Most likely you’ve heard about the horrific attack in New Zealand that took lives of 50 people. Despite being a horrible event in and of itself it hit us much closer to home than we may have ever expected.

Our friend and partner Atta Elayyan who designed the whole user experience of AppRaisin, and created such classic Windows and Windows Phone apps like MetroTube and Tweetro was killed in the attack.

I remember meeting Atta and Mike at Build 2012. They embodied what I consider to be the quintessential indie developers – super talented humble geeks who developed beautiful experiences, yet remembered to pay attention to the business side as well. They stood there in their MetroTube t-shirts and hats that invited other people to start the conversation – a brilliant introvert move. As an awkward shy introvert myself, I passed them a few times until I finally found the courage to approach and talk to them.

Later on, we’ve interviewed Atta on our (now defunct) AppBizDev podcast and kept in touch on Twitter and subsequent Microsoft events.

When in 2015 we came up with the idea for AppRaisin and realized that we don’t have the necessary design expertise, I knew exactly who I would want to do it, provided they were available and we can afford it. Luckily, the stars aligned and some months later AppRaisin has seen the light of day. Once the initial design and development phase was over, we brought all of it in-house but I was sure we will work with Atta again…

Unfortunately, this will never happen. This opportunity was taken from us, but our loss doesn’t even begin to compare with what Atta’s family is going through.

Atta’s friends have set up this campaign to benefit his wife and daughter and I ask you to consider helping as much or as little as you can.

Thank you and please keep Atta in your thoughts. We will miss him immensely.