ByDesign

ByDesign is an all-in-one digital planner that combines tasks, calendars, goals, notes, documents and habit tracking in a single workspace for both work and personal life. The application spans a dashboard, calendar, workspaces, notes and habits, and is positioned as an intuitive alternative to assembling multiple separate productivity tools.

Core capabilities include customizable reminders, a distinction between scheduled date and deadline, habit tracking, real-time two-way calendar synchronization (including Google Calendar, Google Workspace and Outlook Calendar integrations and iCal sync), drag-and-drop reorganization of tasks, notes and pages, timeline and daily/weekly/'someday' views, dark mode, iOS and macOS widgets, a Pomodoro timer, Markdown import, backlinks and linked blocks. A Quick Add console applies natural language processing to phrases such as "Meeting tomorrow at 10AM" and schedules them automatically, and AI-powered goal plans break larger goals into actionable steps with auto-scheduling based on user availability.

Collaboration features let users share boards and to-do lists with classmates, coworkers or clients, assign tasks with durations, tags and deadlines, and chat inside a workspace. ByDesign states that it connects to external services only with user permission, encrypts data in transit and at rest, and does not sell or share user data.

Founding story

Arthur Emma, who was born and raised in the Lake Geneva area of Walworth County and attended Boston University, met his original co-founder while teaching high school. The two spent lunch breaks discussing how to help their students and themselves reach their potential, became convinced of the idea, and quit their teaching jobs to pursue it full time. AppSumo's profile adds that Emma struggled with ADHD and found existing productivity tools fragmented and ineffective, and that he built ByDesign in 2021 at Dartmouth College with a fellow teacher.

Business model

ByDesign sells a consumer and small-team productivity application on a freemium basis: users can start for free, with paid subscriptions available, including a yearly pro subscription referenced by users. The company has also distributed a one-user lifetime plan through the AppSumo marketplace, priced at $79 against a stated $250 list value, bundling task management, note taking, AI calendar auto-scheduling, project management, habit tracking, wikis and documents, and team messaging.

Revenue comes from paid software subscriptions following a free tier, including annual pro plans, plus one-time lifetime licenses sold through AppSumo at $79.

Traction

The AppSumo listing shows 33 reviews and a sold-out lifetime deal, a company size of 11-50, and notes selection by AppSumo for potential and innovation. The company publishes extensive user testimonials and App Store reviews, and references at least one yearly pro subscriber; its marketing describes use by students and professionals.

Latest developments

The company's blog announced that ByDesign is now a Techstars portfolio company. Its AppSumo lifetime deal, which included AI calendar auto-scheduling and team messaging, is listed as sold out with a notification waitlist.