Carrot Is A Productivity And Social Motivation App With A Sense Of Humor

There are plenty of productivity and self-motivation apps on the market, but Hong Kong-based company Innopage wanted to create one that lets users indulge their whimsical side. iOS app Carrot‘s interface only allows you to fill-in a simple template and people have used the Mad Libs-like format to set goal and reward sets (called “carrots”) that are silly (“I am going to wake up at 6:30AM and reward myself with going back to sleep at 6:45AM”) and serious (“If I run 4.5km tonight then I will treat myself to a big breakfast tomorrow”). Encouragement is crowdsourced from Carrot’s other users and your Facebook friends.

“I never use a to-do list because I find it so stressful when I look at the whole list,” says Innopage CEO and co-founder Keith Li. “I want to focus on rewards, which are not usually included in to-do lists. We don’t want to keep looking at things we haven’t done yet.”

Instead of setting reminders for unfinished tasks, Carrot focuses on creating “positive feelings” for users by encouraging them to set specific, short-term goals.

One of Carrot’s niftiest features is its aggregated, anonymous lists of other people’s objectives and rewards. When I logged on recently, goals ranged from “get a nose job” to “benchpress 100kg,” while rewards included “buy a $25 iTunes card” and “browse 9GAG.”

As Carrot gains more users, its lists of the most popular goals and rewards can potentially provide useful data for brands and marketing agencies. Li says that updates to the app will allow groups of users to create private entries and contribute money to purchase gift certificates or deals from sponsors.

“We want to implement a system where you can set goals for friends or children and give them an award or have your family chip in for a reward,” says Li. “You can also have a group of friends share the same goal and see who accomplishes it first.”

Since launching earlier this month, Carrot has seen the most traction in China, where 39% of its current registered users are from. The app’s latest update added integration with Sina Weibo accounts and plans are also in the works to include WeChat sign-ins.

Carrot is the first app from Innopage, which develops e-publishing projects for clients including the Hong Kong government. Li says Innopage’s team recently launched Innolab, acompany intitiative similar to Google’s 20% time, to start developing its own products when they realized the e-publishing industry had plateaued. Innolab’s projects, including Carrot, are currently self-funded.

CRUNCHBASE

• INNOPAGE LIMITED

Company:Innopage Limited

Website:innopage.com

Launch Date:February 2010

Innopage is a Mobile Applications Developer specialized in iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Smart TV applications development. Innopage created “Carrot”, a mobile app that helps you to track and reward yourself for achieving life’s to-dos, goals, and endeavors, in the most intuitive way. Carrot is a reward-base system, which is fundamentally different from existing To-Do list or habit tracking app in the market. With a simplistic view of your goals and rewards, Carrot allows you to explore creative and...

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