Building Technology That Brings Joy

We're an app studio and AI consulting firm on a mission to create products people love and help businesses work smarter.

Our Story

MemoryForge was founded in September 2025 with a simple belief: technology should bring excitement and joy to everyday life, not just function.

Too many apps feel like corporate software—gray, functional, joyless. We saw an opportunity to build something different: consumer apps that people genuinely look forward to using, and AI solutions that actually understand how real people work.

The App Studio Model

We operate as a personal "Y Combinator"—a bootstrap app studio that develops multiple consumer app concepts and focuses resources on what resonates with users. This portfolio approach allows us to:

  • Stay agile and responsive to market feedback
  • Take creative risks without external funding pressure
  • Pivot quickly when something isn't working
  • Double down on what users love

Why AI Consulting?

As we build our apps, we're learning powerful lessons about AI-powered workflows. We realized these insights could help other businesses, leading to our consulting practice focused on persona-based AI solutions.

Unlike traditional consultants who push generic automation, we shadow real users, understand their unique challenges, and build AI workflows that work the way people actually think.

Mission & Values

Joy-First Design

Every product decision is filtered through one question: "Will this create excitement and joy, or just function?" We choose joy every time.

User-Centric Always

Market feedback drives our decisions. We build for real people solving real problems, not for what we think is clever.

Bootstrap & Agile

No external funding means no pressure to compromise. We move fast, iterate quickly, and answer only to our users.

Privacy & Ownership

Your data is yours. We never sell it, never exploit it. You own your content, your memories, your information.

Honest & Transparent

No dark patterns, no hidden costs, no manipulative design. We respect our users enough to be straightforward.

Sustainable Growth

We're building for the long term. Sustainable business models that serve users, not chase unsustainable growth metrics.

The Team

Ryan Dean

Founder & Principal

Ryan founded MemoryForge to build the kind of products he wished existed—apps that bring joy and AI solutions that actually understand how people work.

With a background spanning product development, AI implementation, and user experience design, Ryan brings a unique perspective that bridges technical capability with human-centered design.

His philosophy: "Technology should amplify human potential and bring delight, not create cognitive burden. Every product we build should spark a moment of 'this is exactly what I needed.'"

When not building apps or consulting with clients, Ryan can be found fishing (naturally), tinkering with new AI tools, or writing about product development on the MemoryForge blog.

Growing the Team

We're currently a lean operation, but we're always interested in connecting with talented individuals who share our values. If you're passionate about building joy-focused products or transforming businesses with AI, check our Careers page.

How We Work

1

Listen First

We start every project—whether an app or consulting engagement—by deeply understanding the people who will use it.

2

Design for Delight

Functionality is the baseline. We design for emotional impact, surprise, and the "I love this" moment.

3

Build & Test

Rapid prototyping with real users. We don't guess what works—we test and iterate based on actual feedback.

4

Launch & Learn

Shipping is just the beginning. We monitor, measure, and continuously improve based on real-world usage.

5

Evolve or Pivot

When something works, we double down. When it doesn't, we pivot quickly without ego or sunk-cost fallacy.

6

Share Learnings

We document our journey—successes and failures—on our blog to help other builders learn from our experience.

Our Journey

September 2025

Founded MemoryForge, LLC

Business formation, domain acquisition, and initial strategic planning completed.

September 2025

Learned Expensive Trademark Lesson

Emergency rebrand of first app taught us the critical importance of thorough IP due diligence.

Q4 2025

Website Launch

Launched memoryforge.app to share our vision and connect with early adopters.

January 2026

First App Launch

Fishing memory app launches on iOS App Store.

Q1 2026

AI Consulting Services Launch

Begin accepting consulting clients for persona-based AI workflow implementations.

Q2 2026

Second App Launch

Home management app brings organization to homeowners.

Beyond

Continued Innovation

More apps, expanded consulting practice, and ongoing commitment to joy-focused technology.

Join Our Journey

Whether you're excited about our apps or interested in transforming your business with AI, we'd love to connect.

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