Doist

Doist CTO Gonçalo Silva says AI is reshaping software development, but success depends on restraint rather than rapid feature expansion. Instead of chasing every AI capability, Doist prioritizes “subtraction over addition,” removing features that fail to deliver lasting value despite development investment. After experimenting with nearly 20 AI concepts, the company found success with Ramble, an AI-powered voice task capture feature, while remaining model-agnostic through rigorous testing and evaluations.  Internally, developers use a variety of AI coding tools rather than standardizing on one platform, while Doist OS—a companywide AI assistant with nearly 100 shared skills—helps employees across all functions work more effectively. Silva also outlined Doist’s approach to AI-powered automations, separating AI-driven workflow generation from deterministic execution to improve reliability and reduce token costs. Throughout its AI strategy, the company emphasizes purposeful features, privacy, transparency, and continuous improvement, ensuring AI enhances user productivity without compromising product quality or trust. Learn more from The New Stack around developer productivity:  Developer Productivity in 2025: More AI, but Mixed Results Optimizing for Developer Productivity Creates a Winning DevEx Join our community of newsletter subscribers to stay on top of the news and at the top of your game.

Gonçalo Silva

CTO

Doist

With 2020 and (hopefully soon) the global pandemic coming to a close, both existing and new companies everywhere will soon face a choice of how to operate going forward. Embrace the "future" that was pulled forward by the pandemic and remain remote? Or return fully/partially to a physical office environment? For those who choose the future (and investors who are considering betting on them), Doist and its CEO Amir Salihefendić provide a 10-year case study of both the challenges that arise and the opportunities unlocked by embracing the internet to its fullest extent in growing and running an organization. And oh yeah — along the way they built a profitable, double-digit $m ARR business with 100 employees, that's been completely bootstrapped on $0 capital invested. We dive into it all!   Sponsors: Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra   Topics Covered: Amir and Doist's journey from side programming project to bootstrapped, double-digit million ARR global business How they've operated as remote-only company for the past 10+ years, with 100 people across 35 countries and 10+ time zones Why just going remote but keeping the same tools and culture as in-person doesn't solve any problems and just creates more Why the temporal nature of work is just as (if not more) important than its physical location, and how the new modality of "asynchronous" work takes advantage of that How remote + asynchronous unlocks massive opportunities both for new companies and the tools to serve them   Links: Doist: https://doist.com Doist's "remote setup guide": https://twist.com/remote-work-guides/remote-company-setup "The CEO with an Empty Calendar":  https://superorganizers.substack.com/p/the-ceo-with-an-empty-calendar Packy's "We're Never Going Back" post: https://notboring.substack.com/p/were-never-going-back Amir on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amix3k

Amir Salihefendic

Founder & CEO

Doist

When he wrote the first lines of code in his dorm room for his personal to-do list app, Todoist, Amir had no idea that it would eventually become one of the most popular apps of all time. Learn about his winding path to building a successful company, and how he got there by doing things he loved.

