Millennials get a bad wrap. As a 29-year-old smack in the middle of this generation, I often feel misunderstood by other generations that ridicule millennial behaviors. But the fact is, we are the first generation that grew up with technology alongside us. And in so many ways, technology is the reason we are so starkly different.
Millennials are unique. We’re special. We need and want different things, and industries should embrace our tech-centric behaviors.
At Millie, we love Millennials’ tech-centric nature — and believe it’s precisely this uniqueness, this *distinction* that will transform the way we give back.
When we first started working on Millie, we didn’t go about the usual competitive research that most startups dive into. Instead, we began by looking at the current behaviors of millennials in all facets of their lives.
As a product designer by trade, this is one of the key strategies I use when designing software. I begin by considering what users need and want, and what users already love that we can learn from — even from an entirely different sphere and context.
When we realized it was time to solve the frustrations young people were feeling around their charitable giving, we first asked ourselves:
How are millennials interacting with tech? And how can we leverage that for good?
We looked at the features of five popular apps amongst our target demographic, focusing on what makes them easy-to-use, exciting, and addicting. In turn, we pulled inspiration from multiple app genres and leveraged that for charitable giving. And this is what we learned.
Tinder, Bumble, + other dating apps
Venmo
Amazon
Millennials are different. We care deeply about the world we live in. We’re more eager to engage in charitable giving than previous generations (fun fact: 84% of millennials give back (more than Baby Boomers and Gen X)). We might have less to give, but we’re committed to action, to changing the world we live in. Let’s do it together.
We would love your thoughts and feedback! Join our beta here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id1452462250
