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Case study · Family history product

Two years of Google Sheets, turned into a real product in 28 days.

FamilyTreeRecord's community had outgrown a spreadsheet. We rebuilt it as a polished web app — accounts, privacy controls, and proper family-tree tools — with every feature their users had been asking for.

Client

FamilyTreeRecord

Industry

Genealogy · Consumer SaaS

Engagement

Sprint → full build

Time to launch

28 days

app.familytreerecord.com
Family history product

FamilyTreeRecord

Build, explore, and privately share your family's history — with the tools a spreadsheet could never give you.

Cover placeholder — drop in a real product screenshot to replace.

01

The challenge

For two years, FamilyTreeRecord ran its entire product on Google Sheets. It worked — until it didn't. Users wanted real accounts, privacy over sensitive family data, and tools that felt like a product, not a shared tab they were nervous about breaking.

Every feature request pointed to the same conclusion: the spreadsheet had to become real software. The founder just didn't believe that could happen on a timeline or budget that made sense.

02

What we built

We took the structure they'd already proven in Sheets and rebuilt it as a proper web app — keeping everything that worked, fixing everything that didn't, and adding the features their community had been asking for.

  • Secure user accounts to replace shared-spreadsheet access
  • Granular privacy controls for sensitive family records
  • Interactive family-tree tools built for the way families actually map history
  • A clean, trustworthy interface that made the data feel safe to keep there
03

The outcome

The new FamilyTreeRecord went live in 28 days — a timeline the founder genuinely didn't think was possible. The long backlog of "someday" feature requests shipped as part of the launch, not a roadmap promise.

What had been a fragile spreadsheet was now a real product the community could trust their family history to — owned outright by the team that built the idea.

The results

From spreadsheet to shippable, in under a month.

28days from kickoff to live
2 yrson Google Sheets, replaced
Everyrequested feature shipped at launch
100%owned by FamilyTreeRecord
We ran on Google Sheets for two years. Launchmatic turned that into a polished web app — user accounts, privacy controls, family tree tools — with every feature our users had been asking for. Live in 28 days. I genuinely didn't think that timeline was possible.
SM
Sarah M.Founder — FamilyTreeRecord
Outgrown your spreadsheet?

Turn the thing you're holding together into real software.

If your business runs on a spreadsheet you're afraid to break, tell us about it. We'll come back within 48 hours with a plan to make it a product — at a flat price.