Biscuit Tin

One of the issues with death being such a taboo topic is that we rarely discuss as families what we would like to happen when the inevitable eventually arrives. This can not only cause a lot of distress over decision making, but it can also lead to family arguments and further hurt. As a single child, however, Sheila found that every decision in the wake of her father’s death came down to her, and all she had to help her make these decisions were a few documents her father had kept in a biscuit tin.

In the years after her father’s death, Sheila, who had worked most of her life as a business consultant, decided to put to work her own expertise in business architecture and strategy to come up with a solution that would help families better prepare for the difficult process of closing down a life. Her idea was that by digitally storing information such as important documents, accounts, wishes, and contacts on a single platform, individuals could ease the burden on their family by releasing to them all the important information, documentation, and directions to follow after they had passed.

Upon receiving a Scottish Enterprise Grant in 2016, Sheila began investing in brand development and research to better understand the stories of others who had gone through similar experiences to her. She quickly realised that the difficulties she endured were widespread, and as she explored further avenues for growth, she enrolled in a business gateway course where she was referred to Bad Dinosaur, and soon setup a meeting with the team.

This was during the time when Bad Dinosaur was still just a partnership, but already Sheila could sense that they were keen to build something long-lasting and meaningful, and so although it would take her another year to secure funding for the development of the platform, she saw the potential was there for a successful long-term relationship.

In 2018 when Sheila returned to Bad Dinosaur, Kyle and Russ were excited to pick-up on the ideas they had previously discussed, and also brought designer and developer Lindsay onto the project. Together, they came up with some new refinements to the original proposal, which included Sheila’s suggestion of building an early prototype for user testing.

With the user tests showing positive results, Sheila and the team at Bad Dinosaur decided to embark on the building of the Biscuit Tin MVP platform, which would allow users to upload and securely store a variety of digital assets, with the potential for further features to be added on in the future.

Currently, the platform includes six primary features: Accounts, Nominees, Documents, Wishes, Memories, and Important Contacts. These features allow individuals to pass on a wide range of data and information, such as: financial and social media accounts; copies of wills, certificates, and identification; and directions on organ donation, funeral arrangements, personal belongings, and guardianship.

During the development phase Sheila met with Bad Dinosaur in person about once a month and had weekly remote meetings to discuss progress and to provide input. One of the most important components that both parties understood would be essential to the success of Biscuit Tin was security, and following the completion of the platform design, a long period was spent bringing together industry leading technology solutions for data protection, which ensures that the information uploaded by Biscuit Tin users is always safe and secure.