MadNotes
Browser's new tab markdown notepad. Most convenient editor
This is the weekly report on how our MadNotes App is doing.
Active users
- Chrome - 62 active users - 📈 +4 users (+6.9%)
- Edge - 26 active users - 📍+0 users (+0%)
- Firefox - 11 active users - 📈+2 users (+22.2%)
- Web App - 20 users - 📉 -23 users (-53.5%)
Total browser extension users - 99 🎉
Work done
Only some marketing campaigns. The big drop in the browser app usage is due to the ended ProductHunt campaign.
This is the weekly report on how our MadNotes App is doing.
Active users
- Chrome - 58 active users - 📈 +7 users (+14%)
- Edge - 26 active users - 📉 -8 users (-19%)
- Firefox - 9 active users - 📉 -1 users (-10%)
- Web App - 43 users - 📉 -108 users (-72%)
Total browser extension users - 93 🎉
Work done
Small styling adjustments, not released just yet.
This is the first post of the weekly reporting series on how our MadNotes App is doing.
Active users
- Chrome - 51 active users - 📈 +28 users (+122%)
- Edge - 32 active users - 📈 +16 users (+100%)
- Firefox - 10 active users - 📍+0 users (+0%)
- Web App - 151 users - 📈 +84 users (+125%)
Total browser extension users - 93 🎉
Work done
Most of those users came from the Indie Hackers post I published, which hit the Most Popular topics on the homepage.
Another big hit came from the ProductHunt launch.
-
2
Keep up the good work Jakub these are solid 💹 growth rates
Who ships on Friday!?!? We do! 🤯Because we're sure our product is great.
We're proud to announce we just released the initial version of the MadNotes App on Product Hunt.
If you like the app, vote for us! Thanks!
How are your launches? Did you make it to the homepage?
-
1
I had a top 5 Product Hunt product once ... but it was a small project that I built with no revenue aspirations. Oh well!
I love your project. I'm going to add it to my browser!
As a builder, if you ever get to the point where you think you'd benefit by having a partner help you this or other products, I'm currently building MicroPartners - a marketplace where product founders can find and partner with skilled professionals.
I've abandoned more than one product in the past myself, so I'm trying to help others (and myself!) break the vicious cycle!
It's not a story of "ohhhh, I have an idea", then release, then millions of $ of revenue. This is a story of "we can do it better", a struggle to release, and a small new business.
I'm a developer (duh), and I like writing on my keyboard more than writing with a pen. But at the same time, I like that a piece of paper and a pen can always be there, right on the spot, contrary to an app which I need to open, wait until it boots, and then I can start writing. No one has time for that bulls*it.
I needed something as quick as grabbing a pen. And I found it. A browser extension that replaces new tab with a blank canvas - a notepad. How cool is that?
All good, I've been working with it for a couple of months and loved the experience. But there's always a "but". It was just a single note, so I often had 38 kilometers of a document to scroll, and it didn't sync to other devices 👎
This is where I jump out of my office and scream "let's create own app!!!11oneone".
The idea was simple, I found a decent markdown editor lib and asked my wife - a graphic designer - to make it beautiful. It was just a matter of installing an NPM package, throwing a couple of lines of CSS, and making it available across all of my devices using Chrome sync storage.
But we started brainstorming this idea more and more. That, in no time, became a "let's make it public" idea. And then "make it public and create a pro version for a silly price". And then... here we are.
We went through a full branding, designing, and coding process, spending over 200 hours as a team for a dumb app like many others. And we're not even finished. But what keeps us rolling is that we believe in it. I still want a great-looking and working notepad, even if I'd be the one and only user. But maybe there are others like me 🤔
We worked on the App in the meantime of doing the client work. That was tough. We had to drop the ball for several days straight, multiple times, to be able to come back to it and continue working for a few hours. But we finally did release a demo version!
If you're keen to see what we're up to, check out MadNotes, that's the name. Or homepage is https://madnotes.app
Cheers! 🖖
-
3
Here's a big problem with your landing page. On indiehackers you've spent an entire post outlining the new tab note taking workflow. But on your landing page I only see something that is a markdown notepad extension, I'm afraid most regular people don't even know what markdown is, so despite them being potentially interested in the 'new tab notepad with easy and instant formatting thing' you aren't tapping into this at all and here's a few reasons why.
