VentureMom and Daughter Develop Phone App for Women

Susan Bruno on VentureMom.com - DivaCFO Phone Application

What if you were on vacation and needed to wire funds to cover a child's college tuition within the next 24 hours? What if your mom was admitted to the hospital and you needed to provide the emergency room doctors with her medications,
allergies, and primary care  information - and you were at a child's track meet hours from your home?  What if your husband calls and needs the home insurance policy number and contact information - now - and you are at the
grocery, mid shop?  If you had the DivaDocs phone application that Susan Bruno and her daughter Stephanie Bruno have developed, none of these situations would cause any issues. All of the information you'd need would be at your fingertips in your smart phone. 

Susan saw a need to help women get a clear picture of their financial footprint. DivaCFO was founded after Susan hosted a seminar for women on estate planning. "I realized so many women have no idea what they have and where it is.  The first thing I do is send the women on a scavenger hunt."  Susan says the most important piece of the puzzle is to organize your information and that's where DivaDocs comes in. 

With her own financial planning company, Susan says, "It's always the men who come in , never the wives." But when, what Susan calls "one of the 5D's hits - death, divorce, disability, debt or disaster,"  the women can be dumbfounded about their finances and many have no idea where important information can be found. 

Enlisting her recently college-graduated daughter, Stephanie, the two decided to develop a phone application for woman and dubbed it , "the first filing cabinet that fits in your purse." Having never developed an app before, there was a learning curve. "The first developer couldn't do what we wanted. He actually refunded our deposit - unheard of in the app development world." Using their own funding, they found another developer in Texas. Stephanie moved there to work closely with the company, signed a contract, put down a hefty deposit, signed a lease on an apartment, and.....one day later, the developer went bankrupt.  
"We were very discouraged," says Susan, "but I wasn't giving up, I was too committed." 

Finding a woman in Colorado, Colleen Tully of Intrepid Pixel (now in the VentureMom Shop), DivaCFO bartered equity to get a lower rate and it was a perfect fit. "Colleen really believed in our product. She made it all happen, creating our app in six months!." The DivaDocs app went live in the Apple App Store in July 2012.

DivaDocs helps you organize information in nine categories from your credit card numbers to your household service contacts, to your legal information. "It's a place to keep all pertinent information on you, your kids, your parents, and your house.  So many women today live in one state, have college kids in another state and have elderly parents in yet another state." Susan believes that her phone app will give you instant access to all of the information you need to handle almost any situation. "Women have their information spread from their wallets, to the kitchen drawer, to their laptop and DivaDocs, gets it all in one place. "

At just $4.99 for the DivaDocs app, it's not a big expense. Susan and Stephanie are working to take their message to the masses. Reaching out to everyone they know, Susan has a large base of contacts and finds professional networks the best way to get the word out. Regular blog posts on DivaCFO.com and actively
speaking on financial planning and women and their finances, helps as well. "I encourage everyone in business to join a professional group to network and learn." Susan and Stephanie have also gathered a board of advisors to guide them, connect them, and give them more credibility. 

My goal is to help women take control over their financial lives. With DivaCFO.com and the DivaDocs App, Susan is on her way.

Contact: stephanie@divacfo.com, www.divadocsapp.com, divacfo.com, colleen@intrepidpixel.com

VentureMom Tip: Build a board of advisors to help you grow.