Table of Contents
- Tell us about your product and what inspired you to start it?
- How long did it take you to acquire your first 50 customers, and what was your growth strategy?
- Which technology stack are you using and what challenges and limitations does it pose?
- What are some of the most essential tools that you use for your business?
- What have been some of the biggest insights you've gained since starting your entrepreneurial journey?
- Your recommended books/podcasts/newsletters etc.:
Gobie Nanthakumar is the founder of 7todos - The Task Board Created For Makers
Tell us about your product and what inspired you to start it?
Everything started when I worked on multiple projects. I had my 9/5 job but also worked on a bunch of side projects at the same time.
To help me keep track of my tasks I tried out I tried a lot of different to-do apps and task boards. Jira, Trello, Todoist, Monday, and even Notion.
But they all felt off. They were either too simple and lacking features or too complex and bloated with features I didn’t need. I thought, "There has to be a better way”.
So I set out to build the perfect to-do app, one that is simple to use but also has all the features *I need*.
Later on, I realized we actually all work on multiple things at the same time, every day. With all the tasks in our private life, relationship, habits, projects and work just to name a few.
It is always hard to juggle many projects. That is why I created 7todos, to help everyone to get their stuff done, every day.
How long did it take you to acquire your first 50 customers, and what was your growth strategy?
It took me around 30 days to build the MVP for 7todos. It looked totally different from how it is looking today. And yes, it is kinda embarrassing that I charged money for it back then
And at the beginning, I offered lifetime accounts to get feedback and new impressions on how to improve the app. Luckily, 7todos is not my first project and I could take advantage of my other project Resoume to promote it via a newsletter. I had around 1k subscribers at that point. Besides that, I shared 7todos with my audience on Twitter, and LinkedIn which were somewhere around 800 followers combined. But also took advantage of platforms like IndieHackers, HackerNews, and Product Hunt.
I got a lot of impressions from those sites but the newsletter brought in most of my first customers. One of my subscribers even cross-promoted 7todos in a Facebook group
Which technology stack are you using and what challenges and limitations does it pose?
I started with Vue.js but switched over to Nuxt.js for the front end. The switch over to Nuxt.js was a big challenge. But Server Side Rendering has a lot of benefits, like better SEO and improved performance. Before that, I had issues where users still had an "older version" saved in the cache. And not everyone knows how to hard reload a page.
For my backend, I use Firebase with Node.js (Express.js), which works great so far. I considered other backend solutions like AWS Amplify. But Firebase has all the features I need and it is very simple to use.
I am not using a CSS framework like Bootstrap or Bulma. I prefer to write my CSS to have more control over the design.
But I honestly think the tech stack does not matter, as long as you can build what you want. Getting started is more important!
What are some of the most essential tools that you use for your business?
This is a bit meta but one of the essential tools is 7todos itself! All customer requests, like bug reports or feature requests, get added to 7todos. Zapier is also connected to 7todos and syncs my calendars with essential meetings and events. This is a huge time saver! As weird as it sounds another important one is Telegram. Telegram notifies me immediately about errors or new messages. This way I can take care of things right away. Sometimes even when I am on my phone. To keep track of user behavior I use Plausible and Microsoft Clarity. They both help me to understand how the user navigates through the platform. And also where they struggle with the UI. Both tools are GDPR & CCPA-compliant. This is crucial since I am running 7todos from Europe.
What have been some of the biggest insights you've gained since starting your entrepreneurial journey?
The first thing I learned is that you need to get started as soon as possible. Don’t spend months or even years planning everything out. You will never know if your product is any good until you put it out there. Don’t be afraid to fail. You have nothing to lose.
The second thing I learned is that you need to be consistent. You have to show up every day. You need to put in the work to make your product successful. There is no magic bullet. You need to get your product in front of as many people as possible. And you need to constantly be promoting it. You also need to be active on social media and in relevant online communities.
The third thing I learned is that you need a clear vision. What are you trying to achieve? What problem are you trying to solve? This might sound obvious. But it is very easy to get sidetracked when you are building a product. There are always new features you *could* add. But you need to ask yourself if they are really necessary. Does this feature help you to achieve your vision? Does it help you to solve the problem you are trying to solve? If not, don’t add it. It will only make your product bloated and hard to use.
Your recommended books/podcasts/newsletters etc.:
There are a ton of great books, but if I have to choose 3 I would recommend: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Die With Zero, and The Compound Effect. They are not just business oriented but also help you to grow as a person. For podcasts, I would recommend The Tim Ferriss Show, The School of Greatness, and My First Million. And for newsletters, I would recommend The Hustle, Indie Hackers, and Morningbrew to get your business and tech news fix.