Amir Salihefendic

Founder & CEO

Doist

Todoist grew from 200,000 users to over 4 million in three years - and Amir Salihefendic did not hire a marketing person until a year into that growth. The key to scaling SaaS was not campaigns or PR. It was nailing app store distribution: Google search, the App Store, and Google Play drove all product-led growth. In Part 2, Amir explains why building an MVP too quickly can kill your startup, how weekly OKRs keep a 40-person remote team aligned with almost no meetings, and the productivity system he uses to manage 100+ projects. Scaling SaaS through distribution channels instead of marketing spend is the core lesson for founders here. Amir also challenges the standard startup playbook on MVPs. He argues that building a dummy solution in a week is not simplicity - it is laziness. Todoist had subtasks and natural language date parsing from day one. This approach to scaling SaaS through product quality proved more effective than any remote team management meeting. 🔑 Key Lessons 🚀 Nail distribution channels before hiring marketers when scaling SaaS: Todoist grew to millions of users through App Store and Google Play rankings before hiring a single marketing person. The product itself drove product-led growth through quality and discoverability. 🛠️ Build powerful products, not quick MVPs, for sustainable scaling SaaS: Amir argues that coding a dummy solution in a week creates weak products that cannot retain users. Real simplicity means depth disguised as ease - like Todoist's date parsing and subtasks. 🎯 Use weekly OKRs instead of meetings for scaling SaaS with remote teams: Each Monday, Doist team members post objectives, last week's accomplishments, self-ratings, and blockers. This remote team management approach replaced most meetings while giving leadership full visibility across 40+ people. Chapters Introduction and Part 2 overview What drove explosive growth after returning in 2012 Hiring marketing late - PR came in 2013 App store distribution as the primary scaling SaaS channel Supporting every platform from Android to Mac Complex synchronization and natural language parsing Why MVPs built in a week can kill startups Subtasks and date parsing as day-one differentiators Amir's typical day - coding in the morning Waking up at 8:30 and working from an office Separating home and work to prevent burnout A typical week with very few meetings Written communication over real-time collaboration Using Todoist to run the entire business Email management - Gmail plugin and batch processing Managing 100+ projects with date assignments and priorities Filtering tasks by day and priority level Zooming into specific projects for deep work Saying no and focusing on essential work Weekly OKRs for team alignment and reflection Where the team posts OKRs Reading all team OKRs every Monday Why written proposals beat meetings for product decisions Common productivity mistakes entrepreneurs make Making tasks actionable and splitting them into small chunks Lightning round begins Best advice - follow your passion Book recommendation - Jony Ive biography Persistence as key entrepreneurial trait Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/85 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

Amir Salihefendic

Founder & CEO

Doist

Amir Salihefendic built Todoist as a student in 2007, launched it with a single blog post, then abandoned the SaaS distribution channel for four years to work on a social network. When he came back in 2012, it still had 200,000 users - and he grew it to over 4 million. Todoist became a SaaS distribution channel success story through pure product-led growth. In Part 1 of this interview, Amir reveals why he walked away from a product people loved, how he set freemium SaaS pricing at $29/year without any market research, and why he believes founders should build products for themselves instead of letting user feedback design them. The organic growth during four years of neglect proves a real SaaS distribution channel survives without marketing. Today Todoist is a freemium SaaS with over 4 million users, 40+ fully remote employees, and several million dollars in annual revenue. Competitors later copied Amir's pricing model exactly. 🔑 Key Lessons 🎯 Build your freemium SaaS for yourself first, not for customers: Amir used Todoist every day for 9 years and built features based on his own needs. The product attracted 4 million users because solving your own problem creates authentic product-led growth. 📉 A real SaaS distribution channel survives neglect: Todoist retained 200,000 users through four years of near-zero development. If your product loses all users the moment you stop marketing, the product itself may be the problem. 💰 Set pricing and ship fast instead of over-researching: Amir picked $29/year with no market research and launched the premium tier in weeks. The price worked well enough that every competitor copied it, proving speed matters more than precision for a SaaS distribution channel. 🧠 Filter user feedback instead of following it: Users often propose solutions that only work for their specific workflow. Amir's team evaluates what problem the feedback reveals, then designs a broader solution the user never imagined. Chapters Introduction and Amir Salihefendic's background Why having a mission matters more than a great idea How great ideas look stupid at the start Born in Bosnia, built from Portugal - the global journey Why Doist has no headquarters Remote work philosophy and evaluating output over hours Building Todoist as a personal tool in 2007 Why Amir builds for himself, not for users The danger of building for customers you do not resemble Launching Todoist with a single blog post Why Amir would not recommend the organic-only SaaS distribution channel today First revenue - covering server costs as a student Setting freemium pricing at $29/year without research Why the same pricing approach might not be optimal Competitors copying the freemium model Abandoning Todoist for a social network in 2008 Four years of flat growth with zero active development Returning full time in 2012 driven by mission Mobile revolution triggers bigger vision for Todoist Generating salary-level revenue within months Hiring the first employee for support Managing passionate user feedback on the Todoist forum Filtering user feedback and not letting users design the product Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/84 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

Amir Salihefendic

Founder & CEO

Doist