2009 Review

January 4 2010, 5:32pm

It has been an exciting and busy year for all of us at OtherInbox, working on the "cure for email overload". As is customary for this time of the year I'd like to take a look back at the highlights of 2009, but also take a look forward at some of the exciting things ahead in 2010.In March we came out of Beta and did our public launch at South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) with our Organizer for Gmail. We had a blast sharing the excitement about our launch. Most importantly, we enjoyed meeting many of our beta users and supporters in person!In June we jumped at the chance to use Yahoo! Mail's new application platform and we developed Organizer for Yahoo! Mail in 45 days. Launched in North America in September, Organizer for Yahoo! Mail has now grown to support more than 200,000 users. Click here to try it out on your Yahoo! Mail account!  Now we're taking another look at Organizer for Gmail and identifying how we can take it to the next level. Please read this blog post for more details and add your comments!What do we need to improve?We've had some growing pains as we've scaled the service. We implemented some major database and architectural improvements in October that have addressed speed and reliability for all users. We are now confident that we have the right platform to grow to millions of users.But we also need to improve the way our IMAP server works and fix some lingering bugs with RSS feeds.What to expect in 2010?We're working to make Organizer faster and smarter by adding calendar functionality We'll handle Receipts and Coupons automatically for you We're improving the usability, layout and design We're looking at how we might integrate with Google Wave and other new technologies What else? Give us your suggestion here

Giving back to our CommunityWe're proud to live in Austin, Texas and we give back to our community by volunteering and supporting local causes. This year we helped pack bags at Meals on Wheels. We also host the local Austin on Rails user group meetings at our office once a month.  What a team. We're hiring!None of these successes would be possible without an amazing team.  The OtherInbox Team is a group of talented individuals who are dedicated, high-spirited, and enjoy working together. They are absolute rockstars. We all work hard but we have fun doing it. We are also looking to expand, so if you know anyone who enjoys a fun and flexible startup environment and values a sense of community, check out the open job positions!Thank youI want to sincerely say thank you for believing in OtherInbox and supporting us over the past year. A year from now I hope to be celebrating our 1 million user milestone!Joshua BaerFounder & CEO