It’s Time to Support Sustainable Software

Today, we are increasingly conscious about the foods we eat, whether our clothing is sustainable and improving our physical health. However, we often overlook software. Aren’t the digital tools we use to help us think clearly and efficiently, just as important?

Should it matter where software comes from, is it important to buy from small software companies and why are subscriptions becoming the norm? All these questions are answered below.

Good Software is like Good Coffee

Imagine two coffees are in front of you: A $2 coffee from a fast food chain, and a $5 cappuccino from a local, independent coffee house.

Which one would you pay for?

At first glance, the fast food coffee seems like a better deal – it’s cheaper! But consider the true cost. The fast food restaurant might use artificial additives, have an unsustainable supply chain, and underpay its staff. You’ve got a hastily assembled brew served in a flimsy cardboard cup, rushed out to meet the next order. Still, it’s a dependable, well-known option mass-marketed for the masses.

On the other hand, the cappuccino from the independent coffee house is crafted with love, using freshly roasted beans from that morning. They pay their suppliers and staff a fair wage, and the barista took the time to add oat milk just the way you like it.

It’s curated, independent, and wonderful.

This same principle applies to software, it’s just harder to see the difference since software isn’t tangible. In an age where technology plays an integral part of our lives, you should purchase high-quality software, just as you would an excellent cup of coffee.

Quality that you can depend on

When you wait in line at a fast food restaurant, notice how the attendant presses the large instant coffee machine, whirring it into action and loudly dispensing a scalding hot instant coffee. What lies behind that dark plastic enclosure remains a mystery. The lack of transparency raises questions like when was the last time it was cleaned, and are additives being used? But you think nothing of it, as everyone buys this coffee.

Instead think back to the last time you were in an independent coffee shop, where you can witness every step of the crafting process: the fresh beans being ground, gently tamped, and placed inside the gleaming chrome espresso machine. This transparency and attention to detail are what make you come back, willing to pay a premium for quality.

It’s this same dedication that drives small-time developers to prioritize transparency in how they handle your data – every single customer matters to them.

At Supernotes, our team of two is committed to providing high-quality of our support, fostering a helpful community, and pushing regular updates to our software. This has helped us earn the loyalty of users who have been with us for over four years. We also give back, and support software from other small-time makers, like Tally, a top-notch form builder created by two indie developers; and Plausible, a privacy-friendly web analytics tool.

Using well-crafted software is akin to savoring a handcrafted cappuccino – it feels great. Those subtle interactions make your day easier. The signs of a product built with love, care, and meticulous attention to detail, are what set exceptional products apart.

Brewed with care not bureaucracy

At your local independent coffee shop if you’d like a bit more foam in your cappuccino, it’s as simple as asking your barista. Or want to go eco-friendly and use your reusable cup? No problem. The coffee is tailored to your taste. Try making a similar request at a fast food restaurant, and it’s unlikely they can accommodate you due to strict protocols, regulations, and management constraints.

Unfortunately, many large tech companies have slow support systems, lengthy release cycles, and fragmented departments which take years to implement a feature – even a simple one.

In contrast, small software companies operate much like independent coffee shops. They actively seek feedback from their users and incorporate changes based on that feedback. At Supernotes, we value your suggestions so much that we credit each suggestion in our release notes. We’ve implemented hundreds of your suggestions over the years, and are proud to build a product that’s made for you.

It’s heartening to see this shift emerge in the tech startup landscape, with new companies engaging with their audience and achieving great success. Such as Nothing’s excellent YouTube channel ¹.

Creating happiness, one sale at a time

Imagine you’re at an independent coffee house and you’ve paid for your coffee. You hear the till close, the rip of the receipt, and the warm smile from the barista as they hand you your perfectly assembled cappuccino – it’s a moment of joy. The barista is thrilled to have created something with purpose, something you’ll savor and enjoy. You’re happy to have supported a small business, and that happiness is mutual.

Those genuine smiles aren’t exclusive to small-time coffee shop owners. They also emerge when you purchase a software product from a small, bootstrapped developer team. You’re still supporting a small local business – the only difference is that “local” is no longer bound by physical distance.

When small-time developers receive a Stripe notification, signaling a sale, it means the world to them. It’s equivalent to a customer walking into their store and making a purchase – it fills them with pride and drives them to continue improving and building.

Be part of a like-minded community

A fast food restaurant’s hard plastic seats with the hint of over-clean smell in the air isn’t the best place to enjoy a coffee, but it’s functional. Would you start chatting to someone there who’s like minded? Probably not. Instead imagine yourself sitting in a warm, cosy coffee shop enjoying your coffee. It invites you to read a book or engage with the person next to you – you’ve found your community.

You think we’d be kidding if we said the same applies to good quality software. But it does. Members of our Supernotes community regularly help each other learn and discover new techniques. Some even host calls on sharing their workflows – this makes a huge difference. We’re very proud of the community we have, and hope it’s a reflection of the wonderful product we’ve passionately built.

Big Tech has set misleading expectations

Big tech companies and venture capital-funded startups have established a unsustainable norm: software should come cheap or even free for personal use. They subsidize the cost to attract initial users, making it difficult for new startups to compete without significant capital.

As a digital note-taking app, we often hear, “I can use X service for free! Why would I pay for yours?” However, these free apps come with hidden costs. They often employ loss-leader tactics for personal plans, lock you into proprietary systems, and use your data without your knowledge. For instance, it recently emerged that Slack used data from private messages to train its machine learning models ².

A Big data is watching you poster in Lyon, France. By Ev on Unsplash.

