I run a productivity app for small business owners like me. Here I share my thoughts on capitalism, running an online business, building startups, managing money and my struggles as an Internet entrepreneur. No, I don’t really own a briefcase.
Hello, I’m Michael Sliwinski, founder of Nozbe - to-do app for business owners and their teams. I write essays, books, work on projects and I podcast for you using #iPadOnly in #NoOffice as I believe that work is not a place you go to, it’s a thing you do. More…
I run a productivity app for small business owners like me. Here I share my thoughts on capitalism, running an online business, building startups, managing money and my struggles as an Internet entrepreneur. No, I don’t really own a briefcase.
Last week I did a guest webinar (in Polish) on how we ship Nozbe app and I gave all the details… In a nutshell, we break lots of “industry standards”, and we eat dog 🐶 food…
Last month new Nozbe finally got Evernote integration (v.2013.19), similar to the one we’ve had for years for Nozbe Personal. While we were working on this, Evernote was aqcuired which to me was kind of an end of an era. You see, I used to be a great Evernote fan and supporter, I have a long history with them - from integrating in 2009, through a failed acquisition in 2011 and later usage until I dropped it altogether. Today I decided to write this blog post where I’m sharing my history with them and where I see them headed:
When designing new pricing for Nozbe customers I outlined 5 rules and values that guided me throughout the process. The last, 5th one, was the concept of pay-less account change. Actually, this idea is not new to this particular pricing change. We’ve had it since the beginning of new Nozbe and now after a few years of having it, we’re doubling down on it as we believe it’s the most effortless way for SaaS (Software as a Service) customers to change their subscription. Here’s why and how it works in practice (with examples!):
Last week I wrote that we are changing pricing of Nozbe and today I’d like to explain the 5 rules that governed me when designing the new price list. Previously I’ve explained some of it on video but since then I think I’ve improved the system and came up with 5 principles for creating a pricing scheme that I believe to be as fair as possible. I also lay out the “gotchas” that I’ve encountered along the way. I hope this helps Nozbe customers understand where I’m coming from and fellow SaaS (Software As A Service) business owners design pricing for their customers.
Many years ago I wrote about the concept of voting with a wallet which basically means that as a business owner you shouldn’t care about praise and rewards, but you should focus on providing value and being paid for it. Talk is cheap, but being paid with customers’ hard-earned money is the ultimate compliment you can get. Here are 3 compliments I received from our customers over the past week as we announced we were raising the prices:
Running a business has its ups and downs. Right now I’m feeling like I’m on a roller-coaster of feelings. On one hand, I had to make a difficult but necessary decision to raise Nozbe prices. There’s a new pricing structure coming to both Nozbe Personal and Nozbe starting from July 1, 2023. This post is about the why, the how and the timeline of the whole process, with some lessons learned from the past. Here goes:
I’ve been running Nozbe for the last 16 years and every time someone would ask me about what I was doing, I found it really hard to explain it. I’d say something about a to-do app, time management, project management, and other buzzwords, which wouldn’t really tell them what Nozbe was all about and if it was for them. This year, after talking to many Nozbe customers, doing lots of soul-searching and consulting with my team I think I’ve got it down to just few words: Nozbe helps maintain a work-life balance 🏄♂️. OK, that’s the shortest version, the true line is below:
Today marks the “sweet sixteen” birthday 🎂 of Nozbe - a to-do app that I launched on my own way back on February 1, 2007 from my small rented apartment in Warsaw, Poland.
As today is December 15, it would actually be 19th birthday of my entrepreneurship. Back in 2003 on this day I formally started my company called initially apivision.com as a web and Internet Marketing consultancy. Later as I launched Nozbe in 2007, I changed the company name to reflect that. However, there is no celebration today. My email, which I sent to all of Nozbe users earlier this week explains that my company has transitioned from sole proprietorship to a limited liability company. I also touched on our #NoOffice culture, why I believe it was this change was badly-needed as the company grew and why I procrastinated on it. I hope you’ll find it interesting:
Recently I mentioned on this blog a cup holder effect, which is this situation that one small thing can ruin the whole experience for you. This one is similar, but from a business perspective. I call a keycard moment a glitch in your business, that causes a disproportionate harm to all of your other efforts. You might be doing everything well and your customers are happy, until they stumble upon a malfunctioning keycard which destroys that experience which you so carefully built. And the worst part is that you might not notice it, because it’s just a keycard. Let me explain: