Jason Norris’ Blog

Anyone who has been keeping track of recent posts will have noticed suggestions of a ‘new project’ which Stef and I have been working on, all of which has been very hush hush… but now its time to talk about it!

The new site was launched on Fathers Day, Sunday 15th June, and in a nutshell, its a website which is aimed at helping dads answer one question… “how am I going to be a better dad?”  The site has all sprung from the birth of Stef’s daughter, Imogen, around 18 months ago.  Like all Web savvy expectant Dads, Stef trawled through countless websites looking for advice for expectant fathers, what to expect, what to do and how to ensure that Imogen got the best possible Dad.  The truth is that while there is a huge amount of information out there, none of it is coordinated, and there is no where for Dad’s to get together and share their varying experiences… our aim is that Odadeo is this resource.

The last few weeks have been very hectic… I am about as technically minded as a walrus, so my job has been to test, test, test and test the site while Stef works on the behind the scenes development.  We have bounced ideas off each other, and hopefully what we have come up with is a easy to use site where Dads can pledge to being a better father.  So far, its going really well… after the ‘too early beta’ launch on Sunday we have got around 100 fully signed up Dads.  Most are from the UK, but we have Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Russia represented which is fantastic considering we are still in such an early stage of development.  There have been very few ‘teething’ problems to date, and most people seem to be using the site exactly as expected.

I am thrilled to be involved with this project… As the Apprentice I was sure I was going to have a year of learning, but as soon as Stef pitched this idea to me, I was really keen to help out.  I’m not yet a father, I do have two imaginary daughters for the purposes of the site, but it has really struck me in recent weeks how Mum orientated most services on the web are.  Ultimately, Dads are 50% of the process, and our research shows that many want much more of an active role in the upbringing of their children.  Odadeo aims to bring them closer to their kids, and by linking their role to a pledge, hopefully benefit all parties involved.  There are some great features on the site which enable this to happen, and plenty more on the way, but right now, we have a place where Dads can share experiences, can ask questions and can pledge… the Odadeo journey has begun.

If you would like an invite to be part of the site, just drop me a quick email jason(at)odadeo(dot)com with a brief reason as to why you want to be part of the development process, and I will sort you out with an Invite Code.