How does it feel to be showcased at Google I/O?
Every Android developer in the world dreams about being showcased at the Google I/O — the grandest stage of all things Google & Android.
Back in the early days of Riafy, Neeraj & I used to have long conversations about being showcased at the I/O. The dream of having our logo popup on the giant screen would give us goosebumps.
It was a really crazy dream. No Indian developer had received the honour of being showcased at the I/O. It wasn’t easy.
If your dreams are not crazy, you are not thinking big enough.
Crazy dreams drive innovation. To make those crazy dreams a reality, you need to break them down into smaller pieces. Complete these pieces every day, every month or every year; like a jigsaw puzzle.
Here’s one of those pieces from our jigsaw puzzle — Creating the world’s first cooking app on Android TV. The others are stories for another day.
Completing our jigsaw meant that we had worked with some of the best Googlers in the Asia-Pacific — Amrit, Kanan, Michael & Tony. Their patience and support were instrumental in our journey. Thanks to Kanan Rai, we received official invites from Google to attend the I/O.
Getting passports & visa were so adventurous, they deserve a movie! Anyways, we reached San Francisco a few days prior to the I/O and settled into a cozy airbnb. We thought we would ‘chill’ for a few days, but the Almighty had other plans for us.
The emails & calls!
Kanan and Amrit reach out to us about an opportunity. It’s still ‘developing’ they said. It would be HUGE if it pans out. They wanted us to send across some creatives that showed Cookbook’s ubiquitous nature — the ability to run seamlessly across different form factors like phones, tablets, wear & tv.
We got to work and got some of the best product shots of Cookbook on different devices. We send it across and waited. They replied with a document that we had to sign and return. It was an agreement that allowed Google to use Cookbook’s name, logo and content for the purpose of showcasing for Google I/O. HOLY ____! It was really happening.
The stage was set. Timothy Jordan would be talking about ubiquitous computing and would call out 3 apps, WhatsApp, iHeartRadio and Cookbook Recipes. Our crazy dream had come true. We just couldn’t contain the excitement.
We reached the venue super early; wanted to get the front row seats. Didn’t want to miss a thing. The feeling was quite surreal; a part of us was feeling proud of becoming one of the first developers from India to be showcased at the Google I/O. But another part was not sure if it was really happening.
As the time neared, the venue started becoming packed! Timothy was quite popular among the crowd. He was the poster boy for Google Glass and a very familiar face for the crowd. We could hear someone shouting ‘Timothy.. marry me!’. We calmed our nerves and took our seats.
Timothy got on stage and started his talk. You can watch it here. We had our cameras ready right from the start! Could you blame us? We didn’t know when he would be speaking about Cookbook or for how long!! We had to capture the moment for sure. And then it came. He took his time explaining about how Cookbook spread the joy of cooking with recipe search, calculated prep times, shopping list and more. A part of me wanted to just enjoy listening to him, but another part of me wanted to take as many photos as possible. We wanted to freeze that moment in time.
After the talk was done, it was the customary selfie time. We had not met him before. We walked upto him and said ‘Hi Timothy, it was a nice talk. And by the way, we made Cookbook Recipes’.
Riafy is proof that fairy tales are real. Stay humble, work hard and relentlessly pursue your dreams. Your’s will come true too.
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