Are Mission and Vision Really Necessary?

‍In its early days, the Alarmy team was skeptical about mission and vision statements. Despite reading numerous articles and having multiple discussions, we struggled to understand their importance, likely due to our lack of experience.

For a startup busy finding Product Market Fit, would mission and vision be meaningful? Is it rational to establish these supposedly unchanging principles during uncertain beginnings? Does this concept align with the lean startup methodology? Why do other companies establish them?

While many advised us about their importance, the practical applications seemed abstract. Statements like "it helps decision-making" or "it motivates team members" felt as vague as a principal's morning speech.

Alarmy's Mission

‍Alarmy began without a clear mission or vision. It started as a personal side project to solve one developer's waking-up problem, rather than a grand ambition to change the world's mornings.

Initially, we focused on solving users' wake-up problems, encouraged by feedback like "this app changed my life." As revenue and users grew, our service impacted more people.

When growth slowed, we discussed future direction, feature development, and target audience. Team members' diverse perspectives on product direction made coordination challenging.

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Looking back, we realized Alarmy always sought to answer "How can we help people wake up effectively?" This problem-solving approach satisfied users and grew the company. An alarm's essence isn't just time notification but enabling people to start their day when desired.

"Wake people up, fully and completely"

This clear mission sharpened our product direction and team understanding, reducing unnecessary communication. For example, we decided against adding stopwatch or timer features, as they didn't align with our core mission of "waking people up completely."

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Alarmy's Vision

If the mission is "What kind of company are we?", the vision is "What are we ultimately striving to achieve?" It paints a picture of what Alarmy will look like in 10 years and serves as a compass, guiding us toward our goals. Historically, an "alarm" has been a tool for telling time. Starting with the crowing of roosters in the past, its form evolved with technological advancements—from alarm clocks to alarm apps on smartphones. However, its role has remained unchanged. From the past to the present, the purpose of alarms has been limited to simply notifying us of the time to wake up.

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Before Alarmy, most alarm apps simply aimed to ring at a set time. However, Alarmy expanded its scope of responsibility from merely ringing at a specific time to actually helping people wake up at their desired time. While this may seem like a subtle difference, it significantly impacts the direction of the product. Features like various wake-up missions designed to ensure users wake up at the set time, as well as functionalities like "Prevent Falling Back Asleep" and "Disable Power Off," were developed with this expanded responsibility in mind—not just to ring on time, but to ensure users wake up when they need to.

So, what is the next paradigm shift in alarms that Alarmy seeks to achieve?

We believe the role of alarms should go beyond simply waking people up and should extend to helping them start a successful morning. Using Alarmy should mean that users wake up fully and begin their day well. This belief gave birth to our vision:

‍"Make people’s morning successful."

But what does a successful morning mean? If someone sleeps well, wakes up at their desired time, feels refreshed, and starts their day with their preferred morning routine, wouldn’t that be close to a successful morning?

Alarmy’s vision to create successful mornings naturally broadens the scope of responsibility for alarms. While traditional alarms were only responsible for ensuring users woke up on time, Alarmy takes responsibility for a much wider range of experiences—from evening preparation before sleep to the moments after waking up in the morning. This expanded responsibility fundamentally differentiates Alarmy from traditional alarms. It is this distinction that positions Alarmy not as a simple utility, but as a product in the wellness category.

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By redefining alarms as a wellness service that enables the start of a successful day, we believe we can naturally achieve a "Zero to One" transformation that changes people's habits.

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Impact of Our Mission and Vision

‍Alarms are universally necessary. As of December 2024, Alarmy maintains a 4.8-star rating with over 1 million reviews globally, demonstrating our meaningful impact.

By helping people start successful mornings worldwide, we're enabling them to create their desired lives and positively impacting society. Though seemingly small, changing how people wake up can transform their entire day, week, month, and ultimately, their life.

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Conclusion

‍In summary, our goal is to wake people up effectively and provide successful mornings for everyone. Reaching this seemingly simple mission and vision involved considerable trial and error. Looking back, creating effective mission and vision statements wasn't about crafting impressive phrases, but about deeply contemplating and discussing with team members the true meaning and purpose of our work.

Finally, inspired by Jeff Bezos's emphasis on "betting on things that will be valuable even after 10 years," we reflected on Alarmy's future.

Ten years from now, people will still need to wake up, will need alarms, and will want to rise at their desired time for a successful morning.

By redefining the alarm as a "wellness service that helps start a successful day," we aim to reach a point where people set their alarms with the expectation of a successful morning ahead.

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[Download Alarmy App]

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