I built Maxie because I was struggling to keep up with family life.

There was always something to remember.
Something to plan ahead for.
Something I hadn't written down.

And no matter how hard I tried, I always felt slightly behind.

At work, I build digital products used by millions of people.
I know how powerful the right systems can be.

But at home, I didn't have that.

The moment it clicked

One night I was up late making a costume for a school assembly on Egypt — because I hadn't properly read the email about it the week before.

That kind of thing kept happening. Not big failures. But enough small ones that it started to feel like I just wasn't doing a good enough job as a mum, as a partner. I was overwhelmed by the things I needed to keep track of, swamped by the mental load.

In our family, we're a team. My partner is incredibly organised, which made the gap even more obvious. But even working together, we were constantly checking in with each other. "What's happening this week?" "Who's doing that?" "Did we sort that yet?"

Nothing was held in one place. Everything lived in conversations, messages, or someone's head. And that friction adds up.

I have ADHD, which means I can operate at a really high level when I have the right systems around me. At work, I do. At home, I didn't. And I could feel the difference, not just in how organised things were, but in how it made me feel.

There's a huge, often unspoken pressure on parents, especially mums, to stay on top of everything. To be the one who remembers, plans ahead, and keeps things running smoothly. And when you can't, it's easy to feel like you're failing.

The problem wasn't me. The problem was that nothing was built for this job.

What the research showed

I wanted to understand whether this was just my experience, or something much bigger.

I ran the Mental Load Survey, speaking to other parents about the real friction points in managing family life. Five themes came up again and again: keeping track of schedules, staying informed, remembering things, coordinating logistics, and planning ahead. Not one of them was well-served by existing tools.

54% of parents said that "remembering everything" was their single biggest family challenge. Not the doing. The remembering that the doing needed to happen at all.

That's the problem Maxie was built to solve.

Why nothing else was quite right

The tools that existed were built for a different problem.

Generic calendar apps show you when things happen — they don't help you prepare.

US-focused family organisers don't understand UK school terms, inset days, or the particular chaos of a British school newsletter.

Task managers give you more lists to manage.

None of them thought about the wider family network: the grandparent doing pickup on Tuesdays, the childminder who needs to know about the nativity costume, the co-parent who shouldn't have to ask every time an appointment changes.

Calendars tell you when something is happening. Task apps give you more to look at. But neither helps you stay on top of the moving parts of real family life.

What Maxie is

Maxie is a family organiser app for UK parents with school-age children.

It's not just a calendar, and it's not another to-do list.

It's a shared layer that helps your family stay one step ahead. You can tell Maxie what's happening in your own words, or snap a picture of a flyer, and it turns it into a plan, suggests what needs doing, and keeps everyone in sync — without the constant back-and-forth.

It reads your school emails and creates events automatically.

It sets prep reminders before every recurring event: swimming on Tuesday means "pack swim bag" lands on Monday night, every week, without you thinking about it.

And it makes sure the right people — partner, grandparent, childminder, co-parent — know what they need to know, without you having to tell them twice.

Other calendars show when things happen. Maxie shows what you need to prepare beforehand. That's the difference between knowing you have a school play on Friday and remembering to sort the costume on Wednesday.

It's built for families who want to work together, not for one person to carry everything.

Your family's data is safe

This matters to me personally, not just as a policy.

Maxie is invite-only. There are no public profiles, no searchable directories, no advertising.

Your family calendar is visible only to the people you choose to invite.

Maxie is fully GDPR compliant. Your data is never sold, never shared with third parties, and never used for anything beyond helping your family run more smoothly.

I'm a parent. I built this for families like mine. I treat your family's information the way I'd want mine treated.

Where we are now

Maxie is independent and bootstrapped, built by a working parent, alongside a working parent's schedule. It isn't backed by venture capital. It isn't trying to be everything to everyone. It's being shaped by real feedback, and getting ready for its first families.

But the goal has always been simple.

Family life shouldn't feel like something you're constantly trying to catch up with.

It should feel like something you have the headspace to enjoy.

If that sounds familiar, you're exactly who Maxie is for.

Try Maxie free — no credit card required →

• Available on Android and as a web app on any device, including iPhone, iPad, and desktop
• EU-hosted · GDPR compliant · Invite-only · No ads · No data selling
• Built by a parent · For parents · Since 2024

Questions? Get in touch: contact@maxie.family