Why I keep working on Saved.io

Saved.io has been described as “the simplest bookmarking tool ever”. When I launched it a few years ago, I wasn’t sure if anyone would actually use it. There were already a number of popular bookmarking tools like Instapaper, pinboard, and ReaditLater (now pocket). Why would people want to use this tool?

The only real unique thing about Saved.io is how people save bookmarks. Instead of using a form or some app or extension, the user saves a bookmark using their browser’s address bar. Type “saved.io/” in front of a url and its saved. Type “cooking.saved.io/” in front of a url and it’s saved to a “cooking” list of bookmarks.

It’s a simple concept and people seemed to like it. Millions of bookmarks have been saved and tens of thousands of people use the app. Although that may sound impressive, the app has been running for many years, and to be honest there hasn’t been that much growth.

there are still users who joined the app on day 1 and are still actively using the site.

But there is one metric which motivates me to continue building and improving the app, even though i’m not seeing explosive growth. All these years later, there are still users who joined the app on day 1 and are still actively using the site.

And this is the only reason why I keep working on the app. I could just let it sit. It would continue working. But I know there is something more to this tool. I’ve built apps, where everyone says “omg this is amazing”. People sign up, use it for a week and never come back. And I bang my head against a wall trying to figure out how to keep people engaged. But with Saved.io I’ve never had that problem. And I don’t want to take that for granted.

I recently launched v3 of the app. People seemed to be very pleased with the update with not a single complaint (which is a first). Maybe because every single one of the new features, were suggested by the users — i’ve never been in a situation where I’m wondering what I should add next. I have a massive todo list based on what people want.

So with v3 out the door. And 7 years left on my promise to keep this app running, I’m looking forward to working on v4.