Recently we had an opportunity to speak with Dmitry Sukhotski, the CEO, co-founder at Vocabulous.us about Word of the Day

Please share with us the backstory of what motivated you to create this app.

The inspiration for the app came from a scene in a movie where the main character used a “word of the day” tear-off calendar. It started as a small side project, but it caught on with people who remembered getting word calendars as gifts or watching their teachers write the word of the day on the chalkboard when they were kids. As interest grew, we brought together a team of language enthusiasts to grow the app into what it is today.

How is your app different than the rest of the market? Which unique need does it fill?

There’s so much content out there these days, but our edge is our expertise and careful curation. We focus on short, meaningful experiences, giving users one thoughtful moment each day instead of endless content that is easy to forget.

What is the coolest or most innovative feature of your app?

We worked with corpus linguists to build a word ranking system that allows us to provide users with targeted vocabulary matched to their level. We also have hundreds of handcrafted illustrations that serve as visual anchors for the word stories.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of the creation of this app?

Our amazing users. We’ve conducted over a hundred interviews with them over the years and met the brightest and most talented minds: writers, actors, doctors, lawyers, parents passing on their love of words to their kids, a factory worker turned professor, even a Nobel Prize nominee. Their stories make the work feel meaningful.

What surprised you most in your journey to create this app?

The chaotic and unpredictable nature of progress. Many efforts fail, but by being consistent and showing up every single day, you learn to fail better, and over time, you succeed.

How did you decide which platforms to release your app on and do you plan on releasing your app to other platforms?

We started with iOS because that’s where we saw the strongest demand. It gave us the focus we needed to build a strong foundation. Now we’re expanding across platforms and developing a web version so everyone can join. You can also sign up for our free Word of the Day newsletter at vocabulous.us for daily “food for thought.”

Which other mobile apps or technology have inspired you?

The pace of AI evolution is setting new standards across all digital products. We’re exploring how to use it to give more meaningful personalization to our users without losing the thoughtful curation that sets us apart.

What features do you hope to roll out to your app in the future?

Very soon we’ll launch a community-based ranking system so users can track progress, compare results, and encourage each other. We’re also working on a kind of “map” of the English language as an innovative way to explore connections between words and meanings.

Do you have any recommendations or advice for others wanting to create a mobile app?

Find your “why.” Be patient. Launch early. Listen often. Fail fast. Then keep going. Most good ideas only reveal themselves after a few wrong turns.