Hi Milo,
Your mind is growing and so are we.
On May 27th 2020, amidst all the chaos of that year, a small portal opened. As quietly as we’d worked on it, the mymind public waitlist went live. What followed was a phase of slow, deliberate and meaningful growth as we invited new members to create their new mind. Nearly a year later in 2021, we opened mymind for everyone. No more waitlist, no more invites. It's live.
Fast forward to today and our team of two co-founders is now a team of six.
Within only one year we shipped dozens of new features via our web app. We shipped browser extensions for all major browsers, as well as an iPhone and Android app.
As a tiny team that grew out of necessity, we're proud to see how far we've come. Even more so, to see what wonderful community has emerged from it. mymind is still fully independent and self-funded without any outside investment, which is an important part of our privacy-first & data independence commitment. None of this would be possible without our paying Mastermind members. Thank you for your support and believing in our mission.
But let’s talk about our future.
Our mission is to build a true extension for your mind. A private place for your digital mind, far away from social networks, advertisements or algorithms. A place that you enjoy coming back to, yet at the same time you forget even exists because it fits so seamlessly into your life. A place of utility as much as a place of energy. A true second mind.
And the beauty is, we're only at the beginning of it. We created three phases within this vision, from MM-1 to MM-3.
Phase 1: MM-1
This is the phase we're currently in. Phase 1 is the most utilitarian. Our focus during this phase is to build a beautiful and functional tool that can do the things it should be doing. (We also call it the “DOH!” phase.) MM-1 is all about making it easy for you to save something to your mind and then recall it with ease. While this might sound trivial in theory, it's our base expectation and premise of mymind which involves quite a few challenges on its own.
Even more so, MM-1 is all about platform integration. This reaches from mobile apps to browser extensions and desktop apps. While this might also sound trivial, it's the task that costs the most resources & time.
Phase 2: MM-2
This is where things get even more magical. If MM-1 is all about the utilitarian and expected, then MM-2 is all about the unexpected. In the second phase, we aim beyond “save it and recall it” to building tools that give you new perspectives of your own mind. At this point, mymind will open up new connections that you didn't know existed before. Or ways to introduce serendipitous discovery between the things you have in your mind.
MM-2 is all about taking what is already there and seeing it in a new light or from a different angle. Instead of just extending your mind, MM-2 aims to upgrade your mind in unexpected ways. It's where utility meets magical.
We've already started working on MM-2 features which you'll slowly see making their way into our product.
Phase 3: MM-3
MM-3 is the phase least explored, yet most exciting. It's where we take existing models and turn them on their head. It's where we completely stop thinking in outdated terms such as folders, files or tags and think more of our mind holistically.
MM-3 is where we find new models of interaction, away from the keyboard or our screens. What does a true mind extension look like? How can we upgrade your mind while persevering our values of privacy in a world that constantly tries to invade your mind? What does it mean to remember something? Do we even need to remember something? Or do we only need to remember that we remember something? How can we help people reclaim their mind? How do you build a mind?
You may think we're crazy, and perhaps we are. We find energy in these questions and our path in answering & manifesting them into a tool we love to use. A tool that doesn't ask us to scroll more, like more or comment more, but one that helps us be more present, more productive and happier in the things we do.
It’s a simple idea in theory, but if you're familiar with modern software and the attention economy, it isn't how things are today.
So where do we go from here?
Now that we've let you into our vision for MM-1 to MM-3, we hope you have a better understanding of what mymind is now and where we're heading in the years ahead. We'd love for you to come on the journey.
In the short term, here is what we're currently working on:
We're currently rebuilding our iOS app from the ground up. This will increase performance, gesture based navigation and sets us up for better features in the future, including iPad support.
We’re focusing on deep performance updates to support ever growing and larger minds.
We’re entirely re-working our editor to make note taking even more enjoyable and more performant. Our goal is to give you the confidence to use mymind for all your basic note taking needs.
We’re finalizing our ‘Reading Mode’ which will let you read articles right inside your mind inside a beautifully designed environment without ads or other distractions. This Reading Mode will also come with the ability to sync articles as your own private copy so they’re yours even if the original articles goes offline.
We’re working on a range of optimizations of how we analyze things you add to your mind. It’s a massive task as the range of sources is almost endless and everyone uses mymind.
We can’t wait to show you everyting we’ve been working on. Thank you for being a member your support, it means the world to us.
Yours truly,
Jason & Tobias