Tuesday
Jan152013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 08:44PM Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote -TWiST #320
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On this special episode of This Week in Startups from RocketSpace in San Francisco, Jason sits down with Phil Libin of Evernote. The pair discusses the history of Evernote, how technology betters mankind, and what Evernote has in store for the future.
0:40 Welcome to this live TWiST from RocketSpace! On today's show we have Phil Libin, CEO of RocketSpace, stick with us!
2:00 How is it as an entrepreneur knowing everyone in this room is using your product?
2:15 How many users do you have now?
3:30 How many employees do you have now?
4:00 How long ago were you a 10 employee business?
4:30 Was there a time that you thought about pulling the plug on Evernote?
5:30 Did the iPad have a huge effect on your business?
7:30 Why have you guys decided to be on every platform possible?
8:15 So you took the opposite path as Zuckerberg?
10:00 Who do you feel is your competition?
12:15 When should you use Evernote? When should you use Google Docs?
14:00 Do you think the next generation of the workforce has more fluidity in using multiple tools?
15:00 What do you say to people who say, "We have to be in the email business!"
16:45 What is an example of the technology getting a product completely wrong in terms of working with your brain?
18:30 How critical was the Skitch acquisition to you guys?
20:45 Do you think it is your job to give people what they need and ignore what they say they want?
21:55 By information rich, do you mean that people are at times overly intense?
24:20 Do you think the apology letter Apple released after Apple Maps was appropriate?
25:50 Thanks to NewRelic for sponsoring the program. Go to newrelic.com/thisweekin for a free TWiST T Shirt
26:25 Thanks to SnapTerms, visit snapterms.com and enter the code TWiST for a free NDA with every order
27:40 Do people expect just as much from as a freemium service as a paid one? Is it justified?
29:10 What percentage of people pay for Evernote with cash?
30:45 How is Evernote Business doing?
31:35 How do you charge for that?
32:15 What does the Business version offer that the regular version doesn't?
38:30 How hard has it been to scale Evernote? How is it different? What have you learned?
40:20 What do you think about Windows 8?
44:45 What do you think Window's should have called the Surface?
46:20 Do you ever see Evernote creating its own hardware?
48:45 How does Moleskin Notebook work?
51:00 What was the biggest mistake you made in your first business plan?
55:40 What do you think Google Glass will do for Evernote moving forward?
57:50 What could Evernote do with Google Glass?
59:45 What parts of the brain has Evernote failed to take full advantage of up to this point?
64:40 Is there a danger that Evernote is actually dumbing us down by not taking full advantage of our brain?
69:40 Can you talk a little bit about Evernote's user testing?
72:15 Can you explain how/why you almost shut Evernote down?
73:30 Why do you think you sucked at pitching back in the day?
76:30 Do you think there is a benefit in a tool that helps you forget things?
77:40 When did you know that Evernote was more of a niche tool?
82:45 How much does audio and voice play into Evernote today?
85:50 How much of your $250M in funding did you actually need?
90:00 Thanks to Rocketspace, NewRelic and SnapTerms for helping ud put on this live episode
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2:00 How is it as an entrepreneur knowing everyone in this room is using your product?
2:15 How many users do you have now?
3:30 How many employees do you have now?
4:00 How long ago were you a 10 employee business?
4:30 Was there a time that you thought about pulling the plug on Evernote?
5:30 Did the iPad have a huge effect on your business?
7:30 Why have you guys decided to be on every platform possible?
8:15 So you took the opposite path as Zuckerberg?
10:00 Who do you feel is your competition?
12:15 When should you use Evernote? When should you use Google Docs?
14:00 Do you think the next generation of the workforce has more fluidity in using multiple tools?
15:00 What do you say to people who say, "We have to be in the email business!"
16:45 What is an example of the technology getting a product completely wrong in terms of working with your brain?
18:30 How critical was the Skitch acquisition to you guys?
20:45 Do you think it is your job to give people what they need and ignore what they say they want?
21:55 By information rich, do you mean that people are at times overly intense?
24:20 Do you think the apology letter Apple released after Apple Maps was appropriate?
25:50 Thanks to NewRelic for sponsoring the program. Go to newrelic.com/thisweekin for a free TWiST T Shirt
26:25 Thanks to SnapTerms, visit snapterms.com and enter the code TWiST for a free NDA with every order
27:40 Do people expect just as much from as a freemium service as a paid one? Is it justified?
29:10 What percentage of people pay for Evernote with cash?
30:45 How is Evernote Business doing?
31:35 How do you charge for that?
32:15 What does the Business version offer that the regular version doesn't?
38:30 How hard has it been to scale Evernote? How is it different? What have you learned?
40:20 What do you think about Windows 8?
44:45 What do you think Window's should have called the Surface?
46:20 Do you ever see Evernote creating its own hardware?
48:45 How does Moleskin Notebook work?
51:00 What was the biggest mistake you made in your first business plan?
55:40 What do you think Google Glass will do for Evernote moving forward?
57:50 What could Evernote do with Google Glass?
59:45 What parts of the brain has Evernote failed to take full advantage of up to this point?
64:40 Is there a danger that Evernote is actually dumbing us down by not taking full advantage of our brain?
69:40 Can you talk a little bit about Evernote's user testing?
72:15 Can you explain how/why you almost shut Evernote down?
73:30 Why do you think you sucked at pitching back in the day?
76:30 Do you think there is a benefit in a tool that helps you forget things?
77:40 When did you know that Evernote was more of a niche tool?
82:45 How much does audio and voice play into Evernote today?
85:50 How much of your $250M in funding did you actually need?
90:00 Thanks to Rocketspace, NewRelic and SnapTerms for helping ud put on this live episode
==============
Follow On Twitter
Jason: @jason
Phil:@plibin
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