When notion announced notion mail: the dilemma we faced with Slap
Building a product is rarely a straightforward journey, but sometimes, you run into challenges that test your resolve in ways you didn’t anticipate. That’s exactly what happened to us while working on Slap, our Gmail-to-Notion integration tool.
From the very beginning, we knew there was a chance that Notion might eventually release its own email integration or email-related feature. It wasn’t a matter of if but when. Still, we decided to press on because we recognized that this kind of risk is inherent in any venture. Technology evolves rapidly, new products emerge daily, and the possibility of a major competitor disrupting your plans is always there.
And the when was now. While we were a few days from completing our MVP V2, it became clear that Notion's email-related addition was just around the corner. While details about Notion Mail were scarce at the time, the timing was kind of bad... It seemed like Notion might render our work obsolete before we’d even launched. We faced a pivotal question:
Should we stop working on Slap and pivot to something else, or should we keep going, assuming that Notion Mail might not solve the same problems we set out to address?
The uncertainty was quite stressful. What made it worse was how little information we had about Notion Mail at the time. We didn’t know what it would offer, how deeply it would integrate with existing email clients, or whether it would truly solve the pain points we’d identified.
In our moment of doubt, we turned to the Reddit community for advice. We made a post on Reddit asking for external opinions: Should we finish our Gmail-Notion integration with Notion Mail now coming?.
The responses we received were encouraging and offered us fresh perspectives we hadn’t fully considered. Several redditors pointed out some key reasons why Slap could still have a place in the market, even with Notion Mail on the horizon:
SEO opportunities: If Notion Mail didn’t fully meet the needs of users, our product could still gain visibility and traction by being an alternative solution.
Pricing considerations: Notion’s pricing might deter some users, leaving room for a more affordable integration tool like Slap.
Client support: It was unclear whether Notion Mail would support all email clients. If they didn’t support Gmail (or other popular providers) in the way users needed, Slap could still fill that gap.
Adoption barriers: If Notion Mail introduced an entirely new email service, users might hesitate to switch. Slap, by contrast, integrated with existing email systems, making it easier to adopt.
These insights gave us a much-needed confidence boost. They validated our initial assumptions about the problem we were solving and helped us see that there was still room for Slap—even in a world with Notion Mail.
After much deliberation, we made the decision to keep working on Slap while keeping a close eye on Notion’s updates and remaining flexible in our approach. If Notion Mail turned out to be a direct competitor, we’d need to adapt quickly and possibly pivot. However, we also saw an opportunity to differentiate ourselves and expand our solution if needed.
