SweetHoloWhy SweetHolo?
SweetHolo is an app made with a lot of heart — Remy's heart. (That's our cat.) He's the reason we made SweetHolo, and we wanted to share a bit of his story.
The day we learned about his heart
Remy was born with supravalvular mitral stenosis — a rare heart condition that only about 1% of cats ever get. We actually didn't realize he was going through a difficult heart condition.
It wasn't until we found him having a hard time breathing, and then rushed him to the vet, where we learned he was essentially on the verge of passing away. This news hit hard for us and at first we didn't know what to do. Luckily Remy pushed through and we were able to get him the medical care and medicine that he needed. But we learned that due to Remy's SMS, it's very possible that we could lose him this year, as the medicine we give him takes less effect over time. It's very tough news and the hardest thing we learned knowing that we might not have Remy as long as we want. But we wanted to make the best out of this difficult situation.
It started with...cards
When we took Remy to the vet, the bills for his medical care and medicine piled up fast. We knew we didn't want to lose Remy, but we also needed to figure out ways to cover some of his medical costs. One of our friends invited us to come and sell cards with them at card shows, and we thought maybe this could be a great way to make some bit of cash to pay for Remy's medicine.
So that's what we did. Each weekend we would go with our friends to card shows, rented a table with them, and take a binder full of our old cards with us to sell at card shows. Eventually we started having so much fun making new friends and seeing so many nice people that supported Remy's cause that we wanted a cool way to give back to the community. So we thought about making an app.
Selling cards taught us what wasn't working.
Card shows can be a little messy, but it's very... "human." You have to figure stuff out as you go, and make the best of what you have. It's from these experiences of trying to sell cards at a table that taught us some valuable lessons, and gave us some key insights on what a useful app would be.
Some of the apps out there that currently exist didn't solve that problem we had each time we went to go sell cards. So, we eventually stopped trying to look for an app and started building it. That became SweetHolo.
It was initially supposed to be called “Remio”
We knew in the back of our minds that we wanted to dedicate this app to Remy. He was the reason we even started selling cards in the first place. We were gonna call the app Remio which is basically "Premio", like in Spanish for the word "Premium." But someone had beaten us to the name for an app on the Apple App Store. So after much debate and back and forth, we decided we wanted something different. Not everything in life has to be bitter, and sometimes you just have to find the sweet things in life. So SweetHolo was born.
But we didn't want to forget about dedicating all of this to Remy. So we filed for a new company name called RemyWare LLC! Whatever this becomes, it's built for him, and in memory of him.
Bigger than one small life
Remy's heart may be fragile, but we want his story to live on. Our hope is that SweetHolo carries his name far past his life, and that one day through our app we can give back to the community and to other owners who also have pets with life-threatening conditions. We're still working out exactly how, likely through donations. So if that's something you would like to be a part of, there's a small, but real way to help with that mission today.
Want to be part of SweetHolo's mission?
Get Remy a Churu.
SweetHolo is free. If the app has saved you time, or helped you with your card collection or selling cards, or if Remy's heart resonates with you, then your small tip keeps the lights on for SweetHolo and keeps Remy's snacks stocked, hehe. No pressure though. We will always take care of Remy the best we can, and SweetHolo the best we can.
🐱 Get Remy a Churu