The SaaS Podcast
Part 1 – How a Neglected Side Project Turned Into a Multi-Million Dollar Startup – with Amir Salihefendic [084]

Amir Salihefendic is the founder and CEO of Doist.io, the makers of Todoist, an online and mobile task management app. He started Todoist in 2007 when he was still a student with two programming jobs on the side. He needed a way to manage his own work and productivity but couldn't find the right tool. So he decided to build his own tool. He didn't see it as a startup and he didn't have any big ambitions. It was just a tool.
Today, the company has over 4 million of users and Todoist is also used by a number of Fortune 100 companies. And the tool that our guest built for himself has grown into a company with over 40 employees and several million dollars in annual revenue.
In this episode, we talk about how Amir abandoned Todoist, which was still a side-project when he accepted a full-time job with a startup. And how it took another 4 years before he recognized the opportunity to turn Todoist into a real business. He quit his job, started working on Todoist full-time and in 3 short years turned it into a 7-figure business with 40 employees.
Success Quote
- “One of the biggest and most important thing is having an important mission that you think helps other people or helps the world”