You entire above the fold section is 'we are a notepad', 'we fast', 'we can do dark mode'. You aren't targeting anyone with the product, so you'll miss everyone. The regular folks won't understand the point and the devs already use something, probably external, because the last thing devs want is another set of tabs. I'm not a dev but I use AHK to switch to Sublime.
Then as I scroll down I read through raw features, which are very generic and no particular benefit is outlined. "Organize", "format", "safety" - I already somewhat expect all this from a notetaking app: this is like going to a date and highlighting you have two legs and you also breathe air.
"Loved by devs", "Boost your efficiency" is babble in a vacuum: doesn't mean anything because I might be already boosting my efficiency by snorting longer powder rails.
The way you should start is first and foremost put above the fold to the right a big webm/gif that clearly showcases the action of switching to a tab to edit a nicely formatted document, and invite them with something like "Are your notes heavy and plain looking? Create Instantly Beautiful Notes In A New Tab!" - you can rephrase it, but you get the point.
Then sell me on the benefits of this approach - lightweight, fast, instant, beautiful, easy sync, easy export as pdf and what have you. And all the secondary stuff like dark mode and security can be somewhere down or even implied. The reason why it's so high the priority chain is because you are a dev yourself so things like dark mode and security are obviously on top of your mind. But if you are targeting 'loved by everyone' aka random regular folks then you are highlighting the wrong things and it will not convert them.
-
1
Thank you very much for that insight! We'll reconsider changing our landing page, as the values you're referring to make sense.
I can agree our strengths are:
- Convenient new tab notepad
- Intuitive markdown with live formatting instead of source -> preview screen
- All the rest
-
-
3
This looks great!
Heads up: The raw SVG markup on your about page (https://madnotes.app/about/) is rendering on the page. -
2
The Landing page looks stunning
-
1
Thanks! 💪
-
-
2
Your brand identity is amazing based on your homepage, great job. Who created it?
-
1
Our graphic designer at Department of Web and personally my wife Kasia Mikita :) here's her Dribbble
Thanks for your kind words!
-
-
2
the homepage looks amazing. I think I'll give it a try just cause the homepage looks so fantastic lmao
-
1
That's fantastic, I'm glad you're intrigued! 🤠
-
-
2
If I didn't already have 20 note taking apps I'd be trying MadNotes straight away. I love the design of the site and core functionality of the app. Keep up the great work!
-
1
You can try it without having another app, do that at https://use.madnotes.app and who knows, maybe it will replace the other 20 apps! :D
-
-
2
Awesome story and awesome app, I loved the dark theme colors, I will definitely use it on my routine.
-
2
We're #darkfirst indeed! 😎 thank you!
-
-
2
Awesome story Jakub, love it! - And the app looks incredible, by the way, Cadeau to you and your wife. Well done!
-
1
Thank you very much for your kind words Phillip! 🙌
-
-
2
Love it. Keep going!
-
1
I have yet to try the product, but the landing page and the design, in general, look beautiful. I also like those colors. Thx God it's not burning my eyes after I open a new tab. I saw some managing apps previously, but this one is catchy.
I would like to hear your opinion as a developer on the tech stacks you prefer or maybe tell your story of choosing one for your project. Also, share your opinion on how useful or not this post could be for those who are just starting. -
1
Your website looks amazing. Have you used any open source package for note taking section?
-
1
Thank you!
Yes, we used a fork of outline/rich-markdown-editor
-
-
1
Looking really good, smooth design and execution 🚀 Well done 🙌🏻
-
1
I'd argue the execution was smooth, but thanks! :D
We couldn't spend much time on the app past few months, so it took us a long time to put it together. But the IH community is giving us a huge boost to continue!
-
-
1
This is great. Exactly the note-taking app i would use.
-
1
Feel invited! You can join our waitlist to get 3 months for free when we finally release the PRO version
-
-
1
Your website looks absolutely amazing! I love the branding, colours and illustrations! Well done!
-
1
We get pumped reading such opinions, thank you!!
-
Comment