Jotto was created by Rizwan Reza and Giff Constable, both experienced software leaders. Riz is a senior engineering lead and Giff is a longtime startup/product executive. We originally built Jotto in 2015 to help align our own teams and shape an effective culture.
We had been using chat and video-conferencing, but we needed to harness the power of the written word in a deeper way. Email was the enemy. People were drowning in it and coping mechanisms meant ignoring or not engaging. Chat was great, but of limited use for more thoughtful pieces or conversations.
We wanted a tool that was simple to use, enabled Google single-sign-on out of the box, and which treated everyone as a writer and a reader. We couldn’t find it. So we built Jotto, tested it with real teams, and discovered that it truly helped.
What is a sustainable startup? We run Jotto as a self-funded, ongoing side project. We know that might sound weird when everyone buzzes about exciting venture capital rounds, but we actually think this benefits our customers.
We've taken this approach for a specific reason. Like many, we've suffered the pain of liking a product and then having it disappear. Speaking frankly, by not raising money, we keep ourselves out of the kinds of financial pressure that can lead to shuttering the service. The wonderful thing about cloud technologies, is that it allows us to run this service amazingly efficiently.
The most important point is that we are in it for the long haul, because we use the product ourselves in our daily work. We are the tortoise, not the hare.
You can email us at support@jottohq.com.