Part 1 – How a Neglected Side Project Turned Into a Multi-Million Dollar Startup
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 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”