To Everyone who has said "Alexa, Open Wild Planet"

It’s just 12AM and I have decided to shut down a side project close to my heart.... It's more of vent out post. And I am not ranting.

I built it years ago… it started fun little Alexa skill for kids to learn about animals. Never imagined it’d be used by 400,000 people every month.

Never imagined it’d be part of that viral story, the one where a little girl in UP used Alexa to scare off monkeys and save her sister. That was Wild Planet, my side project.

I'll remember the sleepless night when the skill went down.

I'll remember the peak traffic moments watching the user sessions and slack error alerts all the time. . I'll remember putting that slack channel on mute but still opening it once every few mins. I'll remember the joy on kids face when Wild Planet plays their fav animal sound. I’ll remember the parents who's child ate their food only with Wild Planet. I’ll remember that one colleague who casually said, “My dog loves this app on Alexa,” and the shock on his face when I said, “Yeah… I made that.” I’ll remember funding it out of pocket.

I'll remember the AWS bills I've paid. I'll remember the heart-melting messages from users. Lastly, I'll remember all the empty promises from Amazon Alexa India Team that kept me going longer than I should’ve.

Thank you to every kid, parent who said, “Alexa, open Wild Planet.”

You’ll never know what you meant to me.