How focusing on the customer (not the competition) brought us over 1 million new signups in a year

Last February, we launched a new product version.

We had spent nearly all of 2016 revamping a core feature and we were excited about what we’d built.

But shortly after the release, our design director found a discussion thread on Designer News.

The top commenter quoted the first two lines of our About page (which says the company was founded in 2006), then wrote:

“So how come [this particular competitor] is more popular?

I never heard of you guys.”

Ouch.

After 12 years in business, I’ve developed a fairly thick skin. I know how the internet works. Some people are kind, some are mean, and others are just blunt — like that top post.

Still, the comment bothered me.

Our company predates all the competition, and we have 3.2 million users.

I also know that we’re not exactly popular in the startup world.

JotForm is bootstrapped, and we’ve never taken any outside investments. We don’t hang with the cool kids. And chances are you’ll never see us on the top of TechCrunch…