The Start:

Rahul Vohra, an entrepreneur with a background in computer science from the University of Cambridge, founded Superhuman to revolutionize email productivity.

Before Superhuman, Rahul had successfully founded Rapportive, a tool that integrated social media profiles directly into Gmail, which was later acquired by LinkedIn.

This experience provided Rahul with a deep understanding of email workflows and user pain points, setting the stage for his next big venture.

The Problem:

Rahul identified that despite the numerous email clients available, many professionals were still overwhelmed by cluttered inboxes and inefficient email management.

Traditional email platforms were slow and laden with unnecessary features that hampered productivity.

With Superhuman, he aimed to create an ultra-fast, intuitive email client designed for high achievers.

By focusing on speed, minimalism, and a suite of powerful features, Superhuman sought to transform email into a tool that not only managed communication but also boosted productivity and performance.

Getting their first customers:

In the first year of Superhuman, while primarily focused on building the product, they created a basic landing page using Squarespace, which took just two hours to set up.

The page only allowed visitors to enter their email addresses. Upon submission, an automatic email from the founder, Rahul, was sent with two questions:

1. What do you use for email today?
2. What are your pet peeves about it?

Rahul advises choosing one or two annual events to tap into the cultural zeitgeist. For Superhuman, a key event was the shutdown of Mailbox.

Rahul crafted a Medium post about it, which was syndicated on qz.com. This article took him about four days in total, but it resulted in over 5,000 signups.

Digging this? Get more actionable strategies like these straight in your inbox for free