“…for those quicker, I got to get this out of my brain and into my workflow type of notes.”

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Hey everyone, I’m Mike Sullivan. This is MO.com. Thanks for joining me today. With me today is Alex Schiff of Fetchnotes. Fetchnotes is a note taking application. Alex, thanks for joining us. Can you start out by telling me a little about this application?

Alex: So, basically Fetchnotes is a note taking and organization tool. I don’t know if you have ever used any apps like Evernote or . . .

Mike: Yes, I’m a big fan of Evernote.

Alex: Okay, there you go. So we’re kind of like an Evernote for those quicker, I got to get this out of my brain and into my workflow type of notes. Like to-do’s, ideas, reminders, writing down that you have a meeting, a company that you want to check out later, someone sends you the name of a book to read, stuff that you don’t have time to deal with, a pretty clunky application, which I think Evernote is, takes too long to add just like a regular note, which is why it’s not very good for those like very quick things that really seconds matter, because you’ve got to get back to whatever you’re doing.

So, that’s kind of the niche that we see for ourselves is note taking for the quicker and more immediate notes, rather than the longer form, recipes, documents, things that Evernote is much better set up to do.

Mike: Is this an application or suite of applications?

Alex: It’s a suite of application. When I say suite, I mean like cross platform rather than we’re building fundamentally different products. So we have our web application, which is coming out this week or next, our beta version of that. Then we have an Android and iPhone application, which will be coming out after that. Then we also have a desktop widget, which basically looks like a little chat window that you can bring up, just with like a keyboard shortcut, or you can run the application the normal, but a keyboard short cut is easier to use. Then you can just jot down your note, tag it, press enter, and it’s organized and it’s syncs with all your other applications. So that, rather than grabbing your phone going to a website, you can just have this application running in the background, press a quick button, bring it up, jot down, “Remember to get milk at the grocery store.” You store it and it is synced across every platform.

Mike: When you say syncing, what exactly do you mean? Do you mean to other applications?

Alex: Syncs with the web applications, so through the desktop widget, it will show up in the web app, it will show up in the mobile app.

But we do plan to offer third party integrations whereby you can sync certain notes of Fetchnotes with other products. This is why we think it will really help make these notes you’ll actually use, rather than notes that you just jot down and never get anywhere, is by syncing with those products that make up your workflow. So for example, you use Google Calendar for your calendar, you can tag something as GCal, and it will sync that note as an event in your calendar. We can take advantage of Google’s API to do that.

Just like people use Evernote right now, for the long-term backup of their brain. We can sync with Evernote so that we can store those notes, not only with us, but with Evernote so you have everything in one place.

We don’t want to make people change, and that’s a big problem that a lot of startups face is there is the friction of getting . . . you say you love Evernote. I don’t want to take you away from a product that you love. I want to show you an easier way to add those quick notes, in a way that completely integrates with your existing workflow.

Mike: Who is your target market for Fetchnotes?

Alex: There are a couple of different target markets that we have, and one of them that has been kind of like our early enthusiast has been followers of this thing called GetThingsDone, GTD system, by David Allen. I call them productivity junkies. People that are always looking for tools that will help them better organize the information and the stuff that they have to do in their lives.

A big chunk, and by no means like the majority or like all of the people who have been signing up have been from that, but a big chunk of them had been from that group and it was a consistent pattern that we’ve seen. But just like regular people that are looking for better ways to manage all the stuff that’s in their brain, that they are pushing into Evernote, that they are pushing into this, that they are pushing into that. There are so many things that they just need one thing that’s really quick, really easy, and that they’re going to actually use those notes. They’re not just going to sit in their inbox.

Mike: So you’re going into beta. Can people get involved, or how can they get involved in part of the beta program?

Alex: Yeah. Just go to Fetchnotes.com and click on “Sign Up.” You’ll see right now it says that sign up currently closed, but it offers you the chance to put in your email and we’ll send you an invite when we’re accepting more people. One thing that we’re also doing is, instead of the typical way of, okay, you signed up at this time, we’ll send you the invite at this time, once we get through our initial list of early adopters that we already have, what we’re going to be doing is say like, “Okay, for the next hour, this link is going to be live for you to sign up.” So it’s going to have a very time sensitive component to it. But I think it’s going to be really successful, and I’m really excited for it.

Mike: Anything else you like to tell us about Fetchnotes before we wrap up?

Alex: So one thing that I think has been really popular is we have a much more cohesive functionality for people to work together on these notes. I didn’t mention how organization works. I don’t know if you use Twitter, like hash tags, just the pound sign and a word creates a tag. We use the same thing. But also just like Twitter, to share your notes with groups or individuals, we use the @ symbol. For example, I can say, “@Fetchnotes,” at the end of a note, and it would add that note to everyone on that group’s notes and it would show up in their notes. I can use the same tags. A typical note might be, “Prepare for demo tonight.” Tag it as to do and @Fetchnotes. That would not only add it to everyone’s notes, on the Fetchnotes’s group, but it would also add it to the to-do list of everyone on that group. So not only does it share it, but it immediately organizes it in the way that you intend.

It’s been really popular with families, couples, and in companies as well. We got a chance to demo that feature a couple of months ago, at a hands-on museum. It was mostly geared towards like families and stuff. It was funny, because we would talk to different families, and there would be one spouse that would be like, “You mean I can add something to my husband’s to-do list, and he won’t screen my calls or anything? It will show up right in there? That’s amazing.” She was really happy, and the other guy would just be like, “Can I filter this out, please?”

So the good thing is that we built right in the ability to filter out the notes that have been added to your notes by other people. So you can use it for your own personal individual notes, as well as for sharing.

Sign up at our website, and we’ll get an invite to you as soon as possible. If anyone wants to reach out to me individually, my email is Alex@Fetchnotes.com. I love to hear from people that are using other products that are interested in our product, to learn a little bit about them.