Good things happen when you Wunder!

Recently, quite a few people have asked me about how I came up with the idea for Wunder, the new social media app I founded.

So, for the uninitiated, here’s a short history of how a revolutionary social network was born…

There are few silver linings to come out of the pandemic-enforced UK lockdown. However, for me, spending weeks and months at home with my wife and children led to a period of introspection and, ultimately, discovery.

As you can imagine, with four children all aged under six, mine is a lively household. For ‘lively’, read ‘noisy’. So when I did manage to escape to my little office upstairs, I knew I had to work diligently and methodically because it was only a matter of time before I’d be asked to enact another ‘Barbie goes to the beach’ scenario or watch an episode of Peppa Pig for the umpteenth time.

So I was working hard, thinking of my next business idea. I’m a serial entrepreneur, from launching luxury magazines (Tempus – which I sold in 2016) to setting up the world’s first Long Drive Golf world championship (covered by over 50 broadcasters, including Sky Sports), I’m constantly looking for a gap, or where’s there’s a growing trend or, in the case of Wunder, where there’s a problem to be solved.

In this case, the problem was twofold. Firstly, my children were becoming more aware of social media and, while they’re all still too young to be pressing me for access to these apps, I knew it would be a conversation in the not-too-distant future. And I wasn’t comfortable with that. From trolling and bullying to predatory behaviour, social wasn’t somewhere I wanted my kids to be.

Secondly, I’d spent more time devouring news during lockdown and what was really hitting home was the amount of doom-laden sustainability and ecological reports I was seeing. Everything seemed to be our fault and yet only herculean efforts from governments and big businesses could fix it, it seemed. In short, bad things happening in the world seemed to get all the airtime, while positive good news stories seemed to be in short supply.

So, like the best ideas, Wunder was born from a ‘what if…?’ moment.

What if we could create a safe, fun social network where people could share inspiring and positive content – but also somewhere that, just by being on the platform, you could do good.

I know it felt like a bold ambition – revolutionising social media while also making the giving sector more accessible to a younger audience. But I don’t do half measures. As the saying goes, ‘if you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly.’

So I put together a business plan, sharing it with a few close mentors and advisors I trusted first – just to ensure that this wasn’t just some lockdown-induced crazy idea. And every single one of them said: “This is timely. This will work. Tech for good is the right space for you. Do it.”

Fast forward a year and I had ￡750k of funding secured from investors, a tech team in place building the app, an office and an exec board. I met with charities and brands to explain what Wunder was (or Kindr as it was called back then) and, once again, I got the seal of approval from all of them. Don’t get me wrong, I was asked some tough, searching questions from many of them; in some cases almost sending me back to the drawing board. But all of it has helped shape where we are today.

And that is ahead of schedule on our roadmap and currently beta testing the app. We have one of the UK’s best creative agencies building out our marketing programme, a brilliant paid media agency ensuring our audience sees that messaging, a robust, experienced team in place and a social media landscape and, indeed, society, that’s never been more ready to embrace a change in social and giving. As we say in Wunder towers, it’s time to refresh the feed. Because good things happen when you Wunder