Founder & User
Hi, I'm Albert. I built WishGiven because I needed it.
A founder in San Diego who's also the guy on the homepage wishlist. The sample family you see? That's mine.
The holiday I gave up and just bought gift cards.
I'd gone to the store with a real plan. I wanted to find something thoughtful for someone I cared about — something that said I'd been paying attention. Instead I walked through half-empty aisles. The stuff I'd seen online wasn't there. The shelves were thinning out, quietly, as retailers shifted their inventory to the web.
After an hour of circling the same aisles, I gave up on them and figured I'd at least get something for myself so the trip wasn't a total loss. The two things I actually wanted? Out of stock in my size.
So I left with gift cards. And you can guess how that landed.
Their face said it all when they opened it. That's the moment WishGiven started — standing in a checkout line holding a gift card I didn't want to give.
Standing there I had the obvious thought: if only they'd put the things they actually wanted somewhere I could see them. Not a wedding registry. Not a baby shower list. Just — the stuff they'd want, from wherever they'd seen it, whenever.
That's what WishGiven is. A universal wishlist that works for every occasion and pulls items from anywhere online, so the people who love you can stop guessing.
I'm not just the founder. I'm a user.
The sample wishlist on our homepage — the family one with the birthdays and the baby shower and the Christmas list? That's my actual family. Those are the gifts we're actually tracking. I use WishGiven every week, and every feature we've shipped has been something I hit a wall with as a user first, then built for everyone else second.
I've been building my own tools for nineteen years.
It started with a silkscreen machine in my garage because I didn't like the print shops I was paying. It's ended up, nineteen years later, as a universal wishlist because I didn't like buying gift cards. The thread is the same.
- 2007
Truly Remembered — started in my garage
Bought a silkscreen machine and set it up in my garage. Not because I wanted to start a business — because the print services I was using weren't good enough and I figured I'd just do it myself. That turned into a full graphic design and print shop in San Diego: custom gifts, t-shirts, business cards, flyers, engraved slate. Ran the retail floor, handled the design, did the on-site sales. Learned what people actually buy for the people they love.
- 2018
From design to software
After years of graphic design work, I shifted into software development. Started building web apps, learned the full stack, and began founding startups where I could combine the design instinct with real product engineering.
- Jan 2026
WishGiven goes live
Incorporated in California, based in San Diego, and launched publicly. Everything you see — the wishlists, Pool a Gift, Secret Santa, the Feed — was built from scratch to solve the problem that started in a checkout line years earlier.
The Details
A real company, run by a real person, in a real city.
- Founded
- January 2026
- Incorporated in California
- Based in
- San Diego, CA
- Listed business, not a mailbox
- Team
- Solo founder
- With help from family, shout out to my niece Rebecca, on product & affiliate work
- Trademark
- USPTO filed
- "wishgiven" mark registered with the US Patent & Trademark Office
- Payments
- Stripe Connect
- We never see or store your card number
- Contact
- amontes@wishgiven.com
- Yes, it goes straight to me
Start your wishlist the way I did — because you needed one.
Free forever. Works with any online store. Every occasion, one list.
Create your wishlist— Albert Montes, San Diego, CA