How an act of love by a father led to the creation of a technology with potential to change the world.
Every September on her anniversary, Zeenat gets flowers delivered to her with a special message from her husband Arif. On the surface, this seems like a typical act of marital love. However, what makes this unique is that Arif passed away more than a decade ago.
Before he passed away in 2012, Arif Shaikh asked his son to do some special things on his behalf long after he was gone. He gave his son, Art, a box filled with photos, cards, gifts and mementos, and instructed him how and when to disburse them. Art was trusted with sending his mother flowers on their wedding anniversary every year and delivering a hand made card to his granddaughter Alisha on her wedding day. At the time, Arif was healthy; he was simply thinking about the future. Then, a year later, Arif passed away unexpectedly.
Art’s mission to fulfill his father’s wishes suddenly became of utmost importance. Since his death, Art has shared countless cards and gifts on his father’s behalf. One day a question popped in his head – what if I am not here tomorrow. How will all these treasures get delivered? He started thinking that there had to be a better way, a modern way, to deliver these priceless keepsakes to future generations. Some people keep a box of cards on a shelf. Others have a stash of old movies hidden away, collecting dust in the darkened corner of a drafty attic. Some keep various mementos, only to see them destroyed by fire or flood. Art’s father had a wealth of knowledge and a lifetime of wisdom to pass along. Ultimately, Art realized that if he was no longer here to care for and carry on his father’s requests, everything his father created could be lost.
At first, he sought to build a technology that could deliver messages to any future date so his mother could send birthday cards to her grandkids. As Art started talking to friends about his idea, he was surprised to find that many of them were doing similar things on their own for their spouses and kids, but in a manual way that required assistance from other people to be their messenger, just like his father. His close friend, Matt, was diagnosed with cancer the same week he found out he was going to have his first child. Matt told Art he had been putting advice and wisdom into a Google Doc for his child to open once they were old enough. Stories in the news cropped up of husbands arranging for Valentine’s Day flowers to be delivered to their wives after they passed away. Seeing and hearing these numerous stories, he knew this was a much bigger problem and no one was focused on solving it for those who were running out of time.
“The problem wasn’t unique to my father. It was something nearly everyone struggled with at some point.”
From the act of love of a husband/father, his son stumbled upon a problem that had yet to be addressed by modern technology. Delivering cards and gifts to family members from those who are no longer with us is not new, but the way we’ve done it hasn’t changed for the last one hundred years. Art wanted to take this tedious, manual process and bring it into the 21st century. From there, the idea of CircleIt was born.
While still in a fast-paced career in enterprise software sales at Salesforce, Art spent most of his free time working on building a technology that could give families around the world the opportunity to stay connected across generations. He came to the conclusion early on that the real story of our past wasn’t hidden deep in our DNA, but rather was kept in the stories, wisdom, and love that families share. It’s in the touching story of how grandma and grandpa met. It’s in the special recipe that has been served at countless holidays. These are the things that need to be preserved so one can truly understand and appreciate their heritage.
He also noted problems with social media – the short-lived connections and cruel nature of social platforms were not geared toward families. The world needed something that would last and be permanent. How safe are your family photos that could disappear in the cloud when your credit card stops working upon death? How private is your personal communication when it is being monitored and sold to advertisers?
CircleIt grew from these observations and quickly transformed into a generational platform that family members can use to create cards to celebrate milestones, regardless of how far into the future, just as Art’s father created a wedding card for his granddaughter’s future wedding day. Now, an uncle can create a card full of wisdom to be delivered on his young nephew’s college graduation day. A grandparent can schedule a flower delivery for the birth of their great-grandchild, decades in advance without a specific date. CircleIt’s technology assures these treasured gifts are delivered into the future on the occasion of your choosing.
The desire to pass down advice and knowledge is strong, but the burden of collecting and curating these memories is great, and the danger of loss is real. Often individual digital videos and photos are scattered between many family members. With CircleIt, a grandchild can listen to the voice of his grandfather, who passed away while still a toddler, reading a bedtime story. A new mother can receive advice from her mother, who was lost to cancer years prior. A spouse can receive love letters on their anniversary, even after their beloved has passed on. A lasting legacy full of irreplaceable memories is stored in one centralized place when building out your digital family tree with CircleIt. Unlike the traditional flow chart, this family tree is a more interactive experience, giving members a real time look at where their family members are around the world.
Another truly remarkable characteristic, the platform is completely free to use with no intrusive ads, contrary to standard social media. “This is something that the world needs. How can anyone charge someone to privately chat with their loved ones, or send cards to their family on the holidays? It’s absurd,” Shaikh said.
What began as a way to preserve his own family’s legacy became a passion to solve this same problem for others. Art’s father created a way to connect with his family, even once he had passed on. Now CircleIt can create the same generational link for others, preserved for eternity. CircleIt was born from Arif Shaikh’s love of his family. His continued documentation from behind the lens of a camera provided countless photos and videos of special family moments to be shared. His desire to be there for his family gave him the drive to create handwritten cards for his granddaughter’s wedding, long before she could even fathom getting married. This love was passed on to his son to carry forward. Art’s father knew he wanted to share his love with his family for years after he was gone. What he couldn’t have known was that the world would soon be using the technology that was created from his selfless acts to do the same for theirs.
ABOUT CIRCLEIT
CircleIt, available in the App Store and Google Play, was inspired by the story of a unique gift left from beyond the grave. CircleIt was built to replicate this unique gift – a gift that continually reminds his family of his love and allows him to be there to celebrate milestones and inspire future generations even after he’s gone. Shaikh shares that “CircleIt was built for my mother to help carry on his legacy. Built so that others can experience the joy it has given all of us. Built in memory of my father, Arif Shaikh.”
CircleIt, founded in 2018, is a Chicago-based startup with 29 employees.Shaikh previously worked at Salesforce, leaving the company mid 2020, to dedicate his life to delivering CircleIt to the world. Since its app launch, CircleIt has attracted interest from Silicon Valley investors who believe in the importance of legacy preservation in a secure, private environment. So far, they have raised $ 7.1M in funding.
For more information, visit https://circleit.com/