Addicted to Venture Capital

Venture Capital (VC) should provide additional funding for startups, enabling them to reach previously unattainable goals. However, VC funding is increasingly becoming a necessary evil rather than a growth catalyst. Acting as a double-edged sword, many startups raise too much, too early, becoming dependent on follow-on rounds. This often leads to inflated valuations and unprofitable growth, creating a constant need for further investment. For example, Twitter has had only two profitable years since its inception in 2006, and Uber only achieved profitability in 2023.

This model needs to change so that startups can focus on you, the consumer, rather than constantly fearing financial shortfalls. As a consumer, you can make a difference by supporting small-scale creators who are passionate about solving problems. Your support helps them grow organically, build sustainable and profitable businesses, and dedicate their resources to their work instead of seeking the next investor.

Small is mighty

As a small startup team of two, we often get asked whether we’ll still be around next year because we don’t have VC funding. Ironically, our size is exactly why we’ve been in business for over five years.

Without a large team, sizable overheads, or dependence on venture capital, we’ve built a sustainable company. We hope more startups will follow this model. This is not to say we won’t ever grow our team or accept investment in the future, but we’ll make sure to do so on our own terms – hiring the right people and investors in a sustainable way.

Subscriptions help Startups

Subscriptions might initially seem like a step back for software, but they’ve actually revolutionized it. They provide a sustainable way for companies to maintain their infrastructure and release new updates regularly. Coupled with faster, more reliable internet, this model offers instant access to what you want, anytime, anywhere.

I still remember the old days – cycling to the store to buy a new album, waiting for it to rip onto my computer, and then syncing it to my iPod. But now, with Spotify, I can think of a song and instantly play it. It’s the same with movie rentals and Netflix – no more waiting for DVDs to arrive in the mail.

And the same applies for us at Supernotes – think of an idea, write it down and have all them accessible, anywhere on any device, at any time. Without subscriptions this wouldn’t be possible, unless we utilized a business model that somehow made you the product.

Compare Software to the Physical Alternative

It’s helpful to rethink the cost of software; focus on measuring the useful time, rather than the payment period. Consider how many hours you’ll use a service in a month. While these numbers are hypotheticals, they help to understand how subscriptions can be great value.

Take Netflix, for example. At $15 a month, with an average viewing time of 35 hours ³, that’s approximately 43 cents per hour. Equally, you could watch one movie at the cinema for the same price.

Comparing hourly prices between disparate services is unproductive, as their values differ greatly. However evaluating prices of similar services can be informative, as they offer comparable value propositions.

Or let’s draw a parallel with a physical notebook. A new Leuchtturm A4 notebook, priced at $34, would take around 41 hours to fill with handwritten notes – roughly a month’s worth. That’s $34 a month, whereas Supernotes is a more affordable $10 a month.

You might say, “That’s an expensive notebook!”, so let’s compare a $5 refill pad of 100 sheets instead. This may last just under a month, and only cost 16 cents an hour. However, this option lacks the quality of a dedicated notebook – the ink might smudge, and the binding isn’t as sturdy. It’s akin to our earlier comparison of a cheap cup of coffee versus a high-quality one.

Supernotes usage is naturally higher as it’s with you everywhere (offline on your mobile, desktop and web) and contains a lot more information that just one notepad.

Personally, I rely on Supernotes for about 2 hours daily, using it for work, personal, and learning purposes. Even writing this article, I’m utilizing Supernotes for editing. With a monthly price of $10, that means I’m paying just 16 cents an hour to use it – incredibly affordable. Supernotes is the same price per hour as a cheap refill pad with the quality of a notebook.

Nothing last’s forever without continuous upkeep

Just as your favorite clothes eventually fade and wear out, software has a limited lifespan too. With each new season, new operating system versions emerge, new vulnerabilities arise, and bugs are discovered.

Maintaining a top-notch software product like Supernotes, which delivers 24/7 customer support and an impressive 99.98% server uptime to sync your real-time changes seamlessly across your apps, requires ongoing effort. That’s why subscriptions are essential – they provide a steady, reliable revenue stream that enables us to continuously improve and maintain our software.

Lifetime licenses? Think again. Any startup claiming to offer lifetime licenses for products that rely on syncing, updates, and constant uptime is peddling a myth. The reality is that “lifetime” seems to imply your lifetime, but the real meaning of course is the company’s lifetime, which could be as short-lived as just a few months.

This is why we’ve introduced a 4-Year license instead, which guarantees our most affordable price for a four-year period. This represents our commitment to being around for the long haul, and we can deliver this without the need for over-promising.

Help drive innovation

Startups are the engines of innovation; constantly pushing boundaries, driving progress and bringing new ideas to life. It’s important to support them.

At Supernotes, your support has helped us bring to life our new note-taking format – the notecard; offering a unique and powerful way to organize your thoughts. And the best part is we’ve based our notecards on the open source Markdown format to ensure it lasts forever and is seamlessly compatibility with other apps and services.

Connor and Tobias, the co-founders of Supernotes

Subscriptions provide startups with a reliable, dependable and continuous cash flow to build on. This consistent revenue stream has allowed us to invest time and resources into our own open-source initiatives, such as SN Pro, our very own free, open-source typeface available to everyone.

So, the next time you’re considering subscribing to a new product, take the leap! Try it out, engage with the community, and you might be pleasantly surprised by just how much you’ll grow to love it.

We hope this article helps you understand the need for subscribing to good quality software. You can support us on our journey by upgrading now. If you have any questions and further thoughts, get in touch with us over on X, @supernotesapp, or send us an email, [email protected]