Julien Nahum caught my attention on Twitter by pulling in $22k MRR with his Notion form app, Notion Forms. Back in August he was at $10k MRR and he's more than doubled that already! I've mentioned him a few times in the High Signal newsletter so I thought it would be great to interview the man himself about getting to $270k ARR by building in the popular Notion ecosystem.
Can you tell us about what Notion Forms is and your achievements so far?
NotionForms is a SaaS company that offers a form builder integration to Notion, a productivity software. Users can create custom forms and surveys that are linked directly to their Notion databases, making it easy to collect and organize data.
Since launching in May 2021, I have gained a total of 42k users, with 1120 paid subscribers, and an ARR of $270k. Our revenue model is subscription-based, with revenue over $22,600 per month. Our growth has been steady and we are now being used internally by several huge tech companies.
We’re now a team of 3 (one of us working part-time) working on NotionForms. I am proud of what we have achieved so far with NotionForms. Our product is filling a gap in the market and we are seeing steady growth in both revenue and user base. I am excited to continue developing and improving NotionForms to provide even more value to our users.
Why did you create Notion Forms?
The inspiration for NotionForms came when I discovered Airtable, a no-code tool that allows users to create collaborative databases. Airtable has the form feature built-in, allowing users to transform databases into forms in seconds. I realized that Notion, which I was a huge fan of, didn't offer forms at all. Some users were using other form builders and then routing the data into Notion via Zapier, but I wanted to simplify the process by offering a dedicated form builder integration with Notion.
As soon as Notion released a public API, I developed the idea further by building an MVP, focusing mostly on the Notion part of the product to validate the fact that Notion users would be interested in having a dedicated form builder. During the first 2-3 months, the product was entirely free, and I managed to get quite a lot of early users despite the product being pretty ugly and buggy.
Do you have advice for founders who want to quit their job to work on a startup?
I had savings from a previous (small) exit, and I was doing some freelance work as a software engineer. Creating a business is stressful, and I wouldn’t recommend putting yourself in a stressful monetary situation.
Maintaining a good work-life balance is also important. In the beginning I struggled to work normal hours (I was mostly working at night) which had an impact in my personal life. If you can afford it, I think it can be a great addition to find a coworking place where you can work and meet new people.
// pop-up with indie acquisitions offer