The Story Behind ShareIt: How We Built a Bill-Splitting App in 9 Weeks
ShareIt is an app that simplifies splitting bills and expenses among friends. The idea for the app originated when the WeShare app closed down, leaving many users stranded. Alexander, a Tech Lead at Lunar, saw an opportunity to create a similar app and brought the idea to Ken, Lunar's CEO. With a green light from Ken, Alexander, and 3 other Lunar Employees kicked off the creation of ShareIt.
Assembling the Right Team
The ShareIt app got built in only 9 weeks, so requiring a team with the right skills and competencies was crucial. Lasse, an IOS developer, Kasper, an Android Developer, Alexander, a Backend Developer, and Martin, a Designer, joined the project with unique skill sets and worked collaboratively to make the project successful.
The Importance of Time and Speed
Time was a critical component of the ShareIt project. The team devoted one day a week after working hours to the project in the first 4 weeks and then full-time for the rest of the time, demonstrating a sense of urgency in executing the project. The team started by designing the initial screens and iterating quickly to fix problems as they surfaced.
In Lunar history, these passion projects have been a big part of developing new features, continuing development in the tech team, and bringing people together and learning from each other.
“It was also very different because normally we have a project manager and owner and meetings and all that stuff, but here it was just us four against the world. When we ran into a question like; how can we log in to the app? Then we just tried things by asking Martin about design; if we needed some backend, we’d talk to Alex, and then we would proceed from there. It was faster and more iterative than the regular workday.”
A Technology-Driven Approach
Technology played a crucial role in building the ShareIt app. The team was able to utilize the learnings and work from the Lunar platform to speed up the development cycle. By building on the side of six years of work, the team could leverage the features Lunar had made without being bogged down by them.
“ think that’s quite impressive. And that’s, at least, what helped us speed up the development cycle. We can have a feature developed in an hour and released within minutes to the app. So the feedback loop gets insanely fast. We still have the four eyes principle and review all code, but it’s not like we hand over the code to somebody else who runs it. We build it, we own it, and we run it. That’s the mentality we have at Lunar.”
A successful build and launch
The ShareIt app received over 10,000 sign-ups on the first day of its release and is now available on both the App Store and Google Play Store. The app is used daily and is continuously improving with new features.
“We have 90.000 users right now. We have had around a thousand daily signups every couple of days. It’s funny to experience that people love and use the app extensively already.”
“We’re reading feedback on both app stores and now have feedback in the app. Some ask for ideas we know we’re implementing in the next few weeks or months. So that’s definitely fun to see people loving it, sharing feedback and more”
A Lunar way of doing things
“Comparing ourselves to others, I don’t think everybody could have done this. That’s also what I conveyed to Ken, and the message he shared at the town hall. I believe and still do, that Lunar holds a unique position due to our amazing tech stack and our incredible team. We have some of the best talents in the Nordics. We have amazing people. I think some of the best in the Nordics are or have been at Lunar. So I think we have a pretty unique position in being able to do that. Unlike larger banks, I don’t see them being able to achieve results as quickly as we can.”
Learning Journey
As the 9 weeks of production wrapped up, we got time to reflect on learnings along the creation process. Some Squads have already applied some working methods, including Squad Atlas.
“We like to work in the same way as we did with ShareIt, so we just took out an entire day, sat in a room, and worked around scenarios. We did that in Squad Atlas, where we needed to build another feature for the Lunar app. So we gathered the front-end and the back-end engineers into a room and planned everything. We sat in there while implementing it all and did it like a tiny ShareIt-style day, which worked well. That is one key learning, and it’s fun”
Encourage passion projects
Not only do passion projects develop individual skills and boost growth. It also improves the bonds between colleagues, one of the most valuable aspects of working together and having fun at work.
“A fun part was also, for me at least, the internal battle with Lasse. Let’s say I built the basic chat feature first, so I was a little bit in front of him, and he implemented the invite member feature, so I also wanted to do that. We enjoy supporting each other to improve and sometimes showing off our progress, which can be pretty enjoyable.”
As technology enthusiasts, it's essential to understand the importance of collaboration, time, and technology in executing a project. The ShareIt app is a testament to how a team with the right competencies, a sense of urgency, and a technology-driven approach can quickly build a successful product.
