around 5,000 more in the coming weeks. It's available for download on Apple and Google.

'High social impact'

Anderson said he was born in New Zealand and in 1992 moved to the U.S., where he met and married his wife. He was a business owner for 30 years, he said, building businesses like Beacon Learning Group, which he's operated for the last 15 years.

But several years ago, Anderson said he began thinking about ways he could have a "high social impact." He and Parent Playbook co-founder Bruce Hymas eventually decided there was no better social impact they could have than helping families make better decisions that positively impact the next generation.

"To me, (ParentPlaybook) is not a stepping stone to the next thing. This is the thing," Anderson said. "I think everything in my career has been in preparation to lead this company."

Anderson said he was introduced to Hymas, now the chief operating officer for ParentPlaybook, through Hymas' entrepreneurship professor at Brigham Young University. The pair spent 18 months conducting 400 hours of interviews with parents before writing a single line of code, Anderson said.

That research is how they made four key discoveries that would shape the app's functions:

1. It's hard to find custom solutions that meet a child's exact needs.
2. Spouses or partners sometimes disagree on best parenting practices.
3. People crave connection.
4. There's "too much toxicity" on other social media platforms.

Anderson said ParentPlaybook addresses all of these problems by providing streamlined, relevant information to parents and connecting users with others parents.

After identifying the problems they wanted to solve, Anderson said he and Hymas raised their first million dollars in 2½ weeks through a crowdfunding platform called Net Capital. The donations came together quickly, he said, because people believed in the vision.

From there, they hired a team of 10 people, including developers and marketing professionals. Anderson said some of their developers came from big-name companies like Google and Oracle, where they were making more money, but chose ParentPlaybook because they love what the company is doing.

"We've got an amazing culture, just a phenomenal team that (is) committed to building a lot," he said.

Anderson also emphasized that ParentPlaybook is for all kinds of parents and caretakers, from traditional families to single parents to same-sex couples.

"Our platform is built for a family, period," he said. "We're not the moral police. ... If there's a child in the mix, and we can give that person who's trying to be the best parent they can be better informed, that's it."

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