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There are large encumbents in this space that can't be hand waved away with 'not their target market.' FWIW I am their target market. I will use AI powered doc

There are large encumbents in this space that can't be hand waved away with 'not their target market.' FWIW I am their target market. I will use AI powered document editing when Atlassian, Github and Notion integrate it as a feature.

autoconfig 4y ago
Hi Alan. Our target audience is people that write long form content. In order for the product to provide a great user experience for that audience we feel that we need to build an opinionated editor and integrate AI in an opinionated way into that editor. It’s hard for me to see how that is a product inside GitHub or Atlassian. Notion (and others) is undeniably an incumbent that as you say can’t be hand waved away. With that said we are already getting feedback from paying customers that feel we’re better at some things, including a snappier editing experience and a more natural way to interact with the AI portion. I also think our chat integrates in a way that sets us apart. If you really think you are in the target audience I would encourage you to give it a chance. We’re very open to feedback and if there’s anything specific that you think other products are doing better, we want to address it.
- passwordoops 4y ago
  Hi, When I read the description I immediately thought of Ben Evans talking about how what happens when your entire company is rendered into a feature by an encumbant [0] (FWIW I disagree with his attack on antitrust). So, how are you going to make sure Type survives Microsoft adding ChatGPT to Word, or Substack offering something similar, etc. [0] https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2020/12/21/google-bundling-and-kill-zones https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2020/12/21/google-bu...
nico 4y ago
> FWIW I am their target market. I will use AI powered document editing when Atlassian, Github and Notion integrate it as a feature You just contradicted yourself. You said you are the target market and then immediately described why you are not the target market right now. If you are not an early adopter of this thing, or if it doesn't have an immediate application for you, then you are not the target market. Whether you like it or not and whether the project owners know it or not. When you consider it a viable alternative to solve your needs, then you will be their target audience.

autoconfig 4y ago

Hi Alan. Our target audience is people that write long form content. In order for the product to provide a great user experience for that audience we feel that we need to build an opinionated editor and integrate AI in an opinionated way into that editor. It’s hard for me to see how that is a product inside GitHub or Atlassian. Notion (and others) is undeniably an incumbent that as you say can’t be hand waved away. With that said we are already getting feedback from paying customers that feel we’re better at some things, including a snappier editing experience and a more natural way to interact with the AI portion. I also think our chat integrates in a way that sets us apart. If you really think you are in the target audience I would encourage you to give it a chance. We’re very open to feedback and if there’s anything specific that you think other products are doing better, we want to address it.

passwordoops 4y ago
Hi, When I read the description I immediately thought of Ben Evans talking about how what happens when your entire company is rendered into a feature by an encumbant [0] (FWIW I disagree with his attack on antitrust). So, how are you going to make sure Type survives Microsoft adding ChatGPT to Word, or Substack offering something similar, etc. [0] https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2020/12/21/google-bundling-and-kill-zones https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2020/12/21/google-bu...

nico 4y ago

> FWIW I am their target market. I will use AI powered document editing when Atlassian, Github and Notion integrate it as a feature You just contradicted yourself. You said you are the target market and then immediately described why you are not the target market right now. If you are not an early adopter of this thing, or if it doesn't have an immediate application for you, then you are not the target market. Whether you like it or not and whether the project owners know it or not. When you consider it a viable alternative to solve your needs, then you will be their target audience.