We haven’t been that excited about a deal since we invested in Krisp.ai around 35 days ago!! We have heard a few whispers here and there on how great this product was and signed up a few months back but quickly upon signing up didn’t quite understand the hype and continued our 7 hour daily Netflix marathons under the Shelter in Place orders (P.S if you are reading this in the far future, this was written during the Corona Virus Pandemic in 2020)
A few weeks ago we decided to give Roam another try but this time with a purpose. We had a topic in mind that we wanted to do some research on, and that seemed like the appropriate time to revisit this software and it clicked. Roam Research falls into the same category that notion, pitch, superhuman and airtable fit into and that is NOT that they are great productivity products but rather that they offer a new way of doing the same things we are used to. There is a bit of a learning curve in any of these products and a common underlying belief (the sort of belief that would make a perfect answer to Thiel’s question What is the one thing you believe is true that a lot people would disagree with). For Roam that is that our writing habits should emulate how our brain work; a myriad interconnected nodes in a networked flat structure. This contrast almost every existing text editing software where files are organized in a hierarchal folder-like structure.
There is a level of product obsession from Connar, founder of Roam, that just made this product really stand out, despite its clunky UX, occasional server outage and only available on the web. We wrote an extended piece on how Roam Research got their first 1000 users and the art + science that went into launching this product to join the likes of Tesla, SpaceX, Apple and Superhuman in having a #Cult-like following on the internet.
We’re very excited to be a part of this journey, cheering from the sideline and humble-bragging with other VCs on the twitter when Roam hits the đŸ¦„ status a few years down the line.