2sync: bringing dormant users back to Notion

2sync keeps Notion connected to calendars, tasks and spreadsheets. Founder Simo Elalj explains why the team revisited dormant users, rebuilt infrastructure and turned its attention to the first sync. Edited for length and clarity.

In conversation with
Simo Elalj, founder of 2sync
Project
2sync
Published

Six questions

  1. Question 01

    What is it, in one paragraph?

    2sync keeps Notion databases in two-way sync with tools such as Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, Todoist, Microsoft To Do, Google Tasks, Google Sheets and contacts. Gmail and Outlook Mail can also feed into Notion. You map properties, set filters and choose how it syncs, as often as every two minutes. Edit a task in Todoist and the Notion row changes. It's for people who use Notion as their system of record and want to stop copying things by hand.

  2. Question 02

    What happened in the last 90 days that explains the rise?

    There wasn't one launch. We emailed dormant users over the summer in their own languages, and people came back and reconnected Notion. We added Microsoft To Do on 23 September and submitted 2sync to software directories at the end of August. I can't honestly separate the effect of those activities. The reactivation emails were the biggest volume.

  3. Question 03

    What did you do that most people in your space don't?

    We go after the people who already left. We treat signups who haven't paid as an audience worth returning to. Those emails go out in each user's own language. We also automate work that can run without us, including support triage, alerts for broken syncs and the weekly numbers.

  4. Question 04

    What nearly killed it?

    Reliability. A Redis outage showed us how exposed the infrastructure was to syncs breaking at once. For a sync product, a silent break can be worse than downtime: people may only find out when they miss a meeting. We also didn't want the business to depend on me being at the keyboard. We rebuilt the infrastructure, handed over DevOps and automated alerts explaining when a sync breaks and how to fix it.

  5. Question 05

    What's next in the next six months?

    We've shipped two-way Google Sheets sync using Google's file-level permission, so 2sync only accesses the sheets you choose. Next is onboarding. We want more people to finish setting up their first sync, so trial and setup emails matter more to us than another integration. After that come integrations chosen through user votes and pricing work for new customers.

  6. Question 06

    Who should get in touch, and why?

    Notion creators and template makers. Our affiliate program pays 30% of a referred customer's payments for their first year. The customer gets 10% off for as long as they stay. A template that syncs with Google Calendar or Todoist can do more for its users. We'd also like to hear from people building on Notion who want a sync partner instead of writing their own OAuth and conflict handling.