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:

1. 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.

2. Pricing considerations: Notion’s pricing might deter some users, leaving room for a more affordable integration tool like Slap.

3. 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.

4. 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.

The demos were insightful and highlighted two key points:

First, I initially marketed Slap as a tool to build a customer support platform on Notion—my original reason for creating it. But the Notion consultants I spoke with had other needs that matched Slap’s features, like CRM, task management, and shared inboxes. I updated the website and revised my email content to reflect these broader use cases.

Second, for consultants to promote Slap, the product had to be quick and easy to test with minimal risk or switching costs. After all, how could they trust Slap to still be around in a month or a year? We were just starting out. If using Slap meant significant workflow changes or the risk of losing important conversations, it would be much harder to convince them.

At the time, Slap created a new email address for users to share with their clients for support tickets and information requests. This required users to adjust their workflows and risk losing data if Slap shut down.

Those first demos made it clear: reducing switching costs was crucial. If Slap could work with existing client email addresses, adoption would be much easier.

We revisited tools like Pipedrive and Intercom, and suddenly, the solution was obvious. Adapting Slap to work with existing email addresses required significant code changes, but it solved issues like adding custom domains and managing email deliverability. More importantly, it reduced the risk and investment needed for users to adopt Slap.

With that, we started building MVP V2.

It took us about a month to finish our MVP. While Simon focused on development, I worked on an outline for our go-to-market strategy and created our website. Our goal was to have the minimum needed to start meaningful discussions with potential users.

Next, we had to find those users. We thought Notion consultants might be ideal for feedback. They know Notion well, frequently set up automations for clients, and connect with many Notion users. Plus, they’d likely test a new integration if it could help them or their clients.

I manually collected a few email addresses from Notion’s official partners page and drafted an email to introduce Slap. I asked if they’d be open to a call and demo.

From past experience, I wasn’t too optimistic about cold emailing. It’s not always welcome, and the line between marketing and spam can be thin. Still, I knew it was a numbers game. My goal was to send 500 emails and then decide if it was a strategy worth pursuing.

Since I was doing everything manually and didn’t want to invest in automation tools right away, I planned to send about 20 emails daily. In a month, I’d know if it worked.

I sent the first batch on Sunday. By Monday, I got replies from two consultants who wanted a demo. I was surprised—and not ready. Thinking it might’ve been a lucky batch, I sent only 10 more emails while prepping a demo script for those two consultants. From that batch, I got one more reply—and another from the first batch. Not bad at all.

Next post coming soon: What we learned from the demos.

We started working on Slap with a simple idea in mind - transform Notion into a customer support platform that could be a budget-friendly alternative to the big players in the market. The first thing we wanted to do was to validate whether this idea made sense. And we quickly noticed that the idea validation meant very different things for both of us.

For Simon, with his developer background, the technical feasibility of our idea was the main concern. So he started investigating on that part.

On my side, I needed to make sure I was not the only person who actually wanted this. So I spent time on Reddit, reading posts from Notion users, diving into google searches and looking at potential competitors to see if there was a gap we could fill.

Once we were both reassured by this initial validation—Simon with the tech and me with the market—we decided to take the next step: build a prototype. For us, it was important to have something concrete to show. A prototype meant we could validate the idea further by talking to potential users and getting real feedback.

Instead of starting with mockups or no-code tools, we went straight to building a functional MVP in code. This decision came down to one thing: product building is the part we’re most comfortable with. Starting with what we knew gave us the confidence to take the first steps.

Now let's see where this will lead us.

My partner and I were finally on holidays for a (short) week. For some context, we both work in IT, sometimes on the same projects, sometimes not.

I remember we were outside and starting talking about ... work. Yes, on holidays. Well, it takes some time to disconnect, right?

Anyway, we were just ranting about a project we were working on, not satisfied with the direction. "We should start our own project". It was not the first time we were talking about it. But this time, I don't know why, we really started to fantasize about it. Talking about how free we would be with our schedule, how we could build it the way we want, how we could maybe get a bit of a passive income, etc. In short, we started dreaming about it.

There was one problem though: we didn't have an idea. In our minds, the process was: first, you get an idea, then you decide to start a project. Now we wanted to start a project with no specific idea.

Sunbathing in the garden, we started to think about the last issues we faced at work. I remember they had asked me to find something to replace Intercom because it was too expensive (especially given our limited usage). I had also worked on a few improvements of the Notion workspace to improve the business flows. That's when I thought it would be great to be able to move our customer support in Notion, where all the other business processes were already handled.

We started to investigate on how to do it but there was one main piece missing: the email integration. There were some products on the market, but not one that I thought I could actually use for that use case.

That's how Slap was born.