The Top - EP 551: Sortd, 200,000 users, $500k invested so far, launched 2014. Raising $1m Sortd. — 200,000 users, $500k invested

In Episode #551, I interview Wayne Silbermann. He has founded a number of startups from South Africa including one of the first world’s music discovery services which was originally founded by Mark Shuttleworth. His most recent venture, Sortd, is a new email platform that’s on a path to fundamentally changing the way people communicate and manage work. Sortd has ranked as the number 1 app for Gmail on Product Hunt. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Tipping Point What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — WorkFlowy Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Wayne would tell himself that there’s plenty of opportunities out there and you can pick and choose what you’re passionate about. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:35 – I introduce Wayne to the show 02:20 – Sortd transforms the Gmail interface into a more organized system to manage lists—similar to Trello for Gmail 02:50 – Wayne discovered that many people use the Gmail Inbox as a to-do list 03:29 – Sortd allows you to drag-and-drop your emails to your to-do lists 03:50 – Sortd is currently free 04:00 – Wayne shares how they are going to monetize Sortd according to agencies that use it 05:00 – Wayne has a number of ventures which are his sources of income 05:30 – The number of free users 05:45 – The behavior of active users 06:40 – Total capital which is self-funded 06:50 – The money goes to development 07:29 – Sortd works under Gmail and there’s no need to add another app 08:05 – Why would people use Sortd? 09:00 – Sortd allows you to “communicate using email as a medium in the context of your priorities” 09:33 – It is like you’re running two applications under 1 tab 10:11 – Sortd was in the chrome store since 2014 10:45 – Sortd has 3 full-time developers 11:16 – The revenue of the other business 11:40 – The funding environment in South Africa 12:48 – Wayne is looking to raise around a million dollars for Sortd 14:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Having a number of ventures can help you create a product that is dedicated to helping people. Email is one of the most used applications—that’s why startups are finding ways to make life easier for email users. There are tons of opportunities out there—pick and choose what you’re passionate about.