Dear Shareholders,
As you may know, Kinopio is organic software that's completely community funded. But if you're reading this, as far as I’m concerned, you’re invested in the future of Kinopio.
Being funded this way means that Kinopio can be built in the best interest of the people and teams that use it – especially for the long-term. But this also comes with major financial hurdles early on, which is why you can count the number of solely customer-funded software companies on one hand.
Comparing % increases to key biz metrics to the same period last year paints a rosy picture:
| Period | MRR | Gross | New Subscribers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last 12 months | ↑ 30% | ↑ 23% | ↑ 56% |
| Last 6 months | ↑ 34% | ↑ 42% | ↑ 86% |
| Last month | ↑ 34% | ↑ 125% | ↑ 500% |
Sidenote: because of server-side optimizations and a move from Heroku to Railway this year, even with increased usage, costs have largely stayed the same.
📈 Midway through the year, the MRR and subscriber graphs really started climbing. TBH I'm not entirely sure why though.
Searching through the changelog, a couple potentially related things happened around this time:
- Right before this, I spent a month on major improvements to stability and performance
- Kinopio went mini-viral on TikTok as a way to make handmade-feeling birthday cards
- The price was increased
Silver bullet explanations are enticing because they whisper that you can repeat success by shooting at the same thing. But that's a trap. You can't predict virality, and chasing it is cringe. Even performance improvements eventually hit a point of diminishing returns.
I prefer to think of these things as the cumulative result of all the work that came before. Doing a single push up won't change your life, but a steady thankless sequence of workouts just might.
While progress is positive, in terms of absolute $ numbers, it would still take a couple years at the current growth rate for Kinopio to be minimally economically sustainable. But now that the technical foundations are firm, there are a bucketload of promising ideas I'm looking forward to building in the new year. Both the product kind, and the getting-the-word-out kind.
It’d be awesome if the last 6 months marked the beginning of a hockey stick growth inflection point, but it's really too early to tell right now. As long as people love using Kinopio, and new users continue to subscribe, then I'd like to keep building it.
New Stuff
Line Dividers. Mark pages, sections, slides, and other large variable height areas that can be cumbersome to manage with boxes alone. Jump between lines, and make room in busy spaces with the 'Select All Below' button.
Drawing. Doodle on your spaces to add a unique personal touch to your spaces.
About Page. First time visitors to Kinopio (and search engines) will see the new marketing page when opening the root site URL. For everyone else, opening the site/app, or a specific space URL, will load a space, just like it did before.
I wrote more about the code and design details here
Minimap. Get a birds eye view perspective and jump around big spaces with the minimap by holding the space-key or the right-mouse-button. (You can also open a persistent minimap from the Sidebar)
Boxes Also Got a Lot More Powerful. You can add background images to them, they expand to encompass items dragged onto their sides, and they can shrink to fit what's inside them.
New Personal Blogposts
The Lo-Fi Art and Human Tools Era Why the journey to master a skill matters as much as the end result, and why the time that takes is a blessing in disguise.
Looking back at my previous job where I co-created a widely beloved web development tool, and reflecting on why taking VC funding too early was the beginning of the end.
How I Do Support and Community
The philosophy and techniques I use to handle support requests and community as a solo creator, without resorting to frustrating automated helpdesks and chatbots.
Dialing Up the Internet Phonebook
An interview with the authors of the internet phonebook – a collection of poetic, interesting, personal websites, and essays about websites.
Why Sell Lifetime Plans, in a Default Subscription World?
The thinking behind Kinopio's pricing strategy, and why I think many subscription-only products should consider also offtering a lifetime plan option.
Secret End of Year Sale
Thank you for reading this far. If you’re still on the fence about upgrading, now's a good time to jump in by using code INVESTOR-REPORT at checkout for 50% off the first year of a subscription plan.
The code will expire Jan 2nd, and only works for new customers. Feel free to share it with anyone, including your friends, family, and team.
I’ll Be Taking a Semi-Break for the Rest of the Year
Of course, I’ll still be active in the discord, and replying to forum posts, and emails. I also need to prep a talk I’m doing in Montreal in early Jan.
