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.
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.
My app Nozbe is kind-of in productivity space, but now as we serve SMART business owners we are more in habit-changing space. Especially as entrepreneurs realize their companies are becoming successful and need to get organized, they need Nozbe but they tell me they have no time to set it up. That’s why I recorded this short video explaining that you CAN set up yourself and 2 of your closest co-workers in 5 minutes or less, from start to finish:
Over the last weekend I’ve been reading a book compiled by the wife of late Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, Laurene Powell Jobs: Make Something Wonderful (get it for free on Books) and one of the stories there was about Steve not being afraid to change his mind: “I have changed my position 180 degrees.” and I believe us leaders can learn a lot from it:
Today I’m offering a very controversial take on trials. Industry standard is to offer them… but at Nozbe we just stopped doing that 🛑. We’ve found out that trials are ineffective so so let’s do something different:
I am an Apple fanboy and happy user of their products: iPad, iPhone, Watch and iCloud and everything in between. However, as a developer of Nozbe which is available on both of Apple’s platforms: iOS and macOS I have very mixed feelings about the company. Actually, I’m disappointed in them and the way they guard the App Store “Services” revenue and exercise their position, making fun of anti-steering provisions or EU’s DMA laws. Instead of making their platforms better, they are doing everything in their power to keep the status quo. That’s why I think it’s time for Tim Cook and all Apple executives to listen to the late Steve Jobs from his keynote at MacWorld Boston in 1997:
I’m a huge fan of videos where there are two talking heads and both are the same person. Especially I’m a fan of Pitch Meetings by Ryan George. That’s why as I started my new @MichaelTeam YouTube Channel I wanted to try it out myself and finally yesterday as I had my favorite “Design Fight” meeting with my Nozbe team I decided to take this opportunity and try it out:
Last week, on February 1, Nozbe turned 17 years old and as I reflect over these last years I’d like to dig deeper into who is Nozbe really for? While working with Seth Godin’s marketing book I was thinking how to really convey to our current and future customers what we as Nozbe believe in. What’s our why? Because people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Not only our core values but also how we work, how we’re remote first, we don’t use email to collaborate, or have very few meetings. How to create this tension and play with status. How to say that people like us do things like this. Being a productivity nerd and loving the SMART acronym for goal setting, I decided to piggy-back on it and create my own way.
Recently I’ve listened to Lex Friedman interviewing Jeff Bezos and I have a few notes that stuck with me, specifically about his Day 1 mentality.
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!):