Breaking Down Classroom Walls with Saturn’s Dylan Diamond
Sep 21, 2023
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Dylan Diamond, brain behind Saturn, a calendar app used in 17,000 U.S. schools, talks about AI revolutionizing time management, social planning, built as first social network around calendar. Lessons in building personalized apps for schools. Scaling quickly using organic growth and student ambassadors. AI solves problems like auto-updating school calendars, Saturn aims to be a lifelong calendar. Focus on high school for strong user base, but potential for expansion to college.
Saturn is a social network built around the calendar, providing a platform for young people to manage schedules and stay connected to their communities.
Saturn started as a web application and evolved into a mobile app, offering features specifically designed for high school students.
Deep dives
Saturn: The First Social Network Built Around the Calendar
Saturn is a social network that centers around the calendar, offering a platform for young people to manage their schedules, locate friends, and stay connected to their communities. The app originated as a web application before transitioning to a mobile app, providing everyday usability and reliance for its users. It serves as the go-to calendar for high school students, solving the problem of not knowing who is in their classes or where their friends are. With a focus on utility and improving productivity, Saturn aims to give users back valuable time and help them make the most of their day.
The Evolution and Unique Features of Saturn
Saturn started as a web application and later developed into a mobile app to cater to the convenience and usage patterns of young people. The product evolved into more than just a schedule-sharing platform as it integrated a full calendar solution. Saturn's calendar offers features specifically designed for high school students, such as countdowns, real-time updates, and color-coded aesthetics. The app opens to a calendar view, providing a calming user experience and focusing on essential information like class times, friend locations, and upcoming events. Additional features include chat, directory search, and integrated tasks. Onboarding has been streamlined by enabling users to take pictures of their schedules for automatic calendar creation.
The Intersection of Utility and Network in Saturn
Saturn provides a utility-focused experience for users while nurturing their social connections. As a first-of-its-kind social network centered around the calendar, Saturn offers both single-player utility and multiplayer socialization. Users come to Saturn for the utility of managing their schedules, but they stay for the network aspect. The app allows users to see real-time locations of friends within the school, optimizing their time spent together. The aim is to help users make the most of their time and create meaningful interactions. Saturn emphasizes the value of time and aims to give it back to users, making it more valuable and productive.
Growth, Lessons Learned, and Future Outlook for Saturn
Saturn has experienced steady growth by leveraging user feedback, an ambassador program, and a compelling single-player value proposition. The company prioritized organic growth by creating a product that becomes integral to a user's daily life and builds enduring habits. The team actively gathers user insights and continuously improves the product based on their needs. Paid user acquisition is used to seed new schools and accelerate growth. Saturn's future roadmap includes expanding to universities and enabling inter-school communication. The company is committed to building a network where everyone is on the same calendar, reducing entropy, and giving users more control over their time.
On today’s episode of For Your Innovation, hosts Andrew Kim and Nicholas Grous sit down with Dylan Diamond, the brain behind Saturn, a calendar app that’s taken over 17,000 U.S. public schools. Originating as a basic web tool and now an iPhone essential, Saturn goes beyond just planning your day—it’s a social network that informs you about your friends’ current and future locations. Join us as Dylan unpacks the journey of Saturn, detailing how artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing time management and social planning. From custom features tailored to individual schools to the key alliances that have accelerated its expansion, we’ll uncover how Saturn isn’t just a utility—it’s a community.