Who’s behind Fred

Two founders, two backgrounds in product and technology, one lost argument too many. Here’s why we built Fred, what we mean by winning, and why Fred is called Fred.

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01 — Why Fred exists

We learned at home how hard it is to run a family together

Fred is built by a woman and a man, one German, one Dutch, both from product and technology. We didn’t find the problem in a report. We found it at our own kitchen tables.

Running a family together sounds like a shared project. In practice, the system around it isn’t built for two. School mails go to one address. The doctor calls one phone. The invitation lands in one inbox. Society still quietly assumes that one parent knows and the other helps. So two people who genuinely want to share the load end up with one of them carrying it, and both of them tired of the conversation about it. That gap is where tension grows, and resentment after it.

02 — What the numbers say

Most couples want the same thing. Few manage it.

50%/9%

Half of Dutch parents say they want to divide work and care equally. Nine percent actually do.

48%/13%

Nearly half live with a division where he works more and she does more of the care; only thirteen percent say that is what they want. [1]

What we hear from parents, underneath the numbers: they want to understand each other better, and they want their effort to be seen. Not to keep score. To stop guessing.

What mental load is, and why it lands on one parent →

[1] Source: CBS, Emancipatiemonitor 2024 — parents with a partner and a child under 18.

03 — We tried everything

A to-do list with fifty items is not a system

We did what everyone does. Shared calendars. Shared to-do lists. Colour codes. Checking each other’s calendar before saying yes to a business trip. And, surprise: it wasn’t enough.

The list grew to fifty items and became something to avoid. The calendar showed when, never who. Someone still had to notice, add, assign, remind and follow up — and that someone was still one person, holding the whole picture in their head and starting every conversation about it. Tools that need coordination don’t lighten the load.

04 — So we built Fred

This can be better

That’s the moment Fred started. Not another place to enter tasks, but an AI that actually understands family life: what a school newsletter means, that a birthday brings a present with it, that a swimming lesson needs a bag packed. Something that holds the picture so neither of you has to, and puts it in front of both of you.

When have we won? When parents feel that family life is something they do together. When nobody lies awake wondering what they’ve missed. When the conversation at the end of the day is about the day, not about the admin.

How Fred works →

05 — Why the name

Why Fred

We wanted a name that felt like someone you’d happily have around, not a product. And in Swedish, fred means peace. That’s what we hope Fred brings: a bit of peace to family life.

Don’t like it? Rename Fred in the app. Garfield, Agent 007, Warrior Xena — no judgement.

06 — The founders

The two of us

Co-founder
Theresa Gessner
Spent her career making complex systems feel simple — and her evenings doing the same for her family. Fred is the product she wished existed.
Co-founder
Job Tasche
Saw the same pattern in every family: two willing parents, five apps, no system to tie it together. Fred is the layer he always wanted to build.

Both of our families run on Fred, every day. We’re the first to notice when something breaks.

07 — Where we’re heading

Where we’re heading

We believe an AI that sits between two parents, rather than assisting one at a time, brings families closer together. That the invisible work becomes visible, and valued. That the second parent gets a real way in. And that the time that used to disappear into coordination becomes time for each other.

Everything we will do, will always serve the goal to make your family life better. We will reduce the places where you need to check for information (think school apps, day care apps, WhatsApp groups) and also Fred will execute tasks for you. That healthy meal plan, ordering the groceries – Fred will not only reduce your mental load but also reduce the time you spend on tasks.

08 — In the press

In the press

RTL Nieuws · 27 June 2026

“Job bedacht een AI-tool om de taakverdeling binnen het gezin eerlijker te maken”

by Mirthe Dijkstra

The piece describes how Job came to build Fred after planning his own wedding with a shared tool, what an assistant for the household could take on, and the six hundred families who signed up to test it after a single LinkedIn post.

It also gives room to Marinda Schuiling’s caution: planning can be helped along, responsibility can’t be outsourced to an app. We agree with her.

The article describes an earlier version of Fred that lived in WhatsApp; today Fred is an app.

Read the article on rtl.nl →

09 — The company

The company behind Fred

Fred is made by Product Impact Consulting BV in Amsterdam, Chamber of Commerce (KVK) 90557840. fred.family is Fred’s only official website.

Questions, corrections, or a request to delete your data: mail@fred.family.

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