Sameer Sanagala

We are Sameer & Jatin, we made a no-code app builder for Notion users! AMA 👇

We are a small team of 2 who built NotionApps - a no-code app builder specifically designed for Notion users.

We first launched NotionApps on Product Hunt late 2023. Back then, it was just an MVP. We’ve since added a variety of features and all the essential building blocks that turn Notion into a reliable backend to build apps, special thanks to feedback we got from our early users.

We launched our second version today, and felt like this is a good time to engage with the Notion community here.

The journey hasn't been easy, we had to constantly adapt and we learned a lot about Notion users and their pain points during this time. The biggest one being wanting to extend the use cases of Notion beyond productivity, making it more shareable with stakeholders like clients, vendors, partners, etc who might be limited by the "page experience".

So far, 6000+ Notion users worldwide built apps for their companies, which are used by 100,000+ end-users.

AMA!

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Rohan Chaubey

Sameer and Jatin, excited to see the latest version of NotionApps. You have come a long way since I hunted you the first time. :)

Q for you — What’s the most creative use case you’ve seen built using this tool so far?

Sameer Sanagala

@rohanrecommends Hey Rohan, we really have come a long way, thanks for hunting us the first time.

The use cases of the tool surprise us from time to time. While we see a bunch of conventional business use cases like internal tools, client trackers, etc, its the creative ones that always catch our eye, tough to choose a favourite but here are some off the top of my head,

- churches (yes multiple!) building apps for their members

- a football club app for fans to stay up to date about their players

- an anime tracker app

- a stand up comedian built an app for his community

- a theatre company built apps for casting and production

I will stop there before I turn this into a blog post, haha!

Rajiv Ayyangar

Have you tried / taken inspiration from @Glide ? It looks like Glide hasn't integrated with Notion. That seems like a big opportunity for you!

Sameer Sanagala

@rajiv_ayyangar Glad to hear from you, Rajiv! No-code tools like Glide are def a big inspiration, love how Glide evolved into such a powerful no-code platform.

You're absolutely right - Notion is our core opportunity and also our go to market. And the thing about Notion is that it is unlike any other data source because of its pages + databases structure. This is enforcing us to approach the app builder from first principles and create something specifically for the Notion experience.

Jatin Arora

It has been a long journey indeed. :)

Nika

What has been the most difficult struggle/decision you had to face while building and scaling your?

Sameer Sanagala

@busmark_w_nika Being a small team, prioritizing features hasn't been easy, we get new feature requests almost every week. While users never complained about the pace at which we roll out features, we’ve always had to be mindful not to bite off more than we can chew.

Nika

@sameer_sanagala I feel you. The app I collaborate with – we have suggestions every day, and they are angry if we don't apply them, but it is impossible with 2 devs who are focusing on developing the app for another device or creating a web shop. 🙈

Samir Rashed

Wow! Looks great Guys! I just wanna say thanks for what you are building. you are doing a great job 👏👏👏

Sameer Sanagala

@samirrashed Thanks for the kind words, Samir.

Abdul Rehman

Well done on the new update

Excited to check it out and see what improvements you have made. Keep up the great work

Sameer Sanagala

@abod_rehman Thanks Abdul. We'd love to hear your thoughts.

steve beyatte

Very cool. What's your main growth channel for NotionApps? What's worked and what have you learned along the way?

Sameer Sanagala

@steveb Our GTM is mostly Notion-centric. The channels we use aren't too different from other PLG/SaaS tools - like content marketing, online communities, affiliates, SEO, etc. What makes them work is that they are all implemented for the Notion niche.

Belights

Incredible to see how you've transformed Notion's capabilities! Have you considered adding templates for the most creative use cases you've seen? Those church and football club examples are gold for new users.

14:19

Sameer Sanagala

@belights Thanks for the support and your kind suggestions! We do have ready-made app templates (https://www.notionapps.com/app-templates) to help users get started. This year we are launching even more, we also plan to open up the platform for anyone to create app templates and publish them.

Alex Liu

I have been a Notion user for a long time, so I'm happy to hear the new version is coming soon!