Ask HN: Review my startup, ActiveInbox (GTD Gmail plugin w/ $20k donations)

27 points by andymitchell 15 years ago | 29 comments

Check it out at http://www.activeinboxhq.com

In short, it creates a better Gmail to help you: 1) get your inbox empty, 2) ensure everything gets completed, 3) do things faster in Gmail.

At its heart, it transforms emails into a flow of actions. It uses GTD principles in Gmail for great control, and adds neat efficiency shortcuts like Previous Emails to write better replies.

This is the public beta. We have a long history... but really briefly, a hobby turned into a full-time uISV about a year ago when we received $20,000 in donations - and realized the support it had! And the potential to do something really interesting to bring emailer's peace of mind. If I can share any extra info that would be of interest, please just ask. (I don't know if that's a good or bad number for donations, but I'm really mindful that we're still in a very humble place).

Would love your fresh eyes to give that great and honest HN feedback on the website, ActiveInbox and anything else that grabs your attention :)

andymitchell 15 years ago |

I should mention that while it's GTD at the core, it includes productivity features never before seen in Gmail...

1) instantly see emails when you reply to catch up on recent discussions 2) label-emails-as-you-send-them, so you can add tracking labels to the emails you send 3) right click any contact/label to see recent conversations

... and a few more besides, all customizable :)

For anyone worried about security - as I would be - it does not require any Gmail username/password as it works within the browser; and all XHR requests are there to see (and the source is openable, although it's minified).

rufo 15 years ago |

This looks like it might be very similar to something that's been bouncing around in my head for quite a while - I greatly look forward to trying it out!

Any chance you'd consider working with the Mailplane[1] author to get it integrated? That's my Gmail client of choice, and Ruben has integrated other tools like Rapportive, so I'd hope that something could be worked out.

[1]: http://mailplaneapp.com/

andymitchell 15 years ago | |

I've long since admired Mailplane and it would be great to do something with Ruben - I didn't realize that he was open to collaboration. Will get in touch.

And if you have any thoughts about what you like, don't like, or would love to see and want to discuss it more deeply, I'd love to go into it :) Just say hi at andym@activeinboxhq.com (or the community forum: www.getsatisfaction.com/activeinbox)... or here at HN of course!

thehodge 15 years ago |

Proper Link : http://www.activeinboxhq.com

I think the site is quite clear and your call to actions are pretty good however

"Transform emails into actions with GTD® for a better Gmail & Google App" - this is a little hard to read, same with the ActiveInbox text, maybe try a different colour?

peterjlambert 15 years ago | |

I'm inclined to agree actually. I think it's the length of the sentence that's forced it to be illegibly small.

We need to work on that. Thanks for the feedback though.

andymitchell 15 years ago | |

Thanks you! Is it just the colour or the font as well?

And what browser are you using? We use a slightly different font on Chrome/Mac than we do on other setups...

thehodge 15 years ago | | |

Chrome latest version :)

guynamedloren 15 years ago |

So this is supposed to be a more convenient way to label and file emails...? Interesting idea, but I'm not sure I'd gain any productivity from an app like this.

I installed it and tested out, and it just feels messy to me. Gmail already feels cluttered enough with all of the buttons and crap everywhere, and your app just adds to that.

Also, the To Do labels are goofy (Next, Action, Some Day, Waiting On). I think you can come up with something more intuitive and user friendly.

One last thought - is GTD a commonly used term? I had never heard of it prior to visiting your site, and to do some searching to figure out what it meant.

andymitchell 15 years ago | |

GTD is Getting Things Done, a really popular productivity method ("the art of stress free productivity"). It's our niche to start out with, while we are still small (I'm the only full time person involved, although revenue is getting to a point where we can consider expanding).

As we refine features, and expand what it can do, I think we will become very useful to a much wider audience. (And thank you for the comment on cluttering - I will work through that with Pete, the designer - I absolutely agree nobody wants more clutter in Gmail!). Which is the time we will move away from highlighting GTD for new users.

Our goal with ActiveInbox is to deliver peace of mind (the guarantee that everything is prioritized and will be taken care of, and contacts will be impressed with your performance), and increase your flow to get through your email quickly & effortlessly.

latentflip 15 years ago |

It's a really minor thing but on this page: http://www.activeinboxhq.com/install.html

In Chrome the dialog box on the page says: "This extension can access: Your data on gmail.com, google.com and 3 other websites". But when it popped up in my chrome it said "4 other websites".

It's not a big deal, but it briefly weirded me out when I don't know what those sites are, and when it's different to what I was expecting.

Will let you know what I think of the actual app once I have had a play.

latentflip 15 years ago | |

To add to my feedback:

I really like it so far. It's nice to be able to archive emails and get them out of my inbox but know I won't forget about following up on them.

The archive/skip and go to next buttons are good, but I wish there was a delete and go to next. I have a lot of junk to get through :)

andymitchell 15 years ago | | |

The extra inbox processing buttons are part of Plus (it's a forerunner to the 'create your own shortcut buttons' that we're working on).

If you're wondering, the background to that is that free gives you good email control and a full implementation of the essential useful features; and Plus increases your efficiency :)

andymitchell 15 years ago | |

A good spot, thank you - will get it fixed up tomorrow.

timmaah 15 years ago |

HN Meta bitching question on my part. How come this Review my startup request gets multiple points in minutes and hits the front page, yet mine gets nothing in hours?

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1743398

(feel free to down vote as needed)

pbiggar 15 years ago | |

Probably because the HN community isn't the target market for your startup (political campaigners) but is for this one (OCD about productivity and email).

secret 15 years ago | |

Not to continue the off-topic, but I've noticed this problem and started a mailing list just focusing on review requests (http://minvp.com). Of course, that too dropped off the new page with no comments :)

lancer 15 years ago | | |

I like the idea too, but would rather subscribe to an RSS feed. I get enough email already...

fjabre 15 years ago | | |

Liked the idea. Just subscribed.

dinkumthinkum 15 years ago | |

You have an interesting app. I think many of us, at least myself, may not really get it. I'm not that familiar with phone banks for political campaigns. But 16 days is a pretty good turnaround. :)

ronnier 15 years ago | |

Luck plays a factor in this.

duck 15 years ago |

It looks cool, but I almost expect a short video these days showing me exactly what it does.

andymitchell 15 years ago | |

A very very good idea. I've been holding off slightly because - well, partly stage nerves ;) - but because it's hard to get it professional. You are right though, I will put _something_ together... it will be the easiest way to showcase what it can actually do.

dzlobin 15 years ago |

Seriously, I'm in love with this after just a few minutes of use. This is something I have always wanted in my gmail, but never saw a proper solution floating around. Great job.

labria 15 years ago |

And what about the "Reference"? IMO, not all emails are tasks, some of them are just data to be stored. What should I do with those?

andymitchell 15 years ago | |

Exactly, so today's email client broadly serves two functions: 1) to manage emails (which is to say, manage the flow of tasks that emails represent), 2) be a knowledge base.

Reference labels are essentially meta data - so you might create a general reference labels for invoices, receipts, meeting notes, etc. You can then use ActiveInbox's sidebar menu to drill into the knowledge base -> look for meeting notes for a given project, or invoices for a given contact.

bombs 15 years ago |

I'd like to use ActiveInbox for Gmail with Internet Explorer/Google/Outlook/Lotus Notes

What about Safari and Mail?

andymitchell 15 years ago | |

I will add them as options!

msh 15 years ago |

but what is it?

Its not clear what it is on the webpage, is it a browserplugin, service or what? It should be more prominent, you have to try downloading to find out.