Frequently Asked Questions

Curious about Jotto? We hope to answer your questions here.

Who is behind Jotto?

Jotto was created by Rizwan Reza and Giff Constable, both experienced software leaders. Riz is a senior engineering lead and Giff runs product teams. We originally built Jotto to help align our own teams and shape an effective culture.

RizGiff

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 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.

How is Jotto funded?

Jotto is self-funded for a specific reason. We run it in a sustainable way, and use the product ourselves. While venture capital can be powerful gasoline for a business, it also creates pressure for startups to go big or go bust. By not raising money, we keep ourselves out of the kinds of financial pressure that can lead to shuttering the service.

I'm intrigued, but will you stick around?

Like many, we've suffered the pain of liking a product and then having it disappear. We use the product ourselves and are in it for the long haul.

How do people use Jotto?

Anyone can create their own private space and invite others (colleagues, friends, etc.) to collaborate and communicate. Of course, that means it can be used in different ways. We've seen geographically-distributed teams use it to build alignment and culture. We've seen co-located teams use it to externalize their ideas to each other and the rest of their company.

You can see a case study of Jotto in use, or browse through this list of ideas for work teams.

While Jotto emerged in a workplace context, we're also seeing people explore using it in non-work contexts as well.

Do I need this if I use Slack?

We use Jotto side-by-side with Slack every day. Chat is great for fast answers, lightweight water-cooler banter, and quick discussions. Chat doesn't really help, however, with more thoughtful pieces, longer-form content, and longer discussions.

By the way, Jotto actually offers Slack integration for free, so that your team can see notifications for new Jotto posts and comments.

How much does Jotto cost?

Anyone can use the application for free and invite as many people to their private team as they wish. Free Jotto teams can only read and search their last 15 posts. All posts are saved, but to unlock a team's full history, we charge $10 per user per year. Unlike many services, we offer single-sign-on for Google Apps teams (and soon Slack teams) for free. We also offer Slack integration for notifications for free to all teams.


Interested in using Jotto for your own team?