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Evernote reinvents itself again
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Posted by WSP
Oct 4, 2015 at 06:43 PM
I thought for a moment we were discussing a tithe of 10 percent—something like what Ben Carson has in mind for the federal tax!
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Oct 4, 2015 at 07:58 PM
We’ve touched upon Evernote’s business model on various occasions at this forum; I think the first was this http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/1236
In that discussion Neville Franks, developer of Surfulater and Clibu, drew our attention to an article by 37 Signals’ Jason Fried: https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1890-the-bar-for-success-in-our-industry-is-too-low
I find that article as timely as ever. The book Rework by Fried and his business partner David Hansson is also filled with sane business advice. My favourite: start a business, not a startup.
As an Evernote user since 2008, and a premium one shortly after, with more than 17.000 notes, I am very interested in Evernote being profitable. And I certainly get “Notes, Sync, Search”. That’s all I’ve ever done with Evernote, ignoring everything else.
Posted by WSP
Oct 7, 2015 at 12:40 AM
Here are two more lengthy analyses of what went wrong at Evernote:
http://taskclone.com/blog/evernotes-dilemma-how-to-revive-a-unicorn/
My own experiences with Evernote have been decidedly mixed. I’ve relied heavily upon it for many years and at time even persuaded myself that I was fond of it, but it all took a nasty turn about twelve months ago when I bought a Surface Pro 3. I was panic-stricken to discover that Evernote simply wouldn’t sync on that (otherwise wonderful) device. When I got in touch with the EN help desk, I received several perfunctory replies at weekly intervals that consisted entirely of cut-and-paste passages from EN’s online help files (though I am a premium subscriber). Eventually the syncing began again in February, without explanation, when Evernote introduced yet another upgrade.
Since that hair-raising experience, I have been slowly and steadily moving my notes (nearly 23,300!) out of Evernote into OneNote, though I continue to use EN on a much smaller scale for some information that absolutely requires EN’s superior tagging system.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Oct 7, 2015 at 09:33 AM
Thanks for the tip about ‘Rework’, Alexander - I’ve just finished reading it and it acted as a very welcome perspective realignment tool!
I note, mind you, that 37signals have now focused entirely and exclusively on Basecamp, and have ditched or spun out all their other services. Interesting parallel to Evernote, perhaps…
Posted by Hugh
Oct 7, 2015 at 09:48 AM
WSP wrote:
Here are two more lengthy analyses of what went wrong at Evernote:
>
>http://taskclone.com/blog/evernotes-dilemma-how-to-revive-a-unicorn/
>
>http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-06/tech-unicorn-evernote-needs-to-turn-into-a-cockroach
>
>My own experiences with Evernote have been decidedly mixed. I’ve relied
>heavily upon it for many years and at time even persuaded myself that I
>was fond of it, but it all took a nasty turn about twelve months ago
>when I bought a Surface Pro 3. I was panic-stricken to discover that
>Evernote simply wouldn’t sync on that (otherwise wonderful) device. When
>I got in touch with the EN help desk, I received several perfunctory
>replies at weekly intervals that consisted entirely of cut-and-paste
>passages from EN’s online help files (though I am a premium subscriber).
>Eventually the syncing began again in February, without explanation,
>when Evernote introduced yet another upgrade.
>
>Since that hair-raising experience, I have been slowly and steadily
>moving my notes (nearly 23,300!) out of Evernote into OneNote, though I
>continue to use EN on a much smaller scale for some information that
>absolutely requires EN’s superior tagging system.
Hmm, “unicorns”. The term is almost an invitation to believe your own P.R. Now “cockroaches” - as someone at one time involved in several start-ups, where the goal was to achieve a lot with a little, I much prefer that.