#130: How Jotform Founder & CEO Aytekin Tank Got Great at Solving One Problem
The Founder Podcast
Chris Lee
5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 November 2024
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to a New Episode of Next Level Pros! In today's episode, we're thrilled to have Aytekin Tank, the mastermind behind the transformative software JotForm, which has dramatically altered the landscape of online forms. Aytekin will share his entrepreneurial journey, focusing on the pivotal role of sustained focus and compounded growth in achieving business success. He discusses the evolution of JotForm, from its inception as a simple form builder to a comprehensive suite catering to varied business needs, emphasizing automation and customer-centric development. Stay tuned as Aytekin shares the principles that kept him on track amidst the allure of new opportunities, providing invaluable insights for entrepreneurs at all stages.
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Highlights:
"We hit oil by digging one hole 1000 feet deep, not 1000 holes one foot deep."
"Giving something away for free is the biggest marketing tool you can have."
"Automate your busy work to focus on what's truly important."
"Persistence is key; you need to learn to pivot and persevere through challenges."
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Aytekin Tank and the genesis of JotForm.
02:52 - Aytekin joins the show; background and initial motivations.
07:13 - The leap from employment to entrepreneurship.
10:34 - Learning from side projects and the transition to full-time on JotForm.
16:41 - The evolution from free to paid subscriptions and early challenges.
23:15 - Expanding JotForm's functionality beyond basic forms.
28:17 - Introduction of enterprise solutions and learning the ropes of sales.
32:20 - Growth and scaling challenges faced over 19 years.
35:16 - The critical importance of focus and saying no to distractions.
41:28 - Where to find Aytekin Tank and closing remarks.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I Tekken, so you started out as a developer for internet.com. |
| 0:06.6 | What ultimately led to you saying, you know what? |
| 0:09.7 | I want to go and do something on my own. |
| 0:11.6 | Like what finally like clicked or made sense for you? |
| 0:14.5 | At that time, like I kind of hated it because it wasn't very challenging. |
| 0:18.6 | Like just, you know, typing HTML to create forms or just |
| 0:22.9 | handle them backend to send emails, things like that. So I wanted to find a product that can actually |
| 0:27.5 | do that. And I searched for it. There are, there are some product, but they were well done. So at that time, |
| 0:33.6 | like, it clicked on my mind that if I ever, like, start my business, this is the product |
| 0:39.2 | I could build. With that knowledge, I quit my job, I forge it, and I built job form. |
| 0:44.7 | What's up, Founder Nation? Super excited to bring you this episode with Mr. Itech and Tunk. |
| 0:49.7 | This guy has built a 600 man empire competing with Google forms and all kinds of different crazy |
| 0:57.2 | stuff. The best part about this episode is the focus that this guy has had for the last |
| 1:02.1 | 19 years, not getting distracted by all the shiny objects. You know what I'm talking about |
| 1:07.1 | if you're an entrepreneur. There's all kinds of opportunities out there. We want to say |
| 1:11.2 | yes. One of the best phrases I've ever heard is you can do anything, but you can't do everything. |
| 1:17.5 | We hit oil by digging one hole, a thousand feet deep, not a thousand holes one foot deep. So let's dive |
| 1:25.3 | into this episode as we talk about focus and compounded growth. |
| 1:29.8 | Let's go. |
| 1:31.3 | Yo, yeah, yeah, yeah, welcome to another episode of the founder podcast. Today, I am joined by |
| 1:36.7 | Mr. I Tekken Tonk. I Tekin is tuning in from Turkey halfway across the world. Super |
| 1:43.5 | excited to have you. |
... |
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