Development Roadmap
We are firm believers in the lean startup methodology, and apply it as much as possible to the development of Vowned.
In May 2024, we spent a week knocking out an MVP (minimum viable product) version of Vowned, and started approaching fellow vegans to be early adopters and provide valuable feedback. Although we launched the site with just core business directory functionality, we do have more grandiose visions should the vegan community adopt Vowned as a platform and express interest in additional features. Our goal has never been to copy or replace the existing platforms we love and use so much (), but rather to fill in missing links and help build out a complete vegan ecosystem.
If/when Vowned reaches 1000 active listings we plan to commence work on Version 2.0, including the following features.
- Social login options to allow users to register and access Vowned using their Google or Facebook accounts. We believe this feature makes sense to implement only when a site has reached a substantial number of users and recognition (i.e., so users won’t fear the site is part of a phishing or scam operation).
- Report buttons so that users can notify site administrators of abuse and violations, such as non-vegans posting listings, or listings advertising non-vegan products or services.
- Import Yelp reviews from a business’s existing Yelp page. While we of course hope the vegan community will take advantage of Vowned’s review functionality, we certainly want to help our owners tout existing good will and reputations.
If/when Vowned reaches 10,000 active listings, we plan to start work on Version 3.0, including the following features.
- Custom user registration with questions regarding diet to automatically classify users as vegans, vegetarians and carnists. I have met so many people who self-identify as “vegetarian” despite eating fish (or even chicken), and I still have no idea why the term “flexitarian” exists.
- Custom user profile fields to display how long and for what reason(s) a user is vegan (e.g., I have been vegan for 5+ years, having been ovo/lacto vegetarian for 20+ years before that, and am vegan for the animals and environment — love my vegan junk food!).
- Depending on user feedback, we may opt to allow vegetarians to also register as owners, although their listings would always appear lower in search results than otherwise comparable listings from vegan owners. Although I encourage vegetarians to make the leap to veganism, as someone who was a vegetarian for 20+ years before turning vegan I do appreciate the positive impact vegetarians have, and I do believe their values lie closer to those of vegans than those of carnists.
If/when Vowned reaches 50,000 active listings, we plan to start work on Version 4.0, including the following features.
- Social networking functionality, such as friend connections, groups and activity streams. We believe this functionality only makes sense to implement once a site has a sufficiently large user base, if at all. Most users will be active on a number of other social networks already, and we do not want lightly-used social networking features to distract from Vowned’s core function as a directory.
- Bookings and e-commerce functionality to allow customers to schedule and/or purchase products and services through Vowned. These features, like social networking, will only be implemented if there is demand based on community feedback. We only want the site to facilitate transactions between vegan owners and their customers — never a hindrance or distraction.
No matter how many listings Vowned gets, or how many features we implement, the site will always have a free package for vegan owners to list their businesses, products and services. At the end of the day, this is a passion project we started so that we can direct as many of our dollars spent (personally and professionally) to the vegan community!
