Underway Launches Platform to Capture Founders' Daily Journeys in Real Time

Underway, a platform designed to capture the day-to-day work of founders, has launched a new approach to documenting startup journeys. Instead of waiting until the end to tell the story, Underway allows founders to share their experiences in real time, making the process part of their daily routine.

The idea behind Underway grew from the challenges faced by Richard Lovatt, the founder of the platform. Lovatt was building another product and wanted to share the process publicly. However, he found that the traditional methods of scripting, filming, and editing documentation turned it into a time-consuming second job. "The first customer, the bug that took all day, the decision that changed the product, the week you nearly stopped. Once those days are gone, you can tell the story later, but you cannot recreate the record."

Underway addresses this issue by drawing context from tools already used during the day, such as GitHub, calendars, meetings, payments, and analytics. It conducts short spoken interviews, listens to each answer, and follows up with the next question. The conversation then becomes the next numbered episode, making it easy for founders to keep a record of their company's journey.

To demonstrate the platform, Lovatt has been building Underway in public, recording 36 episodes between September 2 and September 16. These episodes document product changes, App Store work, bugs, and decisions as they happen. The company is using this series as a live example of the first-hand archive Underway is designed to create for other founders.

The platform offers two options: the Founder's Record and the Company Record. The Founder's Record is designed for startups and early-stage companies, while the Company Record is for established businesses that want to begin documenting their current chapter. These records can be used later by customers, investors, new hires, or the company itself.

Underway's approach to documenting the company's story in real time is a significant shift from traditional methods. By making it easy for founders to keep a record of their workday, the platform aims to preserve the authentic narrative of a company's journey. This can provide valuable insights for stakeholders and help maintain transparency throughout the company's development.