Jotform Founder's Automation Journey

In a recent interview with SaaS Club, Aytekin Tank, founder of Jotform, discussed his journey with automation and his new book, Automate Your Busy Work: Do Less, Achieve More, and Save Your Brain for the Big Stuff. Tank shared that his initial motivation for starting Jotform stemmed from frustration as a developer with the manual process of creating online forms.

Jotform's success led to significant growth, expanding to over 500 employees and 20 million users. However, Tank found himself overwhelmed with operational tasks like accounting, HR, and customer support, leaving little time for strategic thinking and product development. The turning point came when he learned about Google’s entry into the online form market, realizing he was competing with a tech giant while still handling everything manually.

This realization prompted Tank to embrace automation, applying the principles he was advocating within his own company. He began by automating tasks in emails, customer support, product development, and HR processes. This freed up his time for higher-level tasks, ultimately contributing to Jotform’s ongoing success and helping it compete effectively against Google.

The "Automation-First Mindset" and Automation Flywheel

Tank’s book emphasizes an "automation-first mindset" and introduces a framework called the "automation flywheel." This framework, designed for continuous improvement, involves six steps:

1. Divide: Analyze your workday to identify tasks that can be automated.

2. Conquer: Break down these tasks into workflows and document the steps involved.

3. Design: Determine which parts of the workflows should be automated and research suitable tools.

4. Implement: Set up the automations using the chosen tools.

5. Refine: Establish KPIs to monitor the automations’ performance and make adjustments as needed.

6. Iterate: Continuously improve and update the automations to maintain efficiency.

Tank highlights that even the first two steps, without full automation, can significantly boost productivity through better understanding and delegation of tasks.

Examples of Automation within Jotform

The interview provided specific examples of how Jotform leverages automation:

• Email Automation: Tank uses labels and filters in Gmail to prioritize emails, ensuring urgent messages are addressed promptly.

• Product Development Automation: Jotform utilizes continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) to streamline the development, testing, and deployment of new features and bug fixes. They primarily use in-house tools built by their developers for this purpose.

• HR Onboarding Automation: Jotform uses online forms, workflows, and approval processes to automate onboarding, reducing errors, improving efficiency, and ensuring a positive experience for new hires.

Tank’s story offers valuable lessons for founders looking to leverage automation for increased efficiency and growth. By adopting an automation-first mindset and using a structured approach like the automation flywheel, founders can free themselves from time-consuming tasks and focus on strategic initiatives